The Top Business Schools in the US for Chinese Students

After two year of interviews and research we have compiled our lists of top business schools and Executive MBA (E-MBA) programs for Chinese students looking for study opportunities in America, Australia, Canada, UK, Singapore and New Zealand.

We will be listing the top five schools in each country in no particular order. The criteria used to evaluate schools differs greatly from that used by US News and World Report and others. We queried parents and prospective students during our travels about those issues that most concerned them and most affected their choices before and after admission. The rankings displayed are unbiased and were not affected by our affinity for any program despite one of the schools being a strong supporter of the Blog of Dreams.

Criteria:

• Openness Toward Foreign Students/Ethnic Diversity
• Financial Assistance
• Post Graduation Placement Assistance
• Faculty to Student Ratio
• Overall Reputation of Graduate School
• Campus Safety
• Ease of Application/Admission Office Attitude
• Affordability: Living Costs, Tuition
• Curriculum
• Student Life
• Internship Options
• Salary After Graduation
• Alumni Network

Top Five Business Schools in no particular order for the second year in a row:

• Purdue: Scored highest in Ethic diversity (Chinese students make up 2nd largest population), Alumni Network, Graduate School Reputation, and Curriculum. Downside: “Too many foreign students”

• Ohio State: Scored highest in Student Life, Ease of Application and Financial Assistance. Downside:”Community off-campus lacks resources”

• Cal Poly: Scored highest in Affordability, Campus Safety, Faculty to Student Ratio, Graduate School Reputation (Top Overall Masters Degree Granting Institution in the West) and Post Graduate Placement and salary (for state run schools). Downside: “Application procedure daunting and deadlines are not in line with desirable schools”

• Harvard: Scored Highest in Reputation, Alumni Network, Salary After Graduation, Faculty to Student Ratio, Ethnic Diversity, and Internship Options. Downside: “Impersonal admissions personnel and application procedures”

• University of Minnesota: Scored highest in Ethnic Diversity, Curriculum, Campus Safety, Ease of Application. Downside: “Off-campus life lacks diversity and weather is difficult for some”

Other schools close to making the cut: University of Arizona, Columbia University, UCLA, University of California at Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Iowa…

Here’s an initial draft of the http://888.ws (referred 888 WS) contest marketing proposal for perusal by our potential sponsors and contributors:

Marketing Proposal for 888 WS Contest

The University of Maryland Smith School of Business Shanghai, China

Recently, during my trip in Shanghai, I had the opportunity to speak with Steven Feld, the Executive Director of Professional Programs and Services at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business at the Maryland Center China in Shanghai. What I found was a man with a conviction to foster the growth of a business school in China that could live up to the growing needs for talented managers and can provide people who have already succeeded at doing business in China a chance to hone their skills to a new level.

I have to admit that the interview’s beginning was little rocky. Because of a delay in my flight, I arrived at the Center, bags still in hand, about an hour and a half later than I’d planned. Fortunately, I was able to sneak into another interview and get a few shots at a question and answer. Dr. Feld was happily answering questions from a Chinese newspaper. I decided to go for the big one.

“So, how are you going to compete with Harvard? How about Duke? What have you got for the big guns?” I ask. Dr. Feld Steve Feld just grins. I know he’s been asked this question a dozen times before, and his response is fitting for a man who left Wharton to manage a program sitting on the fence between great and unbeatable.

“It’s all about service,” he said. “If you come to the University of Maryland’s EMBA program here, you get the same quality and the same teachers you’d get as if you were in the US. We don’t water down our program for China.”

And with that, I smiled, reached for my notebook, and realized I’d left it in the cab. Red-faced, I grabbed a sheet of paper from my bag and began writing furiously as Dr. Feld talked about this EMBA in China.

He also pointed out the way in which the program had been made administratively simple. “Our students have an average of 15 years of experience,” Dr. Feld pointed out, “and they are juggling families, running their companies, and completing 54 credit hours of school in 18 months. So we need to help them by making the administrative process of this course–buying books, registering for courses, receiving grades–as simple as possible.”

There were several key points that stood out as Dr. Feld talked. One was his sense of commitment: from everything he said, I could tell that the Smith School is not some kind of attempt to offer a mediocre program to a China hungry for, but an administratively simple program designed to produce the same quality of education that has given the University of Maryland its distinctive international reputation. A key point of the program is that the same professors who teach at the University of Maryland deliver the lectures and do the teaching just as they do in the US. Dr. Feld also stressed the three core competencies of the program: globalization, techonology, and innovation and entrepreneurship, which he believes will be core principles rising entrepreneurs and businesspeople need to master in the coming years of business.

