One of the questions that keeps coming up in our discussion board each year is “Why do I need work experience in order to get into business school?”

So, I asked around. Here’s what they said:

Marc Endrigat, Pepperdine University (Graziadio)
“If you don’t have any work experience, you’re not going to get as much out of the program. Until a couple of years ago, we used to not require work experience, but then the students and the professors said that the people who are in the program without work experience cannot contribute in the classroom, and they don’t get as much out of the classroom. If they don’t have any experience that they can relate the theories to, they’re not going to learn.”

“The work experience that someone brings into the program is usually going to be the biggest asset on their application…I would say that the quality and amount of work experience can supercede a lower GMAT score.”

Melissa Jones, INSEAD
“At INSEAD, you need a minimum of 2 years of work experience to get admitted to the program. The average of our students is 6 years. We just feel that bringing that experience to the classroom can bring so much more value than coming straight out of an undergrad. When you’re in the classroom, 50 percent of the learning comes from the professor and the other half comes from all your peers. So, if you have that experience, that’s when the learning really takes place.”

Spencer Altman, Alumni, HEC Paris
“It’s actually for everyone in the program, including the person who is applying … With all of the subjects that you cover in an MBA, it’s important – with 4, 5, 6, or in some cases 8 years (of work experience) – to be an expert in at least one of those subjects as some sort of reference point to apply to the rest. So, if you’re an accountant, to at least be able to say, okay, I know this.”

Hanne Jeppesen, Open University
“This is the leadership level, so you need to the actual experience to apply what we are teaching. If you go into a full-time MBA straight after university, you have no experience to apply it to, and you’ll come out at the end of it knowing all the theory about how to be a good manager and how to be a leader, but have no grip on about how to apply it to real life. When you learn theory, it’s important to have some idea in terms of how it applies to a real-life situation. You’ll be an expert on the theory of management, but you won’t be a manager.”

Photo: Annie Mole / Creative Commons

MBA Programs in Southern California from FIND MBA on Vimeo.

More information about the schools mentioned in this video:
UCLA Anderson
USC Marshall
Pepperdine
University of San Diego (USD)
UC San Diego (UCSD) Rady
San Diego State (SDSU)

MBA Programs in Northern California from FIND MBA on Vimeo.

More info about the schools mentioned in this video:
UC Berkeley Haas
San Francisco State University (SFSU)
University of San Francisco (USF) Masagung
Presidio School of Management
California College of the Arts
Stanford University
Santa Clara University

Marc Burbridge

Brazil’s future growth potential has long been considered colossal. That future is arriving today, making it an exciting time for international students there. This according to Marc Burbridge, who teaches negotiation and conflict resolution at several universities in Brazil, as well as the Omnium Global Executive MBA program and Business School São Paulo

Why do international students come to Brazil?
In the new economy – well, this has been going on for about five years – but particularly today, it has to do with the fact that Brazil is playing such a leading role in the G20. And it’s an upcoming economy.

There’s an expression in Brazil – that Brazil is the land of the future, and always will be. Brazilians make that joke about themselves because it always will be, because they’ll never get there. But I think that the future is arriving today.

How does Brazil’s economy stay so strong? And what are some of the country’s stronger industries?

The economy here was not based totally on exports – as some economies like Japan’s were. Exports are important, but not the major element of the economy. So the internal consumption is a strong point. In that respect, they’re the second economy, probably to China, in terms of the minimal effect of this whole global recession.

The automobile industry continues to be strong here – the sales are breaking records, contrary to most places in the world. I think that many of the agribusinesses here are continued growth areas. Brazil’s climate gives it a tremendous advantage. Other than that, the service industry, obviously is the main growth area – today, relatively few people are working in industry. So if we talk about industrial policy we should talk about service policy in the country, in terms of growth. But certainly in service areas, the ability to grow is unlimited. Information technology, internet, continues to be very strong – all aspects of internet, and communications.

Should international MBA students learn Portuguese before they come to Brazil?

Well, it’s certainly necessary to live comfortably. When I came to Brazil in 1968, I didn’t speak a word of Portuguese when I got on the plane. So I got on with the difficult task of learning Portuguese here. If you can learn some Portuguese before you come, it can be very helpful. But it’s not going to affect your studies if you’re studying in an English-language program. And unless you’re fluent in Portuguese, you have to study in an English-language program.

