Received Multiple Acceptances? Here’s How to Decide Between Them

At some point during the MBA application process, you must have thought that you would never be finished with your application. Then came the interminable wait when all you wanted was to get accepted somewhere. Now, however, as the results flood in, and you’ve received a host of positive admissions results, you have a hard decision to make.

For applicants accepted to their dream school, the choice is easy. However, we find that many applicants have multiple dream business schools, or realise through the application process that they could be happy in many places and in many programmes. So what do you do when you realise you have a lot of great options and you aren’t sure which to choose?

To help with this difficult decision, we’ve compiled a list of things to think about as you consider all your business school admissions:

What is your ‘dream’ programme?

Can you live with giving it up for a business school offering you more money, or maybe higher ranked? While it’s important to look at the data points, there are cases when you just know one business school or programme is the right fit for you. Often it is worth listening to your gut instinct and selecting the one you know will make you the happiest, no matter how good another programme may look on paper. Of course, this is assuming the cost and other logistics of attending your dream programme are feasible.

How realistic are you about your own needs?

Remember all those questions you were asked or that you asked yourself at the beginning of this process? Weather, class size, transportation? How diverse is the business school? A lot of applicants ignore those questions initially, but now is the time to understand how much they matter to you. Are you really going to be comfortable in a business school located in a place where it snows from September to April? Do you want to be in a small classroom and know everyone in your class by name or will you be happier in a larger class? Are you seeking an urban experience in a big city or would you rather study in a small town five hours from the nearest airport? These are important questions; in fact, they could seriously alter your business school experience.

What is the local community like?

Does it align with your needs and current interests, as well as your future plans? If you are an avid trekker eager to work in sustainable agricultural solutions, then a massive city might not be your best bet for you, both in terms of your day-to-day life and the industry you hope to enter, even if you’ve just been admitted to Columbia Business School and it’s the highest-ranked business school on your list. Of course, Columbia Business School may have great off-campus programmes that cater to your interests, but you’ll need to research ahead of time. This brings us to…

Have you done your research?

Talk to people! Reach out to alumni, read student forums and ask the admissions office to be connected with a current student. They will be the best people to tell you what the programme really feels like and how it works. Attend alumni events in your area and get in touch with someone to ask any pressing questions you have about the college. Also, be sure to leverage the expertise and resources of the admissions office–their sole purpose at this stage is to get your offer to convert to a YES. They are at your service and will do anything to get you to come to their programme.

Whatever you decide, chances are you will end up in a great place with a ton of opportunities. So try to get as much information as possible, be realistic about your own needs and go with what feels like the best fit. In the end, the place where you will be the happiest is going to be the best place for you, no matter what it’s ranking.

To know more, get in touch.