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Walking You Through The MBA Application Process

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So you’ve made up your mind and the Nanyang MBA programme looks like a great fit for you. First make sure that you’ve cleared the initial checklist; do you have a bachelor’s degree and at least two years of work experience? Is your GMAT score above 600 or do you have its equivalent in the GRE test? If you checked everything off, you’re ready. Take it step by step to avoid unnecessary stress. Here’s how:

  • Get Online:

Do not go to any external agents or education firms for the application – it’s available online for your convenience. Once you register on the application portal and start filling out the application, you’ll find clear instructions leading you till the very end. The admission committee will be keen to know as much as possible about your interests, intellectual capability, achievements and leadership skills, so be prepared to answer questions that will pertain to these. Sit down with a clear head and with lots of time on hand.

  • Answer the Essay Questions:

The application will contain some essay questions for you. You should answer them all. Be honest and stick to the prescribed word limit. Don’t try to give an inflated impression of yourself because the people reading your application are great at spotting such candidates. And of course, pay attention to grammar and typos and stay away from clichés. Most importantly, click on the Save button as you go along.

  • Apply for Scholarships:

The scholarship application process is easy. There are no separate forms to apply. All you have to do is tick on the boxes next to the scholarships that will be mentioned in the online application. NBS offers several scholarships for meritorious candidates who display promise as future leaders.

  • Pay the Application Fee

Your application won’t be considered without the application fee. Once you click on the Submit button after you’ve completed every field, you’ll be given multiple payment methods to choose from. So you can pay by cheque or bank draft, or by Visa or Mastercard. Remember that the fee is non-refundable.

  • Put Together the Supporting Documents:

In our online application system, you have to upload important supporting documents such as your resume or CV, a recent passport size photograph, and your GMAT or GRE score report. The GRE DI code is 3802. For those of you whose language of instruction at the bachelor’s level wasn’t English, do arrange to take the English Language Testing System (ELTS) test or the Pearson Test of English Academic test (PTE). The NBS MBA programme requires a good command of English with proficiency in reading, writing and speaking.

  • Request Referee Reports:

Unlike the other supporting documents, your referee reports or recommendation letters cannot be uploaded. Instead, you need to download the form and send it to two referees and ask them to send the completed reports to us by email at mba.admissions@ntu.edu.sg. Remind them to include their designation and contact details and official email address. People get busy, so don’t hesitate to follow up with them and see if they’ve sent in the forms.

Applicants to the part-time programme have to download the Company Approval Form and get it filled out by their work supervisor.

  • Provide Certificates and Legal Documents

Get your degree scrolls, certificates and official transcripts of academic records ready from every institution that you have attended. If a document isn’t in English, you must arrange to have a translated version sent to us. If you have any professional membership certificates, send in those too. Applicants should also provide proof of identity and nationality and residency status. Without these, your application will not be complete.

  • Interview Time

The NBS MBA programme has three rounds of application deadlines. You’ll find them here: http://www.nanyangmba.ntu.edu.sg/admissions/admission-deadlines/

If you have been shortlisted for an interview, NBS will let you know within 4 to 6 weeks after the deadline of the round you applied to. If you are shortlisted, look out for an email since interviews are by invitation only. After the interview is over, the committee will decide if you’ve made it to their list.

Then it’s time to breathe. You’ve worked hard on your application. Successful applicants will get the good news by email. Avoid calling or sending follow-up emails to the admissions office to find out the status of your application. The online system lets you check on the status.

Good luck!

Getting on board The NANYANG MBA – our first week

“On-Boarding!”

By Shilpa Ramesh Vaswani, Indian, Nanyang MBA participant, Intake 2012

Geared up for the first day as an MBA student in one of the most prestigious universities of Asia, I headed to the commencement of the orientation program or on-boarding as it is now called! I began to introduce myself as a citizen of India, who actually grew up in Cameroon, Africa and obtained my bachelor’s degree from Miami, Florida, with a multi-faceted experience in banking, retail and non-profit. I realized that I was simply a drop in the ocean of diversity that engulfed my batch of 2012-2013. My colleagues represented 22 countries in five different continents, with extensively rich profiles ranging from those of software engineers, pharmacists, a dentist (yes! But an entrepreneur too!), military and government officials, lawyer, infrastructural engineers, accountants, entrepreneurs, stock traders, mechanical and design engineers, financial analysts, marketing executives, consultants –  you name it! My excitement levels just increased ten-fold. The informal networking was such a great start to our new world, a world that would comprise of meaningful and productive cross-disciplinary learning from amongst the classmates, which in essence, is crucial for successful business leaders.

