Archive for July, 2010

6 Tips to Selecting MBA Schools in the US – Success Notes From Among the Leading U.S admissions consultants

Why the United States?

Consider this

(1) The U.S is the birthplace of the M.B.A and continues to innovate in management education, includes a thorough, rigorous case study driven format with lectures who are not “plain o’l theoreticians” but practicing consultants (Often the MBA will give you exposure to live consulting assignments that not only bring in knowledge but also bring in valuable U.S experience on your resume!)

(2) A U.S degree opens up doors worldwide – other than the U.S itself, you will be recognized in any other country in the world – be it Timbuktu or the UK! Conversely, a degree from say, New Zealand, may carry value in New Zealand but may not be well recognized/immediately recognized beyond New Zealand! That does restrict your choices to the single country! Figures indicate that the United States hosts the most number of international students than any other country in the world. U.S. MBA programs are well recognized and MBA schools in US constantly top world rankings. An MBA degree from a University in US is highly sought-after by employers worldwide.

Which one of the top MBA schools in US should I choose?

To make it simpler for aspirants we have divided the MBA schools in US into four clusters in order of their latest rankings. Depending on various factors such as your GMAT score, professional profile and experience, scholarship goals and other specific-to-you details, you can plan to apply to a given cluster/group.

Top 10 and Ivy Leagues

Top10: This group includes The University of Chicago (Booth), Harvard University, Northwestern University (Kellogg), University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), University of Michigan (Ross), Stanford University, Columbia University, Duke University (Fuqua), MIT (Sloan), and UC Berkeley (Haas) Ivy League Member Institutions: Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania and Yale University and Brown University

Top 11 – 30: This group includes Cornell University (Johnson), Dartmouth (Tuck), NYU (Stern), UCLA (Anderson), Indiana University (Kelley), University of Virginia (Darden), UNC – Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler), Southern Methodist (Cox), Carnegie Mellon (Tepper), University of Notre Dame (Mendoza), Texas – Austin, Brigham Young (Marriott), Emory University (Goizueta), Yale University, University of Southern California (Marshall), University of Maryland (Smith), University of Washington (Foster), Washington University (Olin), Georgia Tech, and Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Top 30 till ranked: This group includes Arizona State University (Carey), Babson, Boston University, UC Irvine (Merage), University of Connecticut, George Washington University, Georgetown University (McDonough), Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Iowa (Tippie), Michigan State (Broad), University of Minnesota (Carlson), Ohio State University (Fisher), Purdue University (Krannert), Rochester (Simon) and Thunderbird.

Other reputed U.S. Programs Also Considered for Ranking: This group includes American University (Kogod), University of Arizona (Eller), Boston College (Carroll), University at Buffalo, UC Davis, Case Western University (Weatherhead), University of Florida, Florida International University, Fordham University, University of Georgia (Terry), Howard University, University of Miami, Northeastern University, Pennsylvania State University (Smeal), Pepperdine University (Graziadio), University of Pittsburgh (Katz), Rice University (Jones), Rutgers University, University of South Carolina (Moore), Syracuse University (Whitman), University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Texas A&M, Texas Christian University, Tulane University (Freeman), Wake Forest University, William and Mary (Mason), and University of Wisconsin-Madison

What do I need to make it to a top MBA school in US?

The following are key eligibility criteria for applying to top MBA Universities in the US:

Minimum education criteria of 16 years i.e. four years of education after Junior College/High school GMAT score of 650 and onwards Good TOEFL score / Essays Stable Work Experience with good position/designation/responsibility and salary growth (preferred 2 years+) Good/stable/consistently performing academic record Really well done and well presented admissions essays, recommendation letters and a US Pattern resume

The whole essence of MBA universities in US preferring aspirants with good prior work experience is that such students can easily apply their experience to the theoretical concepts they meet in the classrooms. As management is no hard science, the most essential quality that all MBA schools in US try to groom students in – is to make right decisions by choosing the best options available. Most top MBA schools in US believe that experienced professionals offer specialized perspectives along with professionalism and maturity to the program. Thus the quality of work experience also matters while your selection in top MBA programs in the US.

What is the process I need to follow?

Your admissions are supposed to get tougher as you go higher up the rankings. In order to get a top MBA school in US, you must have attained strong academic records with high test (GMAT) scores; obtained sufficient financing, developed good command over English and stellar work experience. The admission process is a long one and usually begins quite a few months before you start your MBA program in the US.

Immigration: The Immigration and Naturalization Department (INS) holds the authority to grant you the permission to enter US legally. There are various requirements from good health to your duration of stay etc which needs to be satisfied before your entry into an MBA university in US.

