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- WM’s Admission Committee is the best Adcom I ever met. They are all really friendly, super helpful and always energetic.
- Flexible curriculum to customize according your concentration
- Class size of 100-200 students is the ideal class size for me. I had chances to really get to know my classmates. My classmates and my teammates in the learning team are super nice, friendly, supportive and smart. They are professional and always respect each other. I have always had good experience in group work.
- Culture of WM in general and business school (Mason) in particular is sharing, supportive and friendly, which makes it so much easier for international students.
- Faculties and MBA program are working really hard to improve school ranking year by year from top 60 to top 50 and now top 30s. I hope to see Mason in top 20s in the next coming years.
As a person who follows Finance track, I am satisfied with what I have learned at Mason. Finance Cam is my best experience in MBA program. Even though the workload was a bit heavy during the course but it was an exciting challenge and also an opportunity to learn more and more. The knowledge I acquired during the Finance Cam was so valuable and so practical, especially from all the role plays and guest speakers speech. Finance professor completely changed my way of approaching a case study. My understanding of Finance was much levered after the CAM.
- Good learning experience with Batten Fund (the student run investment fund at school where you can pitch and manage stocks, manage real money for the school). Not only will you learn from Professor, Executive Partners but also from your fellow analysts. Batten Fund is the place where you not only can learn about Finance but also about all other industries, which is one of the fastest way you can enrich your knowledge in a short period of time.
- Almost all Professors are approachable and willing to share with you their business contacts and any job opportunity they know. They are excellent teachers with great knowledge of their field.
- Sprint week is another innovative point in the curriculum of the business school. There is one sprint week for each semester when you and your classmates just focus on one specific topic/group project. Topics are diverse and practical because you can apply the knowledge you learned in class into solving business problems. You can also work on real business cases and have great exposure to corporate leadership to learn from their thought processes and their experience.
Career Management Center is helpful with mock interviews, editing resume and also help connect with alumni. There are recruiters who come to school for recruitment quite frequently such as Deloitte, EY, PWC, KPMG, Booz Allen Hamilton...
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
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Specialization in a particular area (e.g. Finance, Consulting, Healthcare, etc)
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While searching for a business school, it was essential for me that the curriculum has some very distinct features and supports students coming from a technology background. Mason was one of such schools. It had amazing curriculum, excellent faculty, and the experiential learning was something it has been known for. Along with aforementioned reasons, it provided me with a generous scholarship. While I was wanting to get into Mason, I realized they wanted me as well. That started a two year journey and a relationship with the school, which will be cherished throughout my life.
A diverse cohort of about 110-120 people, all coming from various backgrounds and depth of knowledge, helped me learn about different industries, functions and cultures.
The executive partner program is an excellent student-mentor personal development program, which allowed me to learn so much about myself, as an individual and a professional. Other amazing facets are the Field Consultancies and Sprints.
The only drawback I have faced is with respect to job opportunities, but being an international student, it is evidently difficult every other place as well. Mason's ranking has been on the rise and students are opening doors of companies, which have not necessarily had Mason as one of their target schools. This makes Mason an up and rising school, which is reflected in the rise of its rankings as well.
If you are looking for a school to be in, Mason is one of the finest schools one can attend and will provide you a plethora of memories you will cherish.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
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Race: European / White
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Work Experience: 4.5 years in Management Consulting
GPA/GMAT: In line with W&M averages
The criteria most important to me when selecting my business schools were:
- Curriculum with the flexibility to customize my learning journey
- Good standings in major rankings as well as a positive trends on those
- Class size of 100-200 students for a personal, yet selective experience
- Diverse cohort with the majority of students being American
- Career opportunities and network
I also used other criteria and developed a balanced scorecard for about 60 schools in the States. I reached out to my ten highest scoring MBA programs in person and eventually had the best feeling with W&M. I spoke with two different members of the Admissions team, the Head of Career Services, as well as one Alumni. I was pleased by the effort they made to connect me with other people so that my questions and concerns were address in the best way possible. It became clear after speaking to several schools that W&M is the place I want to study. The personal fit seemed right for both sides. Coming to W&M was one of the best decisions I ever made. Here is why...