Smith has some impressive ranking as well. Though it’s name is just beginning to come to China, it’s international reputation (ranked #17 in the world and #5 for its research department) is long-standing. One of the most interesting points of discussion I had with Dr. Feld was about the school’s impressive research rank. Can a school with a rank like that deliver good quality teaching, I wondered? Or would the faculty at the U of Maryland feel so much pressure to perform in research that they would neglect their teaching duties? Dr. Feld, as always, gave a delightful response. “Well, we have two ways to respond to that. First, we have research centers designed to disseminate the information from our researchers to the public and to interested parties. Second, we have a really smart dean who created a staff of teaching professors who aren’t obligated to do research. And what this has done is increase the standard of teaching at the University of Maryland, so that both the teaching staff and the research staff frequently get rated highly for their teaching.”

There is a saying China (isn’t there always?): “麻雀虽小, 五脏俱全.” Though the sparrow is small, it has all the vital organs. And though Maryland is by no means a small school in any sense of the word–its reputation and abilities place it among the best in the world–its name is only beginning to gain weight and force in China. Despite this, the programs the University of Maryland offers in China–its EMBA as well as its professional development courses–are designed with care and clever precision to deliver high-quality instruction to China’s business leaders.

A final update: interested readers can check out the Smith Business Intelligence site, a great source of useful information about the latest business information in China.

Here is a collection of Randy Pausch’s last lecture:

欲览中文，请点击这里

One of the most useful pieces of advice I ever received from a professor was during my sophomore year, in a class called Abstract Algebra. The math was so abstract, in fact, that it is still hard for me to imagine how I made it through that class in one piece. This Professor, however, was able to inspire me, no matter how difficult the assignment, to continue solving problems deep into the night. And his main advice was always this: “Mathematicians spend most of their time being wrong.” And what he meant was that anyone involved in taking risks–mathematicians trying to solve mathematical problems, writers crafting stories, and anyone trying to make their dreams come true–is going to spend much of their time banging their head against a wall, struggling with problems that seem beyond one’s ability to handle. And what I find I need, as I bang my own head against writing this blog, are stories and thoughts from people who have the courage to take risks and dream.

Meet Randy Pausch. I’m not sure exactly how he found his way into my electronic stumbling, but once Yanzhi and I found him, we were hooked. I watched diligently for the first two minutes, but when he said, “The inspiration and permission to dream is huge,” I knew I had found something real. As I watched his story, I knew that his message was something that needed to be on this blog.

Though there were many different and valuable parts to his lesson a lot of different parts to his message, a few pieces really stood out for me. In particular, Professor Pausch struck a cord when he spoke about walls. In China, I find so often that my students, my colleagues, and everyone here eventually comes up against the Great Walls of China. They are walls of silence, walls of insecurity and distrust, or walls of insurmountable difficulty, but they exist for each of us, in real, personal ways. I have watched Coffee, Ms. Yue, Yanzhi, our interns, and myself struggle against these different walls, and each day I am impressed with the courage of other people to stand against walls so much deeper, higher, and more entrenched than my own. Despite all this, standing against walls is only standing, and for me, we need ways around the wall–this is where Randy Pausch came in.

What I found in Professor Pausch’s lecture is not a way around the wall: I do think that only individuals can walk around or break through their own walls, though they can certainly receive help from others. And that offer to help is what people need most. What Professor Pausch’s lecture offers is an invitation to transform these walls into bridges. As he says, “The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t it badly enough.” I hope that each of our readers can watch these videos and find in his story, like I did, an imaginative and lively story about finding your dreams and making them come true.

We’ll continue to post these lectures as a feature on our blog. Professor, thank you for telling stories about people striving and achieving their dreams.

Read on »

For those of you dreaming of going to America to study: We have posted pdf files of the guides in English and in Chinese (see the sidebar for Chinese)…

Study in the US part 1

This is a guide to undergraduate study and educational opportunities in the US. You can find Arabic, French, Spanish, and Russian versions of the text here: Undergrad Study in the US.

Study in the US part 2

This guide explains the process of applying for and preparing for graduate study in the US. It includes information about admission, types of institutions, degrees, course loads, and grading systems. It will also discuss the different academic culture in the US and the US academic environment. It also covers specialized programs of study in the US: US nursing school, American law schools, US veterinary medicine, and American dentistry. You can find versions of the text in Arabic, French, Spanish, and Russian Study in America: US graduate degrees.

Study in the US Part 3

This guide provides thorough descriptions of short-term study options in the US, such as: high school exchange programs, work and professional exchange programs, vocational and technical programs, short-term university study, and professional study. You can find versions of the text in Arabic, French, Spanish, and Russian here: Study in US: Short-term US study.

Study in the US part 4

This guide provides important details on preparing for study in the US, such as obtaining a visa, predeparture information, housing in the us, and travel to the us. You can find versions of the text in Arabic and Russian here: Study in the US: US Visas, Travel to the US, living in the US..

