Top MBA colleges have high demands and require their students to pass through its rigorous criteria like having strong professional achievements along with a certain amount of work experience, academic distinction, etc., and though this improves the personality and quality of the MBA applicants. This disappoints a lot of people as they have to work and accumulate years of experience to get eligible to apply for MBA.
MIM is better than an MBA for fresher’s because it is meant for fresh graduates or for people who have less work experience. The Masters in Management (MIM) understands the importance of work experience but the nature and goal of this degree are not the same as MBA. So, work experience is not a major deciding factor in the admission criteria of the MIM course. Most schools in the US have an upper ceiling of 1 year of experience, after which students are not allowed to apply for MIM.
The following points should be considered by the freshers for better understanding of why it is better to opt for MIM instead of MBA:
Age of applicants – Because of the requirement of work experience, the average age of MBA applicants is around 25-32 years whereas, for MIM the age range is between 21-25 years.
Applicants' goals – MBA is a supreme degree for people who want to switch their career or boost their chance for a promotion, to achieve leadership or higher management position. But MIM focuses on those people who just entered the job market or have less experience and who want to gain some advanced business skills.
MIM mainly aimed at business specialization such as accounting, e- commerce, finance, consulting etc. while MBA looks at preparing a mid-level manager to get ready for the challenges of the next level in his/her career.
Course curriculum – MIM emphasize on building core foundation for their students who are from diverse backgrounds. They do so via a set of core business courses such as finance, strategy and marketing; and with this a strong foundation is built and they also help develop other important skills. These necessary skills are fostered to manage people and engage stakeholders.
MBA’s aimed at building new skills on top of the past practical knowledge. MBA expects students to bring the vast amount of experience and learning they have accumulated over the years. After covering core subjects on managerial functions, students focus on more integrative courses and analyze business cases from the practical position of managers.
Entrance exam – To take admission in MIM programs students need to score well either in GMAT or in GRE.
The students should have respectable GMAT scores if he/she wants to take admission in MBA programs. For the last few years, universities are also considering GRE scores. Apart from these scores or entrance tests, the colleges also consider the academic, extracurricular and interview performance of the applicants.