Hey Guys
Just to give you a background, I will introduce myself. I am Vyom, a C.A. and a graduate in commerce (B.Com) and planning to apply for the Fall 2009 sessions.
I was also a little apprehensive about my eligibility in B-schools abroad, especially those in states considering the fact the I have 15 years (10+2+3) of university education. There are some popular myths doing round since ages, like the 16 years of education requirement in states etc., which I would say are not well researched into.
Just log on to any of the Top 15-20 US B-school sites and check their FAQs and you will be able to seperate facts from myths. Well, in US, the education system is 4 years baccalaureate degree (undergraduate) after the primary and secondary schooling unlike in India where we generally have 10+2+3/4 years of education. For students of engineering, medical & similar streams, this is not a problem since they have 4 years of bachelor degree education. However, for students of commerce and other streams, only 3 years of bachelor education system is followed in India. Does this mean, that they are not eligible for applying to the B-schools abroad?
The answer is NO. They are pretty much eligible.
B-school in US require the International student applicants to have completed an equivalent of the US bachelor degree (undergraduate). However, at the same time, they do realise and acknowledge the fact that in many countries universities offer only 3 year baccalaureate degree for some streams of education. Considering this fact, they accept applications from International students having undergone and completed the 3 year bachelor degree.
Most of the universities have gone on record saying that many such International students having a 3 year degree have earned their masters degree or undergone an year of masters degree, BUT THIS IS NOT A REQUIREMENT.
Also, there is a Bolongia or Bologia or something like that (I dont recollect the name) Accord, according to which the universities party to the Accord have to recognise the 3 year degree from an International university as an equivalent to the US 4 year bachelor's degree.
Apart from Harvard Business School (which does not answer this issue) and the Columbia Business School (which says that they accept such applications but evaluate them on a case to case basis) almost all of the top 15 B-schools in US do accept the 3 year bachelors degree (15 years of education) from a prospective student. In fact, 'Stern' also promulgates a detailed country wise listing of the equivalent degrees (which sadly, no other B-school does) - Under India/Banglasesh/ Pakistan etc heading, they clearly mentions 3 years bachelors degree.
I am not an expert in this field but I believe have well researched on the subject. I may be wrong and would like the experts to correct me, if so.
Nevertheless, I would suggest to exercise a certain degree of scepticism on the matter and accordingly take steps instead on blindly relying on anyone, including writing to the schools before applying to them and taking their confirmation on this issue. The situation may vary from university to university and case to case.
Also, you can check out the websites and FAQs of the B-schools where you intend to apply. More often than not, it will address your queries.
Oh... I almost forgot the other query being raised... of 'freshers' - people just out of the college with no prior work experience.. Well, technically, even freshers are eligible to apply to the B-schools for their management program. Most of the universities (including Harvard) explicitly mentions that they have no minimum number of work experience criterion. But at the same time, they do mention that the average work experience of the class is 3/4/5/6 years. They do say that they look for quality rather than quantity when it comes to work experience and what primarily they are looking at is the demonstrated leadership qualities, which also can be evaluated outside the conventional work-ex. But after having a look at the profile of their batches and the 'Ifs' and 'Buts', though not technically, but virtually, they do require certain work experience. Exceptional cases (freshers) might have been admitted but that cannot hold true for everyone. I would suggest the freshers to undergo a couple of years of work-ex before applying and in case they cannot wait, a proper research into such schools admitting freshers needs to be done...
b-schools accepting 15yrs and freshers - "Demystifying the myths" -
20-02-2008, 02:16 AM
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