The problem does not lie particularly in the age but their allied factors too. Age is not the only deciding factor in your path of pursuing a MBA degree from one of the many reputed B schools in India or abroad. Certain other factors are also in play. For example, funds, work, family responsibilities, health etc. often mold your decision as to when you can pursue a full time MBA program.

Thus, the decision to pursue business management courses from the many MBA colleges in India, varies from person to person. Many of the A class MBA schools has often included business management courses under their undergraduate course curriculum. This means that right after school, students thinking of building a career in business can opt for it. An integrated 5 years full time MBA program will prepare the student well for the corporate world. However, for many a MBA degree comes as an additional qualification apart from their undergraduate study in some other subject. In India, many students decide to pursue a MBA course at the age of say 22-23, when they have finished their college degree. Those who decide to gain some experience in the work field, choose to do it within the age limit of say 26-30. Those who do it late, often pursue it along with their masters degree.

The urge to pursue a MBA course depends upon other factors too. While a student has the opportunity to go for a full time MBA program from the best B schools in India, a working professional has to juggle it with his career. However, if afforded by the company, executive MBA’s are best to hone their skills. A MBA degree not only adds to their work experience but also opens up path for promotion. The work experience also helps in understanding the course content while bearing the cost becomes comparatively easier. A student on the other hand does not have this opportunity. The MBA degree can surely get him a good job but only if done from one of the premier MBA colleges in India. Otherwise, the package offered after completion of the MBA course is not lucrative enough.

Thus, it depends solely upon you as when you want to pursue a MBA. There is no definite age and no MBA institution can bar you from getting admitted if you prove yourself. A better judgment of the requirement of a MBA degree in your life is however necessary because once achieved, it should not be wasted as it is priceless.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com

With the current economy, many people are considering going back to school to get their Master’s in Business Administration (MBA).  The question that many have been asking themselves is whether going back to school to get your MBA is worth the value.  When asking hiring managers or management recruiters, many have much to say in the true value of an MBA.

Picincu Andra

The MBA is perhaps the most demanded course in today’s world. This course tops the list of courses almost in all the developed and developing countries across the globe. The enthusiasm for the course has brought in many small private institutes etc. to offer this course. However, only those students who have obtained the MBA degree from some recognized eminent university find the best of placements. So the institute or the university is the first factor for a successful career in this field. This article will educate you about the various issues like finance, strategy to study, interview etc. related to choosing MBA as a profession.

In today’s competitive world there are no shortcuts. The student willing to take admission in one of the best institutes either in Asia or abroad, need to study hard and get the good grades. 3.0 to 4.0 are the minimum grades required at the undergraduate grade point average (GPA).

Most of the MBA schools or colleges adjudicate the caliber of the student via the GMAT or The Graduate Management Admissions Test exam. This test is to estimate the individual’s knowledge of English, Math and Analytical writing skills. The verbal or English section comprises of 41 questions to be answered within 75 minutes. The questions like correcting the hidden grammatical mistakes etc. The Math section has 37 questions and same 75 minutes. Questions are on various mathematical topics like percentage, ratio and so forth. The writing analysis is based on writing two essays on different issues.

The school and university depend on the grades that you get in the exam. Good grades will fetch you a deemed university while poor ones may not.

MBA programs are full time and part time and within this program there are many choices. Like you can take up finance management, HR, etc. it is at the discretion of the student to decide which course to go for.

Once you have made a preference for the course, the time comes to look at the fee structure. Usually the MBA schools charge a high fee which is not within the reach of students. In this case they look for other financial aids. Many schools offer scholarships, grants etc. that can be looked up to. Else the loan facility is always available. The loan providing banks and companies also consider the grades and the institution that recommends the name of the student. The successful schools are known for producing productive students who can repay the loan conveniently with their salaries.

The FAFSA or the Free Application for Federal Students, loan offered by the federal government is doing remarkable job in this area. However, due to the popularity of the loan, the application should be sent as soon as possible.

