These students and graduates of the master’s degree in business administration analyzed costs, scholarships, subjects or the possibility of continuing to work.
Appearing in the top positions of national and international listings, offering tools to understand how to work abroad and demonstrate an attractive network of connections during the program are some of the criteria for choosing a school to pursue a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) , according to consulted alumni.
96% of the applicants who apply to study abroad, for example, have in their sights remaining to work in that other country and the main destinations are the United States, Western Europe, Canada, Asia, Australia and Latin America, according to data of the Graduate Admission Council in Business Administration (GMAC, for its acronym in English), which annually generates the report Student Expectations Survey MBA. 34% of the candidates, for example, pay attention to the fact that the school, because of its connections, is a platform to change industry and career.
“When I was about to choose, they advised me to check if there were alumni clubs to interact with the people I wanted,” says José Carlos Elizondo, a graduate of the MBA program at the University of California, who received advice from the consultancy Human Resources Foster Thomas on the schools where to take the masters.
Read also: A businessman: this is the Mexican who aspires to the MBA
From another perspective, the scholar, Ernesto Bolio, director of the Master in Business Management of IPADE, says it is essential to answer the question of what the student will receive after his investment. “One scenario is to talk about how your way of analyzing business situations will change and you will be more productive, improving certain skills,” adds the executive.
Expansión.mx asked several graduates how they chose their business schools. This is what they answered.
Carlos Navarro, current IBEAR MBA student, University of Southern California (2017-2018): This executive, specialized in analysis topics for communication companies, because before starting the MBA he was an analyst at Grupo Televisa, he chose IBEAR (International Business Education and Research) in the Marshall business school for the stays that the MBA promotes in Asia and in Silicon Valley, United States.
“Because of my age (45 years) it is the ideal program, because they are looking for people with proven experience”. It contemplates a scholarship of 30,000 or 45,000 dollars for outstanding Mexicans. His family, he says, was the other motivator to seek a scholarship in California. “My wife and nine-year-old daughter traveled with me and the presence of the Latino community, plus support at the school, helped make the transition faster,” she says.
The Marshall School offers support to stay in a housing complex in La Brea and support up to $ 15,000 additional to those who travel with family. “Where I live, half of the furniture is a donation of former students. As basic as it sounds, these supports are vital. ”
Eliana González, graduate of Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Illinois: This lawyer, partner at Mora González & Asociados, points out that what caught her attention is that the university offers a program that integrates the Law with the MBA subjects . “It’s a very complete interdisciplinary mix and not easy to achieve,” he says.
Another reason to choose Northwestern is its position as one of the best universities in the United States. Gonzales recognizes that he also loves Chicago, the city where he is. “I applied to more schools: UCLA, Berkeley, Georgetown, all in the United States,” he explains. But in the Northwestern offer was a $ 25,000.00 scholarship. In addition, the school generates many opportunities to travel and take other workshops, some of them free.
Juan Maldonado Alcázar, graduate of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands: For Maldonado, one of the main reasons was the cost of the program, which was practically half of the enrollment of American universities. In addition, he set himself in the country that would welcome him during the student period. “Holland today offers many advantages for immigrants with a high level of education, Rotterdam, at the time of my election, was the fifth best school in international mobility,” he says.
With this decision, the graduate covered the expectation of working abroad. The specialist in corporate communication stayed in the Netherlands at the end of the program and added to his career a project of digital platform and consulting focused on sustainability and circular economy in the company Circle Economy, located in Amsterdam. Today, he is the manager of the student and corporate relations department of the business school where he studied.
Federico Ranero, graduate of the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago: The general director of Uber Mexico and the Caribbean explains that when choosing a school he analyzed the flexibility of the program. “De Booth liked that you have a lot of optional subjects, depending on the direction you want to give your career,” he says.
Another advantage is that many of its professors are Nobel laureates in economics, he says. “You can take classes with people who have changed the way they understand and move in the business market with their theories.” My favorite was the subject of “efficient markets,” where a guru on economic behavior shared the psychological aspects that cause the prices of the shares move away from their real value, “he explains.
Ranero points out that in this school he fulfilled the expectation of studying a program that changes the consciousness about oneself, about locating other industries and other areas of opportunity where to grow.
Gabriel Acosta, graduate of the Executive MBA (EMBA) of the Egade, business school of Tec de Monterrey: Acosta was looking for a program that would allow him to continue working and obtain a double degree with a school abroad. He found it in the alliance that Egade has with the University of Texas.
“When I entered the program, I was a person who struggled to sell their ideas, convince others to make a decision and speak the same language as my colleagues, they seem easy aspects, but you do not usually develop them easily in daily life,” he explains. .
In this business school every weekend he came closer to understanding what the director’s role is and what things to renounce to perform it. “It implies stop doing and doing, to teach others and actually direct, you think that those things are going to fall from the sky with the experience and it’s not true.” Thanks to the network that Egade has, in addition, at the end of the program I had an offer from Kone to become a financial director.
