MBA FaQs
Very
common word. Especially in the dimension called the Net.
If you haven't heard of it before you are either a new
visitor to our domain or your filter is set to exclude
dirty three letter words.
FAQ's... Stands for Frequently asked
questions. I am sure you were aware of the definition
but this is just to ensure that the less able of our brothers
and sisters understand what the next few pages are all
about
These FaQs are updated every few
weeks or so. If a question is not covered you can write
to Cookaracha and he will try his level best to answer
your question before you grow old, graduate, die or get
over whatever life and death crisis you are going through.
Ask the Roach?
If your question is not in the FaQs
and if you would like to share the Roach's infinite wisdom,
write to him at cookaracha@geocities.com
.
The relevance and sanity of answers
is not guaranteed. You are a grown up kid now. You should
know when to trust complete strangers who name themselves
after disgusting insects and when to listen to the voice
inside your head. If you do hear a voice inside
your head there are some excellent self help books available
at 
for people with AM/FM stations within their cranium.
1. What is an MBA?
2. I am thinking
about an MBA. What do I need to do immediately?
3. What does an
average candidate to an MBA program looks like?
4. What constitute
a strong application?
5. What are my chances?
6. How can I improve
them?
7. Any recommended
reading that may give me an edge in my applications?
8. How many schools
should I apply to?
9. Does it makes
a difference if you are an international student?
10. Who are the
top ten schools?
11. So which schools
do I choose?
12. Should I apply
to Harvard Business School. What are my chances?
13. What attributes
does the admission committee looks at in candidates?
14. How do I finance
my MBA?
15. Is it really
worth spending all that money on a 4 semester program?
16. How are the
programs in Europe different from the programs in US?
17. What do I need
to know about the GMAT?
18. What do I need
to know about TOEFL?
19. Should I apply
early or late?
20. I have sent
in my application, what do I do know?
21. I have been
wait listed?
22. I have been
rejected?
1. What is an
MBA?
It's a graduate degree in Business
Administration. Could range from a year to two years,
15-22 courses and a tuition bill anywhere between US 25,000
(some good schools in the south) to US 60,000 (the expensive
ones in the north east). The business education
normally covers upto 10 courses in core subjects such
as Accounting, Finance, Management, Economics and Management
Science. The remaining 5-12 courses are electives that
a candidate selects depending on what he want's to do
in life immediately after his MBA. The course derives
its value form the strong Alum Network (at some schools),
the strong (but cyclical) demand for MBA graduates, their
rising salaries and a very market oriented (or focused)
education.
Folk wisdom (as found on the internet
and at some of the top BSchools) indicates that if its
worth doing, its only worth doing from one of the top
ten (if possible) or the top thirty (if not) programs
in the world. Hence the rating game. Every year (or alternate)
any publication worth its cover publishes a rating of
MBA programs. Over the past 15 years the ratings have
turned into a really big show. Results are eagerly awaited
and Deans have been asked to stay or leave office depending
on their success in maintaining or improving their school's
position.
2. I am thinking
about an MBA. What do I need to do immediately?
It depends on what time of the year
it is. If its April then you have just started the cycle
and you have close to nine months to get everything sorted
out. If its September then there is still some time
left and you need to get started in a hurry. If its January
and if you can afford it you should wait till April. If
you are a compulsive gambler and feel the odds are acceptable
you may give it a shot.
In order to apply you need to do
the following:
Think why do you want to do
an MBA. What do you plan to get out of the experience.
Is there a cheaper or easier way that would allow you
to achieve the same objectives.
While you are thinking, get
in touch with all of the schools that you may be interested
in attending. Get your name on the mailing list of outgoing
information and catalogs. If possible try to get a list
of local alum in your region and get in touch with them.
Alum are generally very helpful and a valuable source
of information about schools, programs and admission
policies.
Start preparing for GMAT and
TOEFL (if you are an international student).
Try to get hold of essay topics
for last year, BSchool catalogs for last year or even
BSchool applications from last year.
Arrange access to the internet
if you haven't done it as yet. There is tremendous amount
of information available on the net that you will prove
to be a very valuable ally over the next 9-12 months.
Start visiting the Princeton
Review site or any other site that has a discussion
forum for prospective MBA applicants.
Give the GMAT and TOEFL (only
if you are an international student)
Short list the list of schools
that may wish to attend
Apply.
Its as simple as that!
3. What
does an average candidate to an MBA program looks like?
Different standards for different
tiers. The profile of a average candidate to a top ten
BSchool is
Work Experience range: 2 - 6 years
GMAT score range: 620 - 790
GPA Range : 2.8 - 4.0
Age Range: 21 - 40
Upto 30% of potential applicants
are women and another 30-35% are international students.
Lower tier schools have broader
or shorter ranges.
4. What constitute
a strong application?