Many MBA schools ask for recommendation letters. This is in order to justify a student’s authenticity. In this case the letter should be taken by an honored and known authority whose recommendation lifts your name in the eyes of its seekers.

The school life is followed by hunt for a job. If you have passed from a top most school, job is not an issue; still you need to be prepared to win your contenders. When going for an interview wear decent clothes that are not too jazzy and funky and colorful. Practice properly with a friend or family member before the day of interview. Don’t forget to take a copy of resume and cover letter along with your certificates. You need to be familiar with each and every word of your resume and cover letter. Don’t be nervous and maintain a calm composure. Try replying in a prudent manner to all their questions. Even if you make a mistake, don’t let it affect your rest of the answers and your attitude.

So go ahead and chase your dreams!

It is always good to know a little bit about everything. However, it can be much more advantageous to know a great deal about one thing – your discipline. A distance learning MBA helps you to become an expert in your line of work. It makes you more valuable to businesses.

You can stay ahead in the corporate world by earning a distance learning MBA through learning new business procedures and methods.

The knowledge you acquire through an online master’s program can be applied to decisions that need to be made on your job and in everyday life. You will become equipped with tools that lead to better corporate strategies, decision-making, and policies. When you use these tools on the job, you will impact your entire work environment with your knowledge.

The advancement opportunities are tremendous for those with advanced degrees like a distance learning MBA. Investing in your career could lead to raises and promotions. With your expertise, you will be eligible to climb higher up the corporate ladder. Most managers, top executives, and CEO’s have reached those positions because they have attained sophisticated degrees in their line of work. They steadily rose from an entry-level employee. Each subsequent step led to higher and higher ranks within the company until they finally reached the height of their careers.

Yet, moving up the corporate ladder is not your only option when moving ahead in the workforce. Many people become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses. The knowledge that you gain from pursuing a master’s degree is focused and in-depth. Many people take this knowledge and start their own careers from the ground up. This gives them the freedom to do something they love and work for themselves at their own pace.

An enormous benefit of earning a distance learning MBA is that you can tailor the curriculum to fit your specific needs. You can choose which courses you want to take so that you can enhance your educational experience. You select courses that apply specifically to your current occupation or a profession that you would like in the future. The program allows you a flexibility that you otherwise might not obtain from a traditional college curriculum.

The courses are taught by professors who have similar experience in your field. Many of these instructors have already published books that have received exceptional reviews. These books are based on their own success stories in the corporate world. The techniques and strategies they teach have been proven to work and have lead to new business theories and organizational change.

Impress your prospective employers with a distance learning MBA. It will put you on the cutting edge of the business market and a step ahead of the competition.

Job opportunities: Important considerations for any candidate planning a professional MBA in marketing are questions like:

· What is the scope of MBA marketing?

· How is an MBA marketing salary?

· What after MBA in marketing?

and the like. If you think that there is no scope of MBA marketing managers in this age of recession! Think again! In these tough times the crying demand of the companies is to increase their sales even more, thus, the scope of MBA marketing only becomes more critical and vital for the survival of the organisation. Thus, there is always a good scope of MBA Marketing even during the times of recession, although an MBA marketing salary might be seemingly lower than during boom times.

Career options after MBA marketing: Let us briefly look at the scope of MBA marketing in the context of industries; one can develop a career in sectors ranging from FMCG, Retail, Tourism, Banking, Hospitality, IT and ITeS, Media, PR & Advertising, Consultancy, Market Research etc. Let us briefly look into the different job profiles a candidate can expect after MBA in marketing.

· Marketing manager: The marketing manager’s responsibilities focus on servicing and managing an ongoing relationship with existing customers. He utilizes his skills in international marketing, customer satisfaction and retention, market strategy, and emerging technologies. This position requires intensive knowledge of market research and customer management. An MBA marketing salary for the post of a Marketing manager can range between 5-12 lakhs annual (depending on prior work experience).