By the end of the first day, most of us had familiarized ourselves to the extensively large (I was told it was 200 hectares!) and maze-like campus and thankfully the informal networking paved way for friends and acquaintances alike. The next few days of orientation entailed a series of activities and workshops. Day 2 was an offsite trip to Labrador Park’s City Beach Resort at Port Road,  where a group of professionals arranged indoor and outdoor team-building games and activities- that comprise the adventure part of the program. There were memory games, team races that entailed detecting hidden clues, adventurous blindfold games and a creative master chef challenge (remember those popular TV reality shows!) which infused globally infused gourmet creativity.

 

That’s me on the right most photo! With the rest of my MBA cohort

The following week started off with briefings into the academic program and the exciting opportunities we are offered including student exchange programs, business study missions, extracurricular student clubs and even internship and job search assistance. There was even a briefing by the existing student committee members who spoke of how their involvement in student clubs has enriched their experience and opened the gateway to a multitude of networking opportunities.  Comprehensive workshops were conducted on several key areas including communication and presentation; learning style and personality analysis; organizational simulation of a manufacturing unit; case analysis and discussions; networking and adapting to business practices in different countries; and finally speed reading, which made an amazing difference from 300 to almost a 1000 words per minute. The last day of the orientation included cross-cultural presentations by our class of, depicting an insight into the cultural and business practices in our countriesof origin. There were cultural dances, skits, entertaining videos, informational facts, melodious songs and even regional food and liquor tasting that complemented the exercise. The last bit of the orientation was the icing on the cake with an off-site visit to the Singapore City Gallery, which shows how urban planning shaped Singapore, followed by a trip to the Gardens by the Bay,the newest tourist attraction comprised of manmade super structures of beautiful gardens,  and Marine Gardens Drive. Singapore City Gallery was indeed mesmerizing. It consisted of a phenomenal scale model of the entire city including every nook and corner depicting the expertise involved in the infrastructural and contingency planning in Singapore. The Gardens by the Bay consisted of indigenous foliage and a flamboyant variety of flowers in addition to the artificial solar power trees.

 

Some of the excursions we went to as part of our exploration of the city post -orientation program included visits to the Hawker Street – a mélange of cosmo-Asian influenced Singaporean cuisine; ice skating at Jurong Cube, a hip mall for the youth; Café Azzura at Sentosa Island; an Irish Café at Bras Basah; a sea-food dinner at the East Coast Park organized by the Singaporean students and the Business School; and Clarke Quay, the famous landmark known for food and entertainment- an array of different types of restaurants and social sites lining up the Singapore river, a colorful and zealous atmosphere with globally infused stalls.

Photos with my new peers at the Irish Pub at Bras Basah

My first week at the Nanyang Business School is only an introductory insight to the wonderful world of knowledge, networking and fun which will  probably rank among the best experience of my life so far. Singapore feels like the perfect blend of the east and the west. The sunshine induces a warm and welcoming feeling into a world of perfection. Nanyang, with its admirable campus, multicultural student body, esteemed faculty, extracurricular involvement and brilliant staff that constantly aim to buttress the students’ development into successful individuals, –I am definitely looking forward to more as I start my MBA classes the following week.

 

 That’s me making a point during the on boarding sessions!

Our initial weeks at Nanyang, improving English skills with new friends – what a great start!

By Nguyen Truong, Vietnamese and Yeh Ming-min, Taiwanese, with contributions from the rest of the Intensive English Class participants.

Our first impression about this course must be the friendliness of our classmates, professor, and MBA Office staff. Everyone smiles to welcome new students and considers others as close friends at the very beginning. Although below is our very first picture before the class (there were 18 of us, coming from 10 countries), we seem to know each other for a very long time.

Intensive English Class 2012 - Nanyang MBA

After that, Ms. Catherine, our professor, walked with us around Nanyang Business School (NBS), to introduce the school and for us to get familiar with the location. It was a long walk, going through many doors and stairs. The Nanyang campus is huge – we were told that the campus has a land area of 200 hectares and lots of greeneries!  With every door we go through, our classmates were waiting and kept doors open for others. It was so great for the first day!

