For some MBAs, like the Indian Subhajit Mandal, studying overseas is the best shot at landing a good position at a top company. That’s why Subhajit entered a business school in Singapore, and now he is a senior manager at MetLife (a top insurance company)
In European MBA programs, 71% of applicants are international students, whereas in the US they account for 58% (according to the GMAC survey).
According to Amber Wigmore Alvarez of IE Business school, nowadays employers want international experience, and that’s exactly what studying abroad is going to give you. She says that being an international student helps you build new communication skills, the most important of them being language. The new globalized international market needs people with a wide cross-cultural experience and knowledge of several languages.
Another good point for entering a business school abroad is the opportunity of networking. Having a network in several countries is useful for any business.
The prospect is good, but how do you enter a foreign business school? Below, you’ll read some tips from four experts.
Do Your Research
According to Jean-Philippe Odunlami, a 2007 Harvard graduate, you should start your application a year before you want to enter the university. He believes that starting to apply three or four months prior to school beginning is too short a time.
Don’t forget to research your prospective schools. You should be aware of what career you want to pursue after you graduate.
Sure, you can research your future b-school online, but that’s not the only thing you can do. The best thing is to talk to alumni, faculty and current students, for example, to write to a student club. You can also use social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook, but the very best thing to do would be to meet people in person – there are even special events for prospective international students.
You should not forget that studying abroad is expensive. That’s why you should apply for funding and talk to students about the cost of living in the country you intend to go to.
Cross-Cultural Experience
Deepak Punwani, a 2005 INSEAD graduate, now the COO of Nuru Energy, says that studying overseas gives you a whole new experience. He loved how diverse his group was, consisting of students from the US, Ireland, Portugal etc. A good thing was that the faculty was also all with different backgrounds. Having such a wide range of cultures to adjust to, you learn to be flexible, which will surely help you when you start building your career.
Being abroad makes you learn how to survive in a different country, which will come in handy irrelevant of your job.
Investing Into Future
According to Zach Hirshfield, student relations manager at Prodigy Finance (a tuition crowdfunding company), being an MBA student is very expensive. You could spend close to $100,000 on your two years of studies, including tuition, living etc. Zach believes that many students are unable to pay such a huge amount of money by themselves, especially if they come from places with lower salaries, like African, Latin American and eastern European countries. For such students, financial aid is very important.
Zach says that it’s better to research all available options, like scholarships, fundings and loans. Schools give financial aid to their prospective students, because they want to have bright international students in their classrooms. For instance, MIT Sloan gives 25% of its students some kind of financial aid, whereas at Stanford this percentage amounts to 65%.
Be The Best
Robert Clyne, a PhD from Yale University says that to get in you have to be the absolutely best among your competitors.
According to him, the worst challenge is to write a brilliant and unique application, as it’s understandably difficult to get into a top business school: only 7% of applicants were admitted to Stanford last year, and 11% to Harvard.
For international students it may be even more difficult, so you have to prepare for applications based on essays.
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