· Brand manager: The scope of MBA marketing graduate in Brand management is that he/she is responsible for promotion and positioning activities that include advertising, media, market research activities such as collecting the information about area of consumers, display brand at target place and the like.

· Market research analyst: After MBA in marketing can open employment possibilities as a Market research analyst. Such professionals devise methods and procedures for obtaining the data they need. He is responsible for design, implementation and analysis market and provides support for the development of business strategies and plans for contributing to the business. They design telephone, mail or internet surveys to assess consumer preferences, conduct surveys as personal interviews, going door-to-door, lead focus group discussions, or setting up booths in public places such as shopping malls, analyze data on past sales to predict future sales. MBA marketing salary for a market research analyst can range between 4-6 lakhs p.a.

· Sales manager: A sales manager is responsible for a multitude of activities like providing effective customer service and Monitoring Schemes in retail trade and distributors and reporting competitor activity, assessing and fixing sales targets, developing and monitoring business development and the like. They appoint distributors and plan sales outlets. The candidates who opt for a sales profile after MBA in marketing require a knack for customer focus and a genuine interest in the problems of customers.

· Media Planning: It forms an important component of marketing strategy of any organization. Media Planning involves designing a plan that shows how advertising time and space in selected media and which vehicles contribute to the achievement of marketing objectives in an advertising campaign. It is a tool that allows the advertiser to select the most appropriate media to communicate the message in sufficient frequency towards the maximum number of potential customers at the lowest cost. Salaries of MBA marketing degree holders in the media planning sector vary from 4-6 lakhs p.a.

· Product management: A product manager is responsible for the profitability and market growth of a product line. They typically coordinate and oversee a number of diverse divisions of a corporation to ensure the efficient and timely flow of a product to market. The scope of MBA marketing for is significant as many are often promoted as Director or Manager of a group of products or as Vice President (VP) of marketing.

An MBA marketing salary can thus be in the range of Rs. 6-12 Lakhs on onwards – Salaries for Starters may vary depending on the work experience of the individual. However, not all B-schools can guarantee an MBA marketing salary in similar ranges. The MBA marketing salary also depends on other parameters like the field of specialization, creativeness, innovativeness, and the like. A key fact: Most CEOs have been known ton start their careers in some form of sales or marketing role – so if you plan to work your way up there, this functional skill is not an option!

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com

Different for different prospects: The EMBA course is aimed at experienced executives who prefer not to take a career break to take a full-time MBA and typically require significant business experience to gain admission. The regular MBA course is generally taken by candidates with relatively lesser work experience. On the other hand the EMBA course is generally taken up by experienced people who want to augment other skills/knowledge areas.

The Course Content: Courses offered in an EMBA program are normally the same as those taught in traditional MBA programs – accounting, finance, statistics, and management, marketing and information systems. However, EMBA courses are enhanced by the extensive professional experience of the participants and are uniquely structured to cover management principles at a much higher level of enterprise complexity. MBA courses groom managers and EMBA are geared towards preparation for the Vice President/President/CEO/COO role. In addition, senior faculty experienced in teaching and consulting are employed as principal instructors.

The Duration of the courses: Regular MBA is a full time course spread around 2 years. There is a specialization to be chosen at the end of one year. The course content contains exhaustive subjects about the management career. The EMBA course is spread around 18-21 months which includes regular contact points which allow students to attend the classroom coaching as well as complete the various projects and assignments.

Advantages of the programs: In terms of advantages the regular MBA program helps to you to broaden your horizons with respect to purposeful core areas whereas the EMBA program helps you to take advantage of promotions in the existing firm or accomplish value additions in your career. If you want to choose the right management career path, it is necessary to decide whether you want to plunge yourself totally into the functional aspects of management or want to partly acquire the knowledge keeping your core area constant.

