The Ultimate Guide For MBA in Germany

Transcription

1 Contents What are the top MBA programs in Germany?... 2 What are the best parts of studying an MBA in Germany?... 2 What is the criteria for getting an admit to an MBA program in Germany?... 2 What questions are expected in an admission interview for an MBA?... 3 Tuition Fees... 3 Finances... 4 Scholarships... 4 DAAD Scholarship... 4 Living Expenses in Germany... 5 Visa Requirements... 6 Visa Extension After You Landed in Germany... 6 Anmeldung... 7 Ausländerbehörde... 7 Fiktionsbescheinigung... 8 Campus Placements for MBAs... 9 German Job Market... 9 Where are the jobs for foreign students?... 9 What jobs you should not target in Germany?... 9 What salary to expect post-mba? About the Author Rights For Using This Guide... 10

2 What are the top MBA programs in Germany? Note: The list is NOT in any particular order or ranking. Universities: University of Mannheim Mannheim Business School WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management HHL- Leipzig Graduate School of Management EBS Universität Für Wirtschaft Und Recht - EBS Business School ESMT - European School of Management and Technology Hochschule Pforzheim What are the best parts of studying an MBA in Germany? Quality of education is world class Diversity in classes, your cohort will be a combination of multiple nationalities and professional backgrounds Unique experience of studying in Europe a non-english speaking country MBA programs are far cheaper as compared to other parts of the world especially North America and Australia Shorter MBA programs - usually months What is the criteria for getting an admit to an MBA program in Germany? Here are the key criteria- Nicely written MBA Application Around 2+ years of work experience Decent academic record (over 60% aggregate throughout) TOEFL/IELTS to prove English language skills GMAT ( ) may or may not be required

3 If you are vastly experienced, for e.g. you have 6-8+ years of quality work experience with assignments abroad don t stress much if your GMAT score is under 600, because with such a work experience you can cross the line with 550 also. Though, make sure your application is strong enough to cover for your low GMAT score, plus you are still in the game for the scholarship. What questions are expected in an admission interview for an MBA? Each school has its own format, but rest assured that following questions are part of every MBA program in the country- Why MBA? Why Germany? Why this business school? What are your qualifications and experience? What are your achievements? What you want to do post-mba? Why you think we should give you an admit? How an MBA will help you achieve your career goals? Tell about your passions and hobbies? If you are prepared with these questions, I can assure you that you are already very much in the hunt. In case, you need more help I can coach you on MBA interviews and applications. Tuition Fees All top private business schools have a fee in the range of Euro 30K-38K for the entire program. If money is the biggest problem for you, then you should think of an alternative. Germany s public education is legally almost free. Meaning, there are few public universities in Germany who offer MBA, the advantage with such universities are- there tuition fee is under Euro 500 per semester, which means total fee will be under 2-3K for the entire program. Of course, be cautious that those programs may not be as international as the others, but they are an option for sure to consider.

4 Finances Private or public, you still need to maintain just under 7000 Euro annually in your German bank account since without it you won t get approval to live in the country (no visa approval or extension). Scholarships All private schools have various categories for applying for the scholarship. In almost all cases you will have to write a specific separate application or an essay to secure a scholarship. In some private schools where there is no separate application, you simply have to mention somewhere in your application or essays that you need scholarship to be able to fund your studies in Germany. Most schools in Germany are actually looking for students who really deserve a financial support to study and unless you could not stress enough to these schools, you may not get the scholarship. The secret is to bring this up in your application or essay clearly and re-iterate the same during your discussions with the MBA office interviews. Trust me, this way you will be more convincing! DAAD Scholarship Everybody is aware or heard of DAAD scholarship, but no one has a real clue what it really is! Funny! This is a financial support offered by German government to the foreign students. This is a monthly fund that the students in Germany receive only for their first year in the country. So what does this first year mean? Well, first year is for e.g. you came to Germany in March. So, now you will receive this monthly relief till December only. It also means that if you came in October even then you will only receive till December and not beyond it. It s better if you are in a program that is starting early. Like they say it- earlier the better! Now the big question is- how much is the minimum account you shall receive?

5 Again, there is not a straight answer to it, but the deal is- usually the budget is allocated by the government to the schools and they divide among their current cohort of students, which means if there are more foreign students in your class then you will receive less. More students or less students may not matter, because there is minimum limit that is set by the government that each student shall receive per month. My calculated guess is- the minimum limit right now is- Euro /month. Sometimes, schools may only give you that minimum amount and use the funds elsewhere for student development programs during the course. Another question: Do you have to apply for the DAAD funds at the time for applying to the program? Well, the answer is- NO. What I have learned is all private schools are allocated the funds directly as they apply on their students behalf and receive a whole chunk of money from the government to distribute by themselves. Though, I am not sure about the Public Universities. It is wise to ask this question directly to the MBA admissions team right before applying to the program so that there is nothing missed! Better safe than never..! Living Expenses in Germany The cost of living in Germany ranges between Euro /month including food and rent, depending upon you are sharing and apartment or living all by yourself. Of course, if you live a very lavish lifestyle than the number above may fall short for your expenses. Usually the cost includes following calculation: Rent (Shared apartment with 1 person): Euro Electricity included in the rent Internet: Euro 15 Mobile: Euro 15 Food (including leisure): Euro

6 Try to figure out an apartment in sharing with 2 other people, because it cuts your rental cost drastically. In fact, most of the students in Germany live in WG (meaning shared apartment- pronounced as WayGay ) plus your internet bills are shared too! Visa Requirements All non-eu students coming to Germany need a visa, depending upon the country you are coming from, you will need a visa before landing in Germany or get a visa on arrival in the country. Whichever way you come to Germany, the thing that no one tells is- your first stay visa is only valid for 90 days!! Citizens from the countries Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea and the USA can apply for their visa after they arrive in Germany. For citizens from other countries it is necessary to apply for the visa before coming to Germany. The visa that everyone receives for 90 days is called Schengen Visa and it s the same visa that tourists receive, which means with this visa you can travel to different EU countries that are part of the Schengen Region. Visa Extension After You Landed in Germany Like I mentioned earlier, your first visa to enter Germany is only valid for 90 days maximum, which means you need to get a visa extension. How to get a visa extension: First thing first, you need to register yourself in the city where you are living. Once, you have a place to live, you should immediately book an appointment for registering yourself in the city. This process is called- Anmeldung.

