‘Ask’ HKUST B-school, Hong Kong: Admissions-related thread hosted by current students

[pitbull]

Originally Posted by mrkamma

hi all,

i now belive that HKUST is famous for Finance from the discussion so far . i am aiming for the same but i have no prior Finance knowledge other than some self learning.

1) do i need to have some sort of financial academic background if i ever want to get to HKUST ? do i have to be certified at some stuff?

2) is it common to see students with no prior finance background actually majoring in Finance at HKUST?

3) does it require us to find a job with in certain time frame after graduation or leave the country? i am comming from the USA angle where it is 11 months as some of us might know.

i would like to close again by thanking you guys for doing such a great job for HKUST aspirants . good luck with the internships and the jobs guys.

Our pleasure,

1) No. But, you should be steadfast in your commitment. You go to BSchool to learn abt Finance and move into the Fin Industry - if you are already expected to know everything, why would someone go to school again?

2) Loads of Career Switchers aided by the rapidly developing financial industry in China, Hong Kong and SE Asian countries. Several of them landed IBanking internships last year.

3) Indians dont need visiting visa to HK and can stay for 14days. You can exit and reenter and stay for another 14days. As long as your student visa is valid , you can stay here and search for jobs. Getting a Work Permit after you get a job is a simple process and no bureaucratic delays like US Visas.

Regards,
Prathap.

[hkust2007]

Originally Posted by mrkamma

hi all,

i now belive that HKUST is famous for Finance from the discussion so far . i am aiming for the same but i have no prior Finance knowledge other than some self learning.

1) do i need to have some sort of financial academic background if i ever want to get to HKUST ? do i have to be certified at some stuff?

2) is it common to see students with no prior finance background actually majoring in Finance at HKUST?

3) does it require us to find a job with in certain time frame after graduation or leave the country? i am comming from the USA angle where it is 11 months as some of us might know.

i would like to close again by thanking you guys for doing such a great job for HKUST aspirants . good luck with the internships and the jobs guys.

Just to add to what Prathap mentioned, I was tempted to say I was interested in Finance at the time of the interview. But I didn't and still got thru. So very good question - this one's probably on the minds of a few other applicants as well.

For Q2, Take me as an example. I'm still not sure if I'll go full fledged into I-Banks ... still not sure I'm up for the work-life imbalance. But I'll surely be majoring in Finance. And yeah, no prior Finance Background for me.

[hkust2007]

Originally Posted by shameel

Hi,
Could you please inform me the type of activities conducted by consulting club? Any link to get the information.

In these club activities, is there any special focus on NGO or community activities.

Really liked the initiative.. though u said not to mention it.

regards,
Sha

Surely not as active as maybe the ISB Consulting Club. Consulting is not very big here at HKUST. But the Consulting Club does conduct Mock Case Interviews, Case Discussions, Meetings every week, Meetings with Alumni from the Consulting Industry, Contacting Consulting Companies and Inviting them for talks, sharing interview dates and feedback from people in the club who've been to interviews. Overall a small but professional bunch of people looking to help each other succeed.

NGO or Community Activities - None run by the student clubs. But the Alumni Association does conduct a few such community events and of course if you are really interested in it, there are tons of avenues for doing so like joining external organizations that are working extensively in the area.

[mrkamma]

1)the HKUST career site boasts 100% internships last year and excellent FT jobs placement. i know all the good schools have this magic numbers . how much of this numbers are actually assisted by HKUST career services? i am trying to see if the internship/job hunt is all up to individual perseverance/network/past experience or does HKUST brand image play any role in this.

2) could you share with us what generally an HKUST grad do to land an internship?

[sam_pune]

Hi,

Finally completed the form and sumited the same.
My recom will take another week and I also send the documents last week. So everything should be completed by 15 I hope.

How fast is the adcom committe is deciding on application.
Just want to get an idea on how long should I expect to get some reply from adcom.

