If you’re going to make an educated, informed decision about which graduate school to attend in order to pursue your MBA, and ultimately, your career, you don’t need to look any further than the testimonials of alumni.
What better way to gauge the expertise of the faculty, the strength of the curriculum, or the reputation of the school, than by looking to the people who graduated before you? Universities today are improving the quality of their business degree programs and, if you look at the statements of successful alumni, you will find your proof. Testimonials of previous graduates are the single best way to determine the strengths of an internationally-recognized business school.
Great MBA schools always list proud and glowing testimonials from their alumni online — it showcases what they have to offer and how they excel as an institute of higher learning. Testimonials are a means of advertising the program from first-hand experience. A quality business school should be transparent, and they should offer testimonials front and center on their website. If you can’t find any testimonials, this means that the university is either so mediocre that their students have nothing positive to say, or they don’t believe in celebrating their own programs, which is a whole problem unto itself. Before you apply to an MBA, Master of Finance, , or any other graduate program, find out what other people have to say about it first.
To get an idea of how to properly handle testimonials, let’s take a look at how Wilfrid Laurier University’s MBA Program handles its alumni relations as well as its relationship with coop employers. First, their website has a section devoted entirely to ‘graduate success stories’ — that scores them some solid points. Here, the university highlights the experiences of students who graduated anywhere from five to fifteen years ago. Looking over the careers of these MBA and CPA designated professionals demonstrates a wide range of positions in top companies — including key business players like Johnson & Johnson, Kinetic Concepts, IBM, Siemens, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Danier Leather Inc., and more — and each showcased alumni boasts an impressive title like President and CEO, Vice President, IT Director, Director of Finance, Senior Manager, and Financial Controller.
If a prospective university doesn’t have testimonials available, then why trust the education that they are offering? Instead, invest in a school with a variety of testimonials from graduates whom have achieved success in a variety of fields. Take it from a real world business leader like Jeff Melanson, current President & CEO of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, who explains that he “really appreciated Laurier’s spirit of creativity, purpose and imagination. We are living in the midst of a digital media revolution that requires leaders to re-imagine their organizations, re-define their sectors and inspire staff to imagine the many possibilities that lie ahead. Laurier’s MBA is structured to ensure its graduates are equipped with the skills required to succeed a midst change and complexity.”
True success stories should not be ignored, and neither should a university who places these kinds of positive experiences front and center. If you want to apply to a business school, earn an MBA, and compete on a global business or management scale, make sure any school that you apply to has easy-to-find, glowing student testimonials like those featured at Wilfrid Laurier University. This will ensure that you will be getting everything you want out of your education, and it will also show you what is waiting for you after you graduate.
