What do we mean by “Networking with the school community?” and “How to get Started?”
Some of you have actively started networking though, I wanted to bring up the importance, and make you understand why is it important to follow this exercise. While some of you are ahead of the curve and are able to proactively reach out to the student volunteers or the other members in the admission committee, I also feel that a lot of you are either not getting time to get into meaningful conversations with the school community or do not understand the importance of networking. Our goal is to help you in reaching out to the right connections and will make your applications more comprehensive Q. Why is networking important and what kind of schools are we talking about? A. Most of the candidates applying through us should actively make it a point to reach out to the school community and engage in to around 2-3 conversations in total. You could be applying to Harvard or Smith or even Notre Dame. Networking with the schools will help you in all the tier one schools that will read your applications in this admission cycle Q. Will not networking affect my chances to make it through to a good school this year? A. Let us take it this way: If you are applying to any of the top 50 schools, it is very likely that you have made up your mind to consider that school seriously. You have already spent numerous hours in building a flawless application and are now prepared to submit it. What do you think are the odds
that you were not even curious enough to speak with just one alumni or an existing student to find out more about the opportunities at that school. If you look at it from the school’s perspective, schools will always be on a look out for the interested candidates as opposed to the ones that just do a CTRL + C , CTRL + V to replace the names of their clubs and submit the new essay imposed on the previous school’s application. Networking also allows you to emphasize on your personal statement and helps you create the highest Degree of the expression. Read our article on “Most important Expression for a B – School – Why do I love you?” Q. When is the best time to network and speak with the students? A. While it is never late to reach out and ask for help and information, we will normally encourage at least a month’s lag between your submission and the time you start hitting them with emails. It normally takes around 2-3 conversations with different people before you really get a good perspective of that school and get your notes handy. Q. How should I get started? A. Follow the steps below: Step 1: Develop an elevator pitch ( Also known as “Walk me through your resume). Follow the directions given in the interview guide. The interview guide has a detailed explanation of the elevator pitch. As you start your networking call with anyone, you should normally tell them “Is it fine if I tell you something about my background before getting started with the questions, as I believe it will give you a better perspective while you are addressing my questions?” Step 2: Develop a set of emails that you plan to send out to them. Normally, it is not advisable to send a 15 line email as no one has time to read them. An email should be around 7-8 lines long, with a crisp agenda in the beginning, 4 lines about the background, and then a conclusion. Just like “Tell them why you are writing the email, then tell them more about your background, and then tell them why you wrote the email and will look forward to hearing them”. Be polite in your tone, and express interest in knowing more about them Step 3: What questions to ask: In order to develop the set of questions, spend time on the websites of these schools, and understand in what ways can that school help you in achieving your short term and long term goals. Also, think about the other soft factors such as networking, international environment and other aspects related to job search and careers that might affect your decision to join that school. ( Remember: It is not a good idea to throw those question on the email: The idea is to get an appointment over the phone, and engage the alum/adcom member, or a current student on the phone). What is a bad question during a networking call? If you can google the answer and are asking a fact based question, you are essentially wasting your time and that of the student or the alum too. Not to mention that you are also leaving a bad impression about yourself and setting an example of antinetworking( when networking works against you). If you are not smart enough, it is better to keep quiet and think about hitting something with luck rather than opening your mouth and telling the world that “ You have no clue of what you are doing”. Some of the bad questions: 1. What were the placement statistics for the school last year ? ( You can easily google the answer to this question and you do not want to give an impression that you have not even bothered to look at the school’s placement statistics and are not well researched.
2. What is the school popular for ? ( Please don’t ask this question as they expect you to know what you are getting into and this question will work against you ) 3. What are the courses offered in the first year and when do you get introduced to electives? ( Again: You can get responses to these questions on Google or the school’s website)
What is a good question during a networking call? Any question through which you are seeking their opinion is a good question. It also gives you a chance to tell them that you know a lot about the school, and have researched very well. Any question where you are seeking opinion of somebody on some of the things that will help you in understanding the school is a good question.
Source: http://pythagurus.in/blog/what-do-we-mean-by-networking-with-the-schoolcommunity-and-how-to-get-started/