My MBA Admit Blog: Community involvement before an MBA. Reaching out to Business School profs before the application.

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Community involvement before an MBA. Reaching out to Business School profs before the application.

This part-time MBA applicant would like to get involved in the community before applying for an MBA next year and is wondering how.

Also, he questions how to contact Business Schools professors and if it would help his MBA application.

My MBA Admit answers.

Applicant:

Applying to PT MBA programs next year. Would like to add to existing community service experience and connect with professors in my target B Schools.

1) For someone with no community service knowledge in the US, what would be your recommendation for the first place to look?

2) I would like to reach out to some professors @ Kellogg and Booth. What would be the most appropriate way to go about it? Also would it give me any leverage with respect to my B School apps?

My MBA Admit:
1) Community service participation is based on your interests.

It is another aspect of the MBA application that allows the Admission Committee to assess your soft skills, including leadership, initiative, teamwork, and yes, passion. Hence, it is better to do something you truly like to be able to make a meaningful contribution and speak about it in your essays rather than something for the sake of the MBA application alone.

To figure out your community service focus, first figure out your interests. My past clients have had experiences as diverse as spending a couple hours a week to improve an introverted child's social skills in LA, handling logistics to package and ship donations to Guyana, donating marketing skills to help a single mother's beauty parlor in Chicago and organizing Jewish singles mixers for the local synagogue in New York. For specific websites, try everyfuture.org or chicagovolunteer.net. Often, religious houses and workplaces also have volunteer opportunities for their members.

A few days ago, I posted a blog on community service in response to another applicant's community service question. Read it at http://blog.mymbaadmit.com/2010/01/25/w ... a-mba.aspx

2) I always recommend that my clients reach out to professors in their target schools.

These conversations give you a different perspective than reading just admissions materials, and give you a point of differentiation from others to showcase the depth of your research in your essays. Contact professors in your intended field of concentration - if their direct email addresses are not available, call/email the department and ask for a contact. As an ex-Boothie who contacted professors before being admitted, I can guarantee that professors are accessible and easy to talk to!

Feel free to drop us a line at mbaconsult@mymbaadmit.com to discuss your application further when you apply next year. In the meantime, check out our Volume Discounts and Application Packages to get an idea of the admissions services we offer at My MBA Admit.