How will you solve the Dilemma: If you are still in two minds you might as well take up employment after graduation and decide in a year or two. You could then choose to continue with your existing employment and pursue an EMBA or diversify from your field and take up a full time MBA.

The Funding Aspect: A unique aspect of an EMBA program is that the funding can be done from your pocket. The high quality of faculty, facilities and support staff required to provide a successful EMBA program dictates that such programs include an investment by the participant’s sponsoring organization. Program costs are modest in comparison to the benefits yielded. In the majority of cases, students are sponsored fully, or in part, by their employers. Employers understand the competitive advantage they gain from having an employee whose management skills have been brought to the highest possible level. Students who are not sponsored by their companies often qualify for loans, scholarships, and/or other financial aid.

About The Author:

Click here for a more free MBA admissions tips and a free 20 minute consultation with a certified U.S MBA

So looking for a job post in a managerial or executive level? An MBA degree might be of your help! The job prospect for an MBA student is probably better than for any other career. An MBA degree holder ends up having enough knowledge in theory and practice of business management. Industrial houses, manufacturing companies, MNCs etc. mostly recruit MBAs for all their management positions. A better job with good salary boosts up your lifestyle and makes easier for you to live like a snob!

But having the degree from a reputed institute is also very important. There are good schools of MBA in Ahmadabad, Pune, Mumbai and West Bengal. All you need to do is choose the right institute, study well and fetch yourself an MBA degree. While going through the course in any of the reputed B-schools you must have taken a specialization of your choice. The job prospect depends on what specialization you have. Mostly MBA grads work in the field of

• finance,
• general management,
• human resource,
• marketing and
• sales

• Finance:

Generally banks, financial institutions, MNCs, etc prefers students having MBA degree from top B-schools in India. Such recruitments are done so that the candidates can deal with the the company’s financial potential, growth prospect, budget analysis, share market volatility and its impact on the market. Companies expect that the students will come up with vivid ideas and will be able to handle different situations of the company.

• General management:

Corporate organization, multinationals prefers recruiting MBA people to handle all the management positions.

• Human resource:

One of the most lucrative job offers is the job of a HR. An MBA grad, as a HR professional, can work in any sector. You have better chance to choose your field in either general HR or HR for recruitment depending on your area of interest and potentiality. An HR gets to develop, advice on and implement policies relating to the effective use of personnel within an organization.

• Marketing

Marketing executives are required in an organization to handle the fields like planning, advertising, promotion, public/media relations, product development, distribution, sponsorship, and research. Such roles are really challenging, varied and exciting.

• Sales

Organizations hire sales executives to increase and develop sales in different areas. Areas like

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables, industrial supplies, IT, software and media and services hire candidates with an MBA degree for there sales purpose. The role of the sales executives also ensures commercial success of UK and overseas market.

So which field should you take up? Confused? Ya! It does become tough when you need to choose any one from so many lucrative job offers. But you need to focus on your path. An MBA degree with any specialization has its own value.

Vince Lombardi once said “Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.”

Success in MBA Entrance Exam in India is also no cake walk. You need in-depth knowledge, analytical mind, sharp memory and above all, systematic planning and preparation. Needless to say that the candidates cannot and should not attempt preparation for his MBA Entrance Test overnight. Since the competition is amongst the best available talent from all disciplines, meticulous and long term preparation are required to get admitted to the MBA program. Although the syllabi in the admission/entrance test differ from university to university, there are certain common aspects that appear in most of the entrance test, CAT, XAT, MAT, XLRI, SNAP and MBA Entrance Exams conducted by State Universities in one form or the other. These aspects include tests on quantitative aptitude, reasoning, intelligence, comprehension, case analysis, relationships, word power, synonyms, antonyms, general knowledge/awareness, etc. It is therefore, essential that the candidates start preparing well in advance on all the above aspects. If one can get hold of previous year’s papers or at least the pattern, this would go a long way in guiding the candidates to prepare properly for the test.