Thanks,
Samved

[pitbull]

Originally Posted by mrkamma

1)the HKUST career site boasts 100% internships last year and excellent FT jobs placement. i know all the good schools have this magic numbers . how much of this numbers are actually assisted by HKUST career services? i am trying to see if the internship/job hunt is all up to individual perseverance/network/past experience or does HKUST brand image play any role in this.

2) could you share with us what generally an HKUST grad do to land an internship?

HKUST brand image is very big in this part of the world. My senior batch had 100% internships [some multiple, some extended ones]. I dont have an exact number of how many were helped by the career services. Most of the internships are hybrid..helped by career serv with the lead, and students worked on a link to get the internship. Unlike the 1 day placements in most indian bschools, the internship/job search stretches for abt 6months.

My batch is 3.5months into the course and now in the prime time to hunt for internships...and i just began mine.

bye
Prathap

From Cradle, through Cubicle, to University!

[pitbull]

Originally Posted by sam_pune

Hi,

Finally completed the form and sumited the same.
My recom will take another week and I also send the documents last week. So everything should be completed by 15 I hope.

How fast is the adcom committe is deciding on application.
Just want to get an idea on how long should I expect to get some reply from adcom.

Thanks,
Samved

It worked out pretty quick for me last year [jan ?] and I had a months time waiting for the interviews [in Feb]. I dont want to commit a deadline for the Adcom from my point of view.

-Prathap
From Cradle, through Cubicle, to University!

[raghav1010]

Originally Posted by hkust2007

There is a merit and need based scholarship offered by the school of upto 75,000 HKD (1HKD ~=~ 5 INR). I and a couple of other Indians got that. Others got a slightly smaller schol.

Let me know if you need more info.

Regards,
Randhir

Hi I am looking for colleges to apply for an MBA degree. I have heard about HKUST but do not have any information about the college so I have joined this forum and want info from those who have joined HKUST MBA curriculum or have info about it. Can you please provide me some info about the college?
For eg.
1. Are you satisfied for the course curriculum?? ( I am considering that either you are through with the degree or right now you are attending the course)
2. How are the placements of the college? I mean is the MBA course value for money.
3. What are the prospects of getting admission to the college with a GMAT score of 680 and 4 years of work ex?

Thanx

[Radioactive_Cat]

Hi,

Is it feasible/right that u change your career objectives mentioned in the essays and when u get there? ex. u said finance is my career objective and then be consulting focused in electives vice versa etc. et al?

DO I need to send the GMAT scorecard by FAX when my scores have already been sent to the univ?


Please guide.

Regards,
RAD

[hkust2007]

Originally Posted by raghav1010

Hi I am looking for colleges to apply for an MBA degree. I have heard about HKUST but do not have any information about the college so I have joined this forum and want info from those who have joined HKUST MBA curriculum or have info about it. Can you please provide me some info about the college?
For eg.
1. Are you satisfied for the course curriculum?? ( I am considering that either you are through with the degree or right now you are attending the course)
2. How are the placements of the college? I mean is the MBA course value for money.
3. What are the prospects of getting admission to the college with a GMAT score of 680 and 4 years of work ex?

Thanx

Yes, the course curriculum is quite good. HKUST has among the most and best electives in Finance and IT and is rated one of the best Finance schools in Asia (and even the World). It is also known for the quality of research done here.

The placement record of the college is quite good. Most people who want to find a job in Hong Kong have been able to in the past. If you are planning to work here for some time, the MBA is surely value for money. 250,000 HKD (1HKD = 5INR) is probably equal to about 6 months sal in HK (approx). I shouldn't really throw in these figures. But I put it in just to give you an idea. Even if you're not and you're able to get a good opening back in India, MBAs in India are getting paid pretty well these days. So the ROI should be decent.

Prospects as I've reiterated before depend on your overall package. I'd like to think there's more to your personality and experience than just those two numbers 680 and 4. What did you learn in those four years, the quality of your experience and if you leave out the Indians and some of the top chinese, your score will probably be in the higher range of the class. But since you'd be competing with other Indians, you might want to focus on your app a li'l bit more. Don't worry too much about the scores.

== Randhir