MBA in the USA » Global Bloggers

MadBubbles Begins the US Visa Process

mbaintheusa — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:22:18 +0000

Image by Éole

Blogger MadBubbles, now officially known by her real name, Madhurya Prakash, is one step closer to her MBA in the USA dreams. In her recent blog post, Madhu maps out the process for Indian students applying for US visas. Read her informative outline here.

You are accepted – Congrats!! A new adventure begins!!

mbaintheusa — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:34:52 +0000

image: Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

by: madbubbles

As you all know I applied, I was interviewed and I am accepted to the Business school. But nothing is done yet. The real challenge begins now. Yes, I am accepted. But what is next?? In this post I will talk about the plethora of things that can be done once the MBA applicant is accepted to the B-school. It’s an exciting time when the actual MBA journey starts to shape up. Here are some things that take priority now.

Relax and Have fun – After all the hard work that goes into the MBA application process, you definitely deserve a break, and it’s time to have some fun. I recently realized that I was missing out on lot of fun in life during the last year. Hence I decided to put back the fun element in life. Put the zing back to your social life. See your friends and family and have fun. You deserve it!!!! And, yeah, now you have the perfect excuse to shop till you drop Start planning your B-school wardrobe and lot of other essential things.

Start planning your finances – You are still not really done until you figure how are you going to fund your MBA. Start filling the FAFSA, I20 and other essential forms. Start scouting for scholarships and student loans.

Start thinking about your Visa and where you’re going to live – If you are relocating to a new country like me, you should also start planning for your visa and housing options. Start networking with the current students in the Target University and also with the fellow admits who are headed to the same place. Always keep your eye and heart open for the possible future roommate and/or classmate.

It’s not too early to start working on your intended career – No matter what your career goals said, it’s time to start getting the clear career focus. Shortlist the intended careers and more specific job functions. Ask career services to put you in touch with students and any recent alum who have made the same transition you hope to make. It’s a great time to start the professional networking. You can do informational interviews with the Alums, industry experts, and current students to get more focus and clarity. If you graduated long time back, time to get back to the study mode. You can take Quant refresher classes, sharpen your excel, and presentation skills.

Open up yourself to the world of Business – Start reading business blogs, keep yourself updated with the business world happenings. Increase your perspective about business, management, and leadership. It’s not a bad idea to read the management best sellers like Freakonomics, The Black Swan, Rich dad Poor dad, How to win etc.

Here are a few useful articles to help with this phase:

madbubbles is an International MBA applicant and MBA in the USA® global blogger. Follow her on Twitter @mbabubbles and check out her blog here.

The Importance of Being Yourself in the MBA Application Process

mbaintheusa — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:57:15 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/victornuno/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Being Yourself

by: madbubbles

Hi All. Hope you all had a great holiday season. I wish you all a very happy new year 2010 and may all your dreams come true!

On my side, I received the first taste of success in my MBA application journey when Tepper admitted me to the class of 2012 and selected me as Forte Fellow. I am preparing for my Darden interview which will happen this week. Amidst all these happenings, one thing that stood out as the most essential aspect of my MBA application process was the importance of being yourself.

Being yourself simply means listening to your heart, understanding your aspirations and following them. This is important all through one’s life and especially so in the MBA application process. In that context, I will just list down the various steps where it becomes important to be yourself and follow your heart.

The MBA decision – It starts as early as the moment you start thinking about MBA. Its entirely upto the individual to decide whether he/she requires an MBA or not. In my post on MBA Channel – The MBA decision, I have mentioned possible reasons to pursue/not to pursue an MBA.