7 Anmeldung Each city has its own Anmeldung office, just google with Anmeldung and your German city name and you will see the information about it. You have to first book a slot (either online or directly on the spot, you get a token there with a waiting number) and then visit there with your rental contract, passport, a photo and university offer letter. For the very first time, you have to fill one form, you can either get it on the website or get at the office itself. It s a 5-10minutes task and then the officials will give a certificate called Anmeldung. Anmeldung is required when you next go for your visa extension. Ausländerbehörde The visa office or the foreigner s office in Germany is called Ausländerbehörde. This is the place where you have to come every time for anything related to your visa. Again, just google ausländerbehörde and your German city name and you will see the link of your local ausländerbehörde. You have to first book a slot (either online or directly on the spot, you get a token there with a waiting number) and then visit there with the required documents depending upon the country of citizenship and program enrolled. All this information is available on the Ausländerbehörde website. The biggest challenge of visiting an Ausländerbehörde in Germany is Language. More or less, there are hardly any officials who speak anything but German, having said that most of them tolerate your non- German and help you moving with your process. I would personally advice you to do following things before visiting Ausländerbehörde- a. Book an appointment as early as possible (there is no limit on blocking the slot), the thing is getting an appointment could be really tough in the big cities of Germany so you should book a slot as soon as possible. These slots are cancellable, which means you can cancel the appointment any time or when you book another earlier appointment and complete it, the later appointment gets cancelled by itself. b. It is wise to take someone who speaks German with you, otherwise it could be really tough with few of the officials who doesn t treat you that well. Having a person, knowing German can help you get over the first time anxiety and can prepare you for your future visits.

8 c. There could be instances when the visa officer finds one or two missing documents and suggest you to book a new appoint and get those documents. What if you visa is expiring the very next day? Will you stay in Germany? Fiktionsbescheinigung Don t worry because they will handover you a new document which is called fiktionsbescheinigung. It s a kind of a piece of paper which allows you to stay in the country. Until you get further extension. Sometimes, you are not given fiktionsbescheinigung, but another letter with a new appointment and stamped by the officials saying that- this letter is your valid visa document for your stay in the country. There is a difference between fiktionsbescheinigung and the stamped letter, if you have a fiktionsbescheinigung you can travel outside of the country, but if you have a stamped letter you can t travel out of Germany. This is how it looks like-

9 Campus Placements for MBAs The Ultimate Guide For MBA in Germany Unfortunately, there are no campus placements in Germany, which means students have to hunt for their jobs by their own. Of course, each MBA program has a career services team, but they are usually only helpful in getting the companies to the campus. These companies will come to campus, do presentations and invite you to apply for the position on the website or via . Career services team are usually focused on arranging company or alumni meet-ups or CV trainings. There is more or less hardly very difficult chance you have a campus recruitment program. German Job Market The job market in Germany is decent. Obviously, Germany is the strongest economy of Europe. There are a lot of jobs, but the biggest constraint for a foreign student to find a job in Germany is- Language skills. Pretty much most of the jobs are in German and require a proficiency of B2/C1 levels minimum. Despite that I would suggest that finding an English speaking job is challenging but not impossible. Where are the jobs for foreign students? Having said that- there are two very favorable segments that international students shall focus on- 1. Startup jobs (These cities have many growing and upcoming startups- Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf) 2. Big MNC jobs (Henkel, BASF, SAP, IBM etc.) Though, the German mid-size family companies are the back bone of the German economy, these companies are still not seeking a lot of international students until they really have an international expansion plans. Nevertheless, these companies are slowly moving towards the expansion phases and in years to come we will have more international jobs in these German companies. What jobs you should not target in Germany? If you are an international and your German skills are not up to the mark, you should definitely not target following roles- Any customer facing role- Account Management and Consulting positions

10 Local employee management roles- Vendor management, Category management, logistics and operations positions It s common sense to opt out of these roles, but I am surprised I have seen so many candidates targeting Consulting roles with no German skills. It always surprised me! What salary to expect post-mba? Compensation starts from Euro 35K-80K per month, but totally depends upon work profiles and experience. As an international, you are at a little disadvantage because of the language plus companies know you need a visa (for non-eu) so the competition is intense. In my opinion a realistic salary for an MBA with 4 years of experience in Germany is around 38K to 68K for an international with no German language skills. About the Author I am Vivek Nanda. I studied my MBA at WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany. For last couple of years, I have been helping fellow students who want to study in Germany. By the way, I am a real person and you can know about me here. The biggest reason why I help people- because I know how big a decision this is.! My views are very open, realistic and un-biased. I want to make sure that you make an informed decision about studying in Germany. Having said that- I am always available to help you. I hope you found this guide useful. Rights For Using This Guide You are not allowed to distribute this guide to anyone All the opinions in the guide are purely of the author The author of the guide was not sponsored or paid for writing this guide by anyone The author reserves all the rights of the guide and if distributed will lead to legal action Good LUCK May The Force Be With You!!