B-School selection

I haven’t blogged for more than a week. Was busy with settling in HK, and adjusting to the hustle-bustle of this great city. Yesterday and Today we had the orientation program at the Hongkong Disneyland and the college sponsored overnight stay at the Hollywood hotel in Disneyland.  On the first day there were presentations by several distinguished speakers and on the second day we had many team building exercises. It was a well organized and fantastic programme. I will write about this later, but first let me touch upon the topic about b-school selection and why I chose HKU MBA?

Some of the factors that one should look for while selecting a b-school are following -

• Budget ( remember to include living costs and the travel costs while calculating expenses)
• University Reputation
• Class Mix & Diversity+Class Strength ( smaller class size has its own advantages like individual attention from the faculty)
• Faculty profiles( Both permanent and Visiting )
• Alumni profiles and Placement Record.

This list can be quite expansive. but the points listed above are the most important ones. Its always a good idea to study MBA from the region where you would like to work after you finish your course. Also check about the visa rules and regulations in that country.

I applied to the HKU MBA program for all of the reasons listed above. I was looking for a 1 year MBA program in a reputed University and my budget was about 20 lakh Indian rupees. Most of the US B-schools have 2 year MBA and an MBA from a top US university will easily cost you anywhere from 60-150k USD( Some state sponsored universities may cost significantly less).top schools in UK also cost in the same range. University of Hongkong is the first and the foremost university of Hongkong and runs its unique MBA program in collaboration with London Business School and the Columbia Business School. It is 100 year old University with world class infrastructure and faculty.The University is ranked 18th worldwide in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement and its MBA is ranked top 37th by the Economist. The core courses are taught in Hongkong and for the electives students travel to LBS or CBS. The present class is about 60 students and has a diverse mix in terms of profiles and nationalities ( 10 nationalities).

Most Indians have a belief that an Investment in education is the best investment one could make. Doing an MBA abroad costs lot of money. Probably this is the single biggest self-investment for an average Indian in his lifetime. So before making a decision to study MBA abroad, it is very critical for an individual to know the answer to the question why he or she needs an MBA. In fact this is one of the very common questions that b-schools ask in their essays or interviews. The answer seems easy, but very few of us know a clear answer to this question. The answer could be one or more of the following - opportunity in terms of career growth, better remuneration, change in domain, better work assignments, better place to work, new opportunity in various sectors like Marketing, Sales, Finance, Business Consulting, Business Development, Human Resources, Education etc.One needs to do a lot of soul searching and thinking to find the right answer to this question. Accordingly, one must choose the appropriate bschool and the electives.
In my next post I will write about general guidelines in selecting a b-school and the thought process that I went through, in choosing the University of Hongkong.

Hi, Thanks for visiting my blog. I wanted to own a blog and start expressing my thoughts on the internet from a long time. But I kept postponing the idea. The time has come now to join the elite world of bloggers. As mentioned in the About me page, I am going to pursue the full time MBA at the University of Hongkong ( HKU MBA ) and London Business School. The classes are starting in August 1st week, and I am all excited about it. There are about 12 Indians joining the 2008-09 program.In the coming days, I will write about the MBA course, and share the knowledge and experience that I gain by living and studying in the 2 major financial capitals of the world, Hong Kong and London. I will also use this platform to share my thoughts and views about various topics.Please leave your comments and keep watching this space! .