To apply for studying Master of Business Administration in the USA, GMAT is the important which is required from many universities. Both domestic students and international students need to take this test prior to apply for the business program. Here are necessary tips for taking the GMAT test.

1.     What is the GMAT? You should understand the structure of the test.

As test takers, you should understand the GMAT test system and structure due to you will have an ability to manage time during the test. GMAT is a computer-adaptive test (CAT) which is designed to get more accurate assessment of test taker’s skill. It consists of 3 parts: Quantitative, Verbal and Essay Writing (AWA). The score range is 200-800 which calculated from quantitative and verbal part. For the writing part, the range is about 0.0 to 6.0. The GMAT test fee is USD 250.

2.     Prepare yourself for the test.

The most important for taking the GMAT test is time. GMAT is almost 4 hours length, so test taker need to prepare to get use to and be ready for the test. Although, test taker is good and ready for the test, if they run out of time, it will affect overall score.

3.     How to get the good score

As GMAT is CAT test, so the first ten questions will measure your skill because they are average difficulty questions. If you get the answer right, your next question will be slightly more difficult. If you get the answer wrong, your next question will be slightly easier. Therefore, you should concentrate and DO NOT GUESS THE FIRST TEN QUESTIONS. Also, you cannot skip the question, once you confirm the answer, you cannot change. The most important thing, YOU MUST ANSWER IN EVERY QUESTION, because if you leave the question without answer, you will lose the huge of score.

4.     Prepare your time line and don’t wait too long to take the GMAT test.

Test takers can take GMAT in every 30 days. It means, if you fail at the first time test, you need to wait for 30 days to retake the test. Thus, make sure your time line is proper enough. With proper planning and insight, you can spare yourself these negative energies and instead focus on maximizing your GMAT score.

5.     Practice Practice and Practice

Practices make perfect!! Test takers need to practice as much as you can for getting use to the test and manage the time. The more you practice, the more you get use to.

Now you know all!! Don’t wait until last minute…studying, taking the test, applying and become to be a Master’s  Degree Student in the best country which provides the best education system in the world, the USA!!

Jaraswan Jarasjaruwan or Pear is a full-time MIM student. She got a Bachelor’s of Science from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. After she graduated, she worked as an educational consultant in Thailand for 2 years. Pear chose to study international business at Portland State University because she is interested in the business field and also the reputation of the university. Currently, Pear is studying Chinese as a third language. Also, she will choose Finance as her specialization in the Master of International Management program.

Question: What are your key strengths?

You might think that during an interview the easiest part would be discussing your attributes or strengths. However, many people have just as much trouble highlighting their skills and expertise as they do framing their weaknesses in an interview. So here are several tips that will help you plan so you can answer this question with confidence!

1. Assess your skills ahead of time

Looking over your past experience and choosing several experiences where you shined (maybe a job, but perhaps group work or a particular project even) will help to reiterate your points in your own mind. If you are familiar with what you want to say, you’ll likely not be as nervous talking about them in an interview.

1. Choose strengths that best align with the job you are interviewing for

Many of us could highlight several things we do well, but keep in mind that not all strengths are relevant to a particular job. During an interview your job is to convince the employer that you are the “best fit” for the position. So pick strengths that you can apply to aspects of the job you are interviewing for.

1. Be specific

In almost all aspects of your career, specific examples and valid data will be in high demand. The more specific you can be, especially keeping relevance to the job at hand in mind, the stronger your skills will be perceived. Additionally, it definitely helps to show how your strength helped to achieve a particular goal, or result in a quantifiable value. Certainly every candidate will say they are “organized” or a “team player” … Make it clear how you stand apart from the crowd!

1. Integrate your strengths early on

Don’t wait for this question to come up to start discussing your accomplishments. Consistently referring to achievements and strengths from your previous experience, and making that connection to your future success will better help the employer in seeing how well you would do if hired. You certainly don’t need to gush about your good work, but think of the interview as narrating a story, so you can refer back to something previously discussed, and then build upon it.

Hopefully these tips will help you assess your strengths, identify the relevant ones for an interview, and discuss them with confidence!

What are some of the strengths you have previously highlighted in an interview?

Ryan is a part of the Master of International Management full-time 2012 cohort, and a MIM Student Ambassador. Currently he works within the Willamette Valley wine industry as a social media consultant, and wants to broaden his career focus to a global level through the MIM program. His favorite aspects of MIM are networking with other students from around the world and learning Mandarin Chinese. Ryan is passionate about food, wine, and travel and writes on these topics for other sites.

As today is the beginning of the Lunar New Year, all of us at the MIM want to wish all of our cyber-followers a happy and prosperous Year of the Dragon!

