These also include niche courses like Non-Profit Management, Public Policy, Dispute Resolution and the like for those who need to improve their experience and expertise in particular areas.

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is by far the most sought-after Master’s program in the US as also Master’s in domains such as Accounting, Finance, Management, Economics and Mathematics. Similarly, programs in Information Technology, Engineering, and Law are also among the top choices.

Among popular MS courses are Master’s in Biostatistics, Human Computer Interaction, Telecom Engineering, Applied Math, Statistics, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Business Administration and Information Science.

The US also has a Master’s degree and a Master of Science program. While both are graduate programs, the Master of Science (MS) degree is a research-based course that requires students to write a thesis as opposed to a Master’s program, which is more course-work oriented.

Eligibility For Master’s Programs In USA

For an international student, the first step would be to gather information about the courses as well as the application process. The first choice for many is to peruse the same specialization as Bachelor’s. But it is not unusual for students to switch domains. The USA education system is liberal in this regard. Done a bachelors in Economics but want to study religion? No problem! USA really is the land of opportunity on this regard! 

Test Scores

Test Scores that prove the candidate’s proficiency in English is a basic requirement and the two most oft-used tests to assess candidates are: TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and IELTS (International English Language Testing Service).

Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) are the other tests.

There are other, more specific standardized tests for the legal and medical domains.

Formal Education Years

A matter of concern for candidates, especially from India, is that most American universities demand 16 years of formal education among eligibility criteria for a Master’s program. Since a Bachelor’s degree in India is a three-year program (B.Sc, B.Com, B.A etc), that adds up to 15 years (including 10 years of schooling plus 2 years’ junior college), it leaves a shortfall of one year for them.

However, some American universities, including some elite business schools, have begun to accept 15 years of formal education, instead of 16, if the rest of the application package is especially strong.

A matter of concern for candidates, especially from India, is that most American universities demand 16 years of formal education among eligibility criteria for a Master’s program. Since a Bachelor’s degree in India is a three-year program (B.Sc, B.Com, B.A etc), that adds up to 15 years (including 10 years of schooling plus 2 years’ junior college), it leaves a shortfall of one year for them.

Experts advise applicants to concentrate on getting excellent GRE/GMAT scores that would automatically open University doors for them and save an year in the bargain. But they should carefully check the admission policy of the School and directly contact the admission team to clear any doubts.

Professional Experience

Several Master’s programs, especially in the fields of medicine, education and technology, require practical experience or internships. So, apart from group discussions, writing a thesis and attending lectures, candidates may be required to have actual professional experience.

ALSO READ: MIM vs MBA: Everything you need to know

International students signing up for Master’s course will not be eligible for employment while studying, but student internship will be enough.

MSc in Management (MiM/ MBM) courses typically require little or no work experience and can be pursued by freshers.

ALSO READ: Specialized Master’s Degrees in Business gain ground with prospective students

Other Parameters

Some of the other parameters a US university will judge students are on academic record; the college/university attended; recommendations; research work and published work; extracurricular activities and work experience, if any.

Applicants will need to submit a Statement of Purpose (SoP) as well, which is among the most important parts of the Master’s application.

It is also essential to draw up a short-list of universities that maximises the student’s chances of securing admission to a good college. (Image Sources: Wikimedia, XYZ)

Critics of the visa regime point out that it puts international MBAs in the same category as foreign mid-level IT workers accused of taking jobs from Americans.

Forbes reports on the case of Sudhanshu Shekhar at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. On the dean’s list, He was elected partner in the school’s consulting club, selected as vice president of the operations management club, and held membership in four other student groups.

He won a Best Buy marketing strategy challenge and presented his recommendations to the firm’s C-suite. He managed to turn a summer internship with Booz & Company into a post-graduation job with Pricewaterhouse Coopers after PwC acquired Booz and turned it into Strategy&.

The 28-year-old had aimed at securing an MBA from a top school, secure a high-level consulting job and make an impact on global business practices.

