FAQs

Ideally you should take the GMAT or GRE along with TOEFL or EILTS for English language proficiency by June / July of the year proceeding the admissions year, certainly not later than Sept/October.TIME LINES with all milestones, to apply for MS / MBA based on GRE/GMAT in the US is given under

Broadly the MBA programs that accept the GMAT scores can be classified into three based on :

1. Kind of program one wishes to pursue and where
2. Programs that have pre-requisite of certain years of experience

The programs are :

Program	Minimum years of experience
MIM (Masters In Management)	0-2 years work experience expected
Global MBA program	2-7 yrs of work experience
Executive MBA / Sloan Program :	Experience of 8 yrs and above

1. Masters in Management (MIM) are postgraduate programs in general management.
2. MIM is a usually a lesser duration program (12 to 20 months) and aptly suited for students who are fresh graduates or have started their professional career.
3. Europe mostly offer the Masters in Management program, however with increasing demand, the USA and Asia have also started offering this program.
4. The fees in Europe ranges from Euro 16000 to Euro 25000. 

A few of the sought-after MIM programs with details are here under. Almost every good university offers the MIM program in Europe and you could select yours based on the course structure and coverage and the fees that you can afford.

This is the most sought-after program, especially aspirants with work-experience wishes to go to the IVY league universities as they are called

1. Global MBA is a post graduate program about general management along with a specialization in a particular field
2. Duration of this course is 10 - 24 months, varies across the universities
3. Average course fee of such an MBA program will range between US $ 50000 to US $ 90000 as in 2014-15
4. The Average Salary is US $ 120,000 to US $ 150,000

A few of the sought-after universities with details looked for, include :

University	COUNTRY	TEST REQUIRED	Application DEADLINE	COURSE FEE	DURATION
Harvard Business School	US	GMAT / GRE & TOEFL	Sep / Jan / April	US $53500	24 Months
Stanford Graduate School of Business	US	GMAT / GRE & TOEFL	October / January / April	US$ 57300	24 Months
University of Pennsylvania : Wharton	US	GMAT / GRE & TOEFL	October / January / March	US $ 62034	24 Months
London Business School	UK	GMAT and TOEFL / IELTS	October / January / February / April	GBP  57500	15 - 21 months
Columbia Business School	US	GMAT / GRE & TOEFL	August / January	Us $ 58384	24 Months
Insead	FRANCE / SINGAPORE	GMAT & TOEFL / IELTS	October  / December  / March	Euro - 59500	10 months
University of Chicago: Booth	US	GMAT  / GRE  & TOEFL.	October / January  / April	US $ 56000	21 months

An executive MBA program is meant for people who have had considerable years of experience and are in the middle-management cadre in an organization and want to sharpen their existing skill sets.

• The Sloan Fellows program, one such program, is a mid-career master degree in general management and leadership.
• Minimum 8 years of work experience is required to apply for the Sloan program.
• Sloan program is a full-time course of 12-14 months, depending on electives.

There are many such programs.A few are here under with the information available (year 2013-14) as indicative -

Details	MIT Sloan	Stanford Graduate School of Business	London Business School
Minimum experience	10 years.	8 years.	12 years
Average experience	14 years.	11 years	16 years.
Class size	110	82	50
International Students	38%	25%	27%
Tuition fees	$ 1, 25,500.	$ 1,08,000.	GBP 49,000
Degree	MBA or MSc in Management.	MSc in Management.	MSc in Leadership and Strategy
GMAT	720 plus. ( Not always necessary.)	700 plus.	650 plus.
Deadline	October, December.	November . However they do accept students till the class is filled.	February, May, June.
Companies	McKinsey & Company , Amazon, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, Google,	Deloitte Consulting LLP, Coca Cola Company, Credit Suisse, Intel Corporation, Morgan Stanley, SAP VENTURES, Nike, Inc, New York Times Company, McKinsey & Company	Deloitte, Amazon, Accenture, Ernst& Young, GE medical, J.P Morgan, Infosys, TCS, Telefonica, Morgan Stanley
Salaries	$185000	$ 170000	GBP - 120000

As per the information published on GMAC’s website mba.com, there are over 200 Indian business schools that accept GMAT scores; the following are a few of the top B-schools in India worth mentioning that accept GMAT scores. For more schools, visit mba.com of GMAC that is the conducting body of GMAT.Apart from IIMs - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Ranchi, Rohtak, Shillong, Trichy, Udaipur, Raipur

• XLRI, Jamshedpur
• FMS, Delhi
• IIT-DMS, Delhi, Kanpur, Bombay, Madras, Roorkee & Kharagpur
• ISB, Hyderabad and Mohali
• IIFT, Delhi & Kolkata
• S.P Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai
• Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
• IMT, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Dubai
• MDI, Gurgaon
• School of Management, NMIMS, Mumbai
• K.J.Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai
• TAPMI, Manipal
• XIM, Bhubaneswar
• Goa Institute of Management, Goa
• MICA, Ahmedabad
• TISS, Mumbai
• IMI, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata
• NIFT, Delhi
• Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Gujarat

The IIMs treat those students admitted to the PGP programs through GMAT differently from those who come through CAT, to the extent of fees charged. This may vary from institution to institution. For more details kindly visit the website of the B-school you are keen on.

