New MBAs get USB Flash Drives

Pamplin MBA USB Memory

Students offered admission to the MBA program received a small welcome gift in their information packets this spring: a 128 MB USB flash drive containing information about the MBA program and graduate student life at Virginia Tech.

The slide show, narrated by Pamplin’s associate dean for graduate programs, Steve Skripak, includes snapshots of the Drill Field, Burruss Hall, and other campus landmarks and information on class registration, courses, setting up a PID, various campus resources, housing, and the traditional MBA Quest orientation (a series of team-building outdoor exercises).

“The presentation supplements materials from the Graduate School and our MBA program office,” says Melanie Johnston, associate director of MBA marketing and recruitment. Screen shots provide examples of the Web sites mentioned in the Graduate School’s admitted student material, she says, allowing students to see clearly where various student resources can be found online.

“Students can view the slide show as often as needed, using it as a guide for everything they need to know as new students. There’s also plenty of leftover capacity in the drives for students to store new information.”

The USB drives are inscribed with the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business logo on one side and “Pamplin MBA” on the other and are attached to a handy maroon and orange lanyard. Johnston, who came up with the idea of giving out the drives and did some informal research on the subject, believes that Virginia Tech is the first school to use USB drives as a promotional tool aimed specifically at admitted MBA students. “Yield strategies” at some MBA programs have featured iPods and other, more costly, technology devices, she says, but she likes the idea of a USB drive, “because it is so simple and practical. It is about technology, function, and efficiency. Everyone uses these devices.”