<p>hi - i'm in the process of applying to b-school and had a question about interviews. i applied to a bunch of boston schools (harvard, bc, bu, northeastern) and i have an interview request from bu already. they are kind of a safety/potential scholarship school for me. i just finished apps in the past week, so i'm (hopefully!) going to have more interviews. because i'm working right now, i'd rather not take more than one trip up to boston to interview and obviously, the most important school for me up there is harvard. so, do i wait to hear from bc and possibly harvard and try to schedule a few interviews for one trip, or do i do a phone interview with bu, or do i suck it up and take more than one trip up to boston? how much does it matter whether your interview is on the phone or face to face?</p>
<p>i also applied to schools in LA (UCLA anderson, USC marshall), stanford, and smu and ut mccombs (but i live in dallas, so the TX interviews shouldn't be too hard to get to if necessary). so, i may need to take a trip to LA and to SF as well - and i'm guessing i'll have to take at least a day or two if i need to interview at smu and mccombs. </p>
<p>just as some background info, harvard and stanford may be long shots for me - my gmat is a 750 and my undergrad gpa 3.9, but i worked for 2 years in i-banking and then left to spend 2 years teaching elementary school before b-school, so my work experience is relatively short for those top schools. i definitely explain why i decided to teach in my apps (working with underprivileged kids, etc) and why i need an mba (skills to go into PE/VC), but compared to the mean, i really only have 2 years of post-grad business experience.</p>
<p>any advice about interviews would be great - i've read a bunch of the books, but this site has some great feedback about b-school and i'd love to hear different takes. thanks!</p>
<p>Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. Trying to schedule all the interviews in one trip will send a message to the schools that you aren't as interested in their school as you should be. Though, if the other schools call before your trip you can always say "It so happens that I will be there from date x to date y for personal reasons if it would be of convenience to meet then." And then see what they say.</p>
<p>haha, good point operadad - i know that interviews are stronger in person, i guess i'm trying to weasel out of having to take a bunch of trips. i just got 2 more interview requests, and neither is in boston, so i'd better start planning! not that i'm complaining - more options is a good thing. thanks for your advice.</p>
<p>You got yourself into this predicament by looking at a lot of schools that you are a shoe-in at. If you were to not visit a school like Boston U, they would probably look at your credentials and assume you are not interested. That happened to me with a top 30 school. I was more than qualified to get in, but decided not to visit in person (it was lower on my list, and I had been to the city before and frankly didn't want to waste the time on a trip). They waitlisted me. Later they called me up to see if I was still "interested" but I had already chosen my school by that time. </p>
<p>Some schools care more about whether you visit in person or not (especially a smaller program, IMO). Some say that it doesn't matter, but I know for a fact that it can help even at some of those programs.</p>
<p>thank you vectorwega - that's probably some of the best advice i've received. i would really like to keep all of my options open - even if a school isn't my top school, i'd rather have a lot to choose from - so your advice makes me realize i really need to interview at all of the schools in person. i was leaning towards that, but realizing that i might be wait-listed otherwise seals the deal. thanks again ~</p>