The Professors are some of the best I ever had. Not only do many of them have a track record in both business and academia, but most of them are excellent teachers too. I have found this to be a rare species of professors in the past. Moreover, most professors are very approachable connecting students with their business contacts. I was surprised by the strong bond students, and professors have here at Mason Business School. The Bloomberg ranking rewarded this with the #1 learning experience in the country (Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/business-schools/2018/william-and-mary-mason)
As a member of the MBA Class of 2019, I am the first generation of the new curriculum. Key elements of this curriculum are its four sessions (each semester is divided into two sessions), sprint weeks, and integrated career management classes. Especially the sprint weeks are a great value add, as we get the opportunity to apply taught content from the previous semester to solve issues that are affecting today's businesses over the course of one week. It is basically an agile, hands-on team project. These are probably the most intense but at the same time most rewarding weeks of the program. In sum, the new curriculum very progressive. It provides me with a lot of flexibility in customizing my journey to my needs. About 60% of the curriculum consists of electives.
Another thing I came to appreciate is the class size. While every graduating year has about 110 students, no class is bigger than 60 students at a time. Professors often teach the same class twice a day so that the learning atmosphere is more intimate and in-class discussions can be held. Besides, the cohort is very diverse with 40% international students and about 10% having a military background. Especially the latter groups provided me perspectives I might have never considered otherwise.
One thing you got to be aware of when coming here is that the closest major job market is Washington D.C. This means that recruiters are not your neighbors. So you won't randomly run into a Fortune500 recruiter in one of Williamsburg's bars. But would you really in other places?! Anyway, every week, we have several recruiting and career events with companies from the East Coast. The Big4 are here almost daily. But then we also have companies such as IBM, Allianz, CBRE, Booz Allen, FedEx, Continental, to name a few, speak to us frequently. Also, the school provides every student with a travel stipend, so they get reimbursed for personal job seeking activities such as visiting a career fair.
Career Services is super engaged, and I used to meet with my career counselor (yes, everyone gets assigned to one) about once a week. She helped me in creating a good resume, appealing cover letters, and revamp my LinkedIn profile. She also regularly forwarded me job posts that are aligned with my career interests and connected me to Alumni from companies like Cisco and American Express that have led to referrals and interviews. Don't expect them to get you a job, but to prepare you so well that you stand out as a candidate.
Another important fact about the school I want to bring up is the rankings. When I researched Business Schools, I did not just look into the current ranking but the trend over the past few years to understand whether or not the school is improving. I don't care about the rank today, but about the schools rank when I graduate, five, and ten years after graduation. That's when rankings count! When I decided to go to W&M for my MBA, the steady improvement in the rankings was a key factor in my decision. Today, W&M is ranked as follows (as of February 2019):
- Financial Times Global Ranking: 100 (first time in this ranking)
- Bloomberg: 30 (Steadily improved over the past few years)
- Wall Street Journal: 27 (The WSJ resumed the ranking again this year after a 12-year intermission)
Bottom line: The William & Mary MBA Program is what I call a Hidden Champion amongst the Business Schools in the States. The fact that it is climbing the ranking steadily makes it a really interesting option to look at when researching MBA Programs.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
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Mason provides a high level of education along with world renown professors (marketing/finance/supply chain/ops) that will prepare you well for life after b school. Unfortunately there is too much of an emphasis on school work as opposed to searching for a job, which brings down those too focused on grades.
Being close to DC means a wealth of opportunities as well as a good launching pad for networking. Strong alumni base in NYC as well as Asia means there are opportunities for those who want it. Mason also rides the coattail of William and Mary to offset its 30-40 MBA rank.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
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Mason School of Business is a part of the Colllege of William and Mary. William and Mary is a very prestigious college being a public ivy and has a history of educating leaders here in the US . Established in the late 17th century the college represents culture and a strong history of education. This was my motivation to join Mason School of Business.
I would rate my entire MBA experience as Very Good. The Mason School has great professors that come from a variety of fields and nationalities that brings a lot of diversity to the education style. My cohort had around 35% population of international students which was a great experience for me.
The MBA program the way it's designed gives students the opportunity to collaborate among each other , with the professors and also with the business world outside while solving real life business problems.
The Executive Partner (Coaching & Mentoring) program is one of the most innovative and positive aspect of the program . It gives students the opportunity to learn hands on from the people who have had decades of experience of handling businesses , leading corporations and even more.
