The first step to be done - is analyzing your motivation for choosing a business school. Do you change the scope of employment, or want to grow up the career ladder? Is wage growth is most important for you, or do you want to gain international experience? Perhaps your primary purpose is enhancing your education and horizons... Honest self-assessment will save you a lot of time and effort and help making a more "focused" choice of business school.
Budget and type of training when choosing a business school
Basing on number of applicants, Full-Time MBA is still the most popular form of training. The number of Part-Time and Executive MBA program candidates is also increasing; however, they are not so popular compared to MBA programs. Standard period of study on international Full-Time MBA program in the U.S. is 2 years. Such schools as Wharton, Harvard and Stanford ask about US $ 35,000 per year. European London Business School offers a two-year program, while IMD, INSEAD, Cranfield, Warwick and some other top schools programs last 1 year.
In Europe, the cost of tuition for MBA program may be relatively small - EUR 5000 per year, but can reach up to EUR 31,000 (including costs of accommodation, training materials, etc.). However, there is a possibility of obtaining financial support, thanks to which candidate can afford studying at most expensive programs. Various organizations also offer scholarships, and many local banks offer student loans with low-interest rates.
Criteria when choosing a business school
Despite all sorts of ratings, researchers suggest candidates have very different opinions about criteria that are of prime importance when choosing a business school. At the World MBA Tour, applicants may apply to TopMBA Scorecard - a new online tool - to fit specific school criteria. According to surveys, most popular criteria for selecting a business school (all of them are on TopMBA Scorecard) are:
A possibility of obtaining scholarship or financial aid: most MBA candidates recognize that it getting a scholarship would be nice, but it is not so important when choosing an MBA program. However, a possibility of obtaining partial or full scholarship may strongly influence the choice of school.
School reputation: this factor serves an indicator of program quality among employers. As a rule, the higher school reputation is, the higher wages offered by recruiters at the end of training program are.