The Right Fit

Updated on: Saturday, December 10, 2011

The times, as Bob Dylan sang in the 60s, are a-changing. And no more so than in business education, where the recent recession and the arrival of Generation Y onto the education scene have given MBA programmes cause for major self-reflection in recent years.

Business management is booming, especially in the worlds fastest growing economies. Indians, more than ever before, are considering MBAs as a way of progressing their careers, earning better salaries and giving themselves further career flexibility. As McKinsey have long said, there could soon be a problematic lack of educated managers to handle the vast investment that is coming into and from within India.

But choosing the right business school is a big decision. Its not just a matter of rankings but of MBA candidates working out which schools are right for them. According to GMAC (Graduate Management Admissions Council), which runs the GMAT (Graduate Management Admissions Test), there are now around 8,000 business schools worldwide, and the figure is increasing year on year. So how does someone decide if they are right for a business school? And, just as importantly, how do they decide which school is the right one for them?

Diversity, the buzzword

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, with globalisation at the core of business, diversity is the buzzword at the worlds top business schools.

The reason for this is that MBA classrooms are places of peer-driven learning. An Indian student in a business school in Europe, with generally higher rates of diversity than in the US, will expect to form cohorts with people from as far away as, say, Ecuador, Sweden or Nigeria.

As Anna Parkin of Melbourne Business School says, Learning is interactive and experiential in the MBA classroom and students learn as much from their peers as they do from textbooks. For this to be successful you need people from different countries and backgrounds.

Engineers may rub shoulders with lawyers, doctors, marketers and those who may have managed a family business. But what binds them together is work experience most top business schools are looking for people with at least three or four years in some kind of management position. Gloria Batllori, MBA director at ESADE business school in Spain, says, The peer-to-peer component of an MBA course is essential, therefore, students on our course need to have management experience to bring to the table. In the case of ESADE the average is four years. Meanwhile IMD, in Switzerland, asks for a minimum of eight years.

Schools are keen to stress that there is no one-type-fits-all equation for their classrooms. There are people with less work experience who may have exceptional grades or GMAT score, or who have other skills such as leadership of a charity project that may impress the admissions board.

GMAT Scores

It is the GMAT that causes the most headaches of all for MBA candidates. The test is required by perhaps 90% of the worlds business schools and there is a whole industry devoted to preparing candidates to get the best score they can.

With a score range between 200 and 800, the GMAT is formed of three key sections, quantitative (maths), analytical writing and verbal. As Zoya Zaitseva, head of international relations at QS, the MBA career and education experts, says, The GMAT is a good way for schools to gauge whether a student will have the academic rigour to succeed on an MBA, particularly with its high proportion of modules that require mathematical competency, such as finance.

The good news is that you can study for as long as you like for the GMAT and take it as often as you want until you get the score you require. TopMBA.com advises to take a retired exam straight away, get a poor score and learn what your key weaknesses are. Then look at the numerous resources available, books, websites, companies and forums that can help you get the score you need.

And what score do you need? That will depend on the schools you have shortlisted, and its easy to find out what each requires. This is probably the clincher, because in order to decide what school is best for you, you need to know your aims extremely well and, if you dont, you will find it hard to get onto a decent MBA programme.

Business Schools

Firstly, MBA aspirants must know what is it that they hope to achieve from an MBA? According to the TopMBA.com Applicant Research, which surveys thousands of MBA candidates each year, the main reasons are to change careers, to improve promotion prospects within a company or industry, to increase international flexibility, to start a company and, the perennial favourite, to improve earning potential.

Secondly, know your target schools and why. All business schools are not the same. Although they seem to offer the same MBA qualification on paper, each has a different approach, school culture and specialisation. Kellogg, in Chicago, is famed for its strong marketing stream; MIT Sloan could be the best for technology, while IE Business School in Spain is very strong in its entrepreneurship specialisation. And if youre not interested in going into finance, dont apply to London Business School because the school is unlikely to be right for you.

Thirdly, learn what the right fit for schools is and see if that suits you. As Santiago Iniguez, dean of Spains IE Business School, says, What we, and all schools, look for is a person who will suit our school in terms of diversity of background and in terms of seeing if they can get the most from our strengths and we from them. An example of the culture of the school might be comparing Harvard, which famously encourages a very competitive culture between students, and ESADE, which nurtures a far more team-building approach.

Also, look very closely at accreditation. This is a concept that does not have as strong a foothold in India as it does in many other MBA-providing nations. In some countries its possible to set up a business school in a shop window and charge thousands for an MBA. However, accrediting bodies run by national governments, do exist. In the MBA world there are three major accrediting bodies EQUIS, AMBA and the AACSB. Ask about accreditation and make sure the school youre applying to has some kind of accreditation.

Ranking Results

And this is where rankings play a controversial part. Its easy for a student to set their sights on a top five ranking, then waste significant time, money and effort trying to get in, only to be turned away for perfectly legitimate reasons. While there is a place for rankings as a rough guide, MBA candidates should look far deeper at what a business school does before committing to applying there.

Candidates should get on a schools online forum, speak to alumni from schools that appeal to them, speak to the admissions people and faculty on the phone or, ideally, visit them at MBA fairs. And if you are gently turned away, it is probably for the best. However, ask those people where they recommend that you apply instead. Because the answer my friend, contrary to what wise Mr Dylan said, is not blowing in the wind, it is inside you, and it is up to you to find it.

(The writer is Managing Editor, TopMBA.com)

Times of India

The Right Fit

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