Keep dreaming:

This link is now on the front page….Leave your comments there please!

One of the goals of the China Dreamblogue is to create a strong, pro-China internet presence on the Internet. To do this, we need your help. And as we create our China friendly network, we would also like to help the people who help us get to the top of the rankigs. The process is simple and powerful.

We’ve created an idea called Link it Forward, similar to internet memes. “Link it Forward” will travel rapidly through pro-China blogs. In addition, this idea will help to create links–potentially thousands–to your website.

There are six simple steps:

1. Take the two lists of blogs below these instructions and put them in a post on your blog. The first list of three blogs, Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, and Sinotrading, should always remain on the list.
2. On the second list, put a link to your blog at number 1.
3. Move each of the other links down one step on the list. The first blog becomes second, the second becomes third, etc.
4. This means the number 5 link has successfully completed its cycle.
5. Send your updated list to at least five other people and as many as you want. The more people you send to, the more links you will get. If you have a hundred people you want to send this to, go ahead!
6. If you want, create a new list of five blogs you think deserve some links. Be kind and include the permanent list as well.

Remember, please don’t change the permanent links or add a number six link. Also, all of the advertising money generated from the permanent links goes to charity. You are free to do as you will with the money you earn from Link It Forward. We will list some places you can go to monetize your site.

Permanent List:

Onemanbandwidth

The China Dreamblogue

Sinotrading

The Moveable list:

Your blog

four of your friends’ blogs

The numbers work out well for you. You will have approximately five rounds on the list.

On the first round, you’ll get five links.

On the second, you’ll get 25 (each of the five people you sent the list to will get five more people to put your link on their site).

The third round nets you 125, the fourth 625, and the fifth 3,125.

Your grand total (should everyone follow Link it Forward) will be 3,905 links. And if you get linked to again by another blog, you can start the process all over again to earn another 3,000 links. With a few thousand links, you can begin to generate money from your site via Google Adwords. Go to Google Adwords button at the bottom of this site now to begin to monetize your site.

This is for fun. This is to promote positive value for pro-China blogs in Western search engines, to raise money for China charities and needy people on the three permanent blogs (they donate their ad monies to charity) and to make China blogs more popular all over the Internet.

Let’s link it forward!

To monetize your site click on the links provided on the front page of Blog of Dreams

China Dreamblogue的其中一个目标是在因特网上创建一个强大的，支持中国的互联网。实现这个目标，我们需要你的帮助。在我们建造我们中国的友好互联网的同时，我们将会帮助那些支持我们的人，把他们的博客推到网络排名的最前列。这个过程既简单又有效。

我们已经有一个构想，称为“链接在一起”（Link it Forward），与“网络媒母”（internet memes）相类似。“Link it Forward”（ 链接在一起）会以很快的速度在支持中国的博客上移动。另外，这个构想可以使你的网站的链接数量增加几千个以上。

以下是六个简单的步骤：

1. 按照以下的说明列两组博客的目录然后放到您的博客上。第一组名单是三个固定的博客：Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, 和Sinotrading。这三个博客的连接必须永远的保留和不可改变。
2. 在第二组上，把您自己的博客连接放在目录的第一位上。
3. 把所有在第二组目录上的连接排名依次向下移动一位。即排第一的移到第二位，排第二的移到第三位等等（第五位的移到第一位）。
4. 这就是说排第五的应该要完成一个循坏回到第五的位置上。
5. 将你的更新了的列表发给至少5个其他博客。您发的越多，您就能获得更多的链接。如果您有一百个人，那就快点去做吧。
6. 如果您想的话，还可以另外创建一个您认为有价值的列表。请也同样包括那个不变名单（即onemanbandwidth, china dreamblogue 和 sinotrading）

请记住，不要改动或者改变第一组名单和不要在第二组名单上加上第六个链接。同样，通过第一组名单所得到的广告收益将用作慈善用途。而从第二组“link it forward”上所得的收益将有您自己支配。我们会为您列举一些能够推算您自己网站价值的地方。

第一组（长期不变得目录）：

Onemanbandwidth

The China Dreamblogue

Sinotrading

第二组（可更新的目录）：

您的博客

您朋友的博客

如果理想的话，您大约会有比从前翻5倍的链接量。

第一个循环，您会得到5个链接。

第二个循环您会得到25个链接（跟您建立链接的那5个人每人会给您带来5个新的链接）

第三个循环您会有125个链接，第四个有625，第五个有3，125个。

如果每个人都按照Link it Forward的方法，您最后会得到3，905个链接。如果您同时又跟其他博客建立同种方法的链接，您将会得到另外3，000多个的链接。有了这上千个的 连接，您就能从Google Adwords（Google搜索引擎营销）那里得到相应的收益了。现在就请按本页底部的Google Adwords按钮来看一下您的网站的价值吧。

这是为了兴趣；这是为了提高中国博客在西方搜索引擎的排名；这更是为了中国的慈善事业出一分力（因为限定组中的3个博客将会把全部广告收益捐献给中国的慈善机构）；同样也能增加中国博客在互联网上的知名度。

让我们一起link it forward(链接在一起)吧！

One of the many goals of the China Dreamblogue is to create a strong, pro-China internet presence in the blogosphere. To do this, we need your help. And as we create our pro-China network, we would also like to help the people who want to be part of this network by giving them a way to increase their SEO power and their ability to monetize their site. Sound complicated and difficult? The process is deceptively simple and powerful.

