Research MBA Programs

Hi there,

I am facing a huge dilemma. Received offers for all four of the above with scholarships (50%, 30%, 60%, 30% respectively). I am an engineer with project finance experience wishing to transition into banking and finance (plan B is Management Consultancy).

1. Which one has the best reputation worldwide?
2. I personally think the 18 month course at MBS is the best as it gives me plenty of time to secure an internship and post MBA job but I am a bit concerned about how hard it would be to land a top role in the UK. At Melbourne for instance, despite it being lowly ranked, it is the best bschool in Australia, so students (even international ones) get snapped up pretty easily.
3. In terms of campus recruitment, which one is better for IB and MBB?
4. Studied for my undergrad degree at one of the above, does it look bad to go back to the same uni for bschool?

Please give me your honest opinion of what you would do if you were in my position so that I can form mine.

You need to do much deeper analysis and depending on your priority, keep the scholarship angle out for initial deliberation. Personally I feel those few thousands scholarship will be peanuts in longer term. However, a decent scholarship gives you an immense satisfaction that you have been valued and appreciated by the school. It is utterly frustrating and demoralising when you see someone less deserving got a huge scholarship and you are paid nothing or just a little.... you feel like unfairly treated by the school.

Melbourne is probably the best business school in OZland and jobs are available there. That means, as a deserving person, you get to choose your career. Not like, you have no option and hence pick up any available option. Your starting point makes a huge and huge difference.

Manchester, Warwick is not really so great in terms of finance. Their strength is general management.

CASS is known for finance but my personal experience was utterly frustrating and I have a serious doubt about their quality and future intention.

My suggestion would be, do more comparative study. The good part is, your schools has very distinctive characteristics and your selection would be much easier. I had to pick up between Manchester and Cranfield and they are so similar!! You may find those details in this forum as well as GMATCLUB forum.

Best of luck.

Hi Sampolos,

'Getting snapped up by employers easily' is a thing of the past long forgotten. No school can provide you such a platform anymore, but an MBA from a well reputed school will definitely increase your credibility miles high. I would suggest you go to Melbourne Business School (MBS). It is a top class business school and a clear favorite of finance & consulting companies in the region. Its reputation is very strong in Australia, South East Asia & stretches until Middle East & the UK. Check the websites of top consulting companies in the region and you will find that they regularly hire from MBS. Also the Australian economy is a more resilient economy so you will definitely have more chances in Australia & in nearby South East Asia.

Having said that you should look closely at the electives & regular recruiters at both MBS & ManBS and then take the final decision. Globally ManBS is an equally good school but i would rather go to a school which is the best in a region than to a school which shares reputation with at least two other schools in the country and is behind atleast three others in the a country battling hard with recession. According to my interactions with HR managers, it doesn't makes much difference if you are looking for a general management career but it will make a hell lot of difference while looking for jobs in specialized fields like Consulting & Financial Services.

Hope it helps.

Thanks for your advice both of you. The Melbourne course is only 12 months though, so there is less scope for doing an internship. As a career switcher I kinda wanted a 3 month internship to try out a new job, and also it helps to land a full time offer at the end. This is what is so appealing about the MancBS course. Do you think course length matters much when it comes down to securing a job?

I've also read that MBAs are not very recognised in OZ compared to the rest of the world. What are your thoughts on that?

Finally, if it were to be a showdown between Warwick and Manchester, which one would you recommend?

Thanks for your help.

D

I am a lucky one to get admission in Cranfield, Man and Warwick. To me, they all are equally good for my objectives. There are very finer differences and you need to identify what is important for YOU.

An additional 6 months in Man may be useful to some and may be an waste to other. Internship in your preferred sector and role is not 100% guaranteed. Man has 3 internships and Warwick has 1.

If quality of the programme is your