MBA Podcaster

Thinking about heading to the U.S. for your Master's in Business Administration? With hundreds of competitive schools to choose from, and a robust hiring economy, many international students have directed their school-searching efforts to the U.S. In addition, many U.S. schools actively recruit international students in an attempt to round out their classes and offer a global perspective to the MBA education. Pursuing an MBA in the U.S. as an international student has its own set of considerations to take into account. Listen in as we discuss the topic with experts in the field.

MBA Podcaster has teamed up with the Graduate Management Admission Council to bring you an extensive series of MBAs in the working world. Just a few weeks ago in San Francisco GMAC brought together recruiters from the top high tech companies around the world to get the perspective on opportunities in the field for MBA graduates. This week, we bring you Part One: Positioning Yourself for a Career in High Tech. You'll learn about opportunities that exist for MBAs in this field and how to position yourself to take advantage of the rapidly growing high tech industry.

You know you need to get a MBA in order to advance your career but you're not sure what program fits your experience. Do you have enough experience to qualify for an Executive MBA? What's the difference between the Executive MBA and a regular Part-Time MBA? What's the long-term career impact of choosing one program over the other? We'll ask all these questions and more from directors of top EMBA programs across the country.

The old adage says that if you're looking to change your career you need to go back full-time while pursuing your MBA. We challenge the notion and explore the opportunities available for part-time MBA students to change career tracks in the middle of, or after, their MBA studies. We hear from a corporate recruiter, a part-time alumnus who successfully changed careers and MBA career placement departments. Hear what our experts recommend if you are planning on getting an MBA part-time but may be interested in pursuing a new career down the road.

Has the MBA become pass? Once viewed as an elite degree for the future leaders of successful organizations, MBA programs and graduates are now popping up everywhere. With the multitude of degree options available to graduate students how does one decide which program best suites their needs and growth plans? Well discuss the topic with the deans at the top business schools as well as deans from masters programs in finance and economics.

For most MBA programs, being granted an interview is your first step toward acceptance into business school. Its the opportunity for you to make yourself come alive to the admissions committee and show them why you should be included in their upcoming class. Its also a time that many candidates have a hard time setting themselves apart from all the other candidates and verbalizing their individual value proposition. Listen in as we discuss the business school interviews with the admissions directors of various MBA programs and see what they recommend in order to ace your interview.

Online MBA programs are popping up from coast to coast, catering to professionals who want to get an MBA degree on their own time. These online MBAs have sparked a significant amount of discussion and dialogue about the quality of the online education and the acceptance of such degrees among businesses today. Join us as we talk with the experts to explore the educational value of an online MBA, the criteria by which to judge online MBA programs and the reception among recruiters.

You know you need an MBA to progress in your career and earn a higher salary. But how will you finance the $40,000+/year in MBA expenses? Our guests explain the options available to students, how best to prepare financially to be a student again and help you determine which financing strategy will work for you. In some cases, your MBA educational expenses can be tax deductible, learn if this option works for you.

Many have relied upon the services of an admission's "coach" or consultant to get them into their top choice school, yet few have admitted to it. We explore the benefits and risks of using such services and find out what type of candidate is best suited for the advice of a professional. Hear what schools think about the use of a consultant and what they consider the tell-tale signs of relying too heavily on a 3rd party on your application.

Join us as we explore the opportunities in pursuing a Wine MBA. Wine producing facilities throughout the world constitute dynamic and ever-changing fields that need to be managed in comprehensive and visionary ways. The goal of the Wine MBA is to help current and future wine managers in the world to successfully anticipate such changes. The curriculum begins at Bordeaux Business School and participants travel successively to 4 major wine producing regions, University of South Australia, Adelaide Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, University of California, Davis. Our guests explain the program and curriculum, post-graduation job opportunities and the life-long benefits of pursuing a Wine MBA. .

When considering the pursuit of an MBA, one of the first options you're likely weighing is going back full-time versus part-time. Historically it has been deemed that for graduate students in business, the decision to attend school full-time vs. part-time largely depends on whether you want to continue on a pre-established career path or alternatively change careers or industries. However with the recent recession and unemployment trends, more prospective MBA candidates are trying to maintain their current jobs, pursue a part-time MBA and in some cases use their new network of schoolmates, or career placement offices on campus, to parlay into a new career. Today, only 20% of business school students are enrolled in a full-time, two-year program. Part-time, evening and weekend programs account for half of current students and the rest are enrolled in executive, distance-learning and other smaller programs.