London Business School Still Hotspot for International Students
London is a key destination for people abroad, especially for its business schools.
The London Business School is still attractive for international students, a press release reads. The incoming 2019 class will be 91 percent international—even with the drama and controversy following the Brexit decision. It seems that this move might actually be helping the school attract more students.
“Students coming here have seen increased purchasing power (due to the fall in the pound), while LBS has succeeded in hiring excellent faculty for the 2017–18 school year,” Professor of Management Practice in Accounting Andrew Likierman said.
The 2019 cohort is made up of 432 students with just 39 percent women. They come from 62 different countries and are around 29-years old. They’ll likely see the success. Ninety-four percent of last year’s students had found a job within three months of graduation. One of the students joining the school is 2019 is Sherry Stolar.
“I’ve lived in London twice before, and there’s no other place in the world with such diversity,” she said. “LBS’s class reflects that, with students from 70 countries and from diverse backgrounds.”
Stolar values having global peers. After all, the business world operates out of a global market. Meeting people from around different corners of the world certainly doesn’t hurt her—or any other student’s—chances at making it in business.
Forbes gave the business school the best international ranking, so it’s likely to keep seeing more students from outside the country. Its MBA programs include a full-time, executive, and several masters programs. For student Amanda Morgan, there’s nowhere else she’d rather be. The school’s international student body is what she wants to further her career.
“Diversity is important because a large part of what you learn on an MBA is from your peers,” Morgan said. “Students and faculty at LBS offer a vast range of perspectives from which I can learn and later apply in a consciously global context.”
Financing Your MBA, Part 4
In our previous post on financing your MBA, we covered loan programs for MBA students from the United States. Today, in Financing Your MBA, Part 4, we’ll take a look at loans through the lens of international students. These applicants may face some different restrictions but are also eligible for special programs tailored to their unique requirements.
By law, federal loans can only be distributed to U.S. citizens or permanent residents. This means that international students must put extra work into finding financial aid and loan programs to support their education if they choose to pursue a U.S. MBA program.
International students should research their own countries’ options for financing studies abroad, and schools’ financial aid offices are also useful resources in this regard. For instance, MIT Sloan lists 16 scholarships or fellowships geared towards international students.
Private Lenders for International Students
International students can also consider U.S.-based private loans, but they should recognize that many of these loan programs require a U.S. co-signer. Understanding that this can prove a hardship for those without a U.S. connection, some schools offer internal options for international students. For instance, Harvard Business School has partnered with the Harvard University Employees Credit Union to offer private educational loans that do not require a U.S. co-signer. NYU Stern also features a list on its website of loan providers that don’t require international students to have a U.S. co-signer. Consulting with your target schools’ financial aid offices is a great way to learn about available loan options.
International students should keep in mind that U.S. lenders are typically not allowed to issue loans to students from countries on the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Sanctions list. The Treasury Department encourages prospective students to check this list with some regularity, as it is frequently updated.
Also addressing the need for non-co-signer loans, companies like Prodigy Finance have entered the market in recent years. Founded by INSEAD alumni who faced funding challenges themselves as international MBA students, Prodigy offers loans using an innovative community-financed model in which alumni, institutional investors and qualified private investors fund the next generation of MBA students.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from Clear Admit.
Canadian Business Schools Struggle in Latest Financial Times MBA Rankings
The newest batch of rankings from the Financial Times has been revealed, and the results aren’t very encouraging if you’re a Canadian business school. In fact, only three schools out of Canada’s 22 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited schools made the 2017 ranking of the world’s best full-time MBA programs. Continue reading…
Are International MBAs Taking Over the American MBA?
In the U.S., the number of MBA applicants is continuing to decline.
In fact, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council, the number of U.S. citizens taking the GMAT dropped by 1/3 between 2010 – 2015. Even more interesting, the total number of American applicants to U.S. MBA programs accounted for less than half of the 2015 applicant pool (45%). That’s why many programs are looking to beef up their number of candidates with international students. Continue reading…
Harvard Students Give Advice for International Students
Harvard Business School MBA students Esme O’Neill-Dean and Ibraheem Fahal recently shared some advice for international students who are looking to apply for the MBA program at Harvard. The two students shared several pieces of advice for applying to the MBA program at the Harvard Business School as an international applicant. Harvard welcomes students from all different nationalities and prides itself on its diverse group of students enrolled in its programs.
Out of the 936 students enrolled in the Full-Time MBA program, 324 of those students are considered international students in the class of 2016. Out of those 324 students, there are 64 different countries represented. Fourteen percent of international students in the class of 2016 are from Asia, 9 percent from Europe, 3 percent from Central and South America and 1 percent is from Africa.
Pace Holds Online Chat for International Students
The Office of Graduate Admissions at Pace University will be hosting an online chat for international students. The online chat will be held Feb. 5. The event will begin at 9 a.m. and last for one hour. During the chat, prospective students can learn more about the graduate programs offered at Pace as well as the admission process for international students. Those attending the chat will have the opportunity to have questions answered by admission staff as well as requirements for programs, the I-20 process and more.
Applicants to Pace University graduate programs must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university if postsecondary education was completed in the United States. Applicants who have attended institutions outside of the U.S. must hold a degree equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree.
