MIM stands for Masters in Management. Typically, MIM lasts for two years, depending on the country and the institution that confers the degree.
In this in-depth analysis, we cover:
Fulbright Scholarships are offered by almost 165 nations worldwide and accepted by ten schools from the top US MBA programs.
The scholarship is awarded on the academic strength of the students.
Before writing your essays, have a look at your life with an unbiased perspective.
F1GMAT: what advice would you give an MBA candidate who is much older than the average class? Which age group has the least probability of getting into a premier Business School?
Find out the answer given by Stacy Blackman
EMBA programs are targeted for experienced managers or for professionals in senior leadership position while Part-time MBA program is targeted for professionals, who want to continue working while completing their MBA program. Apart from that, there are a few distinct differences between the two programs.
Average Age: of the EMBA program is much higher than that of part-time MBA. For example, the average age of Wharton EMBA class of 2013 is 34 compared to 30 years for Michigan Ross part-time Evening MBA program (class entering Jan 2012). The age of most EMBA class ranges between 34-38 while that of part-time program are between 29 and 33.
Cost of MBA: The cost of an EMBA program is much higher than part-time MBA programs. For example, the tuition fee of Wharton EMBA program (class entering May 2012) ranges between $171,360 and $175,678 while that of Michigan Ross part-time MBA program ranges between $95,000 and $105,00. That is a sizable difference. Majority of the tuition fee are often sponsored by companies (provided the participants work with them for 3-5 years after the program). Why the cost difference? EMBA fees typically include lodging and meal charges. Part-time MBA fee does not cover that.
According to the annual international surveys released on May 10th by Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), job opportunities for MBA graduates have improved in 2011. This increase in post-MBA job employment is expected to continue for this year. The survey shows that more Business School graduates were able to find jobs before finishing their studies this year, compared to 2010.
Post-MBA Job Opportunities
This trend is attributed to the increased optimism shown by companies with regards to their growth plan. More and more companies are focusing on growing their Business and bringing on new employees after three years of poor economic conditions. The GMAC Survey showed that more than 54 percent of MBA graduates, responding to the survey, has at least one job in their hands. This was 22 percent up compared to previous year's trends.
Increase in Salary
Graduates from two-year Full-time MBA Program reported a 73 percent increase in their salary compared to their Pre-MBA remuneration. This is 9 Percent increase when compared to previous year's Average Salary increase. New hires in the US is expected to earn an average base salary of $91,433 up from $89,141 last year and $86,299 in 2009.
Employer Confidence
Compared to 42.1% of Ph.D.’s, 37.3% of those with less than a high school education become entrepreneurs. MBA Programs are not among the largest producers of entrepreneurs. So what this means for you if you are targeting entrepreneurship after Business School?
Location is a factor: A university may have top-notch facilities and highly renowned academic staff and still be the wrong choice for you. Research shows that location is a prime factor when it comes down to picking a business school. Make sure that you are comfortable with the geographic area in which the university is located. For example, if you are bound by family or otherwise you may opt for a school that is closer to home. If, on the other hand, you are looking for an international and diverse milieu as well as new cultural experiences, an overseas MBA may be a good option.
The industry you want to work for may also determine your choice of university location. If finance and investments are your prime interests, then you’ll be advised to choose a university in one of the cities where the markets are based – New York, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo. It is important that you pick the geographic area that best fits your needs as you are likely to spend longer than two years there – a large number of MBA graduates decide to stay and pursue their career within the area of their alma mater.
Your reasons for pursuing an MBA may differ – a change of professional venue, gaining an advantage in a rather tough market, a bigger salary or a better job placement. Yet, before you get down to filling out those applications, there is one important question that you should ask yourself. What qualifications do you want to acquire? Making a realistic and a clear-sighted assessment of the professional skills that you want to develop or improve will help you gain a clearer vision of your future career track.
Boosting your Career with an MBA: The MBA is a gateway even during a gritty recession when the bursting of the mortgage bubble and the bank collapse in the US, for example, tipped the scale of the work/life balance. In the business world, obtaining an MBA degree still gives you a chance to move to a higher job position as you acquire a different level of management skills.
Prospective MBA students have indeed been knocking on the doors of international business schools, continuing a trend that started in 2008. The pay-off has been quite tangible.“Recent MBA participants have gone on to work for over 300 companies in more than 60 countries,” says Jake Cohen, Dean of the MBA programme at INSEAD, while 10% of the students at IE Business School (ranked 3rd in Europe and 8th worldwide by the Financial Times) start a new venture after graduation.
