As MBAs have moved online since the COVID pandemic students have experienced significant changes in their programs. Being online has been a burden and a blessing for some. I’m speaking on a panel about some of the changes in Ed-Tech this week, and I’ll post the link then. Right now I want to focus on geography, or where a school is located.
Schools that are located in desirable locations will be less affected than schools that are not. At ESMT, a large majority of the class selected ESMT because it was in Berlin. Students were accepted into higher ranked schools but Berlin mattered more to them. There are obviously other factors here, but a major advantage schools have in attracting students is where they are based.
If programs radically change and start providing online classes as well, then it’s far more appealing to students to still be in the city of the school, rather than stay home. What’s the attraction of being in Princeton NJ, when you can still get a degree from Princeton NJ while living in Paris, or New York? Or, based on the protests now, why would you want to move to Minneapolis for school if you can get your degree from the safety of your hometown?
Maybe the impact of COVID and the civil protests in the US won’t have lasting changes on the way students evaluate schools, but I’m willing to bet that is not true. Students want to study in places that create healthy and fun environments for them, and right now, there are more options than just campus, and that’s a good thing in my mind.