Hello folks,

Hope your preparations are going on well!
I am seeking this help from anyone who could assist me with,
MBA in Communications, where would this be offered with true value and recognition? Next, how does the future and the prospects appear over the horizon when one would be armed with this degree in the job market?

My strength is Communications and I have been thinking: if what I desire is not offered anywhere and if the future is bleak (I doubt) my immeditae option would be International Management also called Global Management or the last choice would be Management Consulting.

It might look like I am indecisive, but I need your counsel here because I am looking for a total change of career after the MBA so I am a bit overloaded with thoughts.

As a matter of fact, I have been looking only at the one(1) year MBA programs and I have a good nine (9) years of work experience which includes international exposure in more than a few countries other than India.

However after doing quite a bit of research and reading up, I am beginning to envision the fact that a two (2) year MBA would indeed have more impact, extensive coverage and more learning in the broader sense of it since I am looking for a career change.

Hey friends, you all please chip in and help me out here with your opinions.

Thanks!

I sincerely need your help here with your knowledge, opinion and advice on the doubts that I had raised on MBA Communications and the related query.

Could anyone be of some help please?

Hi there. Okay, let's make like MC Hammer did and break it down!

Firstly, I can certainly understand why you might be more than a little confused. Choosing where to go and what to do can be very complicated indeed! Don't worry - all you require to work things out is a cool head, a bit of flair, something of brinksmanship, and nerves of steel. Like India beating Australia in the cricket, in fact.

I'm not quite sure I know what you mean when you say you want a complete change of career after your MBA. I'm going to take it as meaning that you're hoping an MBA will change your career for the better and move it in a very different direction from your current career path, rather than that you want a career completely unrelated to your MBA.

There are MBAs covering all the areas you mention, some more specialist than others, so you need to find out what exactly each aspect entails, where it fits into an overall programme, and what sort of MBA is going to be most useful if you want to become, say, a management consultant (perhaps with a specialist knowledge of communications).

Bear in mind that although you can do highly specialised degrees, most MBAs include a variety of components which should offer you the flexibility to go in a number of directions afterwards.

Only you know whether you have the time, the financial resources, and the will to do a 2 year MBA. Let's assume for the moment that you could do either, and let's also assume that you want to go with your first choice, Communications. This gives you a certain amount of flexibility whilst keeping in mind a definite objective, and will make your search a lot more time-efficient. Making a decision will require even more time-consuming research, I'm afraid, but the fact that you are flexible about how long and what you want to study is, ultimately, to your advantage - as is your 9 years' experience. Just be systematic about how you go about exploring the various choices open to you, and try not to get too bogged down in complexity. The more research you do, the more your options will start to clarify, and the more everything falls into place. If you put in the time now and use all the resources available to you, and if you can avoid panicking, then when the times comes to decide it should be a comparatively simple decision.

The next thing to do is to try to narrow down where (ie. what country/countries or city) you want to study. You can use www.find-mba to look at what schools offer what programmes - see the tabs at the top of the page and then follow the links.

Having grouped together a number of places that interest you, you then need to dig a little deeper. Find out whether the places you've idenitifed offer an MBA in Communications, or an MBA with a Communications elective. Are these programmes 1 or 2 years long? Again, this information is available both here and on individual schools' websites. It may be that they only have 1 year programmes, or it may be that they only do 2 year programmes. Remember: a programme's "impact" - is not directly proportional to it's length, so don't assume that 2 years is automatically better than one or vice versa. In fact there are a number of other things you need to consider.

So...let's say you've you've found an MBA and school that you like the look of. The next thing to do is to discover a bit more about how they rate. Again, this site provides a ranking system which details the most popular places by country or region. Check them out, but remember that popularity, too, is no absolute guide to quality. You should also try to find out how these schools/programmes rank, be it nationally or internationally. Often, schools will themselves tell you their ranking, which you can then check against the rankings systems on places like the Financial Times and Economist websites. Again, rankings aren't everything (http://www.find-mba.com/board/5840/last/#last; http://www.find-mba.com/board/3195), so you should use a school's website to try and find out what percentage of their graduates subsequently found employment, where, and in what field, and what sort of alumni network/activities they have in place.

Accreditation is an important aspect of choosing any MBA programme. See the following links to a couple of posts explaining and regarding accreditation on the discussion board:

http://www.find-mba.com/board/5681/#post-5681 lukeh response to Sarah_A

http://www.find-mba.com/board/4099

Once you've got your head around all that, use the search box on here to see of anyone has asked or answered any questions on a particular place before. Chances are they will have (and there are LOTS of find-mba.com members from India to help you out). Either way you have the option of using the board to contact them for more information/opinion, or post your query for general consideration, and/or contact the school itself directly.

If none of that does yield what you hoped it would, and an MBA in Communications doesn't appear likely, then you can move on to exploring other possibilities - including, but not limited to, MBAs which have Communications components within them. Then you can begin the whole process of checking and cross-referencing all over again!

Hard work, I know, but as everyone on here will tell you, well worth it in the long run.

Best of luck!

Hey Lukeh,

Sorry I could not respond earlier.

Many thanks to you!!

Yes I am doing quite a bit research, and as mentioned by you, I am getting to see it clearer now.

I am very determined to get into a good school where I could discover more of my potential other than just the degree besides looking forward to a healthy earning.

Another thing, what you understood from my post is right, after the MBA I want to switch my career afresh.

My GMAT might not reflect a great score since I left all those high school Math many many years now, but all the agendas they require for admissions in most of the schools ( admissions criteria), apart from the documenst and transcripts, if I am given a chance, say to have a one-on -one, being my strength, I am confident that I could comfortably drive my points to anyone who would be sitting across the table.

For now, I am banking on my writing skills.

Hope it goes down well.

Although we are faceless to each other, please accept my appreciation for your insight and all the information here through the wire.

Warm regards,
kenny

Hi kenny,

I think you've hit the nail on your head. One-on-one's provide the perfect opportunity to set everything on context and show that you have potential beyond just a GMAT score. A good interview is worth a thousand tests, so make sure you spend some time on your CV, and especially your cover letter. Character, enthusiasm and experience are as good an indication of someone's potential than grades alone, so pull out all the stops and do everything you can to get a face to face conversation with someone. If you can do that, I'm sure you'll be fine.