“I personally decided to go to IE Business School because it was always a dream of mine to found my own company, and as IE has a very strong focus on entrepreneurship, it was the ideal choice for me,” says 2007 MBA graduate Bernard Niener.
"According to a Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) study, enhanced skills is a top reason applicants pursue the business degree"
Many students are opting to pursue their MBA abroad, sometimes traveling halfway around the world. Though programs outside of the United States may not prove the best option for each and every student, there are many reasons to consider this opportunity.
Going abroad for your MBA education does not require a sacrifice in quality. There are many top-ranked and highly selective business schools outside the United States. Learn more about top Business Schools outside US.
F1GMAT: How do you go about finding the right MBA Program?
Lee Milligan(Copenhagen Business School) : The answer can be found in one word “research”. You will be investing a huge amount in an MBA program; financially, time-wise and career-wise. It is therefore vital for you to do as much personal research as possible to make the right choice for you. In the MBA industry this is often know as the correct “fit”.
Kavita Singh: Thanks for the question! Recently more top universities have started to offer a Masters in Management program, and so this question is now becoming a more popular question amongst potential applicants.
As most of you know, if you are looking to get an MBA abroad from a leading institution then you need, on average, about 4-5 years of work experience. Of course, you can still go ahead and apply if you have 2-3 years of work experience – and if you are a strong applicant you will be successful. Some Business Schools, such as Harvard, are also encouraging younger applicants. However, few MBA programs accept applicants with no work experience
Read the Complete Answer
Networking more Important than Academics
The most frequent reason that potential MBA applicants cite for wanting to pursue an MBA is gaining an academic grounding in business skills. They are invariably surprised when I tell them that if that’s the only reason they are going to Business School then they are wasting their money. When I then go on to tell them that I don’t really believe in campus placements, they start looking at me like I have suddenly grown two heads ....... until I explain why.
Entrepreneurs use MBA to: Network, Refine Business Plan and for Seed Funding
I have seen several people start companies while at Business School or immediately after they graduated. They use their time at school to develop and refine their plan through discussions with classmates, professors and by the feedback they gain through entering Business Plan competitions. Not only do they get feedback from such competitions but often also the opportunity to network with potential investors and the money they won from these competitions often serve as seed money for them to develop their idea further.
According to “Cultural
Appropriateness of American Based MBA Leadership Topics, Service
Learning and Instruction Style in a Kuwait University Program” by Terry
Rodriguez from American University of the Middle East in Kuwait, there
are significant differences between students from the Arab World and
from the US
On average, about 4-5 years of work experience. Of course, you can still go ahead and apply if you have 2-3 years of work experience - and if you are a strong applicant you will be successful. Some Business Schools, such as Harvard, are also encouraging younger applicants. However, few MBA programs accept applicants with no work experience. There a few programs though that are designed for applications with no work experience and also a few university that are open to accepting a limited number of applicants with no full-time work experience. So what are your options?
Your MBA candidacy does
not boil down to concrete career achievement, GMAT scores, and academic
pedigree. MBA programs across the U.S. and the world are looking to
build student bodies that are diverse in the broadest sense of the word.
So, before you have your candidacy assessed and regression analyses run
on your chances of admission, take a more humanistic, critical self-appraisal of your application.
Take greater risks in articulating
your values and exploring the forces that really drive you.
Strive to be more authentic.
The strategy that a vet should use in the interview can change depending on who the interviewer is. If the interviewer is a vet, the applicant should be more straight-forward with the military experience and can highlight other areas of his/her application. If the interviewer is not a vet, the applicant should explain more of the military experience in civilian terms and can use “war-stories” to really grab the attention of the interviewer.
F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay guide will teach you how to transform your essay into a life journey with trials and tribulations that will move the admission team.
+ Over 245 Sample Essays (Read Previews of F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay Guide Sample Essays here)
F1GMAT's Essay Guides
Harvard MBA Essay Guide (20 Sample Essays)
Example #1: Persistence Narrative
Background Information: The applicant – a design and music talent, shares her journey through several setbacks. She attributes curiosity to her growth.
Curiosity: Philosophy
Curiosity (Explained): Curiosity as a philosophy is tough to translate into a narrative unless you are from the creative industry or your contributions had an influence on a solution or an initiative.
