Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

Hi Paranjay,

I believe, you landed your plane on the wrong runway. this is not teh right forum to seek such kind of answer. You better check with some education consultant like chopras, manya etc.

And just one suggestion. why you are keen on US. it''s already a saturated market. Look out for a place where you can learn and apply great ideas.

This was just a suggestion.

Nishant Manchanda

Advertising and PR are a subset of Marketing, a standard MBA subject. The top MBA programs love engineers, so I would take a hard look at those programs. The top ones, both U.S. and foreign (e.g. London Business School, IESE in Barcelona (in English), INSEAD (France, requires English though, not French) all cost a fortune, but you get the return on your investment. There are many solid second tier schools for an MBA, including ones in India. Third tier no-name MBA schools exist by the hundreds. Be careful here; you are unlikely to get good value for money.

The Masters in Advertising or Masters in Communication is a less powerful degree. I suspect a number of top schools (Harvard, Stanford) may not even offer it. In that case, you want a school which is in the heart of big time advertising and PR, say New York City, etc. Then you make darn sure your time in that city is used to make contact with the advertising agency of choice.

Besides Googling MBA versus M.A. in Advertising programs, be sure to Google advertising agencies. Just one example: https://www.leoburnett.com/ Look at what kind of people your target firms are hiring. Then get a hold of a couple people at that firm and tell them your background -- powerful and unusual, I would think, for an advertising agency. Ask its reaction to the MBA in Marketing versus M.A. in Advertising choice -- or
perhaps just applying directly for a position with such a firm.

E-Mail, Skype, try to get a telephone interview with a couple of people, both ones senior enough to be hiring, and younger ones who are new hires.
Regards,

JH