Graduate Schools

Kelli Smith asked:


According to CIO, two of the top job requests on its employment Web site desire candidates with a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) combined with credentials in either computer science or information technology. And the demand for hybrid professionals certainly doesn’t end there. The traditional route to big business, finance, and banking usually ran through MBA programs. Today, MBAs are beginning to rethink their career paths.

The Intrinsic Interdisciplinary Nature of Business

MBA graduates have long been accustomed to leaving graduate school for traditional roles in finance–such as banking or financial planning. In light of today’s ever-changing economic and financial landscape, many MBAs are not following tradition. Because business principles apply across industries, many MBAs are eschewing customary career tracks for new challenges in technology, consulting, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit organizations.

MBA programs typically expose graduates to all aspects of business, so graduates can master the “soft skills” that are critical for success across industries, such as client orientation, presentation skills, and communication talents. This diverse training in leadership and resource management is generally needed in all industries, not just finance–which has become paramount in light of the economic slowdown.

For example, information technology workers in particular are considering grad school in order to earn the management acumen that can translate into better career opportunities. In today’s economy, specializing in one more than one particular niche may be the best educational path to take.

Some Real Life Examples

The Wall Street Journal cites a Robert W. Baird & Co. investment bank recruiting survey that reveals a 50 percent increase in interest at the M.B.A. level over 2007. Finance and risk management are a couple of the primary industries that benefits from MBAs looking to enter other fields, particularly at the mid- and small-scale organizational level. Other statistics of note include:

•    Middle-market M&A investment bank Harris Williams & Co. has seen a 30 to 35 percent increase in applications from MBA students

•    Consulting firm Bain & Co. reports applications at the MBA level have increased 10 to 15 percent

•    Less than 50 percent of graduates at New York University’s Stern School of Business and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School enter the finance industry

While MBAs may willingly enter alternative career paths, many are now veering of the common path out of necessity. Smart candidates can get themselves through a bear market by earning as much wide-ranging experience as possible and then make that experience work for them in a new position.

Mixing Business and Passion

If you are considering enrolling in an MBA program, you may want to consider the following:

•    Spend some time priming for your MBA in a job that has some similarities to career tracks of interest

•    Focus primarily on the MBA and internship

•    After your schooling, enter your industry of choice: learn about successful start-ups and build relationships with other professionals

•    After you’re established, start a company, capitalizing on prior networks, resources and relationships

The bottom line is that as MBAs continue to branch off into uncharted territories, new doors of opportunity and advancement should continue to open. While you may not be able to rush into positions at venture capital firms or Wall Street, positions in consulting, corporate finance, and private equity firms should continue to be available.

Keep in mind that the MBA program is typically demanding in and of itself, and is not the type of curriculum to enter into lightly. But if you have prior experience in an industry, adding an MBA can be a way to maximize your potential.



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Donald Mitchell asked:


One of my college roommates had a brother who was a graduate business student and often visited our rooms. Since one of my possible career choices was to work in business, I asked this business student many questions about his studies and career choices. Everything he said expanded my knowledge and made me more interested in a business career.

This information meant a lot to me because I grew up in a small city where there were only two large employers, the Santa Fe Railway and the U.S. Air Force. Neither organization provided opportunities to learn about executive success in a large corporation.

When I began graduate business studies, I was pretty smug, thinking that I knew just what needed to be done: Get a prestigious degree and wait for highly attractive employers to bid for my services.

Talking with the other business students made me realize that I had a lot to learn about career success. I didn’t even understand what executives did in different industries.

My complacent eyes were opened wide one day when a management consultant from the famous McKinsey firm made a presentation. At the end of the discussion, I asked one of the other students who got to do what this presenter did for a living. My classmate quickly responded, “Strategy consultants.” I asked, “What’s a strategy consultant?” He responded that these were people who worked for McKinsey or The Boston Consulting Group. I remembered those answers and later applied to both firms, not quite knowing what to expect.

Even with all of this knowledge, I was totally unclear about how you went from being a management consultant to having a successful business career working for a large corporation. I guessed that someday a client might hire you. And that’s what did happen to me after I became a strategy consultant.

The key lesson from my experience is that you can have a wonderful education at a university and still lack important knowledge about the most fundamental elements of developing your business career.

Students typically prefer to get information about potential careers from fellow students and professors, but research shows that students and professors provide incomplete information. It’s better to also speak with people who have been developing a career for a decade or so to find out what lessons they learned in the school of hard knocks.

I was recently reminded of this source of information to make more effective business career plans when I corresponded with Dr. Robert Hartinger, a banking executive in Germany who is a Ph.D. graduate of Rushmore University. Dr. Hartinger kindly agreed to share his career experiences and lessons with me so that I could pass them along to you.

Dr. Hartinger started off presuming that the quality of your education was very important to career success. After graduating from his business program at a German university, he soon learned that you have few occasions to apply any of the theoretical knowledge that most schools provide. As a result, new graduates are stuffed full of knowledge and theory that has little relevance to what their employers need.

