Choosing the Right Business School and Major in the Course

An important decision that confronts all aspiring management graduates is about the kind of business school that they would want to join after clearing the entrance procedures. This decision must be taken after due diligence is done on the various business schools and after careful thought has gone into the selection process.

There are many good business schools all over the world and hence, the decision as to whether one wants to study abroad or join a school in one’s own country is also part of this process.

For those who have offers from multiple business schools, it makes sense to choose a business school according to the kind of jobs that one is aspiring to.

For instance, some business schools are favored by investment banks and consultancies and others are preferred by technology companies and some favored by manufacturing companies. Therefore, the kind of career one wants to pursue after graduation should determine the kind of business school that one selects.

Apart from this, the mix of the student population is another criterion that should help you decide on the kind of business school. If a particular business school takes in more engineers, encourages diversity, or has international students on its rolls, these sub criteria should be a guide for you to select the business school.

After you have selected the business school of your choice and joined the course, the next set of decisions that confront you are to do with the kind of major and the kind of courses that you enroll in.

If you are an engineer who would like to get into technology companies, then you must major in systems or a mix of management and systems. Many business schools offer majors in these streams exclusively as well as in combination with other courses.

Of course, this does not mean that if you are an engineer, you must major only in systems. On the contrary, statistics show that the majority of graduates from the engineering stream often major in strategy, management, marketing, and even HR.

The point here is that choosing the major must be consistent and consonant with your strengths and not merely based on the majority majoring in a particular stream.

Many graduates from arts, commerce, and accountancy backgrounds take statistics courses that have mathematical bent mainly to ensure that they can compete for the lucrative consultancy jobs and for the jobs where there is significant research or are operations management based.

The other aspect about selecting the business school and the major is that some schools are known for specific specializations like HR, Finance, Marketing, Strategy, and Management and others are known for operations, systems, and other streams.

An approach that would work well is one where students plan for their eventual careers from the beginning of their course and not wait until the second year to decide on the major or the kind of jobs that one wants. This is especially the case when one wants to major in Finance, which requires a lot of focus and determination as well as characterized by intense competition.

Therefore, once you have chosen the business school, it is better to start building your profile and your portfolio from the beginning of the course itself.

A key aspect here is that it is better to read widely and extensively about the different kinds of jobs and the companies that frequent your business school so that you are mentally prepared for your career and when opportunity knocks, you are ready to answer it.

As has been mentioned earlier, the key point about business school education is that it is a package that includes several aspects like academic courses taken, majoring in a particular stream, having co-curricular achievements, and being consistent in the academic record of accomplishment. This means that one must build a certain profile and personality and this starts even before you set foot in the business school of your choice.