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to capture the humanity of the applicant and her influence in music instead of just highlighting how she overcame multiple roadblocks to gain attention as a designer.
Theme: Persistence
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Life Starts at NO (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #2: International Community Building
Background Information: The applicant, a Machine Learning (ML) entrepreneur specializing in healthcare diagnostics, shares how his curiosity to learn other ML algorithms’ evolution in diagnosing Alzheimer’s, cancer, and heart disease transformed his platform into a global community.
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to show the applicant’s contributions in diagnostic from 2020 to 2024 by citing two events. Such examples build credibility instead of engagements that were recent. The evolution of the platform from an AI development community to a community for discussing the application of AI in diagnostics is captured through a ‘curiosity’ angle.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Growth through Collaboration (AI in Healthcare) (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #3: Culture
Background Information: The applicant, an Entrepreneur from India narrates his first entrepreneurial experience – facilitating exchange of stamps in the late 1990s.
Theme: Culture
MBA Essay Strategy: Instead of addressing the biases in the investor community that could turn preachy, I wanted to focus on the applicant and his entrepreneurial journey by citing two entrepreneurial experiences – a platform(club) for stamp collection and his Grocery delivery App.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – The American Dream (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #4: Addiction
Background Information: The applicant – a beneficiary of the foster home system, captures the sacrifice his adopted grandparents made to save him from a path of addiction. Paying it back through early intervention among teenagers and community engagement is the curiosity narrative.
Theme: Addiction
MBA Essay Strategy: My strategy is to capture a gratitude narrative in the first one-third of the essay to demonstrate motivation for starting the venture and dedicate the latter part of the essay to the unique solution
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Drug Addiction and Gaming (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #5: Scarcity
Background Information: The applicant, an education major, recognizes that 70% of all students in Kenya don’t have a computer. The curiosity that drives him to pivot from one solution to another is the growth narrative.
Theme: Innovation
MBA Essay Strategy: Often, innovation is captured with a ‘hero’ narrative where the applicant is the sole originator of an idea. I wanted to break that cliché and include a person from whom the applicant learned to use a concept called ‘scaffolding.’
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Scarcity (Growth-Oriented HBS Essay Example)
Example #6: FinTech
Background Information: The applicant captures a vulnerable moment of a beneficiary to compare his journey of side hustle before a technology giant noticed his talent. Although cryptocurrency is not a flavor for the year, capture niches where innovation is still happening.
Theme: Education, Child Welfare
MBA Essay Strategy: Empathizing with a techno solution is tough without a strong backstory around the beneficiary. For the essay, I wanted to clearly establish the beneficiary – Rami, before the applicant narrates the similarities to his journey and finally shares the solution that emerged from his curiosity.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – FinTech as a Tool for Good (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #7: Learning from the best
Background Information: The applicant – a Remote Engineer in the Oil and Gas industry, reflects on a value that has helped her learn from the best regardless of her geographical limitations.
Theme: Learning
MBA Essay Strategy: The effectiveness of the case-study method depends on the assumption that peers in a Harvard MBA class will help elevate your learning experience. For the essay, I have highlighted the applicant’s recognition of this value proposition with three examples.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Learning from the Best (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #8: Military & Search for IMPACT
Background Information: The most common narrative for US military applicants is to quote 9/11 and the reaction your immediate family had while watching the events unfold. The horrifying moment is captured as a motivation to join the Military. On digging deeper, most applicants would share that their motivations were diverse.
Theme: Career Choice
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to quickly highlight that the applicant had the choice of entering any industry. One achievement to demonstrate his curiosity that I shared in the first half is the invention of a game. Since the game is mentioned in the resume and verifiable through search, I didn’t quote the name. By clearly highlighting the person’s curiosity and career options, the family legacy is used as a factor in joining the military.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Career Choice after a Military Career (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)
Example #9: Small Business Values
Background Information: The applicant - a second-generation Asian American, is familiar with the values of fiscal conservatism, building relationships, and understanding the daily struggles of the community through his family’s department store.