Timing one’s MBA - How much work experience one needs to get before turning to B school is again a personal choice. One can choose to get her MBA soon after graduation or after some X years of work experience.
School Selection – Always, always, always select a school based on factors of personal fit. Though rankings play a good role in selecting B school, you should always have your personal choices as a major factor in selecting schools. Only you can tell if you like a big class size or small class size, finance hub or entrepreneurship hub, urban or university town etc. So be yourself in your school choices.
The essays and Interview – It becomes very important to personalize your candidacy as you project it to schools via your essays and interview. Be yourself and tell them the truth. Don’t try to be someone who can please the AdCom. Never try to wear a facade of someone who is not you. Here is excerpt from Interview with Sara Neher, Admissions Director, Darden School of business.

"I don’t always expect people to reveal as much about fit as I think some schools might. I think that if you tell me who you are, what you’re about and what you want to accomplish, I’ll be able to see if you’re a fit or not. It’s more important to me that we get personal details, because one of the mistakes people make is regurgitating the Web site back to us. You telling me that you want to take so-and-so’s class or the case method is important because of what we put on our Web site is just a waste of your word count. It shows me that you can read our Web site, but it doesn’t show me anything about who you are."

So there you go. It’s really refreshing to be yourself and understand what you really want to do, what you are passionate about. I have done it and it has worked positively now. So if any of you are looking for a best thing to help your MBA apps or even to that matter a New Year resolution, here is my 2 cents, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."

BE YOURSELF !!

madbubbles is an International MBA applicant and MBA in the USA® global blogger. Follow her on Twitter @mbabubbles and check out her blog here.

Congratulations MadBubbles!

mbaintheusa — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:25:48 +0000

image: pelampung

I am so very pleased to announce that MBA in the USA global blogger, MadBubbles, received her first acceptance to Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. She was also named a Forte Fellow! Congratulations!!!

Links to MadBubbles articles:

Introducing MadBubbles

6 Considerations for International Applicants

MadBubbles Experiences an MBA Thanksgiving

Here’s more about the Forte Foundation:

Grayson speaks at Forte 2008.

Grayson participates at the Forte Forum 2009.

YAY!!!

6 Considerations for International MBA Applicants

mbaintheusa — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:01:33 +0000

image: dan

by: madbubbles

In this post, I will talk about those aspects of the MBA application process which are of special interest to International students. While taking GMAT/GRE, completing essays and other online applications remain common for every student, there are few things every international student must think seriously about.

1. Choosing an international location

Decide what is your motive behind opting for an international MBA and select the appropriate location which fulfills your needs. USA, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia make the list of most popular destinations. For me, I had 2 main reasons to go for an international MBA. One was the diversity of peer body and the other was a chance to go out of my comfort zone and be on own for those 2 years. I chose USA as my preferred international destination because of the diversity and exposure it offers. Also US B-schools welcome younger candidates. If you are a mid-managerial level candidate, European schools can be a great fit for you. Likewise try to know what you want out of the MBA and B-school and decide on the international location. In this blog post, I have discussed the factors one needs to consider while selecting his/her ideal B-school. Be sure to check it while contemplating your school selection.

2. Completing English Language proficiency requirements

Being an international applicant with a native language other than English, we need to prove our English language proficiency. The majority of B-schools accept TOEFL/IELTS/PearsonETS scores in order to confirm our English language proficiency. Also, most of the B-schools waive this requirement if the primary language of instruction of our undergraduate institution was English, or if we have spent significant time in an English speaking country. If you need to take the TOEFL, click here for a timeline.

3. Obtaining International transcripts and converting your GPA

Almost every B-school asks for undergraduate transcripts and scores. You can obtain your transcripts from your undergraduate institution, scan it and upload to online applications. If the transcripts are not in English, you would need to translate it to English.

Only some schools ask you to convert your GPA to the scale of 4. Be sure to check individual school sites regarding this requirement. Most B-schools are comfortable with International GPA scales and hence they don’t require the converted GPA.

4. Financing your MBA

Once you navigate through application process, the next biggest factor is to obtain finances for your MBA. While some schools offer no-cosigner loans for international students, many others require you to have a US cosigner to obtain loan. You can get information about which schools offers which type of loan in this blog post. Also this article is a good starting point to start planning your finances.

