Research MBA Programs

Hi:

I have a general query on how exchange programs work. Let's say I'm enrolled in Cornell and opt to go to National University of Singapore as part of my exchange program. Will I be able to find job in Singapore and use NUS's career services as a Cornell student? How does the whole thing work?

Regards,
Prakhar

Hi prakhag - good question. Each school handles it differently, but typically you'd spend one semester in the foreign school (and usually, the home school receives one student from the foreign school in your place). Most schools only allow this during your second year of studies, and we frequently see people do it in the very last term of the MBA, since the majority of recruiting happens in the fall - most people would want to take advantage of that from their actual school, not miss out on it by being in the foreign school. We're not sure if the foreign school would even let you use their career services; their school would be working hard to find job opportunities for their graduates, and they might not want you, who isn't even officially their student, to take them.

That being said, you'd certainly be able to network and make connections with the students at the foreign school, and you'd be exposed to lots of local employers in Singapore. If you were resourceful (which obviously you are, given how you're thinking about this stuff!!) then you might be able to make this happen for yourself as you've envisioned it.

We would suggest that you contact the schools themselves (Cornell, in this case) and ask them about this. It's not what most people do but that doesn't mean that you couldn't do it.

Please report back on what you discover! We'd be curious to hear what the schools tell you.

EssaySnark

essaysnark wrote:Hi prakhag - good question. Each school handles it differently, but typically you'd spend one semester in the foreign school (and usually, the home school receives one student from the foreign school in your place). Most schools only allow this during your second year of studies, and we frequently see people do it in the very last term of the MBA, since the majority of recruiting happens in the fall - most people would want to take advantage of that from their actual school, not miss out on it by being in the foreign school. We're not sure if the foreign school would even let you use their career services; their school would be working hard to find job opportunities for their graduates, and they might not want you, who isn't even officially their student, to take them.

That being said, you'd certainly be able to network and make connections with the students at the foreign school, and you'd be exposed to lots of local employers in Singapore. If you were resourceful (which obviously you are, given how you're thinking about this stuff!!) then you might be able to make this happen for yourself as you've envisioned it.

We would suggest that you contact the schools themselves (Cornell, in this case) and ask them about this. It's not what most people do but that doesn't mean that you couldn't do it.

Please report back on what you discover! We'd be curious to hear what the schools tell you.

EssaySnark

Thanks Snark. I did manage to touch base with a few schools & alums and most of them share your views.

There can be a few schools that do provide career and networking services to exchange students given their own students are not pursuing the opportunity and your profile happens to be a fit. This again, in all probability, will vary from school to school.

If location is the primary driving force post MBA then this seems like a risky proposition. Seems hard to get best of both the worlds - education from a top notch US school and job in your preferred location, APAC in this case .

So we're obviously not familiar with your profile and actual goals, but one option to consider: The Columbia Global EMBA Asia program. This is a joint degree with Columbia, LBS and HKU. As the name indicates, it's an executive MBA, and so you might not be the right candidate, but it's a big advantage in that you're actually an alumn of all three schools when you graduate and as far as we know you get all the perks and benefits.

Of course, an EMBA doesn't have the same career services support, so it may not serve your needs in that regard. But it's something to think about, potentially.

The other program that's structured in a similar fashion is the Cornell Queens MBA, but that's not Asia.

Berkeley used to have a joint EMBA with Columbia but they just shut it down.

Finally, you might want to check into USC and/or UCLA; they tout their connections to Asia as a big draw. They could have great F/T MBA options that offer you the right relationships.

Keep us posted on what you decide to pursue.

EssaySnark