Consider the ‘Four C’s’ while choosing a Business School

With just a few months away from the 1st round of September intake 2023, many candidates may be anxious about deciding B-school that aligns with their profile requirements and career goals. However, with the pace at which the MBA deadlines are approaching, it’s time that you take some important considerations when making the big decision about your target B-school.

THE CONCEPT OF THE FOUR C’S.’

Apart from satisfying the basic benchmarks for GMAT/GRE, work experience, and GPA for an MBA program, one must consider the following factors – cost, Curriculum, Career, Culture & Community, namely the four C’s.

1) CONSIDERING COST/FINANCES

An MBA isn’t cheap. A full-time two-year MBA costs $200,000 at every B-school ranked in the top 25 in the US. Moreover, it includes the opportunity cost paid by the aspirant for staying out of the job market for her MBA; hence, an aspiring candidate needs to consider finances when deciding. While considering finances, the duration of an MBA program plays a critical role in determining ROI. 

Learn to calculate your ROI for your target schools here.

Moreover, it’s critical to compare B-schools’ financial aid offers, especially those that aren’t ranked in the top 20. Also, having an offer in hand from one business school could be used as leverage for an aid package, and could ask another B-school to match it or even get a better financial aid package!

2) CAREER

Everyone has unique post-MBA goals with consulting, product management, investment banking, and other conventional and non-conventional careers. Moreover, everyone applying belongs to a different industry and has a diverse academic background. Hence, you must choose a B-school that has a high acceptance rate for your current background and, at the same time, would help you succeed in your post-MBA goals. Therefore, choosing a business school must be uniquely aligned to your career goals, and to do this research, you will have to go through the employment reports of your target B-schools and do a lot of networking with alumni, current students, and experts to understand how a school can uniquely contribute to your short term goals. 

If you’d like, you can hop on a 1:1 call with our experts to get a 360-degree evaluation of your profile and the school recommendation that best fits your profile.

3) CURRICULUM

It’s deemed necessary for an applicant to go through the entire MBA curriculum to understand how the curriculum (with major and elective subjects) will equip you with the right skills and knowledge that you are looking to gain from an MBA. This requires a very deep introspection into oneself to understand why you need an MBA and what skills and characteristics you need to develop from it. You can read more about how to introspect for your ‘Why MBA’ here.  

Apart from cost, rank, ROI, and curriculum, an MBA is an investment in you. It shapes your personality and helps you achieve your short-term goals, and nurtures you for your long-term goals. And a school’s culture and community play a huge role in shaping your personality and building long-term networks and relationships. So you need to research a lot deep into your target school’s culture and community through their events, networking with alums and current students and experts who have a brilliant understanding of a school’s values, culture, and society. Also, read about the clubs and events a school has, as it will help you understand how different clubs can nurture you and how you can contribute to the school’s community. 

You can read about different schools in detail here. 

For example, programs in urban centers, such as Wharton, Chicago Booth, and Harvard, may feel more competitive and intense. On the other hand, smaller B-schools usually foster a close-knit community, especially in rural settings. Many students live on campus and interact with fellow students and faculty regularly, thus developing a collaborative culture for the MBA programs.

4) CULTURE AND COMMUNITY

Apart from cost, rank, ROI, and curriculum, an MBA is an investment in you. It shapes your personality and helps you achieve your short-term goals, and nurtures you for your long-term goals. And a school’s culture and community play a huge role in shaping your personality and building long-term networks and relationships. So you need to research a lot deep into your target school’s culture and community through their events, networking with alums and current students and experts who have a brilliant understanding of a school’s values, culture, and society. Also, read about the clubs and events a school has, as it will help you understand how different clubs can nurture you and how you can contribute to the school’s community. 

For example, programs in urban centers, such as Wharton, Chicago Booth, and Harvard, may feel more competitive and intense. On the other hand, smaller B-schools usually foster a close-knit community, especially in rural settings. Many students live on campus and interact with fellow students and faculty regularly, thus developing a collaborative culture for the MBA programs.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE PERFECT MBA PROGRAM?

There could be numerous factors to be considered; however, at the end of the day, the School decision is a personal choice that would ultimately affect your life the most. Therefore, while you can consider numerous factors, it’s important to look at the big picture. Rank, ROI, community, and network all are worth considering, but the most important thing to consider is that no matter what B-school you decide on, make sure it feels right to you. As it may feel logical, choosing the right fit for yourself is more of a personal, self-reflective process! And hence before you go on to researching schools, make sure you introspect deep enough to understand your career goals and aspirants and how an MBA will lead you to your goals.

We follow a unique application process with our applicants to make sure they dig deep into them all the important aspects of their application (why MBA, goals and aspirations, strengths, weaknesses, etc.) before they can shortlist schools. You can read more about it here. 

If you need opinions from experts and alums of different business schools on your profile, please schedule a call with us. 

We are here with a vision to help candidates get clarity around their life, vision, and goals and would be happy to add as much value as we can to your application journey.