Why MBA fairs still make sense in the Twitter age
30.06.2010 um 11:02
Press Information
July 2010
Want to find a business school? Google it! Looking for a professor? Join LinkedIn. Searching for the latest news? Follow Tweets. In this day and age of social media, everything a business school candidate needs is just a mouse click away. So why is it that schools and candidates still participate in record numbers at the QS World MBA Tour, which is visiting Zurich on Thursday October 7th?
“People still need face-to-face contact, even in this age of social networking and the mobile internet,” explains Nunzio Quacquarelli, director of the QS World MBA Tour. “In the space of a couple of hours at one of our MBA fairs, candidates can talk to business school admissions officers, alumni, professors, employers, QS experts, and other MBA candidates. There is nothing online that comes close to giving people this opportunity in terms of getting a genuine understanding of what a school can do for them, how it sees itself and how it is seen in the wider business world.”
The 2009 QS TopMBA.com Applicants Survey reveals that graduates have high salary expectations upon completion of their degrees. The most ambitious candidates are those from Kazakhstan, who predict a 246% increase in their salaries. Slightly more realistic are those from the UK (73%) and US (85%). However, the high fees required for business school initially dwarf this return on investment, so finding the right business school is a decision too important to leave to a brief online chat.
“That is why the QS World MBA Tour continues to go from strength to strength,” says Quacquarelli. This year, the tour visits 79 cities in 40 countries bringing MBA candidates face-to-face with business schools from all over the world including: North America: UCLA, Chicago Booth, Duke, Toronto, NYU, Georgetown and UT Austin Europe: London Business School, INSEAD, IMD, IE, SDA Bocconi, CEU Asia and Australia: Melbourne, Sydney, CEIBS, HKU, Indian School of Business and NUS. “These top business schools have extensive employer and alumni networks within their regions that candidates will be able to tap into, simply by making contact with a key school representative,” Quacquarelli adds.
Nadia Gountcheva, an INSEAD MBA class of 2008, confirms that in order to decide which school was right for her, she consulted both online and off line sources. “As a start I looked at the MBA rankings and reviewed MBA guides and research from different sources including QS TopMBA.com. I attended the QS World MBA Tour twice to meet with school representatives and contacted alumni from each school of interest asking about their perception of the school, life on campus, view of academic strengths, prospects upon graduation, etc. At the end I had enough information to justify my choice of schools given my background, interests and skills.”
For candidates with five or more years of work experience, our events also include the QS World Executive MBA Fair. Executives who wish to stay in employment and study in a modular format can meet representatives of some of the world’s leading EMBA programs in a relaxed environment.
The QS World MBA Tour also offers more than US$1.6 million worth of scholarships exclusively available to visitors of the fairs, provided by the QS Education Trust, Ashridge, Cass, Chicago Booth School of Business, Duke, IE Business School, Melbourne Business School, MIP & Politecnico di Milano, Sydney Business School, USC Marshall and Vlerick Leuven Gent.
For more information on the QS World MBA Tour, go to www.topmba.com, follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/topmba) or join our Facebook group.
QS World MBA Tour Thursday October 7thDolder Grand Hotel 17h- 21hRegistration: www.topmba.com
Our events in a city near you :
Zurich, Wednesday October 6th Marriott Hotel =>QS TopMBAConnect: www.topmba.com/connect
Zurich, Thursday October 7th Dolder Grand Hotel => QS World MBA Tour: www.topmba.com
The QS World MBA Tour is the largest program of recruitment and information fairs for business school applicants. In 2008 over 80,000 potential applicants visited 75 events in 41 countries.
The QS World MBA Tour offers a unique opportunity to meet admissions officersof the world's most influential business schools at venues around the world. Now in its fifteenth year, the Tour will consist of 73 events across 41 countries over five continents during 2009.
For more information please contact:
Name: Jukra BèsTitle: Media Relations Email: jukra@qs.com Tel: +33 1 45 66 59 33 (direct)Tel: +33 1 45 66 99 80 (office)
