Ask HKUST Admissions

Welcome to the official Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Ask Admissions Thread!

More about HKUST MBA:

• Ranked world #6 & Asia #1 by Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2011
• Located in Hong Kong, heart of Asia and gateway to China
• Offers Asia and China business expertise through our regional business practitioners, China-focus courses and alumni network in Asia

HKUST 2012 Application Discussion

Important Dates for the 2012 Application Season:

• Round 1
  
  • Deadline: 15 Nov 2011
    
  • Decisions Released: 10 Feb 2012
• Round 2
  
  • Deadline: 15 Dec 2011
  • Decisions Released: 9 Mar 2012
• Round 3
  
  • Deadline: 15 Mar 2012
  • Decisions Released: 8 Jun 2012

Good Luck and we look forward to your questions!

Please see these other resources:

• 2012 Application Discussion
• 2011 Application Discussion
• HKUST Official Site
• HKUST MBA Guide
• Follow us on Twitter
• Join us on Facebook

I would like to be the first one to welcome the HKUST Admissions team to the GMAT club forums!

I have spent several months on campus and a huge fan of HKUST (from the student body to the faculty, and everything in between such as the numerous restaurants on campus, the pool, location, and really really great people).

Fantastic to have you here - thank you for your time!

Hi,

I have recently given gmat and got a score of 680 (v34, q49). I have experience of 5 years in one of the India's biggest software company with more than 20 months of international experience.

I am planning to apply for HKUST mba. I am more interested in doing mba in Finance. Right now i am in the process of preparing my application package for HKUST. Can you tell me what things should i keep in mind while applying for HKUST ?

Also can you please throw some more light on the placements in finance for the last batch ?

Hi bharatemail,

Several things you can keep in mind for the application are:

1. Do more research on your desired industry and think clearly about what exactly you want to do, how you plan to achieve your goal, as well as how you can leverage on your own background and strengths.
2. Find referees who know you well enough to give an in-depth account of your work performance and abilities for the reference forms.
3. Think about what you can contribute to the class - any unique perspective or experience you have that can enrich the learning experience of the class
4. Learn more about our program. Study our website/brochure. We want to admit students whom we can help. So the extent to which your goals match what our program can offer is very important. And you need to know our program well enough in order to demonstrate this point.

For our latest batch of graduates, around 43% were recruited by the finance/banking industry, and 30% of them are working in finance-related roles. Some of the recruiters include: AXA, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, etc.

You can take a look at the latest employment report here: http://mba.ust.hk/ft/infolibrary/Employment%20Highlights%202011.pdf

Feel free to let us know if there's any other question.

HKUST MBA Admissions Team

I am very interested in HKUST as well and I have the following questions:

1) I believe HKUST is coming to NYC in September for an MBA event, correct?

2) What is the average/median/high/low salary of the graduates for the latest employment report?

3) For graduates getting jobs in finance, are those jobs investment banking and trading related or they are jobs supporting those divisions?

4) Would employers still prefer hiring local students (and thus do not need to sponsor for visas)?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Trader4Life,

1) Yes! We'll be coming to NYC on Sep 17 (Sat) for the MBA Fair where you can meet our alumni and students. You can find more information on the event here: http://mba.ust.hk/?&m=201109&cat=7#e1990

2) The average salary is around $80,000-85,000 and approximately 70% of the graduates work in Asia (where the salary range and cost of living are usually lower than the West).

3) Our graduates working in finance were employed into a variety of roles, including both investment banking and trading related as well as other middle or back office roles. Some career switchers landed a job in the middle or back offices first by leveraging on their prior work experience, then moved to a front office related roles later with their experience in the industry.

4) It is difficult to tell in general what employers prefer since it really depends on the students' strengths, previous exposure and the nature of the jobs. Employers will prefer local students for jobs which require an understanding of the local market and language as well as working directly with Mainland Chinese clients. But for other roles in which regional or global exposure is important, they may prefer students who are more international.

Feel free to let us know if you have any other questions. Hope to see you at the NY Fair.

HKUST MBA Admissions Team

Hi HKUST,
I am mainly interested in Front office Investment banking roles and HongKong does seem like a an attractive finance destination like NY/LND but i am concerned about the requirement of Fluent Chinese or the local dialects that the recruiters are reported to prefer.
This may be the main reason why I am apprehensive to apply.

How directly relevant is one's chinese fluency to her chances of finding a front office banking role in a bulge bracket bank in HK?

