Excited about school again?

I've been talking for a while about applying to business school this year and thanks to Joanne's dogged determination to apply Round 1 (early October) to some schools, I've decided to follow her example and throw my hat in the ring now instead of waiting another several months for the January/December deadlines. To that end, I've been spending some time this weekend researching which schools I want to apply to and which are really my top picks. And its actually been a really fun process because I've gotten incredibly excited twice today about different possibilities...

It really is amazing how much can be conveyed about a school through its website...How well a job does Olin do? Do prospective Oliners view the site with the excitement and enthusiasm for learning that's hit me over the head?

So what's gotten me so excited today?

Northwestern University (Kellogg)

• MMM - A Joint Degree program where students earn the master of business administration (MBA) and the master of engineering management (MEM)
• "MMM students learn a systems approach to managing a company: “design thinking” to develop products and services that are innovative and customer-focused, and “process thinking” to eliminate operational waste in production and delivery. This unique combination of skills permits MMM graduates to take a total view of a company’s products and services."
• Focus in either Design or Operations
• This sounds perfect...
• Experiential Learning called out on website
• Labs Include:
• Advanced Studies in Board Governance
• Analytics Consulting Lab
• A Practicum managing B-school’s endowment
• Buyout Lab
• Intrapreneurship: Corporate Innovation & New Ventures
• Entrepreneurship & New Venture Formulation
• Global Initiatives in Management
• Global Lab
• Leading the Mission Driven Enterprises
• Management Lab
• Nonprofit Board Governance
• Sustainability Lab
• Venture Lab

University of California - Berkeley (Haas)

• Entire Section of their website devoted to Experiential Learning (i.e. "APPLIED")
• "Leading Through Innovation" as the marketing slogan complete with 20+ examples of how they've done something innovative in the last few years.
• You've got to love a school that says this on their frontpage: "Berkeley MBA students possess confidence without attitude, and are distinguished by their strong desire to get involved and make the world a better place."
• Got me sufficiently interested in an article on Innovation in Services that I actually paid $6 for a copy.