Finding the Right 'Fit'

"'Fit,' it turns out, is all about you, and how you'll fit into the puzzle that is your business school class"

By Erin Rupprecht

Related Items

• A Leap into Business School

Erin Rupprecht
NYU (Stern)
MBA Class of 2010

Story Tools

• post a comment
• e-mail this story
• print this story
• order a reprint
• suggest a story
• digg this
• save to del.icio.us

Now that I'm well into business school and have had some time to reflect on the application process, I have a confession to make: I have embraced "fit." Why is this a confession? Because during most of my business school application process, I hated "fit." Hate is a strong word, I know, but I'm going to have to stick by it. As I was applying, it seemed as though every business school information session referenced "fit" as a selection criterion. This would have been O.K. if it weren't for the fact that no one seemed to be able to define this elusive concept.

For those of you who are nodding your heads in frustrated agreement right now, here's the key: "fit" has everything to do with your answer to that ubiquitous application question, "Why do you want to attend [insert B-school name here]?" "Fit," it turns out, is all about you, and how you'll fit into the puzzle that is your B-school class. It's your intelligence, sense of humor, life experiences, work ethic, and your tolerance for (or embracing of) teamwork. It's also, quite frankly, the degree to which the Type A personality that got you this far is going to help or hinder your education and that of your classmates. At the same time, the business schools you are applying to will have their own personalities and fits with you.

I chose well when I chose Stern, and I think that's because, as it turns out, I was researching fit all along (even as I denied its existence and fervently wished admissions personnel would be just a little more specific). So, in the interest of specificity, here's my advice: visit, visit, visit. It can be expensive, I know, and time-consuming, but you are about to spend two years of your life and a significant sum of money on attending business school. An up-front investment to ensure that you're choosing wisely is a smart move.

reality check

A visit is also a good opportunity to do a personal fact-check on the things you hear from blogs, chat rooms, and other resources. If you can, try to time your visit during one of the student-organized conferences—I visited Stern during the Stern Women in Business Conference last spring (ladies, save the date for Feb. 6, 2009), and it provided a phenomenal view of the extremely talented women that Stern attracts, as well as the strong corporate relationships maintained by the school and its clubs (very important when it comes to the job search).

I've realized that "fit" is not made up—it's real. The better you can identify and communicate that fit in your application essay and interview, the stronger an applicant you'll be and the better the experience you'll have at your chosen business school. So you may be wondering how my own experience at Stern is going so far, and whether it's delivered on the promise of fit. In a word, yes.

In this journal entry, I'd like to look at this fit through the prism of academics. As a career switcher, I've been pleased at how Stern's flexible curriculum complements what I see as a "whole-person" admissions process. By this I mean a process that looks at what each admitted student will bring to the classroom. It means there's room for me, a former federal government bureaucrat getting in on the ground floor of business, as well as the others drawn to Stern's phenomenal finance program, for whom the MBA is a way to further advance their already distinguished finance careers. How does that work in the classroom?

It works by keeping me out of the finance folks' way as they pursue their interests and I pursue mine, but also by encouraging a "skills cross-pollination" (my words—more on this later) as we are brought together for the nonfinance courses that we all take together in our 70-person blocks. So, for example, this semester I am taking marketing, while many of my classmates are taking foundations of finance.