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Applications are considered individually and places are offered to those individuals selected
by a selection committee that generally includes administrative and academic staff.
The probability of being selected depends on the programme an applicant selects,
the availability of places and the applicant's suitability for the programme.
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The programme design with the lowest probability of applicants’ success has shifted in recent years from the full-time design to the stair-cased design.
An example:
There are 200 students enrolled in a diploma in business or management
studies programme which is stair-cased to an MBA and most, if not all,
the students would prefer to complete the MBA. The number of places available
on the MBA will determine the probability of success of the diploma students’ MBA
applications. If there are only 20 MBA places available, then the highest
probability of being offered a place is 10%. If there are 30 places, then
the probability increases to 15%. If the number enrolled in the diploma
increases to 300 students, then probability drops back again to 10%. So,
the larger the diploma progamme and the smaller the MBA class size, the
lower the probability is of being selected for the MBA.
None of the traditional full-time programmes reported such a low probability
of success for their applicants.
In 2007, there were 1030 places reportedly available in ten educational institutions’ MBA programs and only 517 students entered.
This indicates that 513 places were left vacant last year.
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Finally, one of the goals of MBA
programmes is to have the very best students, which translates to having
the very best applicants to select from. What changes from one programme
to the next is the definition of 'best' and how ‘able’ a
programme is in obtaining those 'best' students.
Determining what a programme describes as the 'best candidate' will assist
you in understanding how well you fit the description of its suitable
or ‘best'
MBA students. (With the increase in stair-cased designs, several programmes
seem to be describing 'best' as those individuals who have successfully
completed their certificate/diploma programmes.)
A word of caution - What appears in advertising and promotion materials
as the desired or 'best' student can be different from the actual students
who attend a programme, thus reflecting a gap between the 'best' and the
actual. Having demographic and admission information of the last class
along with the descriptions in promotional materials is the most helpful.
This information will indicate not only whom a programme prefers but also
who attends.
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