What should one look for when souting for an narrowing down business schools? Todd Garner takes account of the b-school experience in the US and presents a checklist for students.

In response to competitive demands of corporations and increasing globalization (both of which require tomorrow’s business leaders to be flexible, manage workforces and internal structures that cross cultural and political lines), graduate business programs are diversifying and redefining themselves. You’ll still graduate with a firm grounding in the staples of business education - finance, strategy, operations, management, marketing and the like – but you’ll also learn how to work in teams, how to motivate others, and how to look at the ‘big picture’ when solving problems. What should you be looking at in order to choose the right B-School, given the current trends?

FIRST THINGS FIRST
Have a clear objective before beginning your MBA or even applying for an MBA. The best way to maximize your return on investment is to first choose a school that is consistent with your passion. Different schools have different strengths. Your objective may be to maximize real life learning, build a network and/ or get a diversity of experiences. It’s understandable that you would want to attend a ‘top’ program, but what’s more important is that you find a school where you will blossom. The school has to be a good fit for you and vice versa.

For the admissions committee, the essays determine whether you are a good fit for their institution. Remember, your undergrad performance and GMAT scores are only a part of the application. Don’t give up on applying to a school you really want to study at, just because your GMAT is below their average. Schools place a lot of importance on work experience and extra curricular activities. As such, schools don’t have cutoffs of any sort, but rather look for passionate, intelligent, innovative leaders who will contribute to the class and to the business world.

PRE-MBA WORK EXPERIENCE
There is a terrible myth out there that most MBA programs require or expect five years of work experience, and unfortunately, many people believe this myth. This means that wonderful candidates with no, one or two years of work experience assume that they can’t get in, which is untrue. Please remember that an average includes many numbers, so if a school has an average work experience of five years, there are many below that figure and many above it. What’s more important is what you have done with what you were given.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL, INTERDISCIPLINARY CURRICULA
Across the US, graduate-level business schools are reshaping curricula to teach students the importance of solving problems by synthesizing a variety of subjects, such as marketing courses with information technology to prepare marketing managers for using data mining, customer relationship management and other IT-based tools. Faculty members from different disciplines coordinate their syllabi and teach in teams.

NEW PROGRAMMES
Whether they are specific sequences or subjects woven into the fabric of an MBA curriculum, you’ll find strong elements of innovation, ethics, entrepreneurship and leadership development in nearly all business programs. For example, in certain schools, first year MBA students attend the ‘Leadership and Ethics’ series during the year, with speakers discussing a variety of topics. In some other schools, there are new courses such as ‘Leadership and Corporate Accountability’, in which students examine the legal, ethical and economic responsibilities of corporate leaders and how personal values play a critical role in effective leadership. Schools are also placing greater emphasis on social entrepreneurship, preparing managers to bring their business skills to the nonprofit sector.

On an individual level, the trend in curricula has been toward flexibility. Graduate-level programs are introducing initiatives to personalize the management development process. If a student’s skills are underdeveloped in a certain area, such as finance, he/ she will have the opportunity to take courses that will address that weakness.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES AND INCREASED STUDENT AND FACULTY DIVERSITY
B-Schools in the US are tapping into the talents of an increasingly diverse workforce to form a heterogeneous student body. There are faculty members who affect out of the box thinking and come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Students from diverse cultures are viewed as a resource that will complement what faculty members know and what other students bring to the program. The result is a rich exchange of students and faculty members with partner schools in other parts of the world, offering global perspectives.

TEAMWORK, TEAMWORK AND MORE TEAMWORK
Schools are working hard to encourage the same environment of teamwork that graduates will experience in the working world. ‘Cohort structures’, for example, have gained in popularity. In a cohort structure, you are placed with a specified number of fellow students - for the first few weeks of class or for the entire first year. Together with other members of your cohort, you’ll solve problems as a team, resolve conflicts, sustain morale and learn to achieve your goals by becoming interdependent, like in a corporate setting.

RICHER LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Teaching methods continue to evolve, employing not just the traditional tools of lectures and case studies, but computer simulations, collaborations with local entrepreneurs, and group projects involving other schools. For example, some schools have adopted alternative teaching methods in addition to the reliance on the traditional case-study approach and for developing ways to ensure faculty spend less time on basics.

MORE APPLIED LEARNING
In most programs there is some version of a ‘capstone’ course that pulls together everything that students have learned throughout their MBA degree program. It is usually offered late in the program. With these so-called living cases, teams of students are assigned to an organization. For example, they may help a US company enter a European market. When you are evaluating business programs, ask about the capstone courses they have recently offered and the projects’ outcome.

CUSTOMER FOCUS
It’s not uncommon to hear business school professors refer to students and companies as customers – and to treat their needs with the same respect. Many schools are applying the very business principles taught in those institutions to operating the schools themselves. They are becoming more customer-focused, reducing the cycle time for admissions processing and curriculum development.

With such evolution occurring everyday at business schools, today’s programs aim to prepare you for the real world of work, where you will work in teams, adopt a global view and analyze problems from a multitude of perspectives. To accomplish these goals, business programs intend to equip you with the ability to embrace change, accept ambiguity and lead others with the vision and confidence gained from continuous learning.

In conclusion, with changing dynamics, you will have the opportunity to make a significant difference on a broad scale, with the finely honed skills you attain from the B-School you choose!