Top reasons - why to study abroad or in a foreign university

Why to consider studying at a foreign university ?

There are various reasons why prospective students consider going abroad for their further studies. Courses may include vocational training, high school, diploma, graduate, under graduate or certificate courses etc... It is recommended that you review the reasons why you want to do your studies at universities outside of your country. Find below the top reasons to help all those who are planning to go abroad to continue their studies in foreign universities.

• Studying at foreign universities improves value of your resume and increases employment opportunities: By travelling abroad already you proved your self, that you can take up the challenge of embracing different cultures, understanding of different cultures, you have seen the different working environments ( if you have work experience previous to your studies), you are independent and self motivated, if you are coming from developed or developing countries you have an extra edge as the companies in the country will be looking for candidates coming from such countries. Overall value of your resume increases as you are adding values to your personal and professional skill set by studying abroad.

Documents to be carried - Studying Abroad at foreign universities

You are success full in getting admission into a foreign university and you are excited to travel. While packing the items you want to carry its good to pay special attention to the documents. Its often noticed that students forget to carry valuable documents or misplace them in hurry! There fore in the list of items you are carrying while traveling abroad give documents the high priority. Following are the few important documents to which you should pay attention:

• Passport: It may seem, its easy to remember. But passport is one of the most important document, student miss place during travel. Plan well where you are going to put your passport in your travelling bag ( Never ever put it in your check in bag), always make sure that you place back the passport after showing it to officers at airport or to any other authorities. Never give it to strangers. Scan the passport and email it to your personal email account. Its good to carry copies of passport in your check in bags and leave a copy with your family.

Crucial factors to be considered before studying abroad

How to choose a study abroad program ?

There are several important factors to be considered before going to study abroad or at a foreign university. Studying abroad is a crucial decision in one's life because of amount of time and money involved in it. There fore before considering any program one should carefully analyse the various factors to be considered before selecting a course in abroad university. Few of the factors are as follows,

Decide which course you are planning to take up: Studying abroad is a big and major investment you make in your life, you will be investing your hard earned or parents/guardian money in it. Take up the course which suits your area of interest and aligning to your career path, it may be in engineering, medicine, tourism, cooking, technology or arts etc. Check weather the program offers the courses you want to study, extra curricular activities, external projects, networking opportunities etc.

Which country to select for studying abroad: Selecting the country for studying abroad is as important as selecting the course you intended to take up. Do a good research of the place and country you are planning to  go. Each country has merits and demerits, its depends on the kind of society, economy, government policies and educational institution. Overall select a place which offers enormous learning opportunity  with liberal immigration rules. Another factor is the size of the city you are going to, consider the pros and cons of selecting bigger cities/metropolis vs the small cities/towns.

Better age or time to go for studying abroad: Trends shows that, increasing number of students travel to take up graduate and under graduate courses. Understand your personal situation and assess the situation yourself being abroad, to make a go or not go decision.

Its better to contact your friends or relatives who took the course abroad to get first hand information to make a better decision. Often the universities/colleges provide access to alumni or current students, so that you can ask questions an clarify the doubts.

Add other factors to be considered before studying abroad in the comments section.

Important things to say in an interview

Important things to say in an interview:

I found the above article very use full for all the candidates attending interview including MBA's. With the growing competition in the labor market for getting job ( As their is less jobs available), presenting our self to prospective employer with our core competencies is very important.

Above article gives some idea on seven important things which we should say in an interview. They are as follows,

- I am very familiar with what your company does.

- I am flexible.

- I am energetic and have a positive attitude.

- I have a great deal of experience.

- I am a team player.

- I am seeking to become an expert in my field.

- I am highly motivated.

MBA GYM - New way of learning the MBA courses

Financial Times provides service called MBA Gym, which i found very interesting and interactive way of learning the concepts taught in MBA. MBA Gym provides free, interactive online training sessions on key concepts taught on the Masters in Business Administration programme at business schools, such as Strategy & Operations, Finance, Marketing, Leadership, Economics etc....

It consists of a series of workouts, each lasting for approximately 15 minutes. Each workout has been designed to give a brief and engaging introduction to the subject. Each "workout" provides an  introduction to some key business ideas. The purpose is to help you decide if an MBA could help you go further.

Link:  http://www.mbagym.com/

How much reputation of university or college plays a role in your MBA degree ?

"How much role the reputation of university/college plays in your MBA degree ? " this is another question often asked by few of my friends and those aspiring to do an MBA.

In short "yes" reputation of university or college plays a major role in several aspects. But reputation itself will not make your resume or CV better. Ultimately its your personality which matters. Reason because, i have seen several from best institutes not able to find job or landing in a good job.

Some times the universities without not much of reputation provide very good environment to learn and grow. Universities with high reputation's may have huge number of class, which some time leads to not so attention by professors towards students.

Therefore weigh upon different factors ( Such as quality of study, faculty/student ratio, university fee, cost of living, networking opportunities etc...) before selecting the university or college to do an MBA.

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* Networking opportunity

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Analyse the job market and your profile before going abroad for MBA

Dear Friends,

One of the common question i receive from MBA aspirants is " How is the job market? Will i get a job after MBA ? Will the job market pick up ? etc...

My suggestions for analyzing the job market are as follows,

• Clearly look at your profile and the value MBA brings into your profile - clue is in answering Why MBA? question typically asked during MBA admission. Give a serious try in answering that question.
• Talk to as many people as possible to understand the job market and future of job market. I know the current scenario is unpredictable. But try to make sincere effort to reach out to as many people, tell them about your profile and expectations after MBA to get good feedback.
• You can also do some research looking into popular job portals in the country you are planning to do MBA. I believe job portals will provide you an idea about the kind of skills set in demand.

Friends no can guarantee you a job. Talk to Alumni of the university or college, where you are planning to do MBA. They are the good source to provide you an accurate picture.

Good luck...

Did you analysed your financial position before MBA?

Thought of posting this "Did you analysed your financial position before MBA?" asked by one my close friend recently to me. This is one of the important question every MBA Candidate should answer before considering doing MBA Abroad or High fee domestic MBA. Friends, clearly analyse your financial position looking minimum two year down the line from the probable date of starting your MBA. Also consider evaluating the opportunity cost i.e the salary you will be loosing, forth coming promotion or relocation opportunity available to you ( In case if you are considering doing your MBA, to shift to abroad - I have seen many of such cases), family ties and many more... list goes on. Dont make any urgent decision, take good time to analyse every aspect of personal and professional life before getting into tough MBA life ...

Networking - Little info and tips

Coming to the job hunting now i can completely realize and articulate the importance of networking while finding the job. Its true that more than 70% of the jobs filled by the referrals, because i have seen that happening with my previous work experience. MBA helped me to effectively build the networking among the local business community. Currently using famous networking websites like LinkedIn and Xing to expand my network. May be these networking will not help me for time being but in long term they will definitely going to be helpful.

After Graduation

Yeah - Now i am an MBA, specialized in Innovation and Technology Management. I thought demanding and tough life at B - School will be challenging. Now after graduation i could really feel the tough economic environment effects on the job market. As an MBA, when i look back i can jolt down the milestone I have crossed,

1. Getting good work experience ( Minimum of four years)
2. Taking TOFEL and GMAT exams
3. B - School applications : getting admission offer
4. Completing MBA
5. Finding job in this tough market

I will continue to write the Job hunting strategies in the next posting...