Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Registration
  1. Who is eligible to win the Official MBA Guide $1,000 scholarship?
  2. Why do you require visitors to register and provide private information?
  3. What information do you collect when I register?
  4. How do you use the information I provide when I register?
  5. How safe is the information I have to give you in order to use the Official MBA Guide?
  6. How can schools contact me if you don't disclose my personal information?
  7. How can I contact MBA programs that interest me?
• Ranking, screening, and searching schools
  1. I tried to rank schools according to criteria I specified and got no schools from the ranking program. Is something wrong?
  2. Do you have any information on distance learning programs, or MBA degrees over the internet?
  3. Where can I find information on scholarships or financial aid?
• Missing information
  1. I tried to access a school that interest me, but could not find it. If your site is official, why are some schools missing?
  2. Why doesn't your database have much information on international programs?
  3. I am enrolled as an MBA student and I see that you fail to report a feature of my MBA program that you report for other schools. Why?
• Wrong or obsolete data
  1. I looked at the data for a school I happen to know, and I found that some information is wrong. Can you fix it?
  2. The information for a school that interests me is out of date and obsolete. Shouldn't you be providing more current data?
  3. How can we update the information for our school?
  4. We are not a U.S. school. Why must we report tuition and other money amounts in US dollars?

REGISTRATION

1. Who is eligible to win the Official MBA Guide $1,000 scholarship?

   All registered users of the Official MBA Guide are eligible, with some conditions. A drawing of all eligible members is held in August of each year. The award is paid in January of the following year as follows:

   • You were not enrolled in an MBA program at the time you registered.
   • You are enrolled in the first year of an MBA program at the time the award is paid.
   • The award is paid to your school which must apply it toward your tuition or other cost of the program payable to the school.
    

2. Why do you require visitors to register and provide private information?

   The Official MBA Guide requires you to establish a record where it can store information that helps you to keep track of MBA programs that interest you. When you log in, you can see which MBA programs you viewed previously and which universities you have contacted. This record-keeping function cannot be performed for unregistered users, therefore their access is limited to parts of the web site that do not require record keeping.

   By registering, you are given the ability to locate the MBA programs that fit your needs, and the possibility that universities will invite you to apply to their program and even offer you financial aid. You also get a chance to win a $1,000 scholarship for the MBA program in which you enroll.

3. What information do you collect when I register?

   We require a minimum of information necessary to enable the Official MBA Guide to provide you with its services. This includes your name, city and country where you live and your email address. We never disclose your information to anyone. The program identifies you only by an ID number. You can provide other information that can enhance your chance of getting scholarship offers or an invitation to enroll in an MBA program. You can see the registration form from here.

4. How do you use the information I provide when I register?

   Your personal record is used to enable the Official MBA Guide to maintain a history of the MBA programs you viewed in the past six months, so that you can easily access them again the next time you log on. You can also see to which schools you sent a pre-application to prevent you from sending it again. The information you provide is also made accessible to universities in the form of statistical data, without disclosing your name, postal address, and email address. When you view an MBA program, your ID number and some statistical information is provided to the school you viewed, so that the school can keep a record of the number of prospective MBA students who examined their programs in the past six months. If the statistical information is of interest to the school, it may contact you through the Official MBA Guide anonymous email service. Finally, we use your information to contact you if you are the winner of the annual $1,000 scholarship or a scholarship offered by our sponsors.

5. How safe is the information I have to give you in order to use the Official MBA Guide?

   Your personally-identifying data (name, address, phone number, and email) are completely secure. We do not disclose them to anyone. Universities can see other information if you supply it, such as the city in which you live, the degree you have, and your age, and they can use this information for statistical purposes, without knowing to whom it belongs. The more data you provide, the greater your chance of being recruited by an MBA program.

6. How can schools contact me if you don't disclose my personal information?

   Schools can contact you through the Official MBA Guide anonymous email service. They can do this no more than twice in any six-month period, to ensure they don't barrage you with many messages. If you decide to respond, you will be disclosing some of your personal information. You have no obligation to respond to email you receive from schools.

