MBA2063 Guest Teacher – Iliana Bobova – How to Maximize Your MBA ROI

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We've all been there. You hold onto a coupon but forget about it and suddenly it's Expired.

Expired in 2012. Dang it.

Fortunately, by switching to Geico, you could save about $900 on car insurance without ever touching a coupon.

It feels good to save big. It feels good to geico. Today's guest teacher, Iliana Babova is a seasoned veteran when it comes to this topic. She's an international education and career coach, but she was also an MBA admissions officer. So she knows exactly what these what these schools are looking for when they see applications. And she's here today to make sure you get the most out of your MBA degree, the whole experience, so that you make sure the money you spent is well spent. I'll be back to wrap up today's episode, but for now, take it away.

Ileana hi there, I'm Ileana Bobova, MBA and career coach. Thank you for joining me today. As we talk about how to maximize your MBA return on investment, you will find out how important school selection is, seven ways for financing your MBA and how to use them smartly, and four steps to maximize your return on investment. So let's get down to business. Here is this lesson plan. What is it that you invest in an mba? How to measure the return on investment and how to maximize your return on investment. What are the items of the MBA budget? Let's start from here. To ensure all the budget for your mba, you need to cover for your tuition fee, living expenses and travel expenses. Of course, you need to have some reserve for that. But I would like to add a fourth item which is very important and has a direct implication both on your chances of admission as well as on the optimizing of the return on investment. And this is the budget you need to invest in your preparation for admission. And we'll get into this a little bit later. So first, what is it that you invest in your mba? Of course, it's money, but also it's your precious time. It's your lifetime. It's your career time. Because an MBA takes between nine months and more than two years, depending on the format, whether it is a full time or part time and executive MBA program. But you also invest the time, trust and reputation of your recommenders, the people who would provide the letters of reference as part of your application package. You also invest the trust and money of your sponsor. And finally, as I mentioned, you invest a lot in preparation this is very important and you have to focus on that. And the more you invest in preparation, the more you gain after that during the MBA studies as well as after after graduation. So for preparation you will need to focus on research, on school selection, on admission tests such as the Graduate Management Admission Test, the GMAT or the Graduate Record Examination. And if you're a non native speaker of English, you will be expected to provide a TOEFL or IELTS score. And if you want to increase your chances of admission and score higher on admission tests, you might need to take the exams more than once, which would incur even more additional fees. So this is an overview of what to invest in an MBA and that it is more than money and even more than your precious time. So now let's discuss how to measure the return on investment. There are two lines along which we measure the return on investment. First, there are benefits that are actually quite hard to monetize and they are Benefit number one is the network that you gain in business school. Your immediate peers, the alumni network of the school, the contacts you have with professors and with industry experts whom you meet during your studies. Benefit number two is you get a better you. The MBA is really a transformational experience you develop both personally and professionally. Benefit number three is that you gain an unparalleled growth prospect. And finally you reposition yourself. And now after the MBA you will have a choice of opportunities and you will not be waiting to be chosen if you apply for a job. Now the direct financial returns are salary increase, a steeper growth trajectory coupled with higher income and a wide access to resources, primarily due to the larger network that you have as a result of your MBA studies. So let's focus on how to maximize the return on investment. There are two major steps here, and the first one, and it is always the first one, is find the right school. Finding the right school for your goals, for your potential, for your ambitions, affects greatly both your chances of admission and the overall experience through your MBA studies, as well as everything that you will gain after the mba. So here I would like to highlight the service offered by Access MBA. Access MBA is a world leader in personalized one on one MBA events. It's been around for almost 20 years and it's quite limiting to say that it only offers events because those who subscribe for Axiom BA events, they actually get a package of services. So first you will get an expert evaluation of your MBA profile. Based on that you will get matched to the best schools that fit your preference in terms of destination, program format, budget, and specialization. After that, you'll get a schedule of meetings with the admissions officers of those best matching schools for you. So the value of these meetings, which take place at an Access MBA event near you, is that you meet your future advisors. These meetings are not MBA admission interviews. They are sessions during which you get to know the school and the school gets to know you better. And you have this personal contact with the people who will give you all insights and details about the program and guide you throughout your application process. They will also advise you on the financing options for the schools and they are often part of the decision making body when it comes to admission. So again, finding the right school is step number one. It's at least half of your success with direct impact on your chances of admission and the overall experience. So how to maximize your roi? Step number two is to make the best school, the school of your choice, really affordable. So how to do that? Now we'll discuss the seven ways to finance your MBA studies. And if you combine them smartly, this will directly reduce your investment and increase your return. So option number one is your savings. Option number two is investing your current income into your MBA studies. This is possible when you opt for a part time executive distance learning or hybrid learning program which you can follow while you still keep working. Option number three is getting a loan. Loans are provided by banks or other institutions, but loans have to be returned and they have an interest rate. In addition, you have to consider all the procedures and the calendar that you have to follow so that you have the loan on time for the MBA studies. Option number four is the sponsorship. The sponsorship can be from your employer, from another organization or from an individual. Sponsorship always comes with an agreement and special terms that oblige you to either stay with the company for a number of years after graduation or other terms depending on the sponsor. So now I'd like to focus on the next three options which are actually free money. And free money are the great resource for you to reduce your investment in an MBA and improve your roi. So the next option is getting a grant. Grants are financial support for a project of yours. Doing an MBA is a project itself and it can be extended after the graduation. Grants are provided by different types of organizations. They're competitive and again, you have to follow strictly the schedule of the process so that you have it on time for your studies. The next option for getting free money is assistantships. This is an opportunity provided primarily by US universities and business schools. And there are different types. There are research assistantships, teaching assistantships and others. And basically these are part time jobs on campus which in return provide a discount of your tuition or cover some other expenses of yours. And finally the lucky seven is scholarships. And I will delve into this option because as I said, this is free money. This is money that you're not going to return and this directly supports your studies and increases your return on investment. So scholarships are two need based and need blind. Need based require that you provide financial documents as evidence that you have the need to receive this type of financial support. Need blind scholarships are provided regardless of your financial situation. The need blind scholarships are two broad categories. The first one are the diversity scholarships. They are provided by the schools in order to support students who come from different backgrounds, professional industries, academic studies, etc. In this way they ensure a rich learning environment in the MBA classroom. The other type of need blind scholarships are the merit scholarships. And they are really a great option because if you invest really well in your preparation for admission, you have a higher chance of for getting a merit scholarship. They are often tightly related to your test scores like GMAT or GRE and the overall quality of your application and the overall promise of you being an excellent student in an MBA program and contributing to the class. So here comes this element. Investing in your MBA preparation well in advance so that you improve the overall quality of your application and and be able to receive a merit scholarship. So here are the seven ways to finance your education. And if you combine them in a smart way, because they can be combined and they should be combined, then they directly affect your return on investment. So to sum up we discussed what is it that you invest in an mba? You learn that it's more than money, it's more than your time. We discuss how to measure the return on investment and that the non financial returns are much more valuable than the direct financial returns, although they should not be disregarded. And here are the four steps to maximize the return on investment. Find the right school, then make the best school really affordable. By combining those seven ways of financing your education. Step number three is prepare well for success. The MBA is a demanding experience, but one that offers a plethora of learning opportunities. This will lead you to step number four to make the most of your MBA experience. This will actually increase additionally the value of your studies and the return on your investment. Alright, this was it. I'm Ileana Bobova, MBA and career coach. If you want to be smart about finding the right MBA and making the most of it, visit accessmba.com and sign up for an Access1to1 event near you and all free services. Thanks again for joining me today. Now back to Omar.

