A reader of the blog, Manoj, asks for advice about visiting LBS. For the benefit of all the readers, I post my reply here.

Hi Patxi,

Trust you are doing well. My name is Manoj XXXX, and I am a potential applicant to LBS. I’m a big fan of your blog and a regular reader, although I have never commented on it. It’s a fun blog, and extremely informative.

While I’m originally from India, I’m currently in London on work and will be here for a few months more. Naturally, I plan to visit the School as many times as possible while here. I know you are extremely busy, what with school and all, but I was just looking for some sort of advice on what, if anything, I need to take or be prepared with prior to visiting. I’d also love to hear any tips you might have for me about LBS and B-school in general.

Hope to hear from you soon. And keep blogging!
Cheers,
Manoj.

First, apologies Manoj for the delay in responding. But my inbox is full and my calendar too.

Specific advice: Take advantage of the visit to discover those elements that are more difficult to be discovered by distance. How?

1. Try to picture yourself attending the school. It’s all about imagining. Would you fit in there? This is the most fundamental question you need to answer yourself. Plus, answer Why would I fit in here? Two years is a long commitment (plus a huge opportunity cost) if you just want to ticket punch. I recommend picking a school where you would fit, and know why. In addition, that is extremely helpful for the application process.
2. Discover what the school is about. All top schools have similar brochures, and all have great programs. But the highlights are different. And not only the highlights… Do they have specific strong areas? E’ship in LBS is fantastic, but you would not necessaraily guess it from the print material. My point is that all top schools are great, but with different spins. To do a car simil: BMW, MB and Audi are all great german mass luxury car manufacturers. But they all have different personalities. Drive them before you pick them. Same with B-school. Visit them all!
3. Try to go to a lecture, and talk with as many students as possible. This might be difficut during summer time. But is one of the best ways to discover the school. How is the people? How is the mix? How are their interactions?
4. Would you have fun in there? If you have fun, you will also learn more and take more advantage of it.

And these are my pointers. In my opinion, if you understand the place (which you can improve by visiting), you will choose better and also enjoy it better.

I hope this helps!