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Events – Tour Overview

There are a number of companies which host event tours where business schools and students can learn more about each other all over the world. All of them present a similar mission but have unique differences that make their services more or less relevant to different students. For example, while one may attract more schools, the other offers more exclusive seminars and personalized interactions. Among them, both the QS Top MBA’s World MBA Tour and The MBA tour are MBA fairs designed to foster interaction between business schools and prospective MBA students.

World MBA Tour

The QS Top MBA World MBA Tour is the world's largest MBA information fair, featuring many MBA programs including top 80 business schools. Each year, it attracts about 70,000 prospective business school students worldwide. At the fair, students can discover a considerable amount of information about MBA programs and other issues surrounding MBA admissions and business education.

The fair covers a wider range of topics. These include: building an application, choosing between an MBA or other types of post graduate degrees, and master classes by industry professionals and educators alike. QS also offers scholarship funding to qualified students. In order to be considered, the student must attend the fair. Additionally, schools may give attendees information about upcoming interview opportunities or info-sessions that the school is hosting. Some students may even get the chance to be invited to interview after a particularly successful face-to-face meeting.

The QS World MBA Tour, while it may lack in terms of an intimate and personal setting, more than makes up for that in terms of its wide variety of seminars, information opportunities, and sheer number of participating universities and organizations. They also offer a free MBA guide, and research materials available on their website. They recommend that prospective students come prepared and knowledgeable about highlights of the schools they are interested, and other relevant admissions data.

The MBA Tour

The MBA tour, founded in 1993, is another major MBA Tour organization. According to their website, they have hosted more than 165 events in 28 countries. The MBA Tour is the smaller of the two, and provides more personalized services, where a carefully selected group of programs can hold seminars to groups of interested students. The MBA tour is an information source for both students and b-schools; both are given the chance to learn about each other and have face-to-face interaction. For schools, The MBA Tour provides assistance in recruiting logistics, contacts in local markets, and prospective students around the world. For students, the events are held in a format similar to an educational conference. The schools present conduct all seminars and panels.

The MBA Tour is unique in terms of its screening process for the participating schools. Due to its size, the representatives from the schools are full time staff members at the events. They host panels and seminars and are available for individual discussions about their programs to the attendees. The MBA Tour believes that this maximizes the prospective students’ experiences, enabling them to get the most information out of their visits. However, there is a limited number of participating schools and students.