In the Indian business schools, aspirants without work-ex are found in plenty. The best of the schools abroad also offer admissions for exceptional fresh undergrads based on their profile.
But there are programs that offer students in the final year of under-graduation secure admissions into the future batches. These programs have gained popularity over the last 4-5 years especially with students in India.
The following are a few such programs that offer final year college students a guaranteed seat in a future class

1. Indian School of  Business’ Young Leaders Program
2. Harvard Business Schools’  2+2 program
3. YALE universities’ Silver Scholars Program
4. STANFORD Global School of Business’ College Seniors program
5. IESE Spain’s Young Talent Program

You need to take GMAT and based on the score apply for the programs. You will be interviewed and offered admission for a future batch, a couple of years down the line, to join after gaining experience to appreciate the program.

Though there are no hard and fast rules here, the broad insights available through eminent professors who have been part of the admissions committees, including one who is an advisor at CL, is as follows :

So it is important to note here that the GRE or GMAT scores may carry about 30% weightage, but work-experience, the essays and SOP/LORs and also any outstanding work like publishing research papers and other productive activities can really build ones profile. Even if you scores are in the highest percentiles, it always makes sense to work towards your goal by gaining relevant experience while in the under-graduate course.

Yes, the costs when we look in Indian currency may look higher but the returns are manifold. Even in best of the Indian institutions like IIMs you may end up paying about 20 lakhs and in an ISB about 30 lakhs which are not far from those charged by universities abroad. Let us look at the placement information available for few universities for the year 2014.
MIM programs -

Name of the University	Companies who recruits	Avg. Salary vs fees
University St Gallen	Ernst & Young,Microsoft,McKinsey & Company,Credit Suisse,Booz Allen Hamilton,Alstom,Accenture,Hewlett Packard,Robert Bosch,Schindler	$120000 Vs Fees CHF 8504
HEC Paris	McKinsey & Co , General Electric , Credit Suisse, Loreal, KPMG	$121061 vs fees of 17500 Euro
EM Lyon Business School	Gucci, Armani, GE, General Motors, Oracle.	$100000 vs fees of 18000 Euro
Essec Business School	Samsung, Air France, Apple, Bains & Co. , Booz & co. , France Telecom, Sony, RBS, TAG Heuer.	Euro - 60000 vs fees of 38000
Grenoble Graduate School of Business	Microsoft, McKinsey , Hewlett-Packard , Cap Gemini Ernst & Young ,Coca Cola , HSBC , Pfizer .	Euro - 85000 vs fees of 17900
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University	Apple, Booz, Tag Heuer, Prada, Alstom	Euro - 70000 vs fees of 15500

If we look at the Global MBA programs :

NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY	INTAKES	Avr. Salary vs Fees paid (in dollars)
Harvard Business School	September	187223 vs fees of 53500
Stanford Graduate School of Business	Fall Intake	194645 vs fees of 57300
University of Pennsylvania : Wharton	Fall Intake	180772 vs fees of 62034
London Business School	Fall Intake.	GBP 160988 vs fees of 57500
Columbia Business School	August Intake / January Intake	174347 vs fees of 58384
Insead	January and September.	Euro 153992 vs fees of 59500
University of Chicago: Booth	September	162363 vs fees of 56000

So, when the salaries offered on the campus is at least 3-4 times that of the fees you invest in the program in most of the campuses, while in India none of the institutions may give you the returns commensurate with the fees paid.

Yes, this is an interesting question, especially with so many of Indians do Engineering in under-graduation and for those who are interested in continuing in their field yet want to gain managerial skills, this could be a vary good programme. This program focuses on :

1. Multidisciplinary fields that involves the application of Engineering methods and technologies to business practices.
2. Incorporates business knowledge and communication skills and add to technical knowledge.

If you are interested in technology leadership, high technology management, R & D management or even technology entrepreneurship in a start-up company, this could be a program for you. And quite a few universities in Europe offer these programs.

Yes, most universities look for a Four-year under-graduation, but you can still get admissions to the universities in a few ways :

1. Build your profile by working on research papers on the area of your interest and then get it either published or present in conferences during you under-graduation program.
2. Explore the universities in Europe that offer the MIM Programs and pick the one that is suitable for you
3. Apply for those programs that give you deferred admissions like the ISB’s YLP program or HBS 2+2 program