by: Niki Healey
Manager of Ivey MBA admissions

Knowing that in the next few months there will be plenty of MBA Fairs happening around the world, I thought it would be useful to share my thoughts on two things: how to make the most of attending an MBA fair, and what benefit you can get from attending these events.

If you've never attended an MBA Fair, stepping into a room with 30, 40, or 50+ tables from different MBA Programs around the world with several thousand other prospective MBA applicants can be an overwhelming experience to say the least...The MBA Fair is not a great place to do preliminary research on schools - it is too busy, and your time with Admissions staff will be fairly limited. My view on Fairs is that they are a great tool to help firm-up the shortlist of schools you intend to apply to. This implies that it really is necessary to do some background research on the schools you're targeting prior to the Fair. As mentioned, your time speaking with the Admissions rep at a table is short, so to use up your questions asking things like 'what is your GMAT requirement' or 'when do classes start' is really not the best use of your time! Think of the MBA fair as your opportunity to make a strong impression on members of the Admission team...this will be good motivation to do your homework on their respective schools! If you can stand out in what is often the chaos of a Fair, you are leaps and bounds ahead in the game of differentiating yourself to the Admissions committee!

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Find the rest of this and other related posts at Ivey MBA admissions blog