During MBA Admit Weekends Keep 3 Goals in Mind
If you’ve received multiple MBA admissions offers this season, congratulations! Now comes the exciting—and potentially overwhelming—task of deciding where to spend the next two years. One of the best ways to make an informed choice is by attending MBA admit weekends. These events offer a firsthand look at campus life, allowing you to interact with current students and fellow admits while evaluating the culture of each program.
Your intuition about a school’s environment will be crucial, but you should also keep three key goals in mind when attending an admit weekend.
Making the Most of MBA Admit Weekends
Goal One: Network with potential future classmates.
One of the most valuable aspects of an MBA program is the lifelong network you build. The intense nature of business school fosters deep connections that extend well beyond graduation.
During admit weekends, assess your comfort level with current students and other admits. Do you feel a strong rapport with your potential classmates? Did you meet anyone who could be a future roommate? You’ll likely connect with people from similar backgrounds, but try to engage with those outside your usual circles—broadening your network will enrich your experience.
Goal Two: Learn all you can about student life.
By this stage, you’ve likely done extensive research on your target schools. Now, it’s time to dig even deeper and get your pressing questions answered.
Engage with current students about academic programs, extracurricular opportunities, and school traditions. Find out what daily life is like—ask about favorite professors, leadership opportunities, global immersion programs, and anything else that matters to you.
As one Duke Fuqua student reflected after their admit weekend: “I went in with two main questions on affordability and cultural fit and left [Blue Devil Weekend] feeling assured that this would be a good place to be. I met several great people who demonstrated such warmth and courage to find their own fit at Fuqua,” explained Ryan Van Slyke, MBA ’24.
“Knowing that they chose an MBA at Fuqua and seeing how students treated each other in the hallways offered evidence that this would be a place where I fit in.”
Goal Three: Get an authentic sense of the city or region.
Candidates often apply to business schools in geographic areas that are new to them. Think about where you want to end up working after graduation. Is the program in your desired city – or at least in the same overall region? Does it have a reputation for helping its students land jobs in the area where they want to live? If possible, opt to stay in student housing during your visit. Even if you have other accommodations, this is a valuable opportunity to experience campus life up close.
“Assessing your fit with an MBA program (location + people) is the most critical step of ensuring your happiness during your MBA experience,” writes Zach Davies, Dartmouth Tuck MBA ’26. “I had networked extensively and visited Tuck briefly for my interview, but it wasn’t until I attended ASW that Tuck truly came to life for me. Life in the Upper Valley is special and unique, and it’s important for you to visit prior to deciding. There’s a magic to Tuck that you can only experience in person!”
Use this visit to get a better feel for housing options by exploring the neighborhoods where students live. Ask questions to clarify anything you would want to know before moving to a new city.
Set Your Own Priorities
If location isn’t a significant concern, focus on what matters most to you, whether recruitment stats for specific industries, diversity, or international opportunities. More than likely, you reviewed all of this information when deciding where to apply in the first place. But now it warrants a second, closer look.
For applicants attending multiple MBA admit weekends, keep an open mind and be prepared to reflect on the experience afterward. If you have already accepted an offer and visited the campus before admission, still attend the welcome weekend. That way, you can experience the school again without the anxiety you probably felt last time—especially if your visit was for an interview.
The decision where to attend business school is personal, and every candidate has unique needs to fulfill. Use the preview weekend visit to ensure you’ve found the right school for you.
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Navigating MBA financial aid can be complex and time-consuming. If you’ve secured admission to your dream program and need guidance on financial aid as a U.S. or international candidate, our Financial Aid Advisory service can help. Contact us at info@stacyblackman.com to learn more.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
×Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally. Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
×Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years. Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
×Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
×Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
×Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
×Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
×Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford.  Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
×Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year.  Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
×Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
×Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team. During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
×Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS). During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
×Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director. Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants. ×
Dana
Dana served as Assistant Director of Admissions at Columbia Business School for the Full-Time MBA program and has over 10 years of experience working in higher education. Known as a scrupulous file reader, Dana reviewed countless applications and assisted in rendering final decisions for the Admissions Committee at CBS. While leading information sessions at Columbia and on the road, Dana met and advised myriad applicants� ...
×Holly
Holly worked as a member of the NYU Stern MBA Admissions team for seven years and holds an MBA from NYU Stern. In her tenure as Director of NYU MBA Admissions, Holly worked closely with admissions teams from Columbia, Michigan Ross, UVA Darden, Cornell Johnson, Berkeley Haas, Yale SOM, and Duke Fuqua on recruiting events domestically and internationally. On the NYU Stern admissions committee, Holly conducted interviews, planned and hosted events, and trained staff on reading and interviewi ...
×Mark
Mark has been working in global higher education for nearly ten years, focusing on MBA Admissions at European programs including Oxford Said Business School and London Business School (LBS). At the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, Mark was the Associate Director of MBA Recruitment, leading the recruitment of all applicants to the Oxford MBA and 1+1 MBA programs. In this role, Mark advised countless MBA applic ...
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