Are you interested in becoming an international manager?
Would you like to have a qualification that can enable you to work anywhere in the world?
Then you should be considering taking an MBA and you should be thinking about which business school will be right for you.
How does anyone about to embark on one of the major personal investments in their lifetime
(certainly more important than buying a house because it will affect your stream of income
for the rest of your life) make a decision? A systematic process for making your business
school choice should be adopted. World MBA Tour/topmba.com conducts annual research of 300
business schools, 35,000 MBA applicants and 3000 MBA recruiters to assist you, and some of
the findings are summarised below.
How do I start thinking about which MBA I should take?
ˇˇOver 100,000 people a year choose to study for an MBA all over the world. According to
research conducted by ourselves, the following are the most often cited reasons for people to take an MBA:
- achieve career progression
- obtain new skills
- assist a career change
- achieve a salary increase
- broaden horizons/education
The first thing to do when considering business school is to try to narrow
down the types of career you might like to pursue, balanced by a realistic self-assessment
of your current abilities and skills base. Examine your motives carefully. Determining
where you want to work after your studies should be a major part of this process.
Why ask these questions first? For practical reasons, most
business school application forms ask for your career aspirations. They want
to see a clear, cogent explanation of where you want to be in the future and
why that school can help you get there. For example, if you think you want to
become a management consultant or an investment banker with starting salaries
of over US$90,000, there are only 50 or 60 international business schools where
these companies actively recruit, of which 50% are in the US.
Which criteria should I use to select a school?
Research indicates that the most popular criteria for choosing a business school
are the following:
| 1 |
International reputation/prestige
Reputation amongst recruiters is an indicator of the quality of a program
and 65% of respondents identified this as very important. |
| 2 |
Profile of participants
Average level of work experience, average GMAT score, percentage who are
from overseas, educational background, languages required, success of alumni.
50% of respondents identified this as very important |
| 3 |
Quality of research and reputation locally
How the school is regarded by employers in the country in which one aims
to work is clearly significant, as well as its reputation for producing
original research. 41% of respondents identified this as very important. |
| 4 |
Teaching style and specialisations
40% of respondents identified this as a very important factor, choosing
between a case method approach verses taught courses, or group projects.
Or choosing a school for a particular specialist focus like entrepreneurship,
or technology management. |
| 5 |
Flexibility and convenience
How does program to meet your personal requirements: Part-time, one year,
near by etc, was very important to 22% of respondents |
| 6 |
Low Cost
Identified as very important by only 19% of respondents |
Which information sources should I use?
MBA Applicants are faced with a large range of rankings and information sources. Rankings are a popular
method for determining school reputation, but with so many rankings, all producing different results,
it is becoming quite complex for applicants to judge which are the best schools.
In the context of our MBA Applicant research, respondents were asked which information courses they found
very useful in their search. Face-to-face meetings with representatives of the schools proved to be the
most popular information source for MBA applicants (80% of respondents found the World MBA Tour very useful).
Business Week rankings and The MBA Career Guide were the next most popular sources of information. Details on
all key criteria can be found within these two information sources. University web sites and brochures were
also popular, followed by various other published rankings.
ˇˇ
|
World MBA Tour |
Business Week |
The MBA Career Guide/
topmba.com |
University/
School Website |
University/
School Brochure |
FT |
US News &
World Reports |
The Economist |
Wall Street Journal |
| 80.30% |
77.20% |
68.60% |
61.80% |
55.40% |
49.00% |
42.50% |
38.20% |
35.30% |
How much time can I realistically invest in an MBA? What can I afford
to pay?
The standard period for an international full time MBA in the US is two years. Schools such as Wharton,
Harvard and Stanford are costing approximately US$34,000 for tuition per annum. In Europe, London Business
School offers a two year program, whereas IMD, INSEAD, Cranfield, Warwick and other leading programs are one year.
In Europe, the annual cost of an MBA can be as little as £5000 or as much as £31,000 for tuition, with books and
living expenses a further expenses. However financial aid opportunities exist that can make the most costly programs
affordable. Scholarships are offered by a variety of organisations, and many local banks offer low-start loans for
the period of your study. Individuals are advised to apply to the school of their choice and when doing so make
specific enquiries about funding options.
Distance learning study is also a serious alternative. Over 25,000 people are now using distance learning for an
MBA or similar diploma with British institutions. Average costs for distance learning vary from £4,000 to £20,000
spread over 3 to 8. Within the Distance Learning arena, the schools most often referenced by HR Directors in The
MBA Career Guide research included: Aston, Durham, Henley, Heriot-Watt, Manchester Business School Distance MBA,
Open Business School, Strathclyde and Warwick.
How do I find a job after my MBA?
Each business school has a career service department designed to assist
students with their job search. Schools attract companies to come on campus to
present to and interview students. The Wharton School in Philadelphia attracts
as many as 600 companies on campus, of which roughly 400 are US-based
recruiters and 200 are international recruiters. INSEAD and LBS both attract
about 200 companies on campus, most of which are international recruiters. |
