Nine steps to choosing your MBA

You have reached a critical turning point in your career when you have finally decided to take a big leap into the unknown, the MBA application […]

You have reached a critical turning point in your career when you have finally decided to take a big leap into the unknown, the MBA application process. But with so many top-level MBA programmes to choose from and in so many different countries, your first objective before beginning the search for the magical match between your criteria and a top business school is to figure out how to start the process before it overwhelms you. By following the nine steps below, you should be in a much better position to complete the MBA application process successfully.

Step One: Why an MBA?

After considering the alternatives for several months, you have finally decided that now is the right time to do an MBA. At this stage, you need to find at least three good reasons for pursuing an MBA. Do you want to change your career entirely? Do you want to change job function or industry? Do you want to reinvent yourself in order to push yourself through a glass ceiling?

In addition to the immediate question of career, you should spend some time reflecting on the location of the business school. This will become more evident to you when it is time to take advantage of the school’s network of alumni and relationships with the local business community. Even if it means improving your knowledge of a second language, the location could be a crucial lever to take your personal and professional life on to a global platform.

Obviously, you will have more than three questions and more possible answers for each question. Why, you wonder, do working professionals interrupt successful careers to go back to school for one or two years? What do successful applications to business schools look like? The answers to these and other questions will drive your selection process.

You should begin by writing entries into an MBA journal, a valuable habit to follow for the rest of your MBA experience. By keeping a journal, you will be able to focus more clearly on your commitment to be honest and sincere with yourself. One of the first markers in your journal will be your GMAT score.

Step Two: Where Do You Want to Work?

As you get up to speed with your MBA selection process, you begin to think about all the places where you would like to live and work. The world is a big place with lots of different weather systems and climate patterns to choose from, not to mention a range of different cultural viewpoints associated with any given location.

If living on an idyllic island is tempting but not exactly realistic, then you would be better to start with your own career interests. If you are driven by the world of finance and investments, you might want to consider those cities where the markets are based: New York, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo. Or, if you are attracted to the world of luxury and fashion, then you would look towards Milan, New York, Paris, London, Los Angeles and Rome.

In short, by looking at a continent, country or city where you want to work, you are first compelled to choose an industry to work in, or at the very least to decide on an area or type of job, such as communications or marketing. If aeronautics is your thing, then you would head straight for the cities where the big aerospace engineering companies and organisations are located. To round up your day, do not forget to write down in your journal a kind of visual diagram of your search for the best place on the planet to do your MBA.

Step Three: Getting Your Focus into View

Richard Branson knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur at a very early age, and this has often been the case for many successful businesspeople in every sector of the economy. Some people, it seems, know what they want to do almost from birth and cannot wait to start doing it. If you know your strengths, whether they lie in entrepreneurship, finance or general management, and more importantly want to build on them, doing an MBA is an excellent means to achieving this goal.

“My MBA was a catalyst for helping me develop my entrepreneurial spirit and skills, and it gave me the confidence to pursue my career,” says Elena Ambrosiadou, a Cranfield MBA Class of 1988 student who is currently CEO of IKOS Partners. “It taught me how to build and maintain an international network of friends and how to seek out creativity and opportunity. It also taught me about leadership, teamwork and decision-making.”

Once you know which special skills you want to focus on, you are then in a better position to consider which kind of general management MBA is right for you. That’s because nearly all general management MBA programmes offer far more than the core management skills. London Business School, for example, is where you might apply if you want to work in finance. HULT International Business School might be a good choice for candidates interested in undertaking a marketing specialisation. Future entrepreneurs might choose the Manchester Business School, which offers innovation management. These top schools and others like them will enable you to tailor the MBA towards your particular goals. By being able to take carefully selected coursework in addition to the core MBA coursework, you can strike out in new directions over the course of your career. Furthermore, you will still be able to take advantage of the alumni networks that are the hallmark of general management MBA programmes.

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On the other hand, specialist MBA programmes can open up dedicated pathways into niche industries such as healthcare or hospitality management or even the “closed” wine business. If you want to fulfil the dream of a lifetime, for example, and switch to an industry in which you had no previous experience, then the specialised MBA might be just for you.

