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There are other opportunities also of financing stay abroad. Ten-week internships between the first and second year of study are common and can add $10,000 - $20,000 to the piggy bank. Many schools also offer the chance to take on some tutoring work in the second year; this l can net about $15 - $22 an hour.

Other things to bear in mind when considering studying abroad are the cost of living in the country where you are headed and using your assets back home to raise funds - renting out property, for instance.

There are also plenty of scholarships aimed at British students who want to study away from home - some are school-specific, such as the Kennedy Memorial Trust (www.kentrust.demon.co.uk) for those who want to study at Harvard or MIT, or Louise Franck Scholarships at INSEAD (www.insead.edu). It is a good idea to check individual school websites.

Other monetary aid schemes are country-specific, such as the US-UK Fulbright scholarships (www.fulbright.co.uk) or BUNAC Educational Scholarships (www.bunac.org/uk/awards). But some are available to any British student who wants postgraduate experience abroad, such as The Leverhulme Trust's Study Abroad Studentships (www.leverhulme.org.uk). All that goes to show that money doesn't have to be a barrier to signing up for an MBA abroad.

However, when I started receiving rejections for my applications, I became slightly demotivated. Still, I continued sending out more applications, not only for my desired career in business consulting, but otherwise also. To my surprise, I was not called for a single interview.

This year, more than 100,000 professionals of all ages will embark on MBA programmes at business schools across the world and a growing proportion will elect to study, not in their home country but overseas. In India, despite the development of major schools, such as IIMs and ASB, the tradition of studying abroad, particularly in the USA or Europe, is widely accepted, but if you are considering a move overseas.

This made me slightly suspicious as there was nothing in my academic record which could disqualify me from going at least for a first interview. On discussing this with some of my European friends, who were at least being called for interviews, and colleagues of my Dad, I learnt that I and other non-European friends were all being rejected due to the disadvantage of us not having permits to work in the UK. Organisations wanted applicants residing in Europe as they did not want the further expense of making work permits, etc.

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Source: -
Krupa Mathew,
Branch Head, Study Abroad,
Published in The Observer of Management Education, Vol. 2 Issue 1 January 2007.