As a course in global leadership, Portland State MIM students have the opportunity to study not only Japanese or Chinese language, but we also have the opportunity to be immersed in East Asian culture in many ways.  To celebrate, both the Chinese and Japanese language learners will be singing traditional songs for our friends and families! Details below…

First, here is an overview of the importance of the dragon and the Year of the Dragon, courtesy of the PSU branch of the Confucius Institute:

The Dragon is magnificent. In China, the Dragon is the imperial symbol, the sign of the emperor and the male element of Yang. The Dragon is also synonymous with power and wealth.

The Dragon falls on the following years: 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, and 2012.

It is said that people born in the year of the Dragon carry a natural charisma and are gifted with power and luck. They are egoistical and ambitious, almost to the point of megalomania, and will stop at nothing to get what they want. They can be successful as actors, singers, bankers, financiers, politicians, pharmacists and quite comfortable in the place of many other professions. Some famous people born in the year of the Dragon are Bruce Lee (1940), Florence Nightingale (1820), Paul Allen (1952), and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844).

Why is the Dragon the Fifth Animal in the chinese Zodiac?

Once upon a time, the Jade Emperor prepared to select twelve animals to be recognized as the zodiac (生肖shēngxiāo) signs. In accordance with the decree, the first twelve animals to arrive on the appointed day would be selected as the animals of the zodiac. The cat asked the mouse to help it sign up, but the mouse forgot and the cat wasn’t chosen. Ever since, the cat and mouse have been enemies. Other animals wanted to choose the ox for the first place. When the ox walked into the hall, the mouse rode upon his back and was seen first. So then, the mouse took the first place in the zodiac. The tiger and dragon didn’t accept the decision, but were granted as kings of the mountain and sea in retribution. Next, the rabbit didn’t accept the other positions and ran a race with the dragon to take the fourth spot. That’s how the dragon became the Fifth Animal in the Chinese Zodiac.

There are several events celebrating the Lunar New Year at PSU and in the Portland area. Two excellent opportunities to learn about Lunar New Year traditions are on Saturday January 28. First, the MIM cohort will celebrate with song, dance and refreshments from 2-5 PM at Smith Memorial Union, Rooms 327-329. Immediately following, the Chinese New Year Gala will take place at the Smith Memorial Union Ballroom, room 355. For more information, check out the CIPSU Events Calendar, or the MIM Facebook Page.

My name is Sopheap Im and I am from Cambodia. I am a MIM full-time student of 2011-2012. I got a bachelor of Finance and Accounting from the University of Management and Economics in Cambodia. Prior to graduate school, I had several years of experience as the general manager at one of Digital Divide Data’s Southeast Asian offices. Digital Divide Data is an internationally acclaimed social enterprise that creates education and career opportunities for disadvantaged high school graduates in developing countries through providing business processing outsourcing services to world-class customers.

It is my great pleasure to share personal experience from my beginning Business Japanese class instructed by Professor Nobuko Murakami. I consider Japanese as my third language, with the challenge being I have to learn Japanese in my second language, English. It may be easier for native English speakers to do that, however, challenges are opportunities as long as commitment and motivation stay high.

The instructor normally starts the class with review of previous lessons to warm up the students’ memories. This review is important for students not to forget what they have learned before. It is not an easy task to remember all the words but we have to do our best. At the end of each session, the instructor provides time for questions and answers in English to make sure that we fully understand each lesson.

The daily lessons structure is designed using four main activities—self-study for reading and listening prior to the class, lesson review, conversation practice, and new structure patterns. What I like the most about the self-study style is it improves my learning independence and time management by listening to core conversations, new vocabularies, and new structure pattern explanations outside of the classroom. This is a very unique way to learn another language.

The fun part is when we perform the role play after watching a core conversation video. Some of us make mistakes and we laugh, but it is not discouraging. Everyone seems to be very happy. Practicing conversations in Japanese is not only fun, but it helps students build confidence in talking in front of everyone and feel comfortable to learn from mistakes, and not to feel embarrassed or shy.

Learning Japanese is not only about learning a foreign language but it is also learning parts of another nation’s culture. It is important lesson for me as an MIM student who is interested in multicultural competence development. We have only learned vocabulary, basic structure patterns, and short conversations so far. However, I hope that by the end of the program, I will be able to communicate in Japanese as a third language when it is necessary for my business and personal life. Finally, I look forward to communicating in Japanese during the MIM Asia trip in Tokyo. I cannot wait to see beautiful Japanese people and a country with such a rich history.

A recent seminar in the growing series focused on strategies for changing one’s career path, perhaps to a new industry, or a new job function within one’s current industry: the Career Changer Seminar. The seminar was a unique opportunity for part-time, mid-career graduate students from all SBA programs to share common experiences and learn about how to advance their careers in the direction they desired.