Ms. Catherine is probably one of the nicest professors we have ever known. She prepared the course carefully that all we needed to do was just to relax and enjoy the class. Homework was really fun, too! We watched “Mind your language!” to learn about the possible dangers when  English is not used properly! Besides the reading and media assisting self-learning, the case studies were excellent chances for us to work together and understand our classmates.

Moreover, each week, we were given one case study to strengthen our analytical capabilities and business presentation skills. We believe that this was a great opportunity for all of us to brush up our English language skills as well as get to know each other before the real journey begins. Honestly, we learned a lot from this class!

Intensive English Class 2012
Taking a break while doing a case study with teammates from (left to right) Rita from China, Nguyen-that’s me! (Vietnam), Eric from Taiwan and Iwai from Japan
Another case study group - peers from China and Thailand
Another case study group - peers from China and Thailand

After our class, it was certainly a great time for sharing interests.

On weekends, the class would often meet for entertainment…
On weekends, the class would often meet for entertainment…

 

…at the Sky Lounge of the now famous Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (Me - Mimi or Ming-Min, in black, middle row,  3rd from left!)
…at the Sky Lounge of the famous Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (Me - Mimi or Ming-Min, in black, middle row, 3rd from left!)

 

…going to the bar to chill out…
…going to the bar to chill out…
…enjoying life with family…
…enjoying life with family…
…hanging around together with new friends…
…hanging around together with new friends…

…and…

…and doing what most gentlemen do…
…and doing what most gentlemen do…

Zhang Rui, Chinese, reminisces the experience. “Three weeks’ time is just like a blink of an eye. I have not been able to go around the whole campus even once, but I will say goodbye to our dearest Catherine, our intensive English class lecturer this coming Friday. I still remembered the first day I met our guys (the incoming cohort attending this preparatory English language class) in front of the MBA Office. I saw so many fresh faces, each with great joy and excitement for the coming new life in this beautiful green campus. I also remembered the first big smile from Catherine, a smile which melted all the strangeness between us. From that day on, we guys spent so many unforgettable moments together. We learnt how to do a professional presentation, we discussed for hours, how to do an analysis of a business case- we made progress every time we accepted a new challenge and we cheered for everyone’s improvement. Most happily, we received such precious friendship from each other. We also left our footprint on the Marina Bay Sands, that famous new integrated resort in SIngapore which is presently a main tourist attraction. Together, we enjoyed cuisine from around the world- yes in this food paradise called Singapore.”

Now, it is the last week of this course. Time passes so fast, especially when we are happy. Each of us actually gained many experiences and improved significantly in these two weeks. Waiting ahead is not only another  learning week or the assessment but also the last day of this program , and everything here become sweet memories about our first days at Nanyang… Zhang further adds, “when I look back to all I experienced, all I did and all I got in the past three weeks, I want to say “thank you” to our MBA programme, to Ms Catherine Cheng and to all our guys (my MBA peers). Thanks for the special arrangement of the MBA programme, I have this opportunity to come one month earlier to join the Intensive English Course. Thanks to Catherine, I have learnt so much from her well-designed course and her well-prepared learning materials. Thanks to our guys, with you, I feel so great now and raring to start my MBA journey at Nanyang next week.”

Preparing to be a consultant – a Management and Consulting Club Event

by Vida Zhou Dan, VP for Communications, Chinese, Nanyang MBA Participant, Intake 2011

Consulting as a profession is among the most popular choice by MBA students. While everyone is enthusiastic in pursuing this career, a lot of anxieties or worries about being able to snare a job assignment in this industry prevail, despite the numerous case studies we already did at Nanyang. To address these concerns, the Management Consulting Club organised an event earlier this year to help us, club members, to understand more the intricacies of becoming a management consultant and prepare ourselves to be one. Preparedness they say is the key!

Nanyang MBA Alumnus, Italian Angelo Polimeno from Delta Partners
Angelo Polimeno, Nanyang MBA Alumnus, generously shared his experience and knowledge in consulting during the Management & Consulting Club Event

We invited one of our own as our guest speaker, an alumnus who now works as a consultant of Delta Partners, a leading consulting firm, after completing his Nanyang MBA in 2010. We were glad to welcome Italian Mr Angelo Polimeno, formerly based in Italy and is now based in Singapore, yet he travels extensively across continents for consulting assignments.

“As a Nanyang MBA alumnus, I completely understand what you are all going through as I have been in your shoes.  Do feel free to ask me questions on these cases we are going to discuss. I will do my best to help as much as I can to show you how to handle the various ‘challenges’ that these cases pose” were Angelo’s opening lines. His introduction made us feel more comfortable to really dig into knowing more about this industry from a practitioner’s point of view.

