Please help with this question ..

Graduate School Business School - MBA
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<p>May I dare ask this seemingly taboo question - why is community service important for all MBA aspirants when most MBA grads from top B schools end up taking jobs in financial or consulting services, where they end up being either in an investment banker or other regular consulting jobs. A recent employment statistic for one of the top 5 schools says that over 70% went into the above two industries. A person in these professions in fact does not have to do anything with the community unless and until he or she is at the top of the ladder in these companies, at which point they end up doing humanitarian work again because it indirectly is good for their company (which by the way is for-profit) . Is this not true? </p>

<p>I do understand the importance of community service for some mba-aspirants though, such as the ones wanting to go into for-profits. Also community work shows that the person is willing to work with community at large and therefore can be a business leader of tomorrow who will be willing to shape the future of community. But again, how realistic this assumption is for all MBA-aspirants. All adcoms have to do is to look at the statistics of their own mba-grads and notice that only a very tiny percentage (probably 1-2%) end up engaging directly with the community right after their mba-graduation. Most of the ones going to financial services will never in their life do so, and this is true even for the likes of HBS. My point is, if your admission essays say that you are doing mba solely for learning business, then whether you did community service or not is immaterial. As an example, if someone technology engineer wanted to do mba to do lead a business in hi-tech, then community service should not matter and adcoms should not look for it. I see some really non-interesting people, such as engineers. who are mba-aspirants and they do community volunteer work, such as work with elderly people, and then they go to wharton, and join financial services as a banker and that is the end of their community involvement. And many openly admit that they are doing so it looks good on their resume. In my opinion, nothing could be worse than doing such stuff for the sake of admission.</p>

<p>Can you guys give me your point of view on the above.. It will be very helpful...</p>

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<p>really.. no one..</p>

3

<p>For the sake of admission would be wrong. The attractiveness of community service indicates community involvement, which in of itself says a lot about the person's character, time management, and dedication to their surroundings. Community involvement also indicates that the person is "real" in that they can relate their environment and interact within it, unlike many high GPA high GMAT individuals that have no people skills, pasty white skin, and high score on some role playing game. Community involvement is also a place that leadership skills can be easily developed and practiced. Whereas, in a corporate setting you are more likely to be surrounded by peers of current levels, educations, backgrounds, and/or commitments this may and mostly likely will not be the case in situtations in the civil service world.</p>

<p>That's my 2 cents.</p>

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<p>The assertion that it is important for all MBA applicants simply isn't true. It's a piece of an applicant's overall profile which may or may not be important to the applicant's acceptance to graduate business school. There are many other factors that are far more important to admission (ie Work Experience, GMAT, essays, etc).</p>