How should I Finance my dream?

One should have a clear idea about the cost he is going to incur for a MBA program in the US beforehand. This is because you are required to prove you have the necessary financial resources in order to obtain an international student visa. The cost can be high but be rest assured that an MBA in US is an investment that will benefit you for the rest of your life. One can apply for scholarships for international students or even international students loan to finance his MBA program in the US.

What after MBA in the US?

The American MBA works as an entry ticket to great companies across the globe. The United States is a diversity driven economy that rewards (a) Hard Work (b) Focus. Assuming that these criteria are met, you will reap the finest rewards for your talents, efforts and investments on American shores.

Click Here for a more free MBA admissions tips and a free 20 minute consultation with a certified U.S MBA admissions expert

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What is the scope of MBA in Entrepreneurship Programs?

As we all know MBA has a reputed stand in the industry when it comes to work with top multi- national companies. So, all you aspiring professionals must try your hands on MBA!

Business management courses delivers knowledge in management, data stock, data withdrawal and business study to categorize, track and develop key processes and information of any organization. Over all, it makes you fully skilled and equipped with fight against any situation and grows the business further. If we talk about any specific business course that guarantees a success in your professional life by identifying and monitoring the trends of corporate, competitor and market performance then MBA in Entrepreneurship programs would be the best one to choose!

Scope of MBA in Entrepreneurship programs

MBA in Entrepreneurship programs (MBA- ED) is a course specially designed for those who are interested to gain a command over hard core business decisions. In today’s competitive business era, you need to be ahead of others to get the best. Business degree in Entrepreneurship programs trains you to be a leader in your relevant filed. MBA- ED is a must have for small scale business owners or any individual who wants to stand out in the industry by effective handling their ventures and by taking it to the next level of success. Any one who possesses this degree automatically comes in the limelight through their unmatched skills to develop business. Hence, becomes the first preference of many renowned companies.

Career Prospects in MBA Entrepreneurship

Any one with a business degree in Entrepreneurship is all set to rule the industry with their own skill and knowledge. Apart from this, all companies love to hire professionals who need less training and can individually handle the business projects. Here by the scope of career growth in this field is immensely high!

Incorporating Business Concepts in Your MBA Essay

Incorporating business ideas into your MBA admission essay is a very good way of coming up with an engaging piece.  Doing so can make an impression that you are open to business ideas even though you haven’t taken up a business course in college.

Writing five important business ideas that you can include in your MBA essay

The different ideas you put into your essay are what make it substantial.  So if you want to convince the admissions officers that you have the interest and the intelligence to study in a business school, you have to show these off through your MBA  essay.  You can talk about business ideas in your essay.  The first step is to think about the five business ideas that you should include in your essay.  You have to read relevant materials to help you come up with five brilliant ideas.  Business magazines and online articles on business are among the best materials you can read.  Thousands of students who come before you have used business ideas as the focus of their work, so to make yours unique, you have to think outside the box.  Try to analyze various ideas and combine these with some of your own.  Try to read different kinds of materials, including those that are not directly about business concepts.  This will help you find other concepts that could help you render uniqueness to the ideas you are planning to include in your MBA admissions essay.  You can also ask your peers to help you think about the ideas that would grab the interest of the admissions committee.

Relating these business ideas to personal experiences

The best way to present business ideas is by connecting these to your experiences.  You have to explain some events in the past or even in the present that made you come up with those ideas.  Showing what motivates you to create these ideas through anecdotes would make your essay interesting.  Even if you don’t have very original or fresh business ideas, as long as you present these through your unique experiences, the admissions committee would be hooked with your work.  Aside from experiences, you can also relate your long term goals to your business ideas.  This would give  readers the impression that you are a goal-oriented and a forward-looking person.  

Making your case: stating why you want an MBA degree even though you haven’t taken up business courses in college

If you have not taken any business course in college, yet you want to take an MBA degree, you can still have better chances of evoking the interest of the admissions officers.  Your situation would make them curious of why you have decided to enroll in an MBA graduate school.  You can use the curiosity of the admissions committee to your advantage.  To do this, you have to develop an introduction that would invite the readers to finish reading your essay.  You can emphasize the fact that you have not taken business courses in the past at the beginning of your essay, and then you can explain your reasons in the body.  The best way to state your reason is by citing relevant events in your life that pushed you to get an MBA degree.  Try to think of one life-changing event and focus on this.  You have to make sure that your sentences and paragraphs revolve around your theme.

Nancy Haverford is a graduate of a prestigious business school. She currently gives free MBA essay sample outlines to be used as guides. She also offers tips in critiquing MBA essay samples.

