In this episode, we chatted with Barbara Coward and explored the theme of belonging, and specifically the role Fellow Students play with bringing joy to student’s lives.
Some of the themes that were discussed were the importance of belonging on campus, schools who are rocking that in the recruitment process, and tips to find joy in the admissions and student experience.
Barbara is an internationally-acclaimed Admissions Consultant and a Top Ten LinkedIn Voice 2020 in the Education field. Barbara coaches MBA candidates through the competitive admissions process and she also contributes to prominent publications including Business Insider, Poets&Quants, the Financial Times and Money. You can follow her on LinkedIn via this link.
According to Barbara, nowadays there is a lot bigger focus on belonging – for example via diversity weekends et cetera. There really seems to be this emphasis on making sure that students truly belong there, as well as feel good during their time on campus.
“One thing I give a lot of credit for business schools these days, is that there is a lot of focus on belonging.” -Barbara Coward
One thing that can create more stress for students is deciding which schools they should apply for – the amount of options can be overwhelming. There are different kinds of school rankings that can give some information. Barbara, however, recommends contacting with current students and alumni for actual and personal advice.
Most often students and alumni have created a bond with their school and thus they enjoy sharing their experiences. Messaging a current student or alum does not need to be that formal and you can hear tips and stories that you might not have heard anywhere else.
“There’s this understanding, that desire to help; but there is also a real person on the other side.” -Barbara Coward
Some students might face stress when it comes to big groups and being a part of the community. Even though most students might meet hundreds of people during their time in college, it does not mean that one needs to have a huge group of friends to belong genuinely. The quality of the relationships is often more important than the quantity of them.
If someone would have hard time connecting with their peers on their campus, it is lucky that nowadays networking and meeting people can also be done online. Also, asking help from the school’s administrators or faculty members can also be helpful. School employees are most of the time extremely helpful and want to support their school’s students’ wellbeing and happiness in the campus.
“You don’t have to have a whole group of people – just even one person to look out for you can make a huge difference.” Barbara Coward
If you are interested hearing more about this topic, you can listen to this week’s episode on every major podcast platform, as well as via this link.
And please follow Barbara Coward on LinkedIn.
We wish everyone a joyful week!