Instead, degrees qualify people to be considered for certain jobs. Many employers pride themselves on hiring from certain schools and restricting top jobs to those with the most advanced graduate degrees.

Traditional schooling provides few insights into what various industries and types of jobs are like. If students aren’t careful, they’ll seek a type of work that they won’t like. There are two alternatives available:

1. Examine industries and jobs carefully to set the right objectives.

2. Study at a school where you get practical experience in applying theoretical knowledge which gives you a sense of what a career doing that work might be like.

Dr. Hartinger doesn’t rule out the first alternative, but he’s confident that the second one is essential. If possible do both, but at least do the second. From what you learn, he also recommends that you focus on just a few opportunities. Otherwise, your attention and energies will be too widely scattered.

A lot of business success depends on your personality. That’s something that graduate schools often ignore. Outgoing people with pleasing, helpful personalities will do a lot better than grumpy, self-absorbed geniuses who rarely talk to anyone.

Many studies show that the ability to connect to other people in the organization greatly helps both job effectiveness and advancement. Why? It’s simple: You can’t know all of the answers, but with help from others you can do a great job.

But it’s not enough to simply be a connection point within the organization. You also need to add skills that improve your effectiveness.

Here’s where online learning can make a difference. People don’t care where you learn a skill; they are just pleased when you add one that’s relevant to your situation.

Today, many companies offer financial assistance for those who wish to learn new skills. When that assistance is provided over the Internet, costs are reduced and you can take more courses than those who enroll in classroom-based courses. In addition, learning while you work allows you the chance to apply what you are learning. In that way, you can sift through lots of theoretical knowledge to get just what you need. Dr. Hartinger also notes that if an online school offers flexibility in designing courses, your skill improvement can be even greater.



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Amy Nutt asked:


Going to school is always a wise investment into your future as it raises your value in the workplace significantly. Upon graduation, it can also increase your earning potential as graduates earn more money on average than those without degrees.

The hard part of going to school however, is finding the right university. To start, you should begin with the type of career you desire to get into. With hundred of choices, the opportunities can seem limitless and daunting simultaneously.

A growing industry with tons of promise is the paralegal field. There are even online courses that offer fairly intensive curriculums for this extremely important vocation. Before you sign on the dotted line of a college registration form however, you may wish to look into what a paralegal school has to offer you that can help you make positive strides in your chosen profession upon graduation.

School Accreditation

In essence, accreditation means that the course as well as the school is recognized in the education industry. Despite school accreditation being extremely important, many people will sign up for courses at an institution without checking the background of the college first. This can be foolhardy since it could very well mean having to start over should you need to transfer schools for any reason. Also, many government programs, like aid financial assistance will only go to schools that are accredited. Likewise, employers who contribute to the tuition of an employee won’t be able to do so if the school lacks accreditation.

It is extremely imperative then, to make sure the paralegal school you choose has accredited courses and class work as well as being accredited itself.

Up-to-date training

If you desire to get training in the paralegal field you want the most up to date training available today. It won’t do you any good to learn from an obsolete book or course plans, especially in an ever evolving field like the paralegal one.

Modern day paralegals must learn how to conduct interviews, evaluate and draft important and legal documentation, and gather relevant information on court cases. They must also act as something of a researcher, looking for relevant information that may be crucial to the law firm’s cases.

Many of these nuances cannot be taught from a book so it is imperative that the training received in this field is hands on, intuitive and expansive.

National reputation

If you mention the school you wish to go to and receive a blank look, it may be time to reconsider the school. This is largely due to the fact that employers place a lot of on name recognition. When a potential hiring company hears the name of your school they are invariably going to go through their mental rolodex to ferret out preconceived ideas of the schools merit. A school with a bad reputation will hardly gain any respect and in fact, could be counterproductive, causing you to lose the interest of people who could open the door for you.

This is why it pays to check into the reputation of the paralegal school you plan to go to so you can be assured of its viability in this regard.

Job placement

Not all colleges and universities offer job placement program and some of them may have limitations. If you are being enticed by the prospect of job placement after graduation, read the fine print and asks questions. There may be so many stipulations in regards to placement the options may as well not even be offered.

Investigate all your options when it comes to a top notch paralegal school and leave no stone unturned. With the right mindset, you should be able to locate a wonderful college, earn your degree and get started in little to no time in a rewarding and challenging career.



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rish asked:


Hi! I want to apply for graduate school at tokyo u but my grades (in my BS degree) are not amazingly high, just average. Do you think i could get in? Do they have a cut-off GPA?

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daveyk asked:


I am wondering if you can go to graduate school for computer or electrical engineering without an undergraduate degree in engineering? I know that for computer science some graduate schools will accept you, but make you take a semester or two of catch up courses. I have a good math background, from an undergraduate degree in financial economics, but i hate that field and have always loved learning how computers and electronics work.

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