Research Master's Business in Society (joint degree VU and UvA)

Admission criteria

• Undergraduate degree: You must have at least a Bachelor\xc2\x92s degree (BSc or BA) preferably in the field of business administration, economics, psychology, social science, law, and engineering or a broad Bachelor delivered by a university college. The Bachelor\xc2\x92s programme should have been completed before the start of the Research Master. If your Bachelor\xc2\x92s degree is not in business administration the admissions committee will verify whether the content of the previously taken program is sufficient for entering the Research Master. If there are deficiencies regarding the background knowledge in business administration, eligible students will be asked to remedy these deficiencies either by (a) adding courses (e.g. a Minor in Business Administration) to their Bachelor\xc2\x92s or Master\xc2\x92s programme that precedes their entrance into our Research Master or (b) by familiarizing themselves with a \xc2\x91required reading\xc2\x92 list, their knowledge of which will be tested before the start of the programme;
• GRE or GMAT: Valid GRE General Test or GMAT results are required from all (including Dutch) applicants. Your test results should not be older than five years. An indication of your required score is to be in the 85 percentile or above;
• Language: An excellent command of English is crucial. Students whose native language is not English are therefore required to demonstrate English proficiency in one of two ways: a) by holding a degree from a Dutch university or an institution at which English is the language of instruction, or b) by scoring at least 600 on the paper-based TOEFL, 250 on the computer-based TOEFL, 100 on the internet-based TOEFL (with subscores of at least 23), 7 on the IELTS test (with subscores of at least 6.5), or A or B on Cambridge Advanced English (CAE) or Cambridge Proficiency (CPE);
• Intellectual capabilities, writing skills, and interest in Business in Society issues: Students should be interested in the theme of the Research Master. Such interest will be assessed on the basis an essay on a topic of your choice related to business in society. If you wish, you can enter your essay in the competition for a Business in Society scholarship. Essays should be no longer than 1500 words, excluding tables, figures and references. They should include an abstract (max. 100 words) and a reference list conform APA standards. Layout: Font 12, margins >1 inch, line space 1.5;
• Strong motivation: Students should be strongly motivated to pursue a research-related career. Such enthusiasm will be assessed by a letter of motivation;
• Recommendation from two academics: Students should give the name and contact details of two academics who the admissions committee will ask to write a letter of recommendation supporting your capability and aspirations.
• An interview is likely to be part of the selection process. Other admission criteria being equal, preference is given to candidates who show capacity for higher academic performance.