Elizabeth York 12-11-2001, 09:47 PM My husband is Australian with a BA from the Australian Defence Force Academy (branch of UNSW). He accelerated some required courses and took three years to complete his degree. He applied to the MBA program at George Washington University (in Washington, DC, where we live) with outstanding references and an incredibly high GMAT score. After much hand-wringing, GWU has denied his application, saying that they can only accept applicants with the equivalent of a US 4-year degree. An organization that evaluates equivalency agrees, based solely on the period of time he took to complete his degree. To say the least, we are frustrated (we were planning to begin the program together; I'm American w/ a US 4 year degree).
Is this a common problem? Can anyone offer advice on how he may be accepted into a good US MBA program? Does he actually have to go back to school and get an undergrad diploma from a US university?
Thanks for any guidance.
alexbr 12-13-2001, 03:44 PM this is very strange ... does this mean they would deny anyone who applied with an undergraduate degree from Oxford or Cambridge etc. (UK undergrad degrees are typically 3 years). Wharton would have no problem with this type of degree. Cheers, Alex
stewartt 12-13-2001, 11:40 PM This a comment from an Aussie friend who did their MBA in the US after a 3 year Australian degree:
Yes, I've heard of this problem, and actually experienced it at McGill University in Canada (a country in which, ironically, there are many 3 year uni degrees). Universities seem to fall into 3 categories:
1. Those that see Australian 3 year degrees from a large university as equivalent, and therefore accept all such applications
2. Those that only accept 3 year degrees from certain universities (e.g. Monash, Melbourne, Sydney, UNSW, UWA, UQ) as equivalent (these are "accredited universities" on some world scale - don't know who administers that). Smaller universities in Australia (and most universities in countries with lower standards, like India) don't qualify without additional education
3. Those that only accept 4 year degrees, which means an honours year for business, science and arts degrees from Australia or a grad dip
I appealed to McGill, and had no joy.
In my experience, you just have to live with whatever their policy is (and the policy is usually outlined in their MBA program brochure). It's usually the Ivy League universities (i.e. top 5 US MBA programs) that adopt policy 3 above. Although GWU isn't really in this category perhaps it's a university policy for all masters degrees, not one from the business school. The other schools that I know of that have the same policy are Stanford, Wharton, Chicago and Northwestern. Ironically Harvard doesn't have the same issue and will accept 3 year degrees.
What this guy would have to do is do an honours year or a one year grad dip to qualify. I don't know any other way around it than to actually get another year of education. Or he could apply to a another program in DC, like Georgetown.
The most ironic thing is the reason behind 4 year degrees in the US. The US school system leaves Americans finishing high school one full year behind the level achieved in countries with more British systems (e.g. Canada, Australia, UK, South Africa), so they need 4 years of uni to make them equivalent to us.
Jason Howard 12-14-2001, 03:39 AM Originally posted by stewartt
... The other schools that I know of that have the same policy are Stanford, Wharton, Chicago and Northwestern...
Wharton will accept a 3 year degree - see the previous post. But as you say it's a policy which is set by the school/uni and you just have to make your case to them.
If they're inflexible can you do an extra year of study at GWU? At least you'd be at the same school.
Cheers,
Jason
alexbr 12-14-2001, 02:27 PM as mentioned, Wharton does accept the 3 year degree (I work there) ... MIT will also ... cheers, Alex
Clear Admit 12-14-2001, 03:15 PM In response to the posting of "stewartt", I wanted to suggest another answer to this question about which schools take Australian 3-yr degrees.
For starters, the TOP MBA programs, like Wharton, MIT, Harvard and the likes are very used to seeing applicants from schools around the world - and frequently accept candidates with this type of degree (be it from the UK, Australia or elsewhere).
This means that the prior posting, which suggested that all the Ivy League schools DO NOT accept three-year degrees is not exactly true.
The best thing to do is check with the school you are applying to before submitting an application. Make sure you speak with someone in the admissions office - preferably an admissions officer - who can address your particular situation.
As for the couple who started this thread, you may want to check into other schools in the area, like Georgetwon or Maryland and see what their policy is. The Round 2 deadlines for many MBA programs are in January, so you still have time to explore.
Best of luck in the admissions process,
Graham
graham@clearadmit.com
I have an Australian friend at Stern (NYU) with his three year undergrad degree.
Elizabeth York 12-17-2001, 01:26 PM Thanks for all the input.
Re: stewartt's suggestion that the applicant do a grad dip -- Has anyone had experience with grad dips qualifying as the "fourth year"?
The applicant we originally started talking about is halfway done with a grad dip in Finance. He's also close to getting his Series 7 (brokers license) and is planning to pursue some additional professional qualifications/education (CFA plus finishing grad dip) next year instead of MBA. Assuming he finishes the graduate diploma, do you think all this will qualify him for MBA starting next fall? Obviously a question for the specific institution, but I'm curious about others' experience.
Thanks again!
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