Hi Anasthaesium,

It depends a lot on the nature of that role and what market it needs to work on. If it involves dealing with the Mainland China market, then chances are Mandarin is a huge advantage or even mandatory. There are also roles here which mainly deal with regional or global markets, or senior roles that focus on managing people. In those cases, recruiters may not put such a high preference on the local language proficiency. While people can still be recruited into the front office banking roles without knowing Mandarin, understanding the language will certainly open up more doors.

It makes sense to target at Hong Kong to develop one's career in front office investment banking with the city being a key global financial center and gateway to China. Asia's economy is booming even though most of the economies in the West are stagnant. One can grow her career very quickly together with the region. So the key issue is whether she wants to be part of it.

If the answer is yes, then we'll encourage those who want to take a front office banking role to start learning the language before they come just to maximize their future opportunities. There's no need to be fluent right in the beginning, just well enough for them to improve it when they come and eventually understand it as they build their career here.

HKUST MBA Admissions Team

Thanks very much. Cleared some points in my mind.

Hi,
I am a MBA 2013 aspirant with 5 years of Exp with a Korean semiconductor giant, i would like to know if HKUST provides any specialization towards Operations or Supply Chain Management. I am interested in making a domain switch from Telecom to Manufacturing and Operations. It would be great if you can throw some light on it.
Thanks and lot and welcome to GmatClub.

Hi arjunbt

While we have courses like Global Supply Chain Management, at this moment we don't offer a specialization on Manufacturing and Operations. Instead, we have five career tracks: General Management in China, Consulting & Strategy, Finance, Marketing and Entrepreneurship. But that doesn't stop our students from entering the manufacturing/operations industry.

For example, two of our graduates were recruited into the Management Associate program at Li & Fung, an MNC in manufacturing/trade/operations of consumer goods headquartered in Asia. The two of them worked on the sourcing, distribution and retailing operations in one of the global offices. Rather than purely manufacturing and operations knowledge, what the employer saw in them were a well-rounded grasp of business and understanding/exposure in the Asia markets.

You can find more information on the above here: http://mba.ust.hk/php/CMS/?cat=7&m=201102#e1547

Our graduates were also recruited by these manufacturing companies: 3M, BMW, DuPont, Emerson, Motorola, Robert Bosch, Volkswagen, etc.

Feel free to let us know if you have any other questions.

HKUST MBA Admissions Team

Hi HKUST Rep,
Appreciate your quick response. I feel my career goals match with the companies you have mentioned above.
Thank you very much for the information.

Some updates on HKUST MBA:

<Download the new brochure>

The HKUST full-time MBA brochure for intake 2012 is now available for download at http://mba.ust.hk/ftmba/infolibrary/download.htm

<The HKUST MBA tour schedule>
Get program insights and admissions advice from admissions specialist, students and alumni at these MBA fair events this fall.

North America:
- Toronto (Sep 10, Sat)
- New York (Sep 17, Sat)
- San Francisco (Oct 1, Sat)
- Los Angeles (Oct 2, Sun)

Europe:
- Moscow (Oct 4, Tue)
- Paris (Oct 8, Sat)
- Madrid (Oct 13, Thu)
- London (Oct 29, Sat)

Asia:
- Tokyo (Sep 1, Thu)
- Seoul (Sep 5, Mon)
- Beijing (Sep 7, Wed)
- Shanghai (Sep 10, Sat)
- Hong Kong (Nov 12, Sat)
- Singapore (Nov 20, Sun)
- Bangkok (Nov 22, Tue)

For details, please visit these pages:
- Sep events: http://mba.ust.hk/php/CMS/?cat=7&m=201109
- Oct events: http://mba.ust.hk/php/CMS/?cat=7&m=201110
- Nov events: http://mba.ust.hk/php/CMS/?cat=7&m=201111

Hi,

I am an applicant for MBA 2012, and HKUST is one of my target schools. I have pretty decent academics, and

have 6 years of cumulative work experience with various Indian and US IT majors. I have an international exposure

of 6 months and currently hold the role of a Project Leader at my current organisation. I have taken GMAT twice

(once in 2008, scoring 660 and again in 2011, scoring 750). My post-MBA plan is to go into General/ Strategy

Management and so I feel that HKUST can help my cause a lot. I will also be looking at earning a fair amount of

scholarships. Please advice on the points that need to be taken care of to optimise my chances of an admission

into HKUST.


Thanks,
Another fish in the Indian IT pool,
Aritro

Hi Aritro9782,

First of all, you can get more insights into what kind of candidates we are looking for by understanding more about our admissions philosophy here (http://mba.ust.hk/ftmba/admissions/requirement.htm). Generally speaking, we seek candidates who are willing to contribute to the program and their peers, who have the potential and capacity to achieve their future career goals, and whose needs match with what our program can offer.