During the session, Angelo also demonstrated two case studies and coached us on how to deal with these different situations. We eagerly took part in the interactive discussion – from practice details to structural thinking methods, and more. It was a lively session worth doing as Angelo gamely and generously shared his experience and knowledge with us.

After the event, some 20 of us who attended, felt that we should continue to cultivate more of our skills by ‘doing’ more and more case studies, to prepare us to tackle the challenges posed by real life scenarios which consultants must face. Preparedness is key – and this is more emphasized after the event. We were further enlightened and inspired to pursue our aspirations to become a consultant one day.

‘Get to the Point’ – speaking in style in public

By Ramya Krishna, Indian, Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA, Intake 2011

Don’t we all want to be good speakers?

We all want to impress, influence and motivate our teams, clients, each and every person we meet. How, then, do we get there? How do we train and practice?

Like everybody else, I had a plethora of the similar never ending questions.

‘Get- to- the- Point’ is a public speaking workshop by Eric Feng, a well-known public speaking coach for CEO’s in Asia. The workshop was organised by The NANYANG MBA Women In Business Club (WIB) and it was a perfect venue for us to learn some great tips. The event was conducted right after our mid-trimester holidays at Nanyang’s other campus, NTU One-North Campus in Buona Vista, so it was a refreshing start for most of us.

Contrary to what you might expect in sessions like these, we had lots of fun.  Yes, absolute fun.

Now, you all wonder why all the learning in the world isn’t the same… Below are a series of photographs captured during the various activities, showcasing on how interactive, and ‘fun’ the workshop was for all of us – we learnt about our capabilities and how to maximize these, with Eric coaching us on how to become effective public speakers.

Eric Feng
Eric Feng in action

Continue reading ‘Get to the Point’ – speaking in style in public

Just another case competition – just another rewarding experience

By: Steven Quimby, American, Nanyang MBA Participant, Intake 2011

Right from the very beginning when we first entered the Nanyang campus, we were told about the business plan competition opportunities ahead of us. Well, the preparation and the expectations began when Prof Vijay Sethi, told us about the various competitions NBS participates in. Impressed and enthusiastic, a lot of us took the New Venture Practicum course, which ran across a couple of terms and which Prof Sethi teaches. Then the preparations start, teams were formed, expectations set and preparations were underway. As John Molson MBA International Case Competition was the first competition to be available for the cohort to participate in and one of the most established and prestigious competition of its kind – four of us, Kishan and Parul from India, Janine from Germany and yours truly, from USA, rose up to the challenge and formed The NANYANG MBA team that would compete in this competition.

The NANYANG MBA team – Janine from Germany, Parul and Kishan from India, and yours truly Steven from USA

The road to the competition was extremely challenging, yet, fulfilling – we were subjected to the intensity and rigor of case preparation – a lot of preparation, feedback and practice with different cases to prepare us to compete against other b-schools.
There were a total of 5 business cases, one of which is a live case presentation by a major company about a real-life business challenge that the company is facing. The 36 teams were divided into different divisions, and Nanyang was in Bombardier Division competing against b-schools from Germany, Canada, USA and Singapore. We put our heads together and set our sights to win every case. But we were also in the midst of like-minded individuals as we lost two out of five cases. Despite this, we still felt like winners – we pushed the envelope and showcased our capabilities and expertise. Of course, this would not be possible, if not for the expert guidance of our mentor and coach, Prof Vijay Sethi.

Continue reading Just another case competition – just another rewarding experience

Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA Students featured in J+ Magazine

J+ Plus magazine, a Japanese Magazine distributed in Singapore, interviewed two (2) Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA students – Hideaki Mukai from Japan and Sharon Ng from Singapore. They were featured as part of the magazine’s showcase of reputable qualifications or degrees earned here in Singapore.  Hideaki and Sharon, were asked about their objectives in pursuing this unique double MBA degree programme, their impressions and the challenges encountered. Below are some excerpts of the interview made by the publication.

Hideaki (in black), during a visit of fellow Waseda peers in Singapore (Waseda Summer Tour 2011)

Hideaki Mukai, Japanese (image on the left)
Previous Occupation: Manager, Sales Engineering
Duration of living in Singapore: 6 months

J+ : Why did you decide to pursue this degree?

