The differences of applying for an MBA in the US and Latin America

The differences of applying for an MBA in the US and Latin America

The complexity of admission, executive training and the required level of English are the main factors that differentiate American and Latin American business schools.

"The ideal MBA candidate exhibits a variety of skills, accomplishments and temperaments that enhance leadership and the ability to thrive in a rigorous environment." Under this premise, the renowned US business school, Harvard Business School, selects students seeking to conduct a Master of Business Administration in their classrooms.

Like Harvard, most universities in the United States conduct a comprehensive student selection process for each MBA promotion. Application form, application examination, English proficiency certification, curriculum presentation, personal interview, and online recommendations are just some of the basic requirements that schools in the northern country ask professionals interested in attending one of their Postgraduate courses in management.

This, mainly-due to the large number of interested people who are looking for a master's degree in their classrooms. Each year, more than 7,500 students apply for Stanford, but only 385 can be selected. Columbia University Graduate School of Business, meanwhile, receives annually between 5,500 and 7,000 letters of application, of which only 15% are admitted.

Most of these study centers also have their own conditions when selecting future students. Depending on the prestige of each, these conditions vary and the difficulty of access and admission increases. Stanford and Harvard, for example, ask the candidate for presentation videos, where they must state the reasons why they want to study an MBA.

Once the application is made and after the personal interview, the selected students undergo an online pre-MBA test of between 25 and 40 hours, designed for the update and introduction to the concepts required in the core and the plans of Orientation study.

Entering American universities then becomes a competition that not all executives can overcome. But, although the number of applicants is not so high, Latin American schools also have harsh admission processes. However, years of experience and a good curriculum may be enough for a good candidate to be accepted into the classroom.

Incae Business School, ranked in the ranking of AméricaEconomía as the best in the region, has - for example - a meticulous process of student selection, which evaluates each of the characteristics that the candidates show.

"The prestige of Incae is based on its methods, on its experience as a business school, on its agreements with universities in the USA, Europe and China and on the competitive quality of its graduates," says Marlene de Estrella, director of External Relations of the Costa Rican institution.

At Incae the application requirements aim to have at least two years of relevant experience and to approve the admission process, whose objective is to select the most outstanding students. "To pursue our MBA, applicants must pass the business school admission exam, ie the GRE or GMAT," he adds.

Meanwhile, in Chile, both the University of Chile and the Catholic University, carry out their own entrance exams, tests that are added to the personal interview and all the previous documentation that must be presented by the candidates: academic background, Minimum professional experience of three years, letters of recommendation and advanced and proven level of English, among others.

For its part, Centrum Católica, asks the applicants to have a university degree, a minimum of three years of professional experience, to master English, and to pass a psychological test and a numerical and verbal skill test. "It is not necessary that the students have knowledge in accounting or administration since our classes start from the base", explains Pino, academic assistant director of the institution. In contrast, at American universities, "students must be fully prepared to face classes and be fully competent," says David Schmittlein, dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Knowledge of world history, verbal expression, reading comprehension and mastery of mathematical calculus, are other of the tests that need to be overcome to study an MBA in the schools of the North country, and that - many times - it is not necessary to surrender in Latin American .

Mastering English, a fundamental requirement. In most business schools, mastery of English is an essential requirement. To study at any US university It is necessary to pass the Toefl exam and have a minimum score of 600. Alternatively, some schools also accept the Ielts with a 7.0 as a minimum score.

Latin American business schools also require students to handle this language. And although in some cases, the Toefl certification is not necessary, it is necessary to pass an English test that guarantees the preparation of the students to deal with the bilingual classes.

"In any master's degree, mastery of English is required, at least an intermediate level, but in particular, in the case of MBA courses, students must pass an additional test before leaving, which certifies that they leave the center by mastering English," he says. Pine tree.

In that sense, the main difference between US schools. And the Latin American ones are that the students must have a minimum certification in the domain of that language to enter the first, while in most of the second, it is sufficient that the test that the university itself is passed.

However, beyond the prestige and the requirements to get a desk in American universities, David Schmittlein, states that "the profile of the Latin American student is not very different from the American profile. It always depends on the business school, but in general terms, Latin American business schools are practically at the level of the North American ones. "

Finally, most of the study houses, be they from the USA. Or Latin America, selects profiles of outstanding students, both in their university, at work and in their community, willing to work as a team and share their experiences with their colleagues from different countries.