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Thanks for the correction SEFAGO, will have to edit my post.

Regarding consultants points.

Its all about possibilities. If you go to the worst school in the US and ask for a list of their alumni's they would have someone who has gone to do great things but how many of them do that is the major question.

From the Black college your husband went to compare the average salary of his graduating class to yours at Goziueta. And tell us

If we search well, we would find a graduate of Panhandle who earns 500k per year, one Nigerian billionaire in Texas went to TSU but how many of them succeed. Do you know many call centers have Graduates earning $14/hour?
But we all know none of those call center employee is a Havard, Stanford, Yale, Uchicago, Wharton, Columbia grad.

You wont tell me the quality of Graduate from St Thomas University whose GMAT requirement is 480-520 would be the same with Harvard with 720-760

In the all, I observe that nothing is mentioned about LSBF- London School of Business an Finance, UK. Name is not that pronounced, go and start there for good quality business education tho not that cheap but you can enjoy one of its best educational treatment.





ogidiolu

anybody with experience with lagos business school(pan african university). Not necessary using the cert. to get a job but networking and becoming a biz professional

wherever you go, try and make the best grades.
as MBAs near saturation point, it will is becoming the competitive advantage for graduates.
many employers are begining to ask for business school academic transcripts.

Also, try Wharton Business School at UPenn.

mbulela:

wherever you go, try and make the best grades.
as MBAs near saturation point, it will is becoming the competitive advantage for graduates.
many employers are begining to ask for business school academic transcripts.

I'll disagree with this.

The MBA can be a very generalist programme (Jack of all trades, master of none).

The roles that might require it are few and far between (Upper Middle/Senior Management, High Finance junior roles, Consultancy, Strategy and Planning, Corporate Development, Marketing) most of which are small teams in organisations. So proliferation of MBAs might lead to some candidates being over qualified for most roles and having to compete for the few top roles and losing out, hence there is potential of it being a burden.

i really don't get your point.
i mean the fact that their is a proliferation has lead to employers using academic transcripts to select the 'very best'.
go check, the McKinseys, Bain, ATKearney, BCG et al that employ MBAs the most ask for your MBA transcript as part of the application process.
it is so competitive that anything less than all As or just one B, you will not be called for an interview by these blue chip consultancy firms.

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mbulela:

i really don't get your point.
i mean the fact that their is a proliferation has lead to employers using academic transcripts to select the 'very best'.
go check, the McKinseys, Bain, ATKearney, BCG et al that employ MBAs the most ask for your MBA transcript as part of the application process.
it is so competitive that anything less than all As or just one B, you will not be called for an interview by these blue chip consultancy firms.

I am not doubting this. What I am doubting is where you seem to assert that the MBA would soon be a competitive advantage tool of graduates over graduates that do not have an MBA.

mbulela:

wherever you go, try and make the best grades.
as MBAs near saturation point, it will is becoming the competitive advantage for graduates.
many employers are begining to ask for business school academic transcripts.

So why are some of us advocating top schools regardless of the cost? Maybe we believe that we could change our country by making them aware that we are behind in the world and that we have to catch up fast. davidif started this post out of selflessness, to make people aware of business schools. He didn't do this to show how knowledgeable he was about business school or to talk about his significant business experience like some people.

Or maybe those of us who attend prestigious universities are tired of being the only black faces in multitudes of whites/indians and chinese  and would want our country to develop. We are also aware that entrepreneurship cannot start from nowhere, you need the experience to start a viable business option. You need exposure and sadly that exposure is absent in Nigeria. Maybe we have become aware that the only way to join the global order is to learn as much as we can about that global order. Maybe we sit in our classes where they talk about emerging economies and no African country pops up. May be its the fact that we are only known for 419 and it would be nice if we are known for something else like building businesses.

SEFAGO
Thanks a lot i am doing this out of my selflessness because a lot of our Africans don't have information. Its sad when some of our most brilliant students end up at Mississippi state university or the University of Alabama instead of the University of Pennsylvania or Carnegie Mellon University.

(Probably my greatest motivation for cosidering STANFORD is that statistically it is the most difficult MBA to get into; Quote me anywhere, the acceptance rate is less than 10%, This is what attracts me, I would never ever follow the path of less resistance!!!)

