What happens at an MBA Tour ?

MBA Aspirant 1: "So you're planning on doing an International MBA huh, how's it coming along ?"

MBA Aspirant 2: "Really good actually. I've got it all sorted out. All thanks to school websites, social media, BusinessBecause and a couple of MBA tours that I've attended"

MBA Aspirant 1: "Yeah, I know BusinessBecause.com. Really cool site, make the process of finding the right school so easy. Haven't heard of an MBA Tour though, what's that about ? "

Run primarily by two foundations, "The MBA Tour" and "Top MBA", these events held across the world take representatives from partner Business schools to places where there are prospective students aiming to study at these schools.

Typically at such an event one would find a number of professionals who are currently working and aim to move to the next level by acquiring the skills of management education. By the end of an MBA Tour a candidate would probably have some clarity on what his next steps are, and a typical conversation would be similar to the one below:

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The Business schools at such events are represented by top officials from the Recruiting departments of the school as well as by local alumni who provide the student perspective that most attendees seek.The event is also a good networking opportunity to meet and talk to other prospective MBAs and learn about the trends in business education, mba admission tips and personal experiences from candidates who may have already applied to schools of your choice previously.

If you haven't been to an MBA Tour yet then this is what it normally feels like

Thus, as the conversation above illustrates if you are really serious about pursuing an MBA from a good school then it is a good practice to at least visit a couple of these fairs and meet representatives and alumni to learn about stuff that is hard to present online.

(The Author is an MBA from AGSM, UNSW, Sydney and Kellogg School Of Management, USA. He is also the Editor of DelhiPlanet Media. You can follow him on Twitter @kirtidhingra)