Hideaki Mukai (HM):  I was an engineer, but I started to feel MBA is essential to be engaged in managerial jobs. Also, I believed that MBA must be beneficial to do business in this highly globalized world. Singapore is a growing country, which uses English as a primary language for business and education. This is why I chose to study here.

J+: What is your opinion about this programme?

HM:  Although I studied English in overseas for a while, dealing with a huge amount of reading is a challenging thing for me. On the other hand, this programme provides me with a great environment to create future business network because of the diverse faculty and classmates.

Sharon (standing) engaged in a discussion with fellow Waseda peers during the latters’ visit in Singapore for the Waseda Summer Tour, 2011.

 

 

Sharon NG, Singaporean (see image on the right)
Previous Occupation: Marketing Executive, IT firm

J+: Why did you decide to pursue this degree?

Sharon Ng (SN): Although I worked for the IT and mass communications industry, I am planning to enter the finance industry. Also, in order to be a manager, I felt that the ability to solve problems due to the complex business environment must be necessary.

J+: What challenges do you have from the course?

SN:  As this course provides high-level lectures, substantial amount of effort is essential if you do not have business background and knowledge. At the same time, since we need to attend a number of lectures, time management skills and the ability to enhance efficiency are vital. When it comes to a group work, cooperative attitude is very important.

jplus

One-on-one coaching with veteran Career Coach on banking & finance careers

By: Akhil Mehta, Indian, Nanyang MBA participant, Intake 2011

As an active club, we regularly organize events for our members and this time, we wanted to get into the groove and prepare for the next stage of our lives – post MBA careers. Thus, our Banking and Finance Club invited veteran recruitment consultant and career coach, Ms Anita Sim, Executive Director at Euro Group – a leading top tier organization providing services in the property development, marketing and search business areas, to give club members a deeper insight of the various career tracks in the said domain.  Dubbed as an interactive “Career Coaching” session, the club members actively posed questions to Ms Sim who willingly engaged us and provided deeper insights into different career streams in the banking and finance sector.  Ms Sim presented a wide perspective on the emerging trends in the economy and recruitment space for aspiring banking and finance professionals like us.
After the talk, each club member and attendee had the opportunity to have a brief yet intense one-on-one discussion with coach Anita, where she provided individual feedback in terms of the suggested career path based on prior work experience, education background and areas of interest. This ‘one on one coaching’ was the highlight of the event. All the attendees gained new perspectives and insights on their career paths, and advise on how to improve on strengths, and work on weaknesses. A couple of the attendees mentioned that it was a meaningful session as we have understood clearly the future career path we wish to pursue, and the challenges we are about to face as we move along after completing the MBA programme.

Banking and Finance club during the workshop.

A taste of Korea – BBQ, kimchi and happy faces…

The NANYANG MBA Ex-co organizes BBQ for the AY 2011/2012
By Charles Chua, Singaporean, Nanyang MBA participant intake 2011, VP for Socials Student Ex-Co

No matter where you come from, sharing a good meal in the midst of like-minded company is a great way to spend a weekend especially if it is after a rigorous week in school. It is not a hidden fact that having a delicious meal is one of the many things our cohort enjoys most. With a very diverse cohort that we have, we thought – why not have a BBQ, with an Asian twist? And so, the first BBQ was organized by the Student Ex-Co 2011/12 at one of our classmates abode (and gracious hosts for the night) in a condominium in the Western part of Singapore.

Continue reading A taste of Korea – BBQ, kimchi and happy faces…

Consulting as a Profession – Are you up for it?

Derrick Tee, Malaysian, The NANYANG MBA Participant, Intake 2011

It has been a while yet the date, 16th December 2011, still lingers in my head. It was on that day that I officially became a ‘full time’ MBA candidate in Nanyang Business School. I was a part time MBA participant when I started my MBA studies, but decided to switch to full time due to various reasons, specifically to complete the programme faster. I have taken the plunge to leave my current employer and focus on my business studies.

Derrick_Tee As I was considering to make a career in management consulting,  I attended the talk ‘Consulting as a Profession’ by Right Management, global leader in talent and career management workforce solutions within ManpowerGroup – and the talk came at a better time. Frank Ribuot the Asia Pacific Senior Vice President for Right Management was the guest speaker for the day. Many of us in the 2011 cohort aspire to make a career in the consulting industry. However, according to Frank, “the glamour, the hype and most importantly, the hard work that comes with it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.” Continue reading Consulting as a Profession – Are you up for it?