As many as 47% of the companies said they would not employ international graduates on the grounds that the costs are high, time consuming paperwork and documentation, limited number of visas and language barriers

However, failing to win the H-1B visa lottery that had 233,000 applications this year out of which only 85,000 got the ‘speciality occupation’ visas for foreign nationals with bachelor’s degrees or higher, he is left with no option but to wait for his Dutch visa. He would then join Strategy& at Amsterdam.

He says applicants should be aware of visa related problems as US business schools do not highlight such issues at admission time.

While the exact number of MBA international students who end up unable to work in the US due to visa related issues is unavailable, the careers office of a prominent business school, admitted that it is “a considerable percentage.”

Applicants should be aware of visa related problems as US business schools do not highlight such issues at admission time

A recent GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) report of MBA employers shows the visa problem is made worse by the limited availability of jobs for foreigners.  Among the employers, only 28% propose to get international candidates, according to a study. Another 25% , while having no objections to foreign hires had no specific plans to make an offer to anyone from outside the US.

As many as 47% of the companies said they would not employ international graduates on the grounds that the costs are high, time consuming paperwork and documentation, limited number of visas and language barriers. Security clearances and cultural differences were also reasons cited by companies for their refusal to hire international MBAs.

European business schools fare badly too. The GMAC study found that fewer firms that hire MBAs—just 23%—plan to offer a job to an international graduate.

The H-1B, the work visa used by the majority of international MBA graduates from US schools, provides work authorization for up to three years, and can be renewed for another three.

Employers apply on behalf of employees, and applications have risen sharply over the past three years, but the number of available visas has remained the same.

European business schools fare badly too. The GMAC study found that fewer firms that hire MBAs—just 23%—plan to offer a job to an international graduate

With US business schools enrolling larger number of students from outside to “increase diversity and bring more of a global mindset into the classroom” the problem is only getting bigger.

GMAC research shows that 87% of all foreign students studying in American graduate management programs intended to seek work in the US.

Meanwhile, Canada is inviting failed H-1B visa applicants to move in there. However, for Stanford MBA entrepreneurs Pierre-Jean Cobut from Belgium and Elad Ferber from Israel, who had launched a medical device company while at the Graduate School of Business it would mean considerable dislocation.

They had raised $1.6 million in seed funding, developed fully functioning prototypes, and were eyeing several attractive markets. But they may have to move to Canada. Cobut received an H-1B visa in this year’s lottery but Ferber did not.

The only choice left for Ferber is to apply for two other visas, the 0-1 and EB-1, which are issued to people with proven “extraordinary” potential – not necessarily a verifiable quality for a new entrepreneur, no matter how bright and talented.

Canada has put in place a ‘startup visa’ and aggressively promoted it to failed U.S. H-1B applicants – most dramatically by putting up a billboard ad along the freeway between the San Francisco airport and Silicon Valley in 2013. “H-1B Problems?,“PIVOT to CANADA.”, the billboard read. 

It may seem a no-brainer that talented foreign MBAs should be welcomed into the U.S. economy. “Denying companies access to the skilled workers they need is like asking them to work with one hand tied behind their backs,” Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, argued last month in a Gannett op-ed calling for a higher cap on H-1B visas.

Microsoft executive VP Brad Smith in 2013 told a Senate committee that the limited number of visas had a deterrent effect on foreign talent. “Some potential hires are unwilling to jump over all of the hurdles presented by the H-1B cap and will simply walk away from the offer of employment in the U.S., opting to instead pursue alternative options in their home countries,” Smith testified.

But critics of the H-1B argue that it has led companies to lay off U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers and replace them with lower-cost immigrants.

In the latest round of H-1B visas, awarded by lottery, U.S. immigration services received 233,000 applications from companies for the Congressionally mandated 85,000 visas. Last year, 172,500 applications were submitted, up significantly from 124,000 a year earlier.

