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Students from around the world are finding it easier to move into graduate work or take their next career steps thanks to the College's Advanced Diploma in Business Administration (ADBA). For Alexander George, with a bachelor of commerce from the University of New Delhi in India , and Charlotte Martin, with a master's degree in corporate law from the University of Paris X-Nanterre in Paris, France, the one-year, intensive ADBA program offered an ideal transition to the next phase of their life plans. The program serves as a pre-MBA general business education preparatory program for students new to business courses or business students who need to raise their GPAs for graduate admission. It gives graduates of three-year bachelor's programs-such as George's-a "fourth year" to improve their chances for admission to graduate programs. And it functions as a stand-alone program for students who want a non-degree program that includes practical training-the case for Martin. Students have come from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, India, and Venezuela. One student has a dual background from Belize and Mexico. Still others are from North America. They have gone on to pursue graduate work in the Chapman Graduate School of Business and elsewhere. One student entered a graduate certificate program at Harvard University upon completing the ADBA. Alexander George streamlines the time needed to enter his family's conglomerate.
He found out what students with three-year undergraduate degrees discover when they look at graduate schools in the United States: most require them to take a number of undergraduate courses before they will be able to transfer into graduate courses. That lengthens the time it takes them to complete their coursework and move into their careers-and helps make the ADBA such an attractive alternative. George talked to several educational counselors in India who mentioned the program at Florida International University. After checking it out on the web, he applied online. "I felt I needed to get acculturated before starting an MBA," he said. "In the ADBA, I found a rigorous program to prepare me very quickly. There is lots of pressure and many assignments, which is good because it enables you to get used to the rigor of graduate school." According to George, the other students from India in the MBA program at Thunderbird are not as well prepared as he is. "The ADBA provided a very useful way to be trained before entering an MBA," he said. Once he completes the degree, which he expects to do in December 2005, he'll return to India and join the family business, whose web site at www.muthootgroup.com he designed and currently maintains. Charlotte Martin looks forward to a future in corporate law.
"It is customary for French students who have just completed law school to get some practical training before taking the bar," she said. As part of that process, she came to the United States for an internship with a law firm in Miami and discovered that she wanted to study more, though her initial thought was to find more law courses. However, she realized that if she wanted to pursue law, she would have to take all her law coursework over again to be able to work as a lawyer in the United States . "I started to think about starting to work on the business side of my interests, rather than starting over again in law courses," she said. As she was exploring the web for possibilities, she came upon the College's web site and the ADBA program. It offered what she was looking for. "I had already studied for five years and wanted something that would quickly give me an overview of all aspects of business," Martin said. After completing the classes, she plans to apply for the one-year Optional Practical Training (OPT) in the United States . "The combination of the eight-month ADBA and the twelve-month OPT means that, in a short time, I will have both the theoretical and practical background I want," she said. For Martin, the intensity of the program is challenging, but she feels that is one of its best features. "The program is highly demanding because there is so much to cover in a short time, but that is a good thing. You have to be pushed to do your best. I have found the program to be really, really interesting," said Martin, who plans to return to France, take the bar, and go into a corporate law firm after her stint in the United States.
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When Alexander George completes his MBA at Thunderbird University in Glendale, Arizona, he'll return to India and join The Muthoot Group, a family business that spans numerous divisions including banking, education, hotels and hospitality, healthcare, real estate, and insurance. Like many students from India, George needed a fourth year to follow his three-year degree before being able to enter an American graduate program.
"Many people in France study both corporate law and business," said Charlotte Martin, who holds a master's in corporate and business law and a bachelor's in political and judicial sciences from the University of Paris X-Nanterre (UPX), among other degrees. 