MBA Essay Writing Help

MBA Essay Writing Help

However, like any other media, there is a need to attract the attention of the people. The inclusion of original MBA essays on your web site is one way to increase traffic, but most people don’t find it comfortable to write a fresh piece of content. They lack the ability to make their MBA essay unique, so they try to copy content from other web sites.

The following discussion will assist you to develop the original ideas for your MBA essays:

The common Internet user surf the web sites to get information on a particular topic and this need makes the How To MBA essays very informative. Writing a How To MBA essay is very simple.

“How To” MBA essays follow a simple step-by-step formula. First, sketch out the basic structure of the topic in your mind. Provide details of the various processes involved in carrying out that particular task. Add some additional information under each of these steps. It is important to write a short yet attention-grabbing introduction. For this, you can use your knowledge of the subject or simply explain the reasons expressing the significance of your “How To.”

MBA essay Providing Useful Tips

These MBA essays are really appreciated, as the reader gets useful tips for a particular task. The Tips MBA essays also begin with introduction in which you can explain the idea of saving time and improving life by following the given Tips.

Writing this MBA essay is very simple. Every person tries to save time in their daily routine by following certain shortcuts. You can provide these shortcuts in the form of useful tips in your MBA essay. Add a few lines under each tip and also include the benefits of following the tip.

Your Success Story May Provide Inspiration

People also tend to search for success stories in a particular area to get inspired. Thus, if you have been successful in a specific area, write it down in an MBA essay. Start by including the good and bad experiences you faced before achieving the success. Also, include the various approaches you followed to meet your later success. The ending should detail the effects of effectively and successfully achieving a satisfying end to your journey, and should therefore inspire others to try it for themselves.

Also, include the various approaches you followed to reach the destination. The ending should be done by the details of your life and routine after you achieved the success. The above discussion will surely help you to understand the basic ideas of coming up with fresh writings. You need not have a professional degree for writing the MBA essays for web sites. These MBA essays are needed to be very simple but at the same time catchy. You can achieve this with practice over the passage of time.

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How to Get the Most Benefit from MBA Essay Samples

Earning an MBA is a feather to one’s cap, especially since getting into a business school is very competitive.  Whether you are eyeing an Ivy League or any reputable university with a top-notch MBA program, you need to have more than stellar grades and outstanding recommendations.  As the best business schools get the most MBA applicants, the challenge for you is to stand out above the rest.  Whether or not an interview is part of the selection process, your best chance at getting accepted lies on your personal statement, or admission essay.

Preparing an MBA essay that the Admission Board will remember

Business schools place a high premium on innovativeness.  For this reason, your MBA application essay should capture the attention of the Admission Board and be able to hold it long enough to let them get to know you as a person.  Usually, admission essays are two to three pages long, but some business schools set a limit to the page and word count.  In addition, they may give you a specific question to answer, although some allow the applicants to choose their own themes.  Make sure that you stick to the guidelines and prescribed format of the business school that you are applying at.  While one of your essay objectives is to give you instant recall with the Board, you sure would not want them to remember you as the rule-breaker.

Reading several MBA essay samples

Although there are no clear-cut rules to writing an admission essay, there are certain things that the Admission Board expects their business school applicants to include in their essays.  Browse through MBA essay samples of successful applicants to get a feel of what the Admission Board prefers in terms of essay structure and composition.  You will find these in the university website or business school application websites.  As you read, make a checklist of the important elements that should never go missing when you write your own admission essay: personal goals and insights, influences, relevant accomplishments, and a plan of action.  From the samples, identify which qualities are valued by the business school.  Your essay should present you as an individual who is a good fit to the program, so it would be unwise to substitute the contents of another person’s admission essay.

Keeping your essay concise and tight

You should be clear with your personal goals, and keep your discussion focused on experiences which are consistent with your purpose.  To keep from rambling on and on, set aside a time for brainstorming before preparing an outline.  Make a list of the things that motivated you to pursue an MBA.  If the business school did not prescribe a format for your essay, choose a topic that you are most interested in and use it as a framework.  For instance, if you are into backpacking, then launch into your essay describing how you see the pursuit of an MBA as a new adventure.  Arrange the items which resulted from your brainstorming activity according to your framework and write off the things that do not fit in.  Stick to your outline and know when to end your essay.

Nancy Haverford understands the importance of MBA essay samples to business school applicants. In this article, she gives pointers on how you can write an outstanding personal statement with the help of MBA essay samples.