7. How can I contact MBA programs that interest me?

   Registered users are provided with all contact information given to us by universities. This includes direct access to the school's postal address, telephone numbers, fax numbers, web pages, and email address. Schools are required to provide the last two items and most provide all other contact information we request. You can also contact schools by sending them a pre-application form, which includes certain relevant information about you and a request for an application package. The data in the pre-application form enable the school to decide if they are interested in you. When you send a pre-application form to a school, you will be providing it with personal information such as your name, address, email address, GPA, test scores, and work experience — all of which are generally required for schools to process your pre-application request.

RANKING, SCREENING, AND SEARCHING SCHOOLS

1. I tried to rank schools according to criteria I specified and got no schools from the ranking program. Is something wrong?

   You probably specified too many criteria. You should start with one or two criteria that are most important to you. If this gives you too long a list of schools, add another criterion and do another ranking. If you specify too many criteria, there may not be any schools that satisfy all of them.

2. Do you have any information on distance learning programs, or MBA degrees over the internet?

   We have expanded our database to include distance learning MBA programs. Simply select the "distance learning" program type in the search & rank form.

3. Where can I find information on scholarships or financial aid?

   After finding a school or MBA program that interests you, you will have to contact the school regarding financial assistance.

MISSING INFORMATION

1. I tried to access a school that interest me, but could not find it. If your site is official, why are some schools missing?

   The school may not have an MBA program or may not be aware that its MBA program can be included in the Official MBA Guide. Our site is official because the data in it come directly from the schools, and are not gathered by us from sources that may or may not be reliable. It is up to the school's administration to add its programs if they want potential students to find them. Perhaps the school you want does not know we exist. They may appreciate your letting them know, or email us and we'll ask them to include their programs.

2. Why doesn't your database have much information on international programs?

   We are willing to include all schools world-wide that have MBA programs, and we frequenty invite schools we know about that are not yet members. It is, however, up to the schools to decide to accept our invitations and provide their program information. If you are in contact with a school that we do not include, please suggest to them to ask us for a membership in the Official MBA Guide.

3. I am enrolled as an MBA student and I see that you fail to report a feature of my MBA program that you report for other schools. Why?

   We report only information provided by your school's administrators. Possibly the feature you have in mind was recently added to your program, or the person responsible for providing your school's data did not provide the information. Your administrators will appreciate your reminding them that they can make your school's data more complete.

WRONG OR OBSOLETE DATA

1. I looked at the data for a school I happen to know, and I found that some information is wrong. Can you fix it?

   Schools are responsible for providing their own data. We only report the information they provide. If you know some information is wrong, you can tell the school directly by clicking on its contact link. School administrators will appreciate your help. You can also write to us about the error, and we can contact the school about it. We do not make changes to school's data.

2. The information for a school that interests me is out of date and obsolete. Shouldn't you be providing more current data?

   Each school is responsible for updating its own information, so that the data provided are official. We remind schools to make their data current when necessary. School administrators are very busy, and they sometimes forget to update their data in the Official MBA Guide. They may be grateful if you remind them. If data becomes too old, a reminder link will appear on the MBA program report page to allow you to remind the school to update their data and let them know of your interest in their program.

3. How can we update the information for our school?

   Only a dean, MBA program director, or admissions officer is given access to your school's data. If your program is already in the Official MBA Guide, your school has a password-protected membership through which the data may be kept current. The person responsible for maintaining the data need only click on the School Administrator link. If your school is not included, an official of your school can request a membership. The School Administrator link provides the necessary information.

4. Why must we report tuition and other money amounts in US dollars when we are not a US school?

   The Official MBA Guide allows users to rank schools according to a variety of criteria. Ranking schools on a money criterion would result in an invalid ranking if the values in the database represented a mixture of different currencies.