Lately, many candidates informed me that they would like to hand in their application package before the End of January 2010, in order to benefit from the Super-Early Bird Fee.

The Super-Early Bird Fee is a discount of 4500 EUR on the total Tuition Fee, which candidates receive when they hand in the application package early in the recruitment season. (Read more about the Super-Early Bird Fee.)

Of course many candidates now worry whether they will make the Dealine End of January, if they have not taken their Gmat and TOEFL tests yet.

I can inform you that in order to be eligible for the Super-Early Bird Fee, we would ask you to hand in the following documents before January 31, 2010:

1. TiasNimbas PT MBA Bonn Application Form (Download application form)
2. Curriculum Vitae in English
3. Answers to 5 Essay Questions (The essay questions are mentioned in the application form)
4. Copy of University Diploma

The remaining documents such as Gmat- and TOEFL- test scores, Reference letters, can be handed in at a later stage in the admissions process.

(Read more about what happens during the admissions process)

Should you have questions regarding the application package or the Super-Early Bird Fee, feel free to contact me at any time.

Clearly you will like to know as soon as possible after handing in your application form, whether you have been accepted to the programme or not.

 Once the application package has reached us, there are only a few further steps to take.

1. The official Intake-Interview

The moment I receive your application package, I will arrange a date & time for your intake-interview for which you will meet with Dr. Eva Niemann, Head of Office of TiasNimbas Bonn, personally.

If you live close to Bonn or in the NRW-area, this interview will take place at the Bonn office.
For candidates who live further away, there is a possibility to schedule an interview in a town closer to you.

The interview will take approx. 1 hour, in which Eva will question you in order to get to know you better as a person and learn more about your motivation to start our Part-Time MBA Programme.

After the interview Eva will give you an evaluation on how good your chances are to get accepted to the programme, and she will also advise the admissions board accordingly.

A few days after the interview, we will inform you on whether the admissions board has accepted you to the Part-Time MBA programme.

2. The Acceptance Letter

Candidates who have been admitted to the programme by the admissions board will receive an official Acceptance Letter from TiasNimbas.

In the rare event that your Gmat or TOEFL Scores have not yet reached us, candidates will receive a “conditional” letter of acceptance, which states that they will be accepted upon successful completion of both the TOEFL and Gmat Test. These candidates will receive a final acceptance letter after having handed in their final test scores.

When will I be officially enrolled in the Part-Time MBA Programme Bonn?

The moment you sign your acceptance letter and return it by mail to the TiasNimbas Bonn Office, you will be enrolled in the programme. Once we have also received your payment of the enrolment fee, your place in the upcoming class will be secured, and you are a soon-to-be official member of the TiasNimbas student-body!

I am often being contacted by Bachelor- students who are about to finalize their Bachelor’s Degree and are wondering whether they can apply to our Part-Time MBA Programme in Bonn.

You can apply to our Part-Time MBA Programme in Bonn if you have at least 3 years of work experience by the time the MBA-Programme starts. (Read about other admissions criteria)

If you have started your Bachelor-Programme directly after finishing your Abitur, then probably you will not yet have sufficient work experience.

In some cases, candidates have already completed a first education (e.g. IHK Kauffrau /Kaufmann), and started their Bachelorstudies in Part-Time, whilst remaining in fulltime employment. In this case it is likely that they fulfil the requirement and can prove that they have 3 years work experience.

Generally, it is important to point out that every MBA-Programme which is internationally accredited (for instance by AMBA/AACSB) requires that applicants have at least 3 years of relevant fulltime work experience before starting an MBA programme.

Why is work experience important?

An MBA differs from other postgraduate Master programmes in that it requires relevant work experience, because it is important that students can apply their business experience to the theoretical contcepts they are taught during the lecture.

Students will be asked to work on specific business case studies which requires drawing on previous experience of similar situations.

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Note: If you have recently completed your bachelor-study and are eager to continue your management education before starting work, TiasNimbas offers MA/MSc programmes which might be interesting for you.

In general, it is the moment when you have done your research on the programme and come to the conclusion that the Part-Time MBA Bonn programme is the right step for you to take in your career.

Overall, I advise candidates to follow one of the following steps in order to get to know  the programme:

1. Visit an information session:

This is a very easy first step to learn about all the main facts regarding our Part-Time MBA Programme.

Our TiasNimbas Information Session is an informal event where candidates can get to know other candidates interested in our programme, and get to know Fr.Dr. Niemann, Head of Office of TiasNimbas Bonn, an me personally.

Note: Information Sessions take place every month in a different city, if you want to join just simply sign up for one of the following Upcoming info sessions in Germany.

2. Visit a class:

Apart from learning about the details of the programme, I think that it can be equally important that you find out what it feels like to be a student at TiasNimbas.

You can do so by visiting a lecture of our current students. This gives you the chance to

• talk to current students and ask them about their experiences.
• meet a lecturer and observe the quality of the lectures and the TiasNimbas faculty.
• meet the programme manager of the Part-Time MBA Programme, Ariane Heinemann. She would be your first point of contact and provide all the support you need should you decide to become a student of our MBA programme.

Note: If you would like to sit in a class, just contact me and I will sign you up for a class.

3. Talk to an Alumni:

If you cannot make it to a class in Bonn, for instance if you live further away from Bonn (e.g.  Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, or outside of Germany) I can get you into contact with an Alumni who has already in recent years successfully completed our MBA programme.

After all it always makes sense to benefit from the experiences of those who have actually followed the programme.

Generally, I try to introduce you to an Alumni living near your hometown, so that you can meet and discuss all the remaining questions you might have about the Part-Time MBA Bonn programme.

Note: If you are interested in talking to an Alumni, just send me an email at y.michalski@tiasnimbas.edu and I will be more than happy to get you into contact.

Conclusion:

Regardless of whether you have visited an info session or not, sat in a class or talked to Alumni, or maybe even did all three: the moment you know what you feel you need to know about the programme, you can download the application form.

You can hand in the signed application form together with the other documents required in the application package via E-mail to my email-address y.michalski@tiasnimbas.edu.

(Please note that handing in the application form early in the recruitment season can secure you considerable early-bird-discounts)