Step Four: Full-time MBA or Part-time MBA

If you want to advance your career in your company or sector or launch your career in a different part of the globe, a full-time MBA is probably the ideal choice. You will find yourself immersed in a course of study that will mark a profound turning point. For example, say you want to ace your team-building skills, a full-time MBA can do just that. Sharing your life in an intense learning environment with 100 plus other MBAs coming from different countries and cultures will most certainly turn you into a crack team player.

But nothing should prevent you from seriously considering another alternative, the part-time MBA. Part-time MBA programmes are the ideal choice for professionals who do not want to give up thriving careers to attend a school that may be a continent away from their jobs. The part-time option is for those people who want to advance their careers.

Step Five: Local School or International Powerhouse

To say the entire experience of an MBA is bigger than the coursework combined raises the interesting question of what kind of experience is right for you. Would you prefer a local business school to a foreign destination? The London Business School coined a motto that expresses the dilemma in four words: London experience. World Impact. Simply put, the experience must and will be located in some physical city but the lessons learned will have significance beyond those boundaries.

Among the top programmes, the choice of locality will only make a difference to you if the qualities of the particular school are in line with your criteria. If one of your criteria is an MBA programme with an international student body and an alumni network with chapters in 50 countries, you would then select among those schools matching this criteria.

But let us assume the above criteria are also conditioned on your keeping your current address in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia. In this case, you can select from a wide range of business schools that offer global MBA programmes, enabling you to experience diversity. At INSEAD, MBA participants who select the Wharton exchange option can live and study in Europe, Asia and North America during the MBA. INSEAD also offers coursework at its new Middle East campus in Abu Dhabi.

Even if the same criteria were even further conditioned on your staying employed, you could still choose a modular MBA programme with campuses in different countries. At the very least, you could opt for an online MBA programme that is open to international students.

Step Six: Return on Investment

How to enhance the return on investment of an MBA is the million-dollar question among most MBA students. Fortunately, return on investment is indeed rapid for the vast majority of graduates, with the average return being three to six years.

In calculating the speed of their return, candidates should also consider whether as a rule the business schools with the highest tuition fees offer the best return on investment. The Financial Times ranks global MBA programmes by their value for money, showing that many business schools with low tuition fees offer a faster return on investment. In terms of value for money, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School was ranked second by the FT among the top 100 business schools in the world. Lancaster University Management School was ranked 4th, while the University of Strathclyde Business School was 6th.

Also in terms of value for money, INSEAD was ranked 7th. In fact, students graduating from INSEAD’s campuses in Fontainebleau and Singapore earned average salaries of $148,490, an increase of 108 percent from their pre-MBA salaries. With 95 percent of the graduating class employed within three months, the return on investment would be fast.

Step Seven: Rankings

Before applying to business schools, most prospective MBA candidates look at rankings such as the Financial Times and Which MBA (Economist Intelligence Unit) in the UK, and Business Week and The Wall Street Journal in the USA. With the wide variation in business school rankings, it is no wonder that prospective MBA candidates often raise questions about rankings at Access MBA Fairs. Candidates should match their criteria to the top schools in the rankings, while considering the performance of their selected schools within a given range over the past five years. In addition, candidates are advised to use the Access MBA search tool for MBA programmes.

Step Eight: Contacting Schools

Candidates should avail themselves of the vast amount of information that business schools provide. By requesting brochures and other handouts, candidates can glean facts and figures about the schools on their list. Brochures often contain key information about tuition, class composition and electives, making them required reading for candidates.

School visits are also important. By travelling to the campus of your choice, candidates can see firsthand the school facilities and get a better feel about the learning environment. In an onsite campus visit, you can meet members of the teaching faculty, alumni and dedicated staff in the careers development department. If the school is far away, candidates should plan to attend MBA Fairs to meet the school’s development officers. In all cases, you should find out the contact details of alumni in your vicinity, as even a phone conversation can answer many questions.

Final Step: Confirming Your Selection

On this day, your MBA journal is bulging with facts and figures. Now is the time to sit down with an MBA expert such as a member of the Access MBA Staff who will confirm your choices. Apart from selecting your dream school, you are advised to select two schools where you have a strong chance of being admitted.

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