No set formula as such. You should
have very strong essays. A perfect rejection is
a candidate who has good scores and academics but has
no idea why he or she needs an MBA or can not express
oneself. A good GMAT score or a great GPA by itself
may or may not mean anything. Once you get the essays
right, getting the right GMAT score is a question of practice.
A lower GPA can be ignored if you have been out of school
for quite some time and everything else in your application
is a-okay.
A strong application varies from
candidate to candidate. The admission process is very
subjective so there are no guarantees. Schools also look
for a fit with the program and with other candidates.
Recently some of them have started taking active yield
management measures. Although they won't admit it in simple
terms it means that if they think that you are too good
for them, they won't make you an offer. Unless and until
they are very sure that you will enroll in their program.
The top ten are very selective.
The most selective picks 7% of all applicants. The least
selective allows 25% through the gate.
5. What are
my chances?
There is only one way to find out.
Give it a shot. Believe in yourself and produce the best
possible application that you can generate and then throw
it at the school. You never know.
If anybody tells you that your GMAT
score is too low or your GPA is too low or your experience
is not relevant or you will never make it... Ignore them.
If the Roach could make it so can you.
6. How can I
improve them?
If you do have a good GMAT score,
a good GPA, 4+ years of experience, a way with words and
apply early your odds of making it are significantly higher.
Remember its an information economy now so get as much
info. as possible about the school, about the admission
office, about the program, about the students and
even about yourself before you send in the application.
Its the most informed candidate who makes it to the orientation
day.
7. Any recommended
reading that may give me an edge in my applications?
Read 'Year One' to get an idea of
what an MBA is like. Its a light read so you won't have
a problem. Read 'Resume for Dummies' to get a grip
on what you have done so far at work. Get the school
catalog's as early as possible so you can get an idea
of the personality of the school. Visit the school magazine
sites as frequently as possible (once as every 15 days
is good enough). Try to get in touch with some of the
authors and editors at these school magazines and get
their feedback on their schools.
8. How many
schools should I apply to?
Your call completely. The Roach
applied to three schools and only made it to one. And
let me tell you that it was very very close. A bit here
and a bit there and this site would have been about 'How
to handle your application's rejections' or 'Alternatives
Graduate Programs if you didn't make it to a top five
MBA'. But I also know candidates who only applied to two
schools and got into both as well as candidates who applied
to nine schools and were rejected by all of them.
You need to maintain a balance between
the quality of the application you send out and maximizing
your chances of getting into atleast one program of your
choice. This means different things to different people
so there are no set-in-stone rules here. A single application
is risking it a bit and more than six or seven may result
in your spreading yourself too thin.
9. Does it makes
a difference if you are an international student?
Oh yes, it does. First of all inspite
of what the schools say you can forget about financial
aid. As an international student its next to impossible
to get financial aid for an MBA program, specially a top
ten MBA program. Exceptions however have been made for
15 year old, extra terrestrial alien prodigies. Everybody
told me this and I didn't believe it till I found out
the hard way. That is the bad news. The good news is that
you would be looking at a slightly better selection rate.
Depending on which country you are coming from, you may
be competing against 5-40 candidates. If you are not coming
from French New Guinea, you may probably be looking at
a 15-20% selection rate for your country. Which improves
the odds somewhat in your favor (remember that a good
school has an overall selection rate of between 11-14%,
and when yours is one of the 7000 applications every single
percentage point counts).
But the other things that you have
to worry about are financing your education and getting
your F-1 Visa.
10. Who are
the top ten schools?
There is no such thing as any order
within the top ten school. But there are three tiers.
Harvard, Stanford and Wharton are considered the top tier.
Stanford has a selection rate of 7% and a reputation to
match. Wharton and Harvard each receive around 7,000
applications for their 1000 seats. All three schools
have a very strong brand and an MBA from any three of
these is good enough (understatement of the year).
There are around nine to ten second
tier schools. These would be MIT Sloan, Columbia, Tuck,
Kellog, Chicago, Cornell, Yale, Michigan, Darden, Haas,
Andersen, INSEAD and LBS. Not necessarily in that
order. They are just as different from each other
as H/S/W are similar. But an MBA from any of these is
also respectable.
That brings us to the third tier,
which generally speaking includes all remaining MBA programs.
There is a top 30 and a top 50 list available on the net
if you look hard enough. However, if you are planning
to fork twenty to twenty five thousand dollars a year
in tuition, I wouldn't go beyond the first two tiers.
11. So which
schools do I choose?
The schools you choose are a function
of the following:
Which geographic region do you
want to live in for the next five years.
Which industry you want to work
in.
Which concentration do you want
to graduate with.
The following Folk wisdom is generally
well respected on the net.
An east coast school is great
for an east coast placement and a west coast school
is ....... But there are always exceptions and this
is not as applicable as it used to be.
