International MBA Applicants

Yes, that’s the late Mr. Rogers with President Bush. Mr. Rogers, for those who don’t know, was all about his own neighborhood. International MBA applicants should follow his example and seek to change their corner of the world — and make it better!

Continuing on with our series for MBA applicants, we figured we’d focus on applicants applying from nations outside of the United States — international MBA applicants — a group that comprises a sizable percentage of the applicant pools at highly selective MBA programs. More are more, the top business schools in America are wanting to see that their applicants have international experience — which translates to experience not just in their home countries but elsewhere around the world too. It’s not because they want their students to have racked up significant frequent flier points and elite airline status. Rather, they want students who follow the creed of Apple by thinking differently. And international experience inspires different kinds of thinking.

‘It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood.’ Ok, we got carried away there with some lyrics from “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” but the lesson for international MBA applicants is an important one — focus on making your part of the world better. Focus on your neighborhood by acting small but thinking big.

The top MBA programs in America also want to impact all corners of our globe. They don’t want to just help students who went to the University of Pennsylvania as undergraduates, have worked on Wall Street for a few years, and are now seeking MBAs to climb up the ladder at Goldman Sachs. They want students from all sorts of industries from all over our globe — from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Australia. They want students who are going to return to their homelands upon completing their MBA degrees and seek to improve their nations in the business sector.

So one thing that our international MBA applicants at Ivy Coach stress is their desire to improve their own corner of the world (with specifics, not generalities!), to make their country better with the principles they’ll learn in each specific (it’s all about specifics!) program.