We've all been there. You hold onto a coupon, hoping to cash it in at the store, but then you forget about it and suddenly you've got a mountain of useless expired coupons.

Do you think this one's still good? Free milk?

Oh mate, that expired in 1993.

Dang it.

Fortunately, there are better ways to save money. Like by switching to Geico, you could save about $900 on car insurance without ever touching a coupon.

Ooh, how about this one? Half off floppy disks.

Now you should try a bit of spring cleaning.

It feels good to save big. It feels good to geico. Thank you Ileana Babova for that great, great lesson. Making the most out of any investment, especially a big financial investment like an mba, should be your top priority. There's no money back guarantees. You can't get your money back, you can't take your time back. So it's imperative for you to get your return on investment to get the most out of it, to make sure that you get all the advantages that come with this investment. Whether it's the networking that she mentioned and making those connections so they can help you in the One of my buddies and amazing podcaster Jordan Harbinger says, dig your well before you're thirsty. And that's what it's all about. Making those relationships now so that in the future, when the opportunity arises, you can lean on those connections. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 NBA show. If you love what you hear, hit subscribe, hit follow on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss an episode. It's also a great way to support the show by just clicking a button. Thank you in advance by doing that. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. When you're getting a degree, when you're buying an education, you're the customer, okay? So make sure you're happy with this deal, that you're getting what you want out of this equation. So when you're applying for these places, when you're looking at different schools to get your mba, ask yourself, what do I want out of this exchange? What would be a win for me after this is all over? And make sure that you have a path to that win or wins. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode where we discuss how to protect your business from hackers. Tune in tomorrow for that one. Until then, take care.

Of.

We've all been there you hold on to a coupon, hoping to cash it in at the store, but then you forget about it and suddenly you've got a mountain of useless expired coupons.

Do you think this one's still good? Free milk.

Oh, mate, that expired in 1993.

Dang it.

Fortunately, there are better ways to save money. Like by switching to Geico, you could save about $900 on car insurance and without ever touching a coupon.

Ooh, how about this one? Half off floppy disks.

Now, you should try a bit of spring cleaning.

It feels good to save big. It feels good to geico.