The top ten are great for placements
within Investment Banking, Management Consulting and
some other key industries. Anything beyond these may
require a individual effort on your part.
All schools have one or two
specializations in which they really stand out. The
most quoted subjects are:
General Management.
Finance
Marketing
Enterprenuership
Financial Reporting
Technology
12. Should I apply
to Harvard Business School. What are my chances?
All good BSchools look for leaders
or leadership potential. Their angle is very simple. They
try to select candidate who already have a very high probability
of succeeding in life. An MBA may further polish such
candidates but they would leave their mark on the world
even if they skipped their MBA programs. So after spending
two years of your life if you make a success of yourself
over the next five years what does the school gets out
of it. For one it says very proudly:
'Do you remember Warren Buffet.
He is a Columbia Graduate.'
'Do you know Nike's founder. He wrote
his business plan at Stanford'
'The king of Junk Bonds. Wharton
polished his killer instincts'
If you succeed or if you turn out
to be one of those strong ICONS of the corporate world
you reinforce the myth that attending BSchool is a must
for success.
If you think that you are a strong
leader and that you have proved that leadership potential
over the past few years of your experience, you should
definitely give it a shot. BSchool may not be all that
it's made out to be, but its great fun and given your
perspective on life you can actually come out with a great
education.
13. What attributes
does the admission committee looks at in candidates?
Tough question. They look for diversity
above all, strong academic history, indicators that you
will be able to take the workload, adjust to the life
style and would add value (somehow) to the educational
experience of the rest of your classmates. They look for
signs that you would come to their school if its comes
to a choice, that you are serious about your MBA and you
have thought about it, that you understand the commitment
involved in terms of time and finances. Above all they
expect you to somehow express all of the above in words
and not bore them to death.
14. How do
I finance my MBA?
If you have the money no problem.
If you are not an international student no problem. If
you are international student then we need to sit down
and talk. Most schools offer financial aid in one
form or the other. The most common are Federal subsidized
loans and work study programs. The least common are grants.
You need to check with the school if International Students
can apply for these or not. Even if they say yes, try
to dig a little deeper and get the actual figures for
the amounts involved and the number of students who receive
aid.
That is the basic ground work. After
the first year all MBA program have a summer break and
90% of students use the break for a summer internship
in the industry area of their choice. For the 10-12 weeks
that you spend with your summer employer you can earn
anything ranging from 6,000 US$ to 20,000 US$. There are
students who get away with even higher amounts. This will
obviously go a long way towards improving your life style
over the next six months. If you have been a dedicated
summer intern, some industries make you an firm offer
for next year. This may make things a little easier for
you when the recruitment crunch starts in Jan-Feb of
your last semester at school.
Some industries (again not all)
offer a substantial signing bonus and a guaranteed end
of first year bonus to fresh MBA's. Could be as high as
50% of your base salary. Alternatively they may offer
to reimburse the second year of tuition expenses.
Now the three possible sources of
financing your MBA are:
Your savings (if any) from your
summer internship earnings.
Your signing bonus and your
guaranteed end of first year bonus or the tuition reimbursement
(available one year after graduation, not available
for all industries).
Your personal savings.
And what are your expenses. You are
looking at the following spread over the next two
years:
$50,000 - 60,000 in tuition
and other related school charges
$12,000 - 24,000 in rent
$12,000 - 24,000 in living expenses
Net result. You are still short of
a significant amount. The key shortage is your first
year tuition and living expenses. This is the money
that you need to take care of before you start school.
If you are an international student this is the amount that
you need to show before the school will issue you your I-20.
15. Is it really
worth spending all that money on a 4 semester program?
It depends on what your objectives
are and what you plan to do afterwards with your MBA.
There are studies available on the net that compare the
return on total investment for all top programs. If the
MBA fits in with your plan and will help you getting into
the industry that you want to or achieve your career objectives
then its a good deal. If you just wish to take two year
off from your life and go back to school, it is
a great educational experience and is unlike any other
comparable graduate degree. If you just wish to reinforce
your concepts or get on the same level as some of your
peers, friends or seniors, it still makes sense. Even
if you just want access to the Alumni network, it's a
good bet. As long as your objective is to upgrade your
business skill set, go ahead.
But remember. An MBA is not a technology
degree. An MS would be a better choice. Although schools
offer courses on MIS within an MBA program, you would
be better off taking the more technical route. An
MBA would not launch your new enterprenual setup. You
have to do that yourself. An MBA is also no guarantee
that you will have a great job with a terrific salary
within the US when you graduate. The placement rates of
the Great Schools are not 100%. They hover around 97%.
That means for every 970 fresh graduates with a job there
are 30 without one. Keep that in mind before you take
the leap.
The Bottom Line. An
MBA is what you make it.