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How to Go about Including Failures in Your MBA Essays

Having an MBA degree is an advantage for anyone who works or plans on being an entrepreneur.  Before you get a degree though, you’ll have to apply and get admitted to a business school that offers MBA degrees.  You may think it’s hard to get into MBA school if you have some failing marks on your transcripts, but you may get admitted if you make good use of your MBA essays by explaining the failing grades.  Read on to learn more about how to write successful MBA essays based on past failures.

Including a simple but logical failure analysis in your MBA essays

The first thing that you should recognize is that everybody goes through difficult times and the admissions committee understands that.  What matters is that you actually recognize such shortcomings and realize their worth in spurring you on to greater heights.  When explaining failing marks or any other negative factor, it is important to be honest, subtle, and reflective.  Be honest enough to admit to your mistakes, but keep it simple by being subtle.   Reflect on the failures and try to focus on what you have learned from your failures and how they have made you a better person.

Stating what you’ve learned from this failure

It is important to realize that failures are not completely negative.  In fact, if you try to concentrate on the good side, you’ll realize that it is only through failures that you can learn from your mistakes and become a better person.  When writing your MBA essays, try to keep the mention of your failures brief, while expounding on what you have learned from the failures.  For example, you may have learned to study more diligently or manage your time more effectively.  Keep your focus on who you have become as a result of overcoming such setbacks in your academics.

When writing about what you have learned from past failures, you should try to avoid being cliché in your explanation.  Cliché phrases, ideas, or descriptions easily kill the uniqueness and personality of your essay, which is one of the worst mistakes you can make in your MBA essays.  Try to be natural when explaining what you have learned and how you have grown through the experiences that you’ve had.  Use the failures as a means to describe how far you have come and why you have what it takes to succeed in MBA school.

Knowing the difference between a failure and a challenge

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when writing your MBA essays is that your failures are already in the past.  The failing marks that you received during your undergraduate studies cannot be changed, but you can triumph over past hardships by challenging yourself to new heights.  Think of past failures as stepping stones that will allow you to rise up to the challenges you have before you, such as earning an MBA degree.  The sooner you realize how important failures are to your success in future challenges, the sooner you will be able to succeed.

Nancy Haverford is an MBA degree-holder who has been able to overcome many setbacks and hardships throughout her academic and career life. She is also a resource person on writing MBA essays and MBA essay-writing tips.

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Online Executive MBA in India

Online Executive MBA in India

MBA has been an attractive career option since last decade. Online Executive MBA is the latest buzz word. It means pursuing the degree in the form of distance learning mode. The distance learning programs have gained popularity mainly because of intense competition in the field of full time MBA courses. Pursuing an MBA degree in correspondence mode, helps you in pursuing with your studies and job simultaneously. There are many aspirants who have huge financial responsibilities and therefore, can’t afford to lose or quit their jobs, in order to pursue higher education. The long distance learning has come up as a perfect solution for them.

The increasing popularity of these correspondence courses has resulted into huge number of enrollments. This has also enabled the students in pursuing a long distance MBA degree with many foreign universities and institutes. The trend has changed drastically and students now believe in investing in a correspondence degree rather than investing in a two year full time MBA program. In addition to the reduced time period, the long distance courses are also comparatively lesser in cost. Both factors combined together has made this online MBA course, the most desirable and feasible alternative for aspiring candidates.

There are many colleges and private institutes in India which offer degrees in various types of correspondence courses. Mostly these courses comprise of a range of professional programs. However MBA evidently is the most preferred alternative when it comes to acquiring a professional degree. The online MBA programs offer a wide range of flexibility to students, such as online enrollment, flexible hours, virtual classrooms, and online tests and exams. You can learn according to your own speed with the help of the virtual classes and online study material. The classes are scheduled on flexible timings bearing in mind that most of the students are working professionals.

The normal duration of these correspondence courses is one or at the most two years. The medium is set to grow in future at rapid speed owing to its versatile and trendy structure. Students are facilitated with online enrollment in the MBA courses. They can attend online classes and are also able to resolve their doubts and queries with the help of online chat medium. Since there is hardly any infrastructure cost involved, the Online Executive MBA programs are quite economical and affordable for students with limited resources.

The advantages attached with the online MBA programs are uncountable. However, the distance learning medium has its own drawbacks. In absence of a face to face interaction with the professors, the students often feel lost, as the clarity of communication is totally dependent upon the technological medium. At times, students do not feel the need to study as compared to a full time course, simply because there is no direct pressure on them. Many of these technological hurdles can be overcome with the help of latest and competent technologies.

The Online Executive MBA program in totality, offers a brilliant opportunity for all aspiring candidates who are working somewhere and do not have the leverage to quit and pursue their further education. With the help of these online programs the students are able to attain an MBA degree in almost one year time period, which facilitates them in achieving their career goals.