H-1B applications for MBA students at first go through a sub-lottery in which 20,000 visas are given to master’s students and master’s graduates. If an MBA doesn’t get a visa in that initial round, their application goes into the main lottery that awards 65,000 visas.

GMAC research shows which industries are most and least likely to hire international MBAs, and also reveals that on this issue, size matters. GMAC’s 2015 Corporate Recruiters Survey found that 36% of consulting companies said they planned to hire international business grads, and 38% of finance/accounting firms planned such hires.

Less likely to hire internationals were technology companies, with 43% saying they wouldn’t hire any foreign citizens requiring visas, and products/services firms, of which 58% said they wouldn’t hire workers needing visas.

Larger companies also expressed more willingness to hire international workers, with 34% of companies with 5,000 to 24,999 and 35% of companies with 25,000 or more employees saying they planned those hires.

Most unlikely to hire internationals were companies with 100 to 999 workers: 54% said they would not, and only 19% said they would.

“The availability of legal staff, defined company policies and financial resources, as well as a global demand for talent may explain the willingness of larger companies to hire candidates requiring legal documentation,” GMAC reports.

The H-1B problem can affect foreign MBA candidates’ internships as well as their future job prospects, says Elizabeth Chominski, associate director of MBA advising at the University of Illinois College of Business. Firms often use internships as a step toward hiring, and they may not want to hire a foreign intern because a later full-time hire would be complicated by the H-1B process, and made risky by the uncertainty that comes from the lottery system for allocating visas, he says. (Image courtesy AIH)

What is not easy though is getting a GPA score that makes the cut. Increasing competition among applicants to elite MBA institutes and ‘grade inflation’ at the undergraduate level may make it difficult for those with average scores to get a seat in top Business schools in the US.

What is GPA? Grade point average (GPA) is an important factor when applying to universities. A Grade Point Average (GPA) is a summary statistic that represents a student’s average performance in their studies over a stated period of time, such as one semester. Being numerical, GPAs are often calculated to two decimals. U.S.GPA calculated on a 4.0 scale. 

Six of the top ten schools in the U.S reported slightly higher average grade point averages for the MBA classes that entered last fall. The biggest increase was reported at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. The incoming Kellogg class had an average GPA of 3.60, up from 3.54 a year earlier.

Only one school reported a decline ad surprisingly it was Harvard Business School. The average GPA at the business school slipped to 3.67 from 3.70 the previous year. The remaining three top ten schools reported stable GPAs for their new MBA students.

Over the past five years, only eight schools in the top 25 reported lower GPAs, while the rest show increases or stable grade point averages. The same holds true for the next tier of the 25 schools that make up the top schools in the US.

While Arizona State University’s Carey School of Business recorded an increase in the average GPA of its entering MBA class by 1.5 points to 3.46 last year from 2010, Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill posted a 1.2 point rise to 3.42 over the same period.

While high GPAs are important, the course you pursued at the undergraduate level is also an important part of the equation and considered by business schools – GPA’s are looked at in the context of the course of study you chose.

Among those posting average GPAs that rose to a full point during this period were Wharton, NYU’s Stern School, Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, and the University of Virginia’s Darden School.

Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business tops the list with the highest average GMAT score of any US School with a 3.74 GPA, followed closely by Harvard with a 3.67.

Thus, for many aspirants with average scores, it may be an uphill task to secure admission at several of the top schools like UC-Berkeley, Kellogg, Wharton, and MIT.

While all the schools do admit students with below average GPAs, the mean is often an important dividing line. At MIT Sloan last year, a 3.23 GPA represented the 10th percentile while a 3.87 was at the 90th. The average GPA at MIT last year was 3.58.

In Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business the 10th percentile was 3.16 and the 90th was 3.85, with an average of 3.54.

While high GPAs are important, the course you pursued at the undergraduate level is also an important part of the equation and considered by business schools – GPA’s are looked at in the context of the course of study you chose. 