16. How are
the programs in Europe different from the programs in
US?
Three key differences:
With the possible exception
of LBS most European programs are one year long. US
programs as a rule are two years long.
With the possible exception
of INSEAD, the name recognition and Alumni networks
of US schools is generally stronger than European school.
Although European schools have
a relatively higher international student ratio a large
percentage of these students are from Europe.
Top US schools have a larger
applicant pool and maybe three times more selective
than some of the top European schools.
The MBA is a US concept. It gets its
real value from interactive students, the case method, great
professors, the MBA Brand and the reach of Alumni
networks. It will take some time before European school
will be able to effectively compete on all of the above
factors. If you think I am asking you to go to a US school
you can definitely read between the lines.
17. What do
I need to know about the GMAT?
You really need to score and the
score does matter. So much so for bad news. The good news
is that its just a practice test. If you only have twenty
days, get hold of 20 real ETS tests and take one test
under exam conditions every day. That is the easiest way
to break seven hundred. The one complication is the CAT.
However, by giving the paper and pencil (P&P) and
doing well on the old P&P you can predict your CAT
score reasonably well (plus minus 10-20 points).
18. What do
I need to know about TOEFL?
If your native language is not English,
if your schooling has been in a non-english environment,
then you need to take TOEFL. Preparing for the GMAT is
normally adequate preparation in the written preparation
of TOEFL. The listening portion is not a problem normally
except for certain test centers where echo makes it really
difficult to make out what the tape is about. If you have
a problem with Echo when they are testing the equipment
be sure to point it out very aggressively since nobody
is going to listen to your complaints during or after
the test. And they are definitely not going to refund
your money.
19. Should
I apply early or late?
Early if possible. Don't send in
a lousy application because you ran out of time. Send
in a really polished one and send it in time.
20. I have
sent in my application, what do I do know?
Relax. I know its hard but relax.
Read up more about the schools. If you haven't been interviewed,
prepare for a phone interview by getting comfortable with
your application. If you haven't given your tests
(GMAT & TOEFL) get a grip on them. Start thinking
about financing your education. Get in touch with potential
sources of student loans. If you haven't made contacts
with students at your favorite schools, start now. Go
see the Alum if you haven't done so.
21. I have
been wait listed?
Only a few possibilities here. The
school is thinking, in order of importance.
You are good but you may be
too good for us. We are not sure if we make you an offer
you will come to us.
Everything else is okay but
we are not sure about a few things. We need more information
from you.
We are not sure that you will
be able to pay for your education or that you have thought
this out completely.
We are not sure if you really
need an MBA or what are you going to do with it.
The first thing you now need to do
is get more proactive. There is some confusion about what
proactive means. Its mean being visible in a nice sort of
a way. You want them to know that you are around but in
you are not exactly in their way. First of all ask the reason
why you have been wait listed and what you can do to change
your status. In order to change your status you need to
be sincere about going to this specific school. Admissions
officers can smell a fake from quite a distance. So
if you are really serious about this school make sure you
tell them. Not just that the school is important but the
things that you have done so far that indicate that this
specific school is on the top of your list.
Once you have done this stay in
touch. Use every additional stay-in-touch mail/email/phone
call to further strengthen your case. Writing or mailing
is preferable over phone calls because these are high
visibility/long life/low disturbance mediums. Getting
an admission's officer on phone in March/April may be
a bit difficult.
If you ask what are your chances
you may get a vague answer in the beginning. You need
to work on this. If you ask how many people are there
on the wait list, you won't get an answer. If you ask
where exactly you are on the wait list, very few schools
will tell you. This is going to be a very frustrating
period but you need to keep at it and you need to maintain
an extremely positive outlook.
22. I have
been rejected?
Rejection is normally very tough
to handle. It is tougher if you miss out on all the schools
that you applied to. It also depends on how desperate
you were to go to school in the first place. Under any
circumstances, after putting a good part of the last four
months on the admission cycle its really very tough to
get the 'We won't be able to offer you a place in next
year's class'.
You now need to look forward. Did
you get into any school at all? Is that school worth going
to? Was that one of your key choices? How will going to
this school change your long term plans?
But what if you didn't make it.
Four months and a few hundred dollars down the road you
have been left standing by the side of the road while
everybody else has simply packed up and left. It's not
over as yet. Did you really needed that MBA to make it
big in life. I mean, its a terrific opportunity and your
family would have been floored by your acceptance at HBS
but is it really the end of the world for you?
No, its not. You can still start
your own show, you can still change the world, you can
still live in Boston, you can still make your first million.
You have just saved yourself quarter of a million dollars
in educational expenses and lost opportunity costs.
If this is not enough consolation you still have next
year. As a re-applicant your chances would probably be
higher. Get in touch with the school and get their feedback
on the reasons for your rejection. Then do something about
them.
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