These are the most important things to consider when applying to an MBA program. If you do nothing else, focus on these twelve things:

1. Show self-knowledge. If you know who you are, where you’re going, and why it requires an MBA, you’re more than halfway to getting in.

2. Show past success. Admissions committees have to rely on your past successes and referees, as a shorthand indicator of your future success.

3. Show leadership experience and aptitude. Leadership is the ability to motivate and coordinate others to achieve a common goal. It is the key management skill and the key to management success.

4. Prove it with evidence. You think you’re great, and you surely are. But what counts is the evidence. The strongest evidence is concrete: promotions, awards etc, but stories and anecdotes will do the trick too.

5. Position yourself away from competitive categories. Look for ways to separate yourself from the herd.

6. Have clear, interesting, ambitious goals that fit with your past record and require an MBA.

7. Focus on telling your own story and don’t try to give them what you think they want to hear. If you get your profile right you can get in anywhere.

8. Don’t praise the school. They are fully aware of their value and their charms. What they want to know is why you are valuable and how you will add value to them.

9. Don’t try to be too competent. Success is good. Perfect is highly dubious. If you are too good, not only is it suspicious, but you leave them no role to add to your skills and build your profile.

10. Be personal. Give the admissions committee a real insight into your character, passion, personality and self-understanding.

11. Be unique. If what you say could be said by the next applicant or the one after that, it’s generic. If what you say could only be have been said by you, it’s unique.

12. Be likeable. People always choose people they like as colleagues and co-workers and the admissions committee is no different.

Masters in Business Administration or MBAs are in real demand these days. And if someone is holding his or her MBA degree from a reputed business school, it’s an icing on the cake. The students of top business schools bag lucrative offers from the corporate world.

Almost all the universities conduct the MBAs program today. With the phenomenon of globalization taking the practical shape, whole world has emerged in to a big market. This has led to the great increase in the business activities all over. Products and services are being sent and received across continents. This situation has posed a huge demand for the skilled professionals in the industries. In an MBA program, syllabus is prepared in such a manner that it covers all essential elements of business.

MBA Specializations:

There are various streams of MBA course which can be studied as specializations. Some examples are: MBA in Human Resources (HR), MBA in Hospitality & Tourism, MBA in Entrepreneurship, MBA in Communication, MBA in Marketing, MBA in Health Care Management, MBA in Finance, MBA in Operations.

Some prestigious Management Institutes in India are enumerated below:

List of MBA entrance examinations 2009
• AIMA-MAT
• INC Adam Smith Institute of Management
• National Institute of fashion Technology
• West Bengal University of Technology, JEMAT 2009
• Department of Commerce, University of Delhi
• MDI School of Energy Management
• KIIT University, Bhubaneswar
• Department of Financial Studies, University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi
• ATMA – AIMS Test for Management Admissions
• Faculty of Management Studies , University of New Delhi
• NMAT
• SNAP Test
• TATA Institute of Social Sciences
• XLRI Jamshedpur, XAT 2009
• Joint Management Entrance test (JMET)
• Institute of Rural Management Anand
• Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)
• IBSAT
• Common Admission Test (CAT)
• Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management, Ahmedabad
• SIES, Navi Mumbai
• Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi
• VIT- Business School , Vellore
• Institute of Management Development and Research, Pune
• IILM Institute for Higher Education
• Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras
• MICA, Ahmedabad
• Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bangalore
• Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune
• Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, Nashik
• Symbiosis Institute of Healthy Sciences (SIHS), Pune
• Great Lakes institute of Management, Chennai
• Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow
• Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development
• Welingkar
• Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management
• K.J.Somaiya
• Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode
• S.P Jain, Dubai, Singapore
• Symbiosis Center for Information Technology
• Asia-Pacific Institute of Management
• Institute of Management Technology, Dubai
• Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship, Bangalore
• Indian Institute of Forest Management
• Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Pune
• ITM Business School
• Panjab University, Chandigarh, University Business School
• AIMA, Aligarh Muslim University
• Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad
• IILM Graduate School of Management, Greater Noida
• NITIE, Mumbai
• Department of Financial Studies, University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi
• Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna
• National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
• Institute of Insurance and Risk Management
• Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
• Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies
• NIRMA Institute of Management
• University of Hyderabad, The School of Management Studies
• Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad and Nagpur
• NICMAR
• Goa Institute of Management, Goa
• Mudra Institute Of Communications, Ahmedabad
• Asian Institute of management
• Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
• Loyola Institute of Business Administration, Chennai
• Institute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai
• IIM Lucknow, Noida campus
• IIM Bangalore
• XLRI Jamshedpur
• Indian Institute of Forest Management
• Birla Institute Of Management Technology, Greater Noida
• Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
• Institute of Petroleum Management, Gandhinagar
• National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli
• GITAM Institute of International Business
• Lal Bhadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi
• Balaji Institute of Modern Management, Pune
• Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
• S.P.Jain Institute of Management & Research
• Fore School of Management
• T.A. Pai Management Institute
• Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi
• NMIMS University (School of Distance Learning)
• Anna University, Chennai
• Pondicherry University, Directorate of Distance Education
• Institute of Public Enterprise, Osmania University Hyderabad
• Entrepreneurship Development Institute Of India
• Fortune Institute of International Business
• SCMS, Cochin
• Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics
• Globsyn Business School
• AICAR Business School, Karjat
• International School Of Business & Media
• NILLM -CMS, New Delhi
• National Insurance Academy School of Management, Pune
• Suryadatta Institute of Management & Mass Communication
• International School of Management Excellence, Bangalore

MBA Entrance Exam in India is also no cake walk. You need in-depth knowledge, analytical mind, sharp memory and above all, systematic planning and preparation. Needless to say that the candidates cannot and should not attempt preparation for his MBA Entrance Test overnight. Since the competition is amongst the best available talent from all disciplines, meticulous and long term preparation are required to get admitted to the MBA program. Although the syllabi in the admission/entrance test differ from university to university, there are certain common aspects that appear in most of the entrance test, CAT, XAT, MAT, XLRI, SNAP and MBA Entrance Exams conducted by State Universities in one form or the other. These aspects include tests on quantitative aptitude, reasoning, intelligence, comprehension, case analysis, relationships, word power, synonyms, antonyms, general knowledge/awareness, etc. It is therefore, essential that the candidates start preparing well in advance on all the above aspects. If one can get hold of previous year’s papers or at least the pattern, this would go a long way in guiding the candidates to prepare properly for the test.

Here are some tips to prepare on important aspects which are common to most of the MBA entrance examinations in India:

(1) Quantitative Aptitude: A candidate seeking admission to MBA programme is expected to have aptitude for basic and elementary accounting as well as the knack of solving the simple arithmetic problems. This is one of the areas in the admission test which, if properly prepared and practiced, is likely to put the candidate ahead of others, as one can hope to score even 100% marks in this part.

(b) Logical Reasoning: Questions on logical reasoning may be of several types and in several forms. These could include a statement on which the candidates are asked to draw correct interference out of the given choices. There could be questions on series of words and figures, arrangement of alphabets, brain teasers or even such questions as only call for drawing logical inferences. Just like quantitative aptitude test, this portion of admission test also needs special and detailed preparations and practice.

(c) Comprehension Test: Comprehension test is aimed at gauging the understanding of English language by the candidates. Usually, a paragraph is given which the candidates are required to go through carefully and then answer the question by choosing the correct answer. To attempt this part speedily and correctly, the candidates must practice reading with a quick speed and understanding the entire passage.

(d) General Awareness: As the name suggests, the test of general awareness aims to judge the general knowledge of the candidates. Basic facts about all aspects of general knowledge like Science, Geography, History, Economics, Polity, etc are essentially required to be known.