5. Securing your visa

After you successfully get admitted and also arrange for your finances, the only blocker ahead is obtaining a Visa. This needs to be done meticulously as it can make or break your chances. You can get started by reading this post.

6. Finding housing

So you got the visa and started preparing your relocation. At this stage you should be worrying about housing options. B-School websites usually contain basic information about available housing. Check out this post for 5 ways to find an apartment in the US. Be sure to start networking with current students and admissions staff even before starting your MBA. This makes sure you don’t end up with total strangers when you relocate.

Though this process looks tedious, it will be worth the effort for what you can really gain from an international MBA. If you want to add anything to this list or share your experiences, be sure to leave a comment.

madbubbles is an International MBA applicant and MBA in the USA™ global blogger. Follow her on Twitter @mbabubbles and check out her blog here.

Introducing madbubbles, the 1st MBA in the USA™ global blogger

mbaintheusa — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:55:50 +0000

image: Suat Eman

My first blog entry as an MBA in the USA™ global blogger

by: madbubbles

Dear Readers,

I feel excited and slightly nervous at the same time to be writing my first blog as the first global blogger for MBA in the USA™. Excited because it’s a great opportunity for me to reach more people and share my experiences about MBA, B school admissions and more as an international applicant. Nervous because being the first ever global blogger of MBA in the USA™, it’s a considerable responsibility on my shoulders to post some really useful posts on this site.

A short introduction about me: I am a young career woman from India; I am a software developer by profession, Social Entrepreneur by passion and a MBA applicant for fall 2010. Being born in a family which highly valued the education and being passionate about learning, I always excelled in my studies right from the school education to my bachelors degree. I hold a Bachelors of Engineering degree in Computer Science engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University, India. I also have the formal training in Indian classical music and my interests range from subjects like technology, management to activities like travelling, cooking and cycling.

Now a bit about how I became the first global blogger of MBA in the USA™. When I started my MBA application process, I started looking out for various sources of information about GMAT and my target B schools. I found that the B School websites and student/applicant weblogs are the most useful sources of information for potential MBA applicants. A few bloggers extensively wrote about GMAT/TOEFL preparation strategies while a few applicants chose to pen down their MBA application journey and continued to share their life as a MBA student. I consider each of these bloggers as my GURU. We have a saying in India that a person becomes your GURU even when he/she teaches you minutest of the things. What I learnt from these bloggers is considerably useful.

When I started my actual MBA Application process, even I felt like sharing my journey and this had a twofold purpose. One, it was an opportunity for me to express myself and record my journey to my dream destination – MBA. Second, it was my chance to share what I have learnt in my journey with the fellow applicants so that they can benefit from my learning. So that is when I started blogging my journey to MBA. (To check out my full journey, check out my blog at http://mad-bubbles.blogspot.com). At the same it happened that MBA in the USA™ started looking out for international applicants who are applying to US B schools to become a global blogger and share their thoughts on its website. Right opportunity at the right time!! After talking with Grayson, the founder of this website, I am here, with my first blog post, all set to be the 1st global blogger. Life is exciting!! Isn’t it??

What can one expect from me as a global blogger? I will be writing one post every month giving insights about the MBA application process and US B schools from the perspective of an international applicant. I hope this will benefit other international applicants and help them to achieve their dreams.

I am all excited after writing this 1st post. If you want to know about any specific aspects of my MBA Application process, write to me at madz.bubbles@gmail.com and I will try to accommodate them in my blog posts or answer them personally.

MBA in the USA™ is thrilled to welcome global bloggers like madbubbles. If you are interested in contributing, please email me at grayson@mbaintheusa.com. Thanks!

MBA in the USA » Global Bloggers

MadBubbles Begins the US Visa Process

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The Importance of Being Yourself in the MBA Application Process

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Congratulations MadBubbles!

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6 Considerations for International MBA Applicants

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Introducing madbubbles, the 1st MBA in the USA™ global blogger

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