There are two levels of Portuguese, one is sufficient to get around. That, you can pick up quickly. Brazilians are very friendly. If you show that you’re trying to learn the language; they’ve got a good sense of humor. They’ll joke about it, they’ll help you along – they’re very friendly. But if you’re going to be working in the language, that’s something that you have to have complete fluency to do.

To do business in Brazil, although many companies say that English is their language, day to day, to be practical, you’re going to need Portuguese. At the American Chamber of Commerce, for example, the principal language spoke is Portuguese. Meetings are conducted in Portuguese, much more than English. Although in business, everyone is expected to understand and speak English, the business is usually conducted in the local language.

Some international students see getting an MBA in Brazil as a way to break into the Brazilian economy. Is this valid?

Yes, I would say so. Certainly the person in this country is going to learn a lot about Brazil, and the experience is going to help him in perhaps getting a job in a global company. But global companies today – they’re just that – the president of Alcoa Worldwide is, or was, Brazilian. The president of Bank Boston was Brazilian. The presidents of many US companies are Brazilians. And I suspect that there are also many of the presidents of these companies that are, what? French, German, whatever. Companies today want the best talent they can get, and they expect their top talent to be multilingual, and to be able to function in the global environment.

What I do know is that there has always been in Brazil a watermark between those who have international experience and those who don’t. And I suppose that’s true of most places. People who have experience here in their own countries can have better facilities. There are, of course restrictions, in terms of working here – there are visa problems like you have in most countries, but in general there is more flexible than in the USA or Europe. Officially one needs a student, work or permanent visa to be able to stay for a long period of time. In practice, there are legal ways of dealing with the rules.

Photo Courtesy: Marc Burbridge

Sean Carpenter

Why an MBA in Brazil? We asked Sean Carpenter, an American who is currently pursuing an International MBA at the Fundação Instituto de Administração (FIA) at the University of São Paulo (USP).

So, why Brazil?

When I was looking into MBA programs, I wanted to attend a school abroad. I had a desire to work in an emerging market, one of the BRIC countries, but I didn’t have a strong interest to live in Russia, India, or China. When I saw this program, I thought it was a great idea, especially since my undergrad degree from Georgetown is in Latin American Studies. So, I visited the school and talked to professors, and thought, this is a good thing. My goal is, after graduation next year, to find a job, and to live and work here.

My whole thing was, if I want to learn the language and learn the culture, and to learn about doing business in Brazil, I need to be there, live it, and do it. Sometimes, I think people will go to schools in the U.S. or Europe and they come to Brazil to do business, and they just aren’t as successful as they could be because it’s a different way of doing things here.

Having worked in the United States, what are your impressions of Brazilian business?

Having a background in consulting and having had the opportunity to work with many international organizations, I can honestly say that there are several talented and sophisticated people working here in Brazil. There are also great companies that started here, like Embraer, Natura and O Boticário.

In terms of culture – in the U.S., if they say a meeting is going to start at 10:00 – it’s going to start at 10:00 and you’ll get down to business. In Brazil, there has to be a comfort level – so there’s going to be some socializing before the meeting gets started. Just different customs and practices. And sometimes, people may find it difficult if they’re used to working in a different way and don’t have the flexibility to adapt.

What are your classes like? Are there a lot of Brazilians? Or is it international?

All of our classes are in English. The program is 50% Brazilian, and we have people from the U.S., Mexico, India, Italy, France, Colombia, and Peru. So, it’s pretty international. And students from our program are also able to travel to various countries with the Executive MBA Program participants to visit different companies and to take part in classes at local institutions. This year, they’re traveling to China, France, the UK, and the U.S.

As for our program, many of the professors we have are the usual Ph.D. academic, but we also have several professors who are actually working professionals because one of the premises of the program is to interact with people who not only have a teaching background but who also have relevant business experience. You’re interacting with people who aren’t just teachers, but who hold senior positions at top Brazilian and international organizations. We also have visiting MBA professors, mainly from the US, who teach various modules.

Once you step outside of the classroom, you need to have some understanding of Portuguese, because for the most part, everyday interaction with people at the grocery store, or people on the street, they’re probably not going to speak English.

Photo Courtesy: Sean Carpenter

Marina Heck

São Paulo’s Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo da Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-EAESP) is one of five business schools in the OneMBA consortium. The OneMBA is an Executive MBA program where students attend classes and residencies on four different continents. Marina Heck, FGV-EAESP professor and OneMBA associate dean, explains the growing interest in emerging economies like her native Brazil.