Theme: Customer-Centric
MBA Essay Strategy: The applicant’s role in developing an App for the store is highlighted in the essay at a crucial part of the narrative so that the essay is not all about his father. I have also humanized the journey – by sharing how upset the father was when the revenues fell by 40%. The essay is about the transformation in the applicant’s value from a person chasing productivity and optimization technique to someone who is truly thinking about the customers.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Small Business Values (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #10: Breaking Away from Family Business
Background Information: A unique challenge that applicants whose parents are public figures or CXOs of businesses or entrepreneurs are the pressure to live up to the parent’s standards or milestones. For the leadership narrative, the burden of legacy is established before the narrative addresses his leadership principles.
Theme: Authenticity
MBA Essay Strategy: For the essay, I want to capture an entrepreneur’s journey to rise above his entrepreneur father’s image. But I didn’t want to make the entire essay about this complex dynamics. The narrative is around the applicant’s focus on customers and surrounding with teams who keeps him grounded.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Breaking Away from Family Business(Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #11: Creativity and Communication
Background Information: When the overall percentage of users with internet access is 62% in South Africa and the inequality accentuated by the rural and urban divide, the applicant endured the lack of digital infrastructure, and spending close to 22% of the family income on gaining relevant information on schools, global exams, and financial assistance.
Theme: Creativity, Communication
MBA Essay Strategy: The strategy is to share why the applicant values no distraction in a child’s home for optimum education experience. Then I highlight the many roadblocks the applicant’s non-profit faced in receiving fee waiver for their cooperative run ISP.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Non-Profit (Telecom) (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #12: Mental Health
Background Information: The applicant like most didn’t pay much attention to the mental health epidemic until tragedy hit home.
Theme: Communication, Innovation
MBA Essay Strategy: A question we frequently get from applicants is whether they should cite tragedy in the family as a motivation for a venture or a non-profit initiative. As long as you don’t linger too much on the tragedy and offer a balanced narrative, there are no restrictions on leveraging unique stories from your life.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Mental Health (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #13: Trauma, Healing & Finding Authentic Self
Background Information: The applicant narrates the absurdity of war in the narrative about the duties in Kabul, and the trauma. Instead of wallowing in on the horror, the applicant takes what makes military applicants strong and guides unprivileged children build life and leadership skills.
Theme: Resilience
MBA Essay Strategy: Capturing PTSD in an essay, the healing process, and the cues that helped the applicant are too sacred to be shared in a Harvard MBA application essay. However, with the right motivation and narrative arcs, you can capture the essence of your journey without sharing the darkest secrets. That is what I did by merging two stories – the horrors of the war with a non-profit engagement.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Military & PTSD (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #14: Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra
Background Information: In this narrative, the applicant captures Peru’s Silver mining boom of 2006. The growth experienced in her father’s business shifted the family’s economic status to a new stratosphere. Through the changing economic and family dynamics, the applicant finds her voice in a unique way, initially to record her unheard voice but later as one of the youngest subject matter experts in mining and commodities.
Theme: Failure
MBA Essay Strategy: For the essay, the strategy is to show how life’s unpredictability is a blessing. By narrating two setback events, the essay demonstrates the applicant’s resilience and her acknowledgment of people who made a comeback possible.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #15: War, Immigration and Starting Over Again
Background Information: Despite a raging war in Syria, the family of the applicant was unblemished by the chaos. The strategic government assets near the applicant’s house would have made the region an easy target, but it was not. The calmness of her journey is shattered in one event. From the privileges of a cocooned life, the applicant is forced to think about survival, her sister’s future, and her future in the US. The second half of the narrative captures the change that was forced on her.
Theme: Gratitude, Resilience
MBA Essay Strategy: I consciously chose not to start the essay with a dialogue or trauma. Two lines are allocated to set up the narrative before the trauma event.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – War, Immigration and Starting Over Again (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)
Example #16: Creative or Finance
Background Information: The applicant starts the narrative with the origin of her talents. The unbridled enthusiasm receives a reality check when in high school, the applicant’s father has a conversation with her about academics. While the applicant picked up her quant skills, she was reaching over 50,000 loyal fans, and her videos captured 1 million views.
Theme: Passion, Talent
MBA Essay Strategy: Capturing vulnerability is the toughest part for Harvard MBA applicants. For this essay example, I have captured the applicant’s uncertainty about career choice throughout the essay. Here the goal is to show vulnerability in the career choice essay while for leadership and growth essay, I could capture one example each from creative and PE industry respectively to balance the narrative. So don’t follow this example without a strategy.
Read: Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay – Creative or Finance (Business-Minded HBS MBA Essay Example)
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