As the world reels in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week, the MBA admissions community is feeling ripples as well, with admissions events and applicant interviews scheduled there and elsewhere in India canceled or postponed by several schools.
QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a leading career and education network, has canceled each of the four stops planned this month in India as part of its 2008 World MBA Tour, which brings admissions officers from top MBA programs around the globe face to face with prospective applicants in their native countries. This year’s QS India Tour, which was slated to include fairs in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, will be rescheduled for sometime in January 2009, according to the QS website.
Top schools whose admissions officers were scheduled to visit India as part of the QS MBA World Tour included London Business School, Emory University’s Gozieta Business School and UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School, among others.
QS will provide additional information about events as they are rescheduled on its website later this month. Candidates for these events are encouraged to register online now in order to receive email notification of the new dates. “We hope that peace and order will be restored quickly,” read the QS website. “Our thoughts are with those affected by the terrorist attacks.”
According to blog posts by hopeful MBA applicants, some schools also have canceled applicant interviews in New Delhi and Mumbai as a result of the terrorist attacks.
“As I had expected last night, Emory mailed to inform that their trip stands canceled, although this information has gone out only to applicants interviewing in Delhi and Mumbai so far,” wrote blogger ahembeea on his blog, B School Bound, on November 27th. “My one chance to interview in person with the adcom now stands squashed,” he continued.
INSEAD, too, has postponed an EMBA Information Session scheduled for New Dehli until sometime in January.
Obviously, our thoughts here at Clear Admit go out first and foremost to the families of those directly affected by the terrorist attacks. But we also certainly understand the frustrations felt by prospective MBA applicants whose opportunities to meet in person with school representatives will be impacted as a result and will do our best to keep our readers informed of any additional canceled or postponed events as we become aware of them.