Here are some tips to prepare on important aspects which are common to most of the MBA entrance examinations in India:

(1) Quantitative Aptitude: A candidate seeking admission to MBA programme is expected to have aptitude for basic and elementary accounting as well as the knack of solving the simple arithmetic problems. This is one of the areas in the admission test which, if properly prepared and practiced, is likely to put the candidate ahead of others, as one can hope to score even 100% marks in this part. There may be several types of questions that may form part of quantitative aptitude test. The first category could be simple arithmetic problems including profit and loss, percentages, ratio, averages, partnership, etc. Such problems involve simple calculations and with a little practice and basic aptitude, can be solved correctly. The second category of questions could involve multiplication or divisions in 5 to 6 figures or decimals. It may be quite time-consuming if the candidates start actually attempting the entire calculations. Since the candidates are required to work against time it is not advisable to waste time on such calculations. With a little practice, the candidates can easily eliminate most of the choices straightaway to arrive at the correct answer even without any calculations. This can be achieved if the candidates look at all the choices carefully before actually attempting the calculations. Another category of questions may be directed at testing only the intelligence of the candidate and not his/her ability to calculate. There may be some other questions aimed at testing the common sense of the candidates. The entire area of quantitative aptitude, therefore, needs constant practice to calculate quickly with accuracy. More practice is also essential for the candidates to gain confidence in this part of the test. Even if a candidate does not have the basic aptitude for figure-work, he/she can make up for this deficiency by regular practice and a lot of hard work. It is strongly recommended that the candidates practice and attempt all the questions on quantitative.

(b) Logical Reasoning: Questions on logical reasoning may be of several types and in several forms. These could include a statement on which the candidates are asked to draw correct interference out of the given choices. There could be questions on series of words and figures, arrangement of alphabets, brain teasers or even such questions as only call for drawing logical inferences. Just like quantitative aptitude test, this portion of admission test also needs special and detailed preparations and practice. Most of the questions under this category infact test the common sense and sense of proportion and reasoning among the candidates and therefore, must be attempted with a cool head. In case of statements, the given statement as well as choices given must be read at least twice before choosing the right answer. In case there are more than three questions on arrangements of alphabets, it is advisable to write down all the alphabets on the rough work sheet. This will facilitate easy and quick attempt of questions on alphabets. Similarly, there could be certain questions on distances traveled in different directions. In such questions it is proper to draw a rough diagram giving distances traveled in various directions to get the correct answer. Constant practice in the questions on reasoning would make the candidates confident to tackle this particular aspect of the test. To do well in this part of the test, the candidates must therefore, practice hard.

(c) Comprehension Test: Comprehension test is aimed at gauging the understanding of English language by the candidates. Usually, a paragraph is given which the candidates are required to go through carefully and then answer the question by choosing the correct answer. To attempt this part speedily and correctly, the candidates must practice reading with a quick speed and understanding the entire passage. Answer to most of the questions are easily located within the passage itself. But there are certain questions, answers to which are not directly available in the given passage. Such questions can only be answered by those candidates who can understand the passage fully. Regular practice would help the candidates to attempt the comprehension test in more effective and appropriate manner. Tests of English language given in every issue of this magazine invariably contain small comprehension passages. Practice of such passages may be of great help to the candidates for preparing this test.

(d) General Awareness: As the name suggests, the test of general awareness aims to judge the general knowledge of the candidates. Basic facts about all aspects of general knowledge like Science, Geography, History, Economics, Polity, etc are essentially required to be known. A good knowledge of all branches of general knowledge is essential which can only be achieved by reading good books. Reading Newspapers regularly will keep you updated in whatever important is happening around the world.

About The Author

Anurag Chopra is the Webmaster of http://www.successcds.net – A complete resource portal for Entrance Exams for Professional Courses in India.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_J.S._Johnson