Friday, September 02, 2005

biz school websites

This is what I would call a rant... but here goes.

I've been looking at web sites of various biz schools to try to get a better feel of what they offer, etc. etc. Some are good, some are bad. Yes, they're full of surprises.

So far I've looked at Kellogg, Fuqua, U Chicago, Tuck, and Yale. So which one's outstanding?

U Chicago - Great school with a great reputation. Yes, everyone knows you, but you could really put some effort into your site's content. It tells me the most obvious things. Yes... great faculty, looking for diversity, great education. Of course! I challenge you to find a biz school that *doesn't* say any of those things. Would it be so hard for you to do a little bit more and work off the Chicago brand and try to differentiate yourself from all the other top schools?

Tuck - Awesome site. Provides a lot of information that really tries to give the essense of the Tuck experience. None of it was really new to me, but it certainly helped reinforce my image of what life at Tuck would be. The comraderie, the random sports, and the quality of the alumni network. Chicago GSB, you could learn from these guys. Anyone applying to either Chicago or Tuck is clearly looking for a quality program with great academics, diversity, etc. What us prospective students want to evaluate is fit, and other stuff that sets schools apart from each other. Tuck does an excellent job with this. Chicago fails.

Yale - Amateurish site. Not to talk smack, but I really expect a top notch school to have a site that's somewhat up to date. The Yale site has second class graphic design, poor organization, and poor communication design. The pages are a chore to read. The content is dry. It reads like a course catalog. How about something that would lead me to believe that this is a school that real people actually go to? The rational mindset brought me to your door. Now please try to use the emotional aspect to make me feel that it's OK to even consider stepping across the threshold... or at the very least, don't make me feel like turning away!


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