We’ve created an idea called link it forward. Similar to the internet memes and the Thinking Blog tag that recently moved through a number of English-language blogs about China, our idea will travel rapidly through pro-China blogs. In addition, this idea will help to create links–as many as four thousand–to your site through a trickle-down method.

There are five simple steps:

1. Take this list of 8 blogs and put them in a post on your blog. The first three blogs, Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, and Sinotrading, remain on the list.
2. At the top of the moveable list, put a link to your blog.
3. Remove the link from the bottom of blog.
4. Send your updated list to at least five other people.
5. If you want, create a new moveable list of five blogs you think deserve some links. Be kind and include the permanent list as well.

Perma-List:

• Onemanbandwidth
• The China Dreamblogue
• Sinotrading

The Moveable list:

• The Hao Hao Report
• East South North West
• The Cal Poly MBA Trip
• China Law Blog
• The Opposite End of China

The numbers work out well for you. You will have approximately five rounds on the list. On the first round, you’ll get five links. On the second, you’ll get 25 (each of the five people you sent the list to will get five more people to put your link on their site). The third round nets you 125, the fourth 525, and the fifth 2,625. Your grand total (should everyone follow Link it Forward) will be 3,305 links. And if you get linked to again by another blog, you can start the process all over again to earn another 3,000 links.

To monetize your blog or site please click on the links found on the front page of this blog.

China Dreamblogue的其中一个目标是在因特网上创建一个强大的，支持中国的互联网。实现这个目标，我们需要你的帮助。在我们建造我们中国的友好互联网的同时，我们将会帮助那些支持我们的人，把他们的博客推到网络排名的最前列。这个过程既简单又有效。

我们已经有一个构想，称为“链接在一起”（Link it Forward），与“网络媒母”（internet memes）相类似。“Link it Forward”（ 链接在一起）会以很快的速度在支持中国的博客上移动。另外，这个构想可以使你的网站的链接数量增加几千个以上。

以下是六个简单的步骤：

1. 按照以下的说明列两组博客的目录然后放到您的博客上。第一组名单是三个固定的博客：Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, 和Sinotrading。这三个博客的连接必须永远的保留和不可改变。
2. 在第二组上，把您自己的博客连接放在目录的第一位上。
3. 把所有在第二组目录上的连接排名依次向下移动一位。即排第一的移到第二位，排第二的移到第三位等等（第五位的移到第一位）。
4. 这就是说排第五的应该要完成一个循坏回到第五的位置上。
5. 将你的更新了的列表发给至少5个其他博客。您发的越多，您就能获得更多的链接。如果您有一百个人，那就快点去做吧。
6. 如果您想的话，还可以另外创建一个您认为有价值的列表。请也同样包括那个不变名单（即onemanbandwidth, china dreamblogue 和 sinotrading）

请记住，不要改动或者改变第一组名单和不要在第二组名单上加上第六个链接。同样，通过第一组名单所得到的广告收益将用作慈善用途。而从第二组“link it forward”上所得的收益将有您自己支配。我们会为您列举一些能够推算您自己网站价值的地方。

第一组（长期不变得目录）：

Onemanbandwidth

The China Dreamblogue

Sinotrading

第二组（可更新的目录）：

您的博客

您朋友的博客

如果理想的话，您大约会有比从前翻5倍的链接量。

第一个循环，您会得到5个链接。

第二个循环您会得到25个链接（跟您建立链接的那5个人每人会给您带来5个新的链接）

第三个循环您会有125个链接，第四个有625，第五个有3，125个。

如果每个人都按照Link it Forward的方法，您最后会得到3，905个链接。如果您同时又跟其他博客建立同种方法的链接，您将会得到另外3，000多个的链接。有了这上千个的 连接，您就能从Google Adwords（Google搜索引擎营销）那里得到相应的收益了。现在就请按本页底部的Google Adwords按钮来看一下您的网站的价值吧。

这是为了兴趣；这是为了提高中国博客在西方搜索引擎的排名；这更是为了中国的慈善事业出一分力（因为限定组中的3个博客将会把全部广告收益捐献给中国的慈善机构）；同样也能增加中国博客在互联网上的知名度。

让我们一起link it forward(链接在一起)吧！