Most attendees of the seminar were preparing to break into a new industry, and all of them had several years of experience under their belts. The main challenge presented to the group was learning how to transfer one’s skill set into an entirely new job or industry. The facilitators helped the group to explore our skills from a number of angles, including seeing how the skills required for our hobbies and interests are able to transfer into a job.

Here is a quick mental exercise for our readers: What hobby or activity do you enjoy? What skills does it require? How can those skills transfer to a job? How do these interests reflect in your work ethic? Although there are job-specific skills that need to be considered, there are transferrable skills and attitudes, utilized in and out of the office, that can help boost a résumé and lead to a successful job interview or even a job placement. There are certainly very serious considerations required for changing career paths, yet many of them can be easily overcome, especially the fear that one’s skills may not transfer easily. It just requires looking at one’s skills from a different perspective.

The thought of changing careers, after developing specific skills for one’s current job or career, can be overwhelming, and can require a great deal of soul-searching: Is it financially viable? Will I still be able to support my family? Will my unique skills transfer? Will I have to start from the bottom yet again? The seminar facilitators helped the group talk through some of the doubts and potential roadblocks that people face when deciding to change careers. One notable exercise was to identify a pattern in one’s work history: how did you develop your skills, and what kind of patterns does your career path, varied or not, reveal about the tasks or challenges that you seek?

One of the most interesting takeaways from the seminar was the idea of developing a panel of peers, colleagues and industry professionals from one’s network that can help guide an individual through their transition. This group, or “Reinvention Board,” as it was called, should include your highly-connected colleague who knows everyone in town, your colleague who will tell it to you straight, a positive reinforcement, a task master who will keep you focused, and last but not least: a person within your target industry or role. Our seminar leaders discouraged us from involving spouses and close family members, as impartial parties are not as emotionally invested in the decision.

The Career Changer seminar was one of many opportunities offered to MIM students to navigate the world of careers and job hunting. Check out MIM’s Facebook events calendar for upcoming opportunities!

This series of lectures is meant to expose current MIM students to leaders and executives that have impact on global business, specifically that in the Pacific Rim region. Each guest speaker brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with the cohorts, and are asked to cover issues related to current trends and global development.

The guest speaker is Dr. Hg Chong, who is the Founder, President and CEO of GMP Worldwide/GMP Environmental Consultants. The lecture will run from 5:30pm-7:00pm at the Smith Memorial Student Union (Room 236). Below is an overview of Dr. Chong’s background provided by the School of Business Administration.

We will provide a review of the lecture later in the week, and look forward to seeing all the current MIM students and their guests on Monday evening! (RSVP on the MIM Facebook page)

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International students who would like to apply to the program have to take the TOEFL or IELTS and GMAT or GRE tests which are the necessary test for applying to any business school in the US. There are two options for taking the TOEFL test for international students. First, the PSU Institutional TOEFL test which is a paper based system. Applicants to Portland State may take an Institutional TOEFL on campus and it is offered on campus several times each year: one week prior to the beginning of fall term; and midway through fall, winter, and spring terms. Applicants need to contact the Office of Admission for exact test dates and registration information.

Second, International TOEFL test scores are valid worldwide. The minimum overall score of 80 iBT and a minimum sub score of 18 iBT in reading and writing part are required. Applicants can visit the TOEFL web site (www.toefl.org) for information about testing and ordering score reports.

I would include some more information here about what makes IELTS different. For the minimum overall scores for IELTS are 6.5 with 6.5 in reading and writing part. Applicants can visit the IELTS web site (www.ielts.org) for information about testing and ordering score reports.

GMAT or GRE testing is also necessary. All applicants must complete the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and provide official scores to Portland State. However, students who have taken or who have planned to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) may submit GRE score instead of GMAT scores. GMAT and GRE scores are only valid for five years. For GMAT test preparation and appointment information, go here. Also, for the GRE test, applicants can visit the website (http://www.ets.org/gre) for more information.

To apply to the program International Applicants need:

