world mba tour and michigan reception

i recently attended a mba fair followed by a reception by michigan ross school of business.
although i wanted to write in detail about both events, i guess i will have to pass it for this time, for lack of both energy and time.

the most important points

mba fair

• mba fair is good for someone who doesnt have any clue about b schools and the admissions process. there is more to know about the process from blogs and forums.
  
• there were 3 sessions, only one of them was kinda useful(where they discussed the admissions process) - not worth the time, atleast for me.
• the fair in itself is ok if you have something in particular to clarify. i was talking to this adcom from Emory, and then i also talked to a few alums from the school - which was ok. i asked a few questions to the michigan adcom. i guess that was all for me - frankly, none of my target schools (except michigan were present) so i was a tad less enthusiastic about the whole thing.
• the crowd is diverse, from people who dont know anything to people who have already submitted good apps
• there was a mba alumni panel discussion, and interestingly, only 4 potential applicants turned up(including myself) - and there were 2 alums - but lack of people made it a friendlier tete-tete.
• michigan had a reception soon after the event - so with the day already lost, i thought i will go there too.

michigan reception ( points in random order )

• there was no place to sit
• around 10 future applicants turned up
• we had an adcom, an ex-professor, and 3 alums (2 rather old, i pretty recent)
• it was really good fun
• the adcom was really nice to talk to
• she did a good job of depicting the camaraderie that exists in Ann Arbor.
• there was a lot of energy in the room (credit goes to all michigan people - the 5 of them)
  
• the snacks were great, but in excess for the small number of people who were there
• the representation of the school was diverse(i mean, professional diversity), and that made for some good chit chat
• if what i saw is representative of ann arbor, i really would love to be there - i am sure it will be lot of fun to work with such lovely people. i think they did a great job of promoting their school.
• for people applying to ann arbor - it is a general management school, so its better to go to Columbia / Stern / Wharton / Chicago (in no particular order) if you wanna major in finance, crack numbers on wall street, and earn hefty bonus while screwing your personal life ( no offense meant - all in light hearted jest).
• key features of michigan - strong in all areas of business management/ the MAP program. everyone talked about it for so many times.
• key strengths of the michigan mba - american football. no, i am not kidding, that's what an alum said as the first point. he then talked about the other things he liked.
• during orientation, people are taken to a store nearby where they are made to buy heavy jackets to survive the bitter cold ( i overheard this - so dont know how true it is, or were the people just joking)
  
• favourite alum of the michigan mba school - Stephen M Ross ( any guesses why ?).....the talk of the town is, if you want your name to replace Stephens, make sure you have atleast $101 million to spare ;)
  

i guess that's all for today!