Goldmann
I thought you wanted to work on Wall street? If you still do, it would be better if you went to a good school in the Northeast like MIT, Columbia, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Brown or Yale. In fact, i would prefer if you considered the University of Pennsylvania which has a better B-School than the others. The UPenn Wharton school of business is even ranked higher than Stanford.
Now if you want to work in the venture capital sector or in Sillicon Valley then you might want to go to a school on the west coast like UC Berkeley, Stanford, (caltech doesn't have a business school but it has an economics dept. though). I am not saying that there are no Stanford boys at Goldman (there are lottttts of them) but i am saying that location, location, location really matters in these things.

Sagamite:

I am not doubting this. What I am doubting is where you seem to assert that the MBA would soon be a competitive advantage tool of graduates over graduates that do not have an MBA.

okay. i see your point.
i mean that making a good grade will give you a competitive advantagevover other MBA holders.
got it?

mbulela:

okay. i see your point.
i mean that making a good grade will give you a competitive advantagevover other MBA holders.
got it?

Yep, yep.

Poster and contributors

Let us not get carried away by the names of business schools around the world. The rankings of these business schools are not consistent, in fact, it depends on the rankings you are looking at. Different countries tend to have different rankings in the business school provision.

The global financial crisis originated from USA, Wall Street to be precise. There is a difference between qualification and competence. Let us not believe that the quality we need in a business school can only be found in so called top business schools. I am talking from my personal work and academic experience all over the world.

Some business schools are unnecessarily overpriced. This does not equate to quality education. Many old business schools are capitalising on their old age. MIT and Harvard are old schools but that does not make them the best in quality delivery and quality students.

The only problem in Nigeria is that quality education is hampered by:
1. lack of funding
2. lack of good technology development
3. lack of enabling environment for excellence
4. lack of skilled lecturers to deliver sound lectures
5. corruption associated with exam malpractices, bribery, etc

Quality education can be available anywhere in the world. Harvard MBA, MIT, etc are only a few local examples in the USA - in fact, there are many more excellent business schools in USA. In other countries, there are quality business schools too. In France, there is INSEAD and many more. In the UK, there are Leicester MBA, Oxford MBA, Cambridge, London Business School, Imperial College and many more. The fact is that any approved university will deliver quality education and quality students because they are consistently being monitored for quality assurance.

Nigerians are excelling abroad greatly. Although many Nigerians are not duely recognised and rewarded for their competence abroad, many of them are at the height of their career ladder.

Let us celebrate our own while we can.

@ Davidif

You said it's sad that some of our brightest brains end up at little-known schools. Have you ever wondered if that's what they can afford? I have a friend whose younger brother is in the medical field. Same got admission to JOHN HOPKINS but was unable to take up the admission as the fees were rather high for him (and you know how difficult it is for a foreign student to get a loan without a co-signor). Instead, he went to University of Georgia where he was given a scholarship. Now tell me why he did that? Not because he doesn't have ambitions, but because of the fees, and also University of GEORGIA may have ambitions of breaking into the Top-five league of medical schools.

That brings us to another point: There are some schools in the US today, that are actively seeking funding in order to be top-tier schools. I 'm aware that the State of Texas as signed a bill to deliberately increase funding for eligible schools in order to improve their rankings. So my brother, the rankings of today conducted on the statistics of yesterday, may not be valid tomorrow. Kindly beware of rail-roading our people into so-called top-schools and at the end of the day, they are not better off than if they have attended an ambitious school.

Thank you.

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@ SEFAGO

You struck a nerve there. Years ago, when I was applying to MIT, I was asked to detail my knowledge in some courses: Faculty, Grade, Textbook used. Man, I wondered to myself: What will be the fate of Nigerian youths fed on hand-outs without which (in some cases) they 'd fail the applicable course?

Simply put, the environment to reach higher levels is missing in NIGERIA. Poverty, Lack of encouragement/mentors, retarded educational system (that breeds more 'crammers' than independent thinkers), etc. Those who have made it were those who conquered their environments. So my counsel is: lets encourage and enlighten our people about the opportunities out there waiting for just the right mix of academic accomplishments and a burning desire to excel.

Most Nigerians smart guys go to all these lower rated schools thereby shortchaging their talents.

If the top guy in WAEC/JAMB in a set and gets into MIT to meet the geniuses of these world who would challenge him t work harder instead of going to TSU forming local champion and thereby loosing focus.

I also see reasons in anyone who for funding reasons only couldnt make MIT but went to a mid rated school but not for the bottom ranked ones

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You said it's sad that some of our brightest brains end up at little-known schools. Have you ever wondered if that's what they can afford? I have a friend whose younger brother is in the medical field. Same got admission to JOHN HOPKINS but was unable to take up the admission as the fees were rather high for him (and you know how difficult it is for a foreign student to get a loan without a co-signor). Instead, he went to University of Georgia where he was given a scholarship. Now tell me why he did that? Not because he doesn't have ambitions, but because of the fees, and also University of GEORGIA may have ambitions of breaking into the Top-five league of medical schools.

