Orientation Is Getting Longer
At many MBA programs, what used to be a brief meet-and-greet epoch is now an education in itself
through Francesca Levy
On a recent earnest time in Pittsburgh, as one attendee recounts it, a middle-aged man with tufts of white hair and a broad grin, elicited a engage of loyalty from in an opposite direction 200 incoming MBA students at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. "He talked about commitment, and he asked, ‘are you nimble?’" says Wendy Hermann, the train’s guide of student services. "And they all said, ‘we are ready!’"
No, this was not a tent revival, nor a motivational seminar. John Mather is the executive director of master’s programs at Tepper, and his proof was a welcome to the incoming MBA class at their fall orientation. "It was a exceedingly church-like moment," says Hermann.
For manifold who attended business denomination more than five or 10 years ago, MBA orientations may seem unrecognizable. What was once a few days tacked in continuance at the front of the semester, used as a time to share names, explain the course load, and distribute a map of the school grounds, has morphed into something altogether different. For various schools, orientation is now a highly programmed, committee-designed, and rigorous conduct. Administrators use the orientation period to accomplish a host of weighty goals—from instilling a sense of ethical responsibility in students to helping them overtake up on essential math skills and prepare conducive to an ever-earlier recruiting schedule (BusinessWeek.com, 6/8/08).
In order to accommodate these mounting demands on student attention, a number of MBA programs have stretched their orientation schedules out by days or even weeks. Orientations at the top business schools are often two-week programs, and some stretch to a month long—aim "fall orientation" often begins in late July.
Orientation Highlights
This year alone, many programs have lengthened their fall orientation to allow their career-services departments to play a greater role. Tepper, because of example, doubled its program from last year’s isolated week to two weeks this year—and that’s up from three days in 1993. New York University’s Stern School of Business added three days to its orientation, lengthening it to more than a week. At Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, what once was a one-week MBA orientation is now a three-week preceptive "pre-term" including required coursework.
Many programs have beefed up the career-services final state of orientation, incorporating a self-evaluation and assessment into the career department’s presentation. "Our conduct services has refocused their core programming to be more self-reflective for students," says Ann Harvilla, associate dean and dean of students for full-time MBA programs at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. "We ask: What does it take to be a leader? What are your weaknesses, and what can you work on?"
International students are a particular focus of orientation. Virtually all MBA programs have advance programming exclusively by reason of international students. These students have an even heftier schedule, as their need for orientation—figuring in a puzzle where they are in relationship to where they’re going—is often somewhat more literal. "For nine days in August, we teach a select group of international students who haven’t had platonistic experience in the United States about communication, culture, and social norms," says Amy DiMattia, associate director of MBA student affairs at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
From: Orientation Is Getting Longer
