France made their entry into the international field of Football in 1903. The team, associated with the French Football Federation, goes under the nickname “Les Bleus” (The Blues) in France. Today, France’s football team offers a high level of competition in matches – but believe it or not, the team used to be very modest, one that some would consider an “easy game”. Their first international match was versus Belgium, and was a tie game. In 1930, France’s national team was one of the four initial teams from Europe that participated in the inaugural World Cup. Nonetheless, at that time, France’s team was still looked down upon as an easy defeat. In the mid 1950′s, France did see some mild success, for once not being at the bottom of the standings.

Their first true experience at being a huge success came at the end of 1984. From December of 1984 to April of 1985, France was ranked number one in the Elo ranking categorization of football teams. This success was held out fairly well, and met another high point from May of 2001 to May of 2002, when the team from France sustained a FIFA ranking of number one; today, this number one FIFA ranking means more worldwide, as FIFA is an internationally recognizable organization.

Perhaps most memorable for many people is France’s win of the FIFA World Cup in 1998. Thirty two different teams, from five different confederations, competed through 64 matches. France won nearly every match that they competed in, and ended up taking the championship upon beating Brazil 0 to 3. Other awards given to the French football team during the 1998 FIFA World Cup include “Most Entertaining Team”, and the “FIFA Fair Play” Trophy. The Stadium that the French Football team usually plays at is the “Stade de France”, which was built in 1995 and opened during 1998. The construction of the stadium cost over 285 Million Euros. In fact, the stadium was built for the purpose of the 1998 FIFA world cup – it’s both ironic and fitting that France would win the world cup at their own stadium the year that it opened. After the World Cup, the Stade de France has continuously been used for various football events, although for the majority of the year, the stadium is empty. The majority of events that France’s team participates in at the Stade de France are won by the French team, partially owing to the home team advantage of having more frequent access to that field, as well as higher morale and support from the crowd.

France’s team may still not be the most reputable team around, but from their humble beginnings they were able to rise into a team that is recognizable in many places around the world, and were even able to claim the glorious title of World Champions.

Especially in these times of stressful and competitive professional world, a graduate degree is important to get ahead or stay ahead.  And whether you are in the corporate world or not, an MBA degree is one the most rewarding and wide-ranging graduate degree that would certainly be useful to your career.  However, an MBA degree program is also one of the most difficult academic programs available.  That is why the admissions committees of various business schools always make sure that only those that are likely to finish the program will get admitted to their respective schools.

MBA requirements and tips

To ensure that only those fit to obtain an MBA degree will be admitted to schools that offer an MBA degree program, a good number of admissions requirements are set for the prospective applicants.  First of these is the prospective applicant’s score in the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), a standardized test in mathematics and English language to measure the applicants mathematical, analytical, and communication skills.  The undergraduate transcript of records and the applicant’s work experience are also important.  The requirements that are used to see if the applicant has the personality and characteristics fit for undergoing an MBA degree program are the MBA personal statement, personal interview, and the letters of recommendation.

Seeing the numerous requirements, one may think that it is indeed difficult to apply for an MBA degree program.  However, these numerous requirements may also mean that you can excel in one requirement or at least make your application look good in front of the committee, especially if you think your academic records or your GMAT score is not good enough.

Acing your MBA personal statement

It may be too late to make your undergraduate grades or even your GMAT score look good, but your MBA personal statement would be something else.  Your admission essay will be your voice to the admissions committee, telling them how you fit into their program.  You can cite previous experiences that show the good qualities of an MBA student in you.

Asking MBA alumni for help

Of course, you can’t always make an effective admission essay all by yourself.  You will need some help if you really want to make an excellent MBA personal statement.  One group of people that can help you with your write-up would be the alumni of the MBA degree program that you are targeting to enroll in.  They can share with you what they think are the qualities that the admissions committee will be looking for.  Some may even tell you about their own essays that got them into the school. Soliciting the help of the alumni of the MBA degree program that you want is not new, for generations and generations of students have done this in many ways.  

Other tips from the alumni

Aside from their help with your admission requirements, they can also give you a brief background of the program, the faculty, the school, and the community.  That would prove useful, especially if you get admitted to the program.

Want to study for an online degree program? There are many online universities and colleges offering high quality education online.

 

Online Degree Programs:

 

Online degree programs offer many advantages such as flexibility and cost savings. Learning can take place at anywhere in the world, individual student can choose where, when and how to study.

 

Online programs are offered at different levels ranging from Certificate program, Diploma program, Associate degree, Bachelor degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Master degree to Doctorate degree. Subject areas include business, psychology, nursing, education, sociology, information technology and so on.

 

Top 10 Online Universities:

 

According to “The Best and Worst Online Degree Programs” 2007, the top ten online universities in the world are as follows:

 

(1) The University of London (UoL)

(2) The University of South Africa

(3) The University of Phoenix

(4) The University of Texas

(5) University of South Australia (UniSA)

(6) University of Southern Queensland (USQ)

(7) The University of Maryland University College

(8) Golden Gate University

(9) Ellis College of NYIT

(10) Stanford University

 

The University of London is ranked number one in the world for its outstanding online degree programs. It offers more than 100 online and distance qualifications through the University of London External Programme. Students studying through the External Programme are examined to the same standard as full-time on-campus students.

 

The University of South Australia is the leading provider of distance education in Australia. With more than 32000 on campus and offshore students, it is now the largest university in South Australia.

 

Prospective students are advised to check the accreditation and reputation of online universities and colleges before enrolling into a program of study.

 

Please refer to the relevant guides for more information on the latest university ranking and world university ranking.