Choosing Australia over US ? Reason 15 years education

these days i have been getting lot of mails from students rushing to australia due to the fact they find getting hard to get into US on 15 years degree. What i can say is that indians depend lot on word of advice of others. Which is very wrong atitude if you wish to become a sucessful manager and lead in in life.

I went forward and went through atleast 70-80 B school websites to see if the guidelines talked about 4 years undergrad as compulsion.

To my surprise except for Tuck @ Dartmouth traditional founder of MBA Program school. Rest where very open about 3 years program and understood Indian System of education very well and insisted students to apply on the basis of 3 years program degree with GMAT Scores.

List of Schools from where i even got email from admission office confirming the same

- Stanford GBS
- MIT Sloan
- Marshall @ University of Southern California
- Mailbu @ Pepperdine
- Anderson @ UCLA
- Kellog
- Stern @ NYU
- Jhonson @ Cornell
- Wharton

sorry if i didnt cover your favourite school. But this is due to the fact i never got response from their admission office. Most of them first try to send an automated email with standard reply linking you back to their school's website. But if your question is more specific and not covered online . These schools did go the extra mile to answer the query.

The best response among all of them was from Stern Admission office. Which answered very specifically questions according to profile i emailed to them.

I asked one of my friend who had played the ball game on tution waivers in US etc. To give me answer to some questions generally one asks to admission offices of various school appyling to. Here it goes

Q) Do B-Schools offer tution waivers and scholarships.

Yes. If you are a deserving candidate and hold cards good enough to stand your ground and negotitate, you can get full tuition + living expenses. If you prove to a school you'll be an asset to them, they'll do everything in their power to get you.

Q)Example the good schools as mostly Science programs are in news for offering TA's and RA's to students.

Science programs do hold an edge in terms of funding, but Business schools have been known to dish out substantial financial awards to good students.

Q) Another thing was about campus recruitment etc. In australia we never had anything like this all students had to apply individually to any company that had advertised Graduate recruitment positions. What is it like in US ? is it pretty much on similar lines or similar to what happens in India.

I have no clue what happens in India, but here career fairs are held about twice annually where companies come and you can hand out your resumes. Then you get called for interviews and generally that happens on campus in the university's career center itself. But yes, you do need to apply to individual companies. The career centers are helpful in that they guide you in making a good resume, cover letter, interview etc and give you resources for applying but that's generally it. Most university's have thier own Monster-style websites where you upload your resume and then get interview calls. Universities only facilitate the interview process as you don't have to travel off-campus for the interview.

Q) What is the work visa scene after finishing MBA program. Do they allow you to work for 1 or 2 years without employer sponsorship or not.

No. You do need sponsorship to do any work. You get a 1 year period of OPT (optional practical training) after graduation. During that period, you look for a job and find an employer who will sponsor your H1-B visa. OPT period is basically for the student to get some practical experience and apply their academic knowledge. Since US assumes that you will certainly go back to your home country after graduation, they give you this 1 year period so that you don't just take away academic knowledge, but practical one as well, from their country. Hence, technically, you can work without sponsorship during this 1 year, but if you accept a non sponsored job at the beginning of this OPT period, it becomes really difficult to be on job and find a sponsored job simultaneously. So, to avoid confusion, its better to be on the safe side and assume that all work requires sponsorship.

Q) While you are doing MBA are their opportunities to intern or work available to gain more experience relevant to study program of your choice. Is that allowed in your visa condition.

Yes. Internships are available in abundance. You just need persistence and hard work to find one. Your visa allows you to work off-campus, but you need your school's and BCIS's permission to work off-campus. Depending on your school's policies and co-op programs, you may be able to do either summer only internships or internships that last one summer + one semester. This is something that varies a lot from school to school and only your particular school can give you more information.

Q) Lastly in your opinion is East Coast better or West Coast better in terms of schools vs job opportunities.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter at all. Geography has nothing to do with how your future turns out. If I had offers from universities all over the country, I'd see (1) how much money each is paying; (2) how well is the university's Business school ranked; (3) what kind of faculty your program has; (4) what does the alumni say about the program - if you can get hold of them, that is; and (5) lastly a subjective decision based upon things like the setting of the university - urban or rural etc - and what kind of climate the place has - how much snow? how many days of sunshine? etc.

Hope this help you guys in evaluating your option to US again before you try to Australia.As my point is Australia is no second rug option. Schools need people who take australia as their first option as then only they will feel like a winner. I have seen lot of people comming to australia like Canada and looking at it as a passage to US. Please dont fall in this risky bracket as this will leave a mark of uncertainity and unstability in your life for long.

Cheers

Sid