How much of the OneMBA program is focused on acquainting students with emerging economies?

The program started with the idea of allowing international students to exchange their better practices. This client has been changing a lot recently, because interest in going abroad – specifically going to the United States or Europe – has decreased. We have been getting more calls from people interested in learning the Brazilian way, because they are interested in Brazil or other emerging economies.

And in Europe, we don’t just go to Rotterdam (where Erasmus RSM is located) for the residency; we go to Rotterdam AND Istanbul, because we think that Turkey is an exceptional example of a country that wants to be in Europe, isn’t yet, but is almost there. There are all these challenges that Turkey is facing that is very interesting to study from the business point of view.

When we go to Asia, we also spend a few days in India. We don’t have a member of the consortium in India, but we have a partner school that hosts a three-day residency there.

How do international students respond when they come to São Paulo  for the residency?

It’s very interesting. They come from a residency at EGADE Monterrey in Mexico, where the industries are more dependent on the US. So, their      first comparison is between Brazil and Mexico, because they’re just         arriving from there. They start seeing the differences, and how Brazil is much less dependent and has more their own economy.

It’s a short visit. We have some visiting lecturers, we show some cultural aspects, and then we have lectures from different industries that come to talk. We have some case studies. Last year we visited a cosmetic company, and studied a case where they were going to enter the Russian market, but ended up not going. So we studied why they didn’t go.

Do some of your students use the program to get their foot in the door in Brazil?

I have a student who lives near Chapel Hill (North Carolina, where the OneMBA member UNC Kenan-Flager is located), and decided to do the OneMBA, but he decided to do his core courses in Brazil because he wants to work with Brazilian firms. He’s not going to move to Brazil, which is interesting, but he’s had Brazilian clients, and for him, it wasn’t enough to do an MBA where he would just meet other Brazilians; he wanted to actually go and be there. He says it’s no big deal: “Once a month I go to Brazil, I spend the weekend there, and I come back.” These guys fly a lot.

I’m not saying that this is what we want, but the program can be a start. After 21 months of the OneMBA, you can say, “now I’m ready to go,” or you say, “that was a just dream – I’m out.”

But what inevitably happens in the OneMBA is networking. We’ve had cases of students who became partners. For someone who intends to go to Brazil, he already has the network of people he can work with or hire.

How important is learning Brazilian Portuguese for working in Brazil?

The language issue is something that depends on what the person wants to do. If he is going to be an entrepreneur, he will probably learn a lot in the OneMBA, but he will have language problems. If he’s working in a multinational, then no problem, because English is the language. He will need Portuguese for his daily life, but he won’t need it for work.

But, true, if he wants to go to Brazil because he wants to start a business from scratch, he will probably have to have a Brazilian partner. I’m not saying that’s legally obligatory; in some cases it is, but not all. But the OneMBA has been designed exactly for executives who want to be capacitated to do business with the countries in this consortium, as Brazil for instance.

Photo Courtesy: Marina Heck

Greg Hallman

How are MBA programs preparing finance-focused students for working in a crisis and its aftermath? We asked Greg F. Hallman, finance lecturer at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

What are some ways the current financial downturn has affected the content and teaching methodology in finance at McCombs?

In my view, the financial downturn has actually made teaching finance a little easier.  At its core, finance is the study of risk and return. The past couple of years in the market have given todays students a perfect illustration of risk and the downside to investing.  Now when we teach them that expected return is a payment for risk, I believe they can better understand the risk/return relationship.

The market’s performance has also made very clear the fact that no matter how good our models are we cannot see the future. This has, of course, always been true, but the troubles suffered by the big and generally smart banks have shown that even with a decent model of the market’s behavior unlikely events can and do occur to wreck the best laid plans.

How are the students you have contact with responding to the rapid changes in the industry?  For these students, how do you think the MBA has made them more prepared and adaptable to a new industry?

The graduating students I have talked to are less picky about jobs, and in my view seem to be more open to working at smaller shops than in the past. They realize that the market will one day turn around and the best thing they can do now is try and get something good on their resume so that if they want to move when the market gets better they have some good experience to sell along with their MBA. Given that this is a financial crisis, I believe that the training the students have received in our program will make them well suited to cleaning up the current mess and understanding where value might be found in the wreckage.