Texmex,
I am not talking about those who can't afford, i am talking about those from wealthy backgrounds in naija. Some guys don't even know about rankings at all. As far as they are concerned "school na school" (all schools are the same) in yanki. They don't know that there is a difference between going to the University of Chicago or Northwestern and going to the university of mississippi.
Also, another point i want to raise is that a lot of naija students lack ambition, as far as they are concerned, all they want is to go work for an oil company. You don't hear of any innovation at all. That's why i am advocating that they should all target these top schools. Going to these top schools would "open there eyes" and they would realize that life is not all about the oil industry. If these students go to Stanford or Caltech it would help them a lot better than going to Texas Southern University.
The best indian, chinese, and israeli students go to the top schools meanwhile our finest and most brilliant students go to Montana State and they start feeling like they are the best in the world. Why don't we have our own Sergey Brin's and co's?


Sagamite, this is for you http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/08/0821_most_successful_immigrants/index.htm just take a look at some of the schools that this guys went to.

@ DAVIDIF,

I get your point, and also agree with you that a number of Nigerian students lack ambition. Taken in this context, I see your point in originating this thread. Well, lets continue to use threads like this to inform our people and cajole them to look beyond their immediate environment. If they see a ZENITH, we make them know that there's a GOLDMAN SACH that offers better prospects than ZENITH. When they come across a company that only leases oil rigs and drills for oil in NIGERIA, challenge them with the dynamics of oil, the futures market and commodity pricing. And when they eventually catch the vision and want to pick a school, we direct them to the appropriate circle of schools they should consider -- depending on the industry they set their sights on. School is not school, but we all have a role to play in reforming the status quo.

davidif:

Sagamite, this is for you http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/08/0821_most_successful_immigrants/index.htm just take a look at some of the schools that this guys went to.

Why are you asking me to look at the schools they attended? 

How many times do I have to reiterate that I am a fervent advocate of ivy league education? 

Let me reverse this for you.

You take a look at the link YOU provided and tell me how many of these peeps have an MBA.

They are the most successful immigrants, right? So tell me how many have MBAs vs how many are FOUNDERs.

Even Rajat Gupta (whos daughter married an Ibo man. By the way, very rare to see these people going black especially at the top  ) that became the Global head honcho at Mckinsey, the supposed Rolls Royce of Management Consulting and dream of MBAs, did not have a MBA.

Let me go a bit further, the current Global head of Mckinsey also does not have an MBA.

Can you now see my points and the facts that underpin my arguments against those of you that want to flog $100K over such hype when you might not need it?

Even though it might be great to have, it is over-priced.

Princeton University.

mama gee
Princeton (just like Caltech) does not have a business school but it has an economics department though.

Have you considered the great minds that you would meet in an Ivy league MBA? The decision makers of tomorrow
Forget about the profs think about your classmates these are the brightest students all over the world. They have an average of 720 in their GMAT. A congregation of champions. In  your class you would meet the CFO and managers at big corporations, Guys with 10years experience at Hedge funds and Private Equity, Top government and brilliant personalities even future presidents of the US and other western countries
Thats enough to kill for.

I have a friend Burak he had a perfect SAT 1600, He had a GMAT score of 790    . These are the kind of guys you rub minds with

dayokannu
Thanks jare, i remember when i wanted to be a "quant" (financial engineer) and i wanted to apply Cal (Berkeley), i checked out the profile of some the students in the program, omo , my guy i panicked, i just decided not to apply again as it would be a gross waste of time.

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yeah, i want to study a masters at berkeley because there program is the best (just ahead of Cornell's).

Columbia is more expensive than columbia though.

Right now, "quants" are being blamed for causing the meltdown but you are right about the physics thing, when i went to Morgan Stanley i met an indian guy working there who did a PhD in physics and i was kind of surprised.

davidif:

dayokannu
Thanks jare, i remember when i wanted to be a "quant" (financial engineer) and i wanted to apply Cal (Berkeley), i checked out the profile of some the students in the program, omo , my guy i panicked, i just decided not to apply again as it would be a gross waste of time.

Abeg, dem be winch??

Never let some yeye profile intimidate you. You might find they are not as good as the profile says. Even if they might be more academically astute than you, you might find you are more outside-the-box intelligent than they are.

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