Another reason GPA scores can be low is if someone was working while pursuing studies. If you fall in this bucket, you may want to mention this in your essays. However make sure any reason you present for a lower than average GPA score is genuine or it could be shortest route to the rejected list.

Top B-Schools With Biggest Five-Year Increases In GPAs

Average GPAs At The Top MBA Programs In The U.S.

Image courtesy arizona.edu

I decided that a one-year program was for me since I didn’t want to waste more time in academia at my age. I could connect with the business school network within that year and leverage those connections to start a business. However, as I started looking, it wasn’t incredibly easy to find a program in the U.S.

In Europe, a one-year MBA is the default. I was previously stationed in Europe and speak fluent German, so I figured doing an MBA in Europe wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities. I started analyzing rankings of international business schools and narrowed my search to countries I would be interested living in and could speak the language.

Although all business schools use English as their language of instruction, it is always good to be able to leave the school and hold a conversation. I looked at IMD in Switzerland and Cambridge in England. After reaching out to a fellow veteran at IMD, who I was introduced to by a classmate of mine, he provided insight as to how the application/interview process occurs and how intense the academic program is. I didn’t have any contacts at Cambridge, but I had visited there earlier and was impressed by the campus and prestige of the name. However, I was later persuaded by a friend who was attending IE Business School in Spain, to look at domestic American universities again.

In Europe, a one-year MBA is the default. I was previously stationed in Europe and speak fluent German, so I figured doing an MBA in Europe wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities…But the difficulty of an American attending a school in Europe is similar to a foreigner going to school in America; visa issues. If you are looking to work for a company, companies that recruit at the universities are primarily looking for candidates without work visa issues

Essentially, the difficulty of an American attending a school in Europe is similar to a foreigner going to school in America; visa issues. If you are looking to work for a company, companies that recruit at the universities are primarily looking for candidates without work visa issues. That ultimately isolates foreigners who generally return to their home countries with a degree from outside of their country. Not so bad for people from say Africa or India, returning with a well-known American MBA, but not so good for an American returning with an international MBA from a university that likely only 5% of your colleagues are familiar with.

I started reviewing lists of one-year MBA programs in the U.S., excluding online degree programs due to my preference for a classroom environment and interaction with other people. Internet distractions always get in the way of online classes for me. Looking at the normal business school rankings from sources such as the Princeton Review and the U.S. News & World Report, I wanted to see if any of the top 20 schools had one-year programs. It turns out that Kellogg at Northwestern University and Johnson at Cornell have one-year options.

In the process of applying to Johnson’s One-year MBA in Ithaca program, I started to hear from multiple veterans about a new program called the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA. Johnson currently has two one-year programs: one based in Ithaca, NY, and one primarily based in the heart of NYC.

Since I was living in West Point, NY, at the time, I was able to make several trips to NYC. Each time I spoke with Manhattanites about my considerations of attending business school with Cornell Tech they would get excited and knew a great deal about the program. Apparently the former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg spoke highly of Cornell Tech and its pending move to Roosevelt Island and made a lot of publicity about it.

Bloomberg wanted to enhance the tech ecosystem in NYC and compete with Silicon Valley, so he also donated $100 million to further the development of the new campus, after Cornell had beat out several top universities for the bid. There was no doubt I wanted to be a part of this momentous change in NYC. My decision was made… the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA is the program for me.

I chose Johnson because I want to be challenged as an entrepreneur. Johnson has an expansive network which can support me in my transition into a new venture. The Johnson Cornell Tech program was attractive to me because it is groundbreaking. Bringing together MBA and STEM students is an awesome concept and I’m sure it will lead to amazing ventures.

Ian Folau is a Class of 2016 MBA student at Cornell where he is pursuing the Cornell Tech MBA – a One Year Full Time MBA focused on Technology. Before his MBA Ian worked with the United States Army. (Article courtesy Cornell Blog)