What – if any – new kinds of skills will be demanded of finance MBAs coming into the job market now and in the next few years?

As I said, I think that a lot of the finance work in the near term will be the work of cleaning up the excesses of the past few years. To that end, I think finance skills that help to identify truly valuable assets from assets that were valuable only when debt money was essentially free will be very useful.

For those employed cleaning up the mess, a knowledge of real estate and structured debt should be useful in untangling the billion in mortgage securities, that need to be valued and moved from the over-stressed banks to new owners.  A class in bankruptcy law might also prove useful, especially in the near term.

Photo Courtesy: McCombs School of Business

Markus Rudolf

The financial crisis has taken center stage in business school classrooms around the world. Rightfully so, says the finance chair at one of Germany’s leading business schools.

How is the financial crisis affecting the way you teach finance?

One positive thing about the things that are going on right now is that we can learn a lot from them. You can empirically analyze how markets react in extreme scenarios. This is something you find in our lectures. Our lectures are focused on recent developments anyway, but this year we are teaching a lot about the financial crisis.

Of course, we also have conferences where we invite academics, as well as professionals. One example was the Campus for Finance New Year Conference recently where we had a lot of CFOs and CEOs here, one Nobel laureate, and a lot of professors. We were talking for three entire days about the financial crisis – what the reasons for it are and what can be improved in the future in order to avoid these developments that we have right now.

Is anything changing in the students?

What we do see is that the behavior of employment changes. The most popular employers have been investment banks and consulting companies. The popularity of banks as possible employers was low in late 2008. This year, things seem to turn back again. It is also partly because many of our students are interested in jobs that are related to social responsibility. Some of them are even doing a kind of social year. That is something that we did not have to such an extent in the last nine years that I’ve been here. My feeling is that values are changing among the students.

Even among the students that work in the banking and finance sector?

Exactly. There are definitely less that go into the financial sector, and that has to do with the fact that there are not as many jobs as in years past. But I also have the feeling that the minds of the students have changed.

Everyone I know in the sector is thinking about the business model, and it’s quite obvious that the business model of the past will not be applicable to the business model of the future. It is quite obvious that there have been mistakes made, and my impression is that the finance sector has not exactly found it’s place in the future, but many people are thinking about it.

You are also the academic director of the Master of Law and Business (MLB) program with Bucerius Law School in Hamburg. Why would someone do this program instead of an MBA?

Well, the basic concept is that there are a lot of issues in the economy and the business world where you need expertise in both fields – business and law. Think about the regulation and the problems we are having because of the financial crisis. This has to do a lot with regulation of the banking sector, of mergers and acquisitions, and in those kinds of transactions, there are always business people involved as well as lawyers.

Our feeling is that legal people don’t understand very much about business, and business people don’t understand very much about law. This program allows them both the business people and lawyers to understand the other side better, to have added value. We also offer lectures on the same topic from two perspectives. We encourage our law and business professors to interact with each other, and basically to have connections between the courses so that the students become aware of the different views – the business and the law.

Is this something that employers were demanding?

Well, we’ve already had two classes that have graduated, and all of those students have been quite successfully placed in law firms, industrial firms, and banks. One integral part of the program is an internship. It was not too complicated, even though the program was brand new and nobody knew about it to place them for those six weeks in those companies as well as the law firms. There is obviously demand for our graduates, and that shows that our concept seems to be interesting to the business world.

Photo Courtesy: Markus Rudolf

Clarissa Tan

Clarissa Tan left her native Singapore to pursue an MBA at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. We asked her about her aspirations, and how it’s been observing the financial crisis through a Chinese lens.

Why did you decide to do an MBA in China?

I wanted to switch careers from business unit control (primarily accounting and control) to private equity.  There is substantial and increasing private equity activity in China compared to Singapore, which is why I am committed to building a career in China.

By doing an MBA in China, I can re-tool my skill sets, gain some China-specific knowledge of its economy and industries, and network with China-focused individuals.  Doing an MBA in China also gives me adequate time and opportunity to form friendships and bonds in China.

Has studying in China given you a unique perspective on global finance?

Yes, studying in China has given me a unique perspective on global finance. One example is to learn about and to see first-hand the Chinese perspective on the current financial crisis.

How have your professors been addressing the changes in the global 
finance sector?