It is important to demonstrate the above through the essays in the application stage. You can take a look at the questions in this sample application form (http://mba.ust.hk/ftmba/infolibrary/App%20Form%20Intake%202011.pdf). The form for intake 2012 will be ready in Sep but the questions will remain more or less the same. There is a word limit on each essay question (~200-300 words) so it can be tricky to be precise and let the admissions committee know all you want them to know about you in a short paragraph.

Compared with U.S. MBA programs which usually last for 2 years, the HKUST MBA program is much shorter so that students will have less opportunity costs. But that also means that we expect candidates to have a better idea of what they want to do after the MBA and how they plan to achieve it. Otherwise, half of their MBA will be completed when they finally figure out what exactly they want to/can do.

So prior research in your desired job (e.g. general/strategy management at which industry and where, how you can leverage on your strengths) will add bonus to your application as it shows to the admissions committee that you are prepared and know what it takes to achieve your goals. A good understanding of what our program offers will also help you in explaining how you think our program can help you (e.g. focusing on the General management in China track, leveraging on our alumni network, playing a leadership role in student activities).

Hope the above help. Feel free to let us know if you have any other questions.


HKUST MBA Admissions Team

Hi HKUST,

What do you think are the factors that set HKUST apart and distinguish from the other respectable programs in the nearby China region, i.e. CEIBS, CUHK, UHK, etc.

Thanks!

Hi MBAsian,

We believe the difference mainly lies in the geographical advantage, worldwide recognition and international exposure our program offers.

Geographically speaking, HKUST is in Hong Kong which is a more international and developed city compared with other Chinese cities. English is widely used and the way people do business here is much more similar with other global cities. So Hong Kong is a much softer landing spot for non-Chinese and also a great place to do global business with its free trade and credible rule of law.

Our program has a 3-year rank within the world's top 10 according to Financial Times ranking. It reflects the quality of our program and students. And recruiters will have much more confidence in your abilities and background if they know you come from the best ranked program in Asia.

The intensity of international exposure at our program is unparalleled in Asia. Our global reputation draws the best talents interested in Asia business from every corner of the world. In the latest intake, we have 93% of non-locals and 28 nationalities represented in a class of just 100 students. The intense interaction among students will help you to build up a truly global outlook and understanding of business, not to mention confidence in dealing with people from anywhere in the world.

Each program is different in a lot of ways and we are only experts in ours. The above are just a general view of what our program is strong in. Let us know if you have any other questions.


HKUST MBA Admissions Team

Hi HKUST,

Would you please share more information regarding to Career service of HKUST? For example:

1. Percentage of student get job in Finance and Consulting field
2. Please list top 5 employer and the number of student they hired in 2011
3. According to BusinessWeek, the Mean base salary is $70,302.00. I have seen that you have quoted average salary at $80,000 to $85,000 above, is that this is the most updated figures?

Thanks a lot!

- Gnut Sucram

Hi gnutsucram,

In terms of industry, around 40% and 15% of our recent graduates are working in financial/banking and consulting/professional organizations respectively. For job roles, close to 30% are in finance related functions while 13% are consulting/professional related.

Since we only have around 100 students in our class and their jobs are as diverse as their backgrounds - across different regions and industries, it is very difficult for us to name which are our top 5 employer when there isn't a great difference on the number of graduates each company employed. You can take a look at the employer list here to know more about our recent recruiters: http://mba.ust.hk/ft/infolibrary/Employment%20Highlights%202011.pdf

The $80,000-85,000 range is the latest average annual base salary of our 2011 graduates. Now that Asia is walking out of the global financial gloom, our graduates have got higher salary compared with last year. Our increasing worldwide recognition has also enhanced recruiters' confidence in the quality of our graduates and their MBA.

HKUST MBA Admissions Team

Hi HKUST,

Thanks for your reply. Would you please give more details regarding on the salary and career switch? I hope to switch my career from industry background to either finance or professional service.

1. The $80,000 - $85,000 average salary is Median or Mean value? I am more interested in Median average because one or two high paid ibank job could pull up the Mean a lot.

2. Is above value including sign-on bonus and year-end bonus? If yes, what is the percentage that received a sign-on bonus?

3. Would you please show us the 25% Percentile and 75% Percentile salary?

4. In the recent recruiters' list, would you please name who hire more than 1 HKUST student in 2011?

5. Would you please advise how many student without background in Finance/Banking/Professional service able to switch their career to above field?

- Gnut Sucram