MBA Admission Process to US Business Schools

An MBA degree from US is much sought after by Indian students, since US has top business schools like Harvard, Wharton and Stanford and others that are much reputed worldwide. The admission process is the simplest, flexible and affordable here. Moreover, it will offer you the dream career, education with cutting edge quality ensuring adequate grooming for a coveted job with rich money and life style.

Here are some important issues in the process:

Eligibility
Must have sixteen years of UG education, i.e., four years degree (or equivalent) after high school.

Must have adequate GMAT and TOEFL scores.
Required work experience, it is preferred by most of the Institutions.

Various steps in the admission process

Decision making

Select among the schools, make up your mind clearly about the expected outcomes, since this is a big investment of your time and money. Choose schools that fit with your long term career needs and those you think you can get into.

Make your schedule

one requires one month at least to collect information to short list universities.

For GMAT & TOEFL, registration work must begin four months before the test date.

Universities have deadlines for applications for International candidates, so getting applications and working on it needs time.

Preparation of documents such as the transcripts, recommendation letters; GMAT & TOEFL score reports, financial documents like the bank document and the affidavit of support, etc.

Application essays – it takes about two months to write the essays.

Activities like sending the applications before the due date.

All these activities require careful scheduling as per the preference of the applicant.

Application Process
Get the relevant application forms.
Appear for the test

GMAT and TOEFL – a good four to five hours of preparation is enough and adequate materials are available.

GMAT ( Graduate Management Aptitude Test) is commonly used as one of the many selection criteria for admission to US business schools. It is a computer / paper based test administered by Graduate Management Admission Council ( GMAC – www.gmac.com) round the year and tests the basic verbal, mathematical and analytical writing skills of the applicant.

TOEFL – Test of English as a Foreign Language tests the potential of standard American English at a college level. An internet/paper based test, TOEFL test includes listening comprehension, structure and written expression, reading comprehension and vocabulary and essay writing. It is administered by Educational Testing Service( ETS - www.ets.org) worldwide and the score is valid for two years.

Arrange the required finance

Finances mean the tuition fee, living costs and other costs like airfare, visa, insurance and preparation costs. You can cover it from your own funds or take a loan from the bank. Financial aids and scholarships are provided by some Universities so better to check with them individually. There are also opportunities to earn from part-time jobs, but can not be taken for granted.

Write application essays
Seem to be the most difficult and most interesting part of the process. It requires answers to questions like what your career goals are and why, the anticipated learning outcomes from the course, all your accomplishments and estimation of your merit for all that you have mentioned. Hence this part of the process is very crucial.

Arrange recommendation letters
Many applicants consider this as not-so-important one that can be self-written and get it signed from others. However, this is wrong and can invite trouble. So letters of recommendation should be authentic and it requires to communicate well in advance with the recommending persons so that they are completely aware of the facts you have mentioned in the application and you as a person. In this manner, recommendation can be managed in favour.

Complete the entire documentation and despatch before due date

Fill up the application form, arrange the transcripts, test reports, documents for financial support, essay and recommendation letters in general and any other thing as mentioned in the application for sending it to the University.

Prepare and appear the Interview
Interview of the candidate to judge the ability and interest for the program is common in most US business schools. It can be telephonic or through any authorised representative and normally are quite informal.

Finally wait for that coveted call and get ready for visa preparation; two things are important, convincing the embassy that you have adequate funds for the study and that you are not a potential immigrant.