Mason School of Business has certainly met all my expectations. Being an international I had a full time job offer before I graduated and I love each day at the office now.Although, I still feel that the Career Management Center at the Mason School of Business has room for improvement but there's certainly no shortage for commitment
To future applicants my suggestion would be to definitely research the curriculum of the MBA program they are considering as it plays a very important role. Speak at length with your admission representatives and feel free to connect with Professors as well. This will help you get the most out of your application and ultimately your MBA
It is a very well designed curriculum and the quality of professors is out standing . I would rate them 5/5 for that.
The schools needs to improve the career management center, more so for international students those require sponsorship to work. The career center is a team of very enthusiastic members who are always ready to help students but it still needs more exposure to corporates . But I would say hitting a job is not easy anywhere, you need to put to efforts to the right direction and results will be positive
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
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Academics experience was beyond my expectations. Faculty made sure I get fundamental business concepts. Case based curriculum helps to connect with real business world. Diversity and quality of classmates made the business school experience more rewarding. The Executive Partners program gave us opportunity to work with many industry leaders.
International students need to bring their A game to secure a good job opportunity. The students expecting to change their career path struggled most. The efforts taken by school for career opportunities are not good enough. The location of the school makes the job search even harder.
Networking is the only key to make your MBA successful.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
Schools contribution (3.0)
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Program has a lot of diversity in terms of nationality and background. Classroom discussions are very engaging and interesting,. Faculty is a huge plus for the school. Like all MBA programs, curriculum is rigorous and you will have to take time for job search. Location makes it a little difficult for international students to network for job search. Career management center is helpful but is limited in its reach. The school needs to improve its alum outreach programs in order to help students with the job search. Facilities are excellent since the building was completed in 2008. Overall I would say that if the school is very good in providing an MBA experience but career opportunities are limited especially if you are an international student.
Overall BSchool experience (3.0)
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My journey with Mason School of Business started back in the spring of 2013, when I first heard of it from someone who knew someone studying there. I believe that is how most international students end up choosing their schools. I was impressed by the professionalism and warmth of the admissions staff and was certainly awestruck by the beauty of the campus. Finally, when I had all of my offers, I ended up choosing Mason and joined their full-time MBA class of 2016. I will divide the remainder of my review into sections, the names of which would be self-explanatory.
1. Why I chose Mason: To put it simply, Mason was the best that I got. I know many students start preparing for GMAT dreaming of the IVY League, but in reality, maybe 1% or even less end up there. Mason was a decent option for me, it was ranked in the top 100 schools list of FT and was the best option for me considering several factors like tuition costs, scholarship etc.
2. What I liked about Mason:
Mason School of business has several areas where it shines out. Just to name a few-the faculty, executive partners, infrastructure, really thought out field trips, student community and corporate field consultancy projects. I am sure, any student doing their research on the school would find out more about the things I mentioned.
3. What I did not like about Mason:
The Career Services Department(called CMC by Masonites) could use some major improvement, if not a complete overhaul. I feel that this is one of the most important departments in any business school, because the ultimate aim of most people getting an MBA is to end up at a good job. While it is not that the CMC does not do its job at all, but its student support is definitely not up to the mark. What I also found is that most of the events it conducted, including inviting companies on campus, were less aimed towards the international students.
4. Did Mason meet my needs, goals and expectations?
To the most extent, yes. If I had to rate my overall experience, I would give it a 3.6/5. Most of my expectations were met. I got a good education and a valuable degree in the process, and to put it simply, I achieved some, if not most of my goals and I hope I would meet the rest of them in the coming years, I am still almost fresh out of school.
5. Will I recommend Mason to future students?
Yes, I will. Like most of the things that I have mentioned in my review so far, my experience was mostly positive. Most importantly, the school provides an environment very conducive to career growth and professional development. I may not be particularly happy with the CMC, but I know that they are not to be blamed alone, maybe I did not use them like I should've. But one thing is for certain, I wouldn't recommend an MBA to anyone who is under the impression that getting an MBA alone would take you places. Even if an MBA helps build the bridge to get to places, in the end it's still you who has to make the journey.
The way the MBA curriculum is set up at the school is quite brilliant, although I have a few gripes about it, mostly concerning the curriculum during the spring semester of second year. The work load on students is quite heavy during this semester, and considering that this is the final semester for full time students, most are busy looking for jobs (if you are not one of the lucky ones who has one already). I believe, a way to make this better would be to divide up the workload during the final year more evenly between the fall and the spring semester, considering that the fall semester is a cakewalk for most students. A way to do this is to offer a few of the electives during the fall semester as well, as most of them are now offered during spring.
Overall BSchool experience (3.0)
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