Saturday, September 26, 2009

How MBA Alumni Can Help You on Your MBA Essay

How MBA Alumni Can Help You on Your MBA Essay Samples

The questions "What will you do with your MBA degree?" and "Why choose MBA over the others?" are just some of the questions you may encounter when applying for MBA school. These are questions you need to be able to answer even before you reach out to the school's alumni or submit your MBA admissions essay. When you have a clear-cut answer, it's much easier for you to finish your essay and come up with a well-written piece.

Points your MBA essay should discuss

Your essay must more or less revolve around the following topics, unless the admissions panel requires the applicants to answer a given set of questions:

# Short and long-term goals
# Relevant experience accumulated
# How the MBA degree would bridge one's past and future
# Why you want to pursue an MBA degree

Getting in touch with an alumni

You may not be aware of it, but there are actually many ways for you to get help when writing your MBA admissions essay. And one of these is to get in touch with the alumni of the school you're applying to. If you know someone who has graduated from or is currently studying at your dream MBA school, you can approach him or her for tips in writing a winning admission essay. It's quite helpful to establish a network of alumni since they can also even help you when you're job hunting.

But what if you do not know a single alumnus? Here is one solution -- go to the Net and search for school forums found at many school and college websites. Some of the threads or entries in these forums are actually submitted or managed by current students or graduates. By visiting and joining these forums, you'll be able to ask an alumnus regarding the admissions process even if you don't know him or her personally. The tips you can get from reliable resource people can range from generic but useful essay-writing tips to hints on what the admissions panel of a particular MBA school is looking for.
Remember that those who have graduated from your dream school have faced what you are facing right now. And obviously, they have done the right thing with regard to their application essays. You can actually ask for MBA essay samples from alumni buddies so that you have to something to use as guides when writing your own.

Approaching an alumni for help

Even if you know that a certain individual is an alumnus of your dream school, if he or she does not know you personally, it would be a bad idea to just knock on his or her door and introduce yourself. He or she might be friendly, but then again, not all people appreciate being approached by total strangers. If you really want to reach out to a particular alumnus, you could find out who his or her friends are, and if you find a common friend, then you can approach first that common friend. Remember that when you are in the process of seeking advice from an alumni, don't sound obnoxious; keep in mind that he or she is the one doing you a favor.

What an alumni can't help you with

Yes, getting in touch with an alumni could help a lot when you're applying to an MBA school, but their assistance could only go so far. An alumni can't do anything with your low GPA. What you can do is to ask help from an alumni on how you can highlight your efforts in improving your grades in your essay. If you're able to effectively discuss your weaknesses in your essay without sounding like someone appealing for pity, you'll be able to reel in the attention of the admissions panel.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Online Mba Degree

MBA is an abbreviation for master of business administration. This is a higher degree designed to teach people from any industry sector the skills needed to effectively manage an organization at a senior level, or to help a fledgling business succeed.

It's a well-known fact that earning an MBA can boost your career (along with your salary). Widespread need in a variety of sectors suggests that you can explore any number of industries with an online MBA degree in your hands.

Today's MBA degree has evolved to keep up with the demands of our dynamic and global business world. Demand for individuals with MBAs is strong in a number of sectors including:
the U.S. government
non-profits
healthcare organizations
consulting firms
banks
technology companies

An online MBA is a graduate degree program designed for business leaders who do not have the time to attend classes or who do not live close to a campus. You can achieve an online MBA degree in a variety of business areas such as accounting, electronic commerce, marketing and project management.

An online MBA degree can help people make a career change, or take that next step up the corporate ladder by simply studying at home through the Internet with multimedia tools. Because most people are already busy with life, they might find that distance education fits their schedule better than attending a traditional classroom.

Students coming from any discipline are invited to enroll. Pursuing an MBA, online or through traditional means, shows employers you are committed to improving your future as well as showing a passion for learning. Possibly the most important bottom line is the potential of increased salary.

Entry-level salaries are typically higher for MBA graduates than non-MBAs. An MBA is a degree that clearly gives graduates an edge-up in the job market.

Students and graduates cited the following top reasons for pursuing an MBA degree:
Greater earning potential and confidence,
Career advancement,
Career shift or total change,
Paid training by an employer (sponsoring the MBA degree in whole or part),
Development of technical expertise and business savvy,
Gaining leadership in an emerging field,
Gaining networking resources,
Increased job security.

Hopefully, an online MBA degree will be your path to better pay and a great career. You just need to think carefully about what kind of MBA degree you can earn. If you're among the thousands of graduate student hopefuls looking to get into business school, perhaps it is time to explore earning your MBA online.
Article Source: articlesbase.com

Top 15 Online MBA Degree Programs

Since online degree become the alternative method to pursue distance learning, all qualified institutions find their ways to compete to provide the best to attract interested students. But since they are too much availability, here are the selected top online degree programs in Master of Business Administration (MBA) based on reputation, structure, networking opportunities, gained skills and tuition investment.

Instituto de Empresa (IE) of Madrid is the top recommendation where it offers for English and Spanish speakers. Connection from every corner in the world can happen through virtual lectures and videoconferences and students are required for 'blended sessions' in different cities. Vast networking is allowed and students from 48 countries can exchange background and expertise in diverse fields.

Thunderbird School of Global Management and Duke University of USA ranked second and third respectively. Through global MBA and cross-continental MBA, the students are those who are employed in companies from Coca Cola to Boeing. However, the tuition investment ranged from 57,000 to 95,000 USD. Actually, Thunderbird School was given the top spot in International Programs by US News and World Report and number one rank in International Business by Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Manchester Business School of UK, which offers a flexible distance learning MBA program combined with self-to-self workshops, only costs 30,000 USD is ranked fourth. The fifth to ten ranked institution are from US, which are Indiana University (offers MBA on general administration), Pennsylvania State University, University of Florida (offers Internet MBA), Babson College (offers Fast Track MBA), University of Massachusetts-Amherst (ranked second on Best Overall Academic Experience) and The George Washington University (offers a new GWU Healthcare MBA for professionals involved in healthcare industry).

The next five rankings are Walden University (ranked among the top ten largest online graduate programs for business by US News and World Report and Financial Times), University of Phoenix (offers Master of Management focusing on leadership and management skills), Western Governers University, DeVry University and Jones International University.

Although the MBA programs are quite similar overall, we must know that the rankings are not tailored to individual needs and only accustomed for certain values against certain criteria.