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Deferred Enrollment: the new route to get into your dream MBA program

Mr. Adarsh Khandelwal

As India is a developing country and most of the population comes in the middle class category, academics is given prime importance. For years families have fervently wished that their children pursued studies to become Doctors or Engineers and settle down in life and start earning. As a result of this thought process over the years most of the Indian students come from a school of thought where they wish to pursue their masters immediately upon graduating from their undergrad school. On the other hand developed and affluent first world countries encourage their youth to experiment with academics and career choice before they zero in on their future profession or field of study.

Pursuing masters immediately upon graduating from undergrad school isn’t what is popularly followed abroad. For admissions into Masters or MBA, gaining work experience has become an important part of your application process in overseas schools since this allows you as an individual to make more informed, mature choices after you have explored various aspects of your personality, your likes and dislikes and also your strengths and weaknesses. These 3 elements play an imperative role, while you are fashioning your thought of the masters be it in India or overseas.

All about Masters in Business administration (MBA):

Though a Master’s degree is ideal for those looking for subject matter expertise, MBA is a very effective and popular choice for a holistic management degree among the various Master’s degrees.

Any type of an Masters in Business administration (MBA) course, is a degree that is focused on delving deeper to understand management.

Once one has decided on getting an MBA /deferred MBA degree abroad, the first step is to look at and understand the process of applications. The whole process of applying is explained below in a nutshell:

● Shortlist Schools: this the most important and crucial step for college applications. Once you have identified the course you would want to pursue, the first thing that we need to see is if we meet the eligibility criterion, post which we create a shortlist of all the colleges that we are making the cut for. Taking into consideration our track record, competency and academic standard as compared with previous admissions is important.

● Essays and Statement of Purpose (SOPs): An essay and SOP is the most important document that you share with the college which showcases who you truly are and what you represent as an individual. To put your best foot forward, the next step for any student is to decide on their storylines. How and what to highlight is the most important thing that needs to be thought of, in this step. The story needs to showcase all your achievements to date and highlight what you have planned immediately post your masters. Additionally, the student must also think about what are his long term goals and how this course fits in for the student to achieve the set goals.

● Application: This is where a student must have all the documents that are required/ mentioned in the eligibility requirement.

● Interviews: After completing the application, the Admissions Committee wants to know how you are a fit for the school (after understanding your view and your goals). Thus they conduct an interview where the applicant speaks in-person/Skype with either the admissions committee, or a member of the alumni network that is helping the admissions committee. This is the final step before the selection process.

Finally deciding about country and the particular MBA degree, the applicant to any B-school must figure out their goals he/she wishes to pursue, followed by understanding the school and the curriculum along with the career avenues that the school provides to its candidates.

Deferred MBA or an Early entry option explained:

Since most Indian students plan to pursue their masters right after their undergraduate degree, most schools abroad and ISB an Business school in India, provide an option that allows students to apply for an MBA without having prior work experience.

To enhance and savor class diversity and bring in a fresh perspective, Business schools endeavor to bring in young candidates. Due to this, some Business schools offer the option where the student can get admitted in the school but finally join the MBA class after gaining work experience of 2-5 years depending on the college option.

Entry/ admission requirements for a Deferred MBA program:

There are multiple things the admissions committee looks for in a candidate while assessing a student’s application for the Deferred MBA program. All the top Business Schools look for a holistically developed profile. This means that a profile must be well rounded and must have weightage in parameters such as work experience, academics, GMAT/GRE score, volunteer work as well as extracurricular activities. The 3 major aspects that the applicant must look at are:

● Academics: Academics are a great placeholder to showcase one’s quantitative skills. Since this is a major criteria for any B-school, having a grade-point average of atleast above 70 percent becomes imperative. (The academics will also carry the applicant’s GMAT/GRE score that needs to be on the higher spectrum)
● Internships/experience: Understanding of various aspects of a business can be a great value- add and are looked at in a positive light. Thus, it is recommended that the candidate should be able to showcase work experience/internships that he/she would have pursued to highlight their understanding and interest towards management and business.
● Extra-curricular activities: Having extracurricular activities can be a great way to showcase initiative and having interests beyond just books and academia. They show a part of one’s personality, creativity and cognitive ability to build on one’s soft-skills.

Some famous colleges that offer a deferred MBA program:
A deferred MBA program is a fairly recent proposition and is being offered by a limited number of universities only. In keeping with the popular demand, more and more universities are planning to incorporate this option.

Few names that come to mind when considering the Deferred MBA are:
● University of Pennsylvania: Wharton School of Business
● Northwestern University: Kellogg School of Business
● University of Chicago: Booth School of Business
● Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Sloan School of Management
● University of California, Berkeley: Hass School of business
● University of Columbia: Columbia School of Business
● Yale University: Yale School of Management
● IESE Business School
● Indian School Of Business

Realizing that this list of Business schools that offer the program are highly competitive and so having a stellar profile is one of the most importance. Focusing and following the aforementioned points about admissions requirements would go a long way in securing coveted admissions in the future!

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