1. Completed PSU Graduate Application form and online MIM application.  For the MIM application, you need to submit a current resume and answer two short essays. Also, paying $50 USD for application fee which is non- refundable. (The fee is valid for one year. You can pay by credit card, check or money order made out to Portland State University).
2. Submit two (2) official transcripts from each college or university attended. One sends to Office of Admissions & Records. Another one sends to MIM Program, School of Business Administration. Your transcripts should reflect the equivalent of a four-year U.S. bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution and send from the issuing institution by sealed envelopes. A minimum GPA for undergraduate is 2.75 and 3.00 for graduate.
3. Submit Two (2) Letters of Recommendation: There are three ways to submit letters of recommendation: 1. through the online MIM Application, 2. by mailing a signed and sealed envelope to the Graduate Business Programs Office, 3. by having the recommender email the attached letter to gradadmissions@sba.pdx.edu. The email must come directly from the recommender and cannot be forwarded by the applicant or a third party.
4. Official GMAT or GRE Score Report: The GMAT program code for the MIM program is WG0-NF-37 and The GRE program codes for the MIM program is 7476.
5. TOEFL or IELTS score.
6. Vaccination Form; this form is not required until after admission has been granted, therefore you will not need to provide it for your initial admissions review. However, you will need to provide this form and show proof of your MMR vaccinations before you can register for classes.
7. Immigration Fact Sheet.
8. Certified English translation of transcripts and diplomas.
9. Financial Certification of $54,725 USD: It is required for applicants who want to study in US and hold the F1 or J1 Visa. You must show proof of adequate financial support for at least the first year of study at Portland State University by submitting the statement of Financial Support and declaration of Finances.

Last but not least, the most important thing for applying is the application deadline. There are three rounds for applying to the program. For 2012, the application deadlines are November 1, 2011 for the first round, February 1, 2012 for the second round and May 1, 2012 for the third round.

Be prepared and become a part of MIM students!!

Jaraswan Jarasjaruwan or Pear is a full-time MIM student. She got a Bachelor’s of Science from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. After she graduated, she worked as an educational consultant in Thailand for 2 years. Pear chose to study international business at Portland State University because she is interested in the business field and also the reputation of the university. Currently, Pear is studying Chinese as a third language. Also, she will choose Finance as her specialization in the Master of International Management program.

I feel that the course is not only exciting but also extremely beneficial. The Professor Nakamura has a very unique and useful teaching style. She spends the majority of the lecture on review of previous learned materials to ensure that the students have retained what was discussed in previous lectures.

Prof. Nakamura

During this review, Japanese is the only language that is allowed to be spoken. From my experience, this technique allows the students to leave their comfort zone to fully immerse themselves in verbally practicing the foreign language, a method that is extremely effective. If a student fails to contribute by not reviewing the lecture material or not preparing for the exams, it is solely the student’s loss. The Japanese instructor does a remarkable job in ensuring that the students, who are dedicated to language studies, will continue to be successful.

By learning Japanese as my 3^rd language, I feel that there are some areas that are extremely similar to my 1^st or 2^nd language, while other areas are completely new. In my opinion, if a student’s native language were English, it would be somewhat difficult to comprehend in terms of grammar, sentence particles, and pronunciation of the Japanese language. However, there are many borrowed words from the English language, which makes the vocabulary easier to recall.

I have studied Mandarin Chinese for 3 years and I can see that there are some similarities between the two languages which makes it easier to comprehend compared to a Latin based language. For the native Chinese speakers, pronunciation is typically not a problem and grammar structuring isn’t too difficult to comprehend either. There are also other language structures that are very similar to Mandarin Chinese, making it easier to recall for the Chinese speakers.

The class is extremely enjoyable because in each lecture class, there are conversation examples retrieved from the textbook that each student must perform in front of the class. This makes the class interesting and fun and it enables the students to place themselves in real life situations where the conversation techniques are applicable. Furthermore, the instructor constantly reviews past materials, even from the initial lecture. During the review session, students can analyze their own current performance and areas needed for improvement.

The reason why I chose to study a new foreign language was because I wanted my career to be focused internationally. Language is a key component of communication. I believe that learning any foreign language is never a disadvantage for anyone personally or professionally. Allowing yourself to adapt and study foreign languages requires patience, dedication and a student mentality; skills that may be necessary for success in my future career.  I value foreign language knowledge as an enhancement to a person’s skill set and I believe only the ones who can speak multiple languages can fully comprehend the power and value of such an ability.

Although I might not know what exact job title I’m searching for after I finish the MIM program, I do know that my foreign language skills will provide me with the necessary communication tools to prove the high level of confidence that I have. This will help me to express continual interest in learning new things and improving my current skill set. This will ultimately helps me gain a position that requires effective intercultural communication.

Nike sales up 18% as demand trumps higher costs

“China once again posted the strongest growth, rising a currency-neutral 28 percent to $650 million, just ahead of the company’s “emerging markets” — a category that includes rising economies such as India and Brazil — where revenue grew 26 percent to $948 million.” Read more from the Portland Business Journal.

PECI launches blog

Metro Council sends Northwest Portland nearly $70,000 to address community’s needs

“During deliberations, we talked about our shared stake and responsibility,” explained Haze Moss, a Linnton resident who serves on Metro’s committee. “We came to the realization that the choices we make today must help build the best possible future for the people and businesses in our area.” Read more on Metro’s website.

What interesting Portland business headlines have you read lately?