Some professors have expressed their view that the US has to change its spending on credit behavior and increase its savings rate and, at the same time, the Chinese have to save and invest less but spend more in order for the current vicious cycle to be broken.  This stems from their view that the BOP deficit that the US keeps with the Chinese was funded by the money that the US obtained from China by the sale of US T-bills.  This way, excess credit was accessed by the US, over what they can really “afford” and thus planted the seed for the subprime loans disaster.

Studying in China has also given me the chance to hear what Chinese academics have to say about topical issues raised by those outside the country – for example the thorny topic of RMB appreciation. It is interesting and refreshing to hear the views of Chinese academics here as we discuss both sides of the issue.

How has the MBA has made you and your fellow 
students more prepared and adaptable to working in a changing financial 
sector?

The MBA program is different from a traditional masters program or an undergraduate program in which the students are not encouraged to or do not have past working experience to share with the other students.  During the MBA program, we discuss and debate on the current issues amongst 180 of us and the professors every day.  With the sharing of minds of so many individuals, we get different perspectives and hear different thoughts that we would otherwise not be able to when we were at work.

What are the new kinds of skills that will be demanded of
 finance MBAs coming into the job market now and in the next few years?

The next few years are an interesting time for China as she moves from export orientation to an open economy and implementing reform policies on its exchange rates and capital controls. The gradual opening up of the banking sector in mainland China and China’s foreign exchange reforms  present many opportunities for finance professionals in the near future.

With the negative impact of the financial crisis on several investment banks on Wall Street, and with the demand for securities work comparatively still flourishing in China, finance MBAs may need to be flexible pertaining to where their work will bring them.  Finance MBAs may find more opportunities in China and thus may need language skills and the strong ability to assimilate and adapt to living and working in a country that has been described by its leaders as a “socialistic market economy.”

Photo courtesy: Clarissa Tan / CEIBS

Emily Gohn Cieri

Entrepreneurship cannot be just learned in the classroom, says Emily Gohn Cieri of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. You have to get out there and do it. Cieri is managing director of Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs at Wharton. We asked her how an MBA can help aspiring entrepreneurs.

How can an MBA benefit aspiring entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurship cuts across every business discipline – management, marketing, operations, legal…. – studied in a business school. For an entrepreneur, it’s critical to have a broad understanding of these various disciplines, but also to understand how to these disciplines work together.

When an entrepreneur builds a business, he or she cannot focus only on one issue at a time, but must be able to understand how to integrate them. From my experience, many times students seek an MBA to complement their strong technical or engineering background or industry-specific skills, with a full range of business skills that are needed to be an effective entrepreneur.

What should future entrepreneurs look for in an MBA program? What is special about the Wharton entrepreneurship angle?

From an educational perspective, entrepreneurship is very much an applied discipline. I believe you have to experience it to really understand it; you can’t just sit and study it. Prospective students should look for experiential learning opportunities within a given program that will provide this dimension; ideally bringing real life problems or situations into the classroom. The entrepreneurship curriculum at the Wharton School incorporates a variety of teaching mythologies including hands-on project.

The Wharton School also has a large suite of co-curricular educational programs to support student entrepreneurs; students do not receive academic credit for participation nor are they required for graduation. These include the Wharton Business Plan Competitions, Wharton Venture Initiation Program, our educational incubator, as well as a variety of mentoring programs that provide opportunities for students to work directly with a broad range of entrepreneurs.

What should future entrepreneurs consider when returning to school?

Making the decision to go back to school is very difficult, and there are many considerations individuals must make. My advice to students is always to take time before you start a program and outline your professional goals for seeking your MBA. Then put a plan in place to make sure you achieve these goals.  At the outset, two years seems like a long time, but in reality the time goes by very quickly.

Time will be the most precious commodity that you have during those two years; university life is very full and it is very easy to get swept up in other activities and lose track of your entrepreneurial goals. On the other hand, getting involved in a vibrant entrepreneurial community from day one will help you make the most in this phase of your entrepreneurial career path.

Any advice for prospective MBA students seeking to become entrepreneurs?

Prospective students should really explore the entrepreneurial community on campus. Reading websites and talking to administrators can help with the factual questions, but you need to visit the campus and talk with current students involved in the entrepreneurial community and get their perspective. It is important to understand the culture of the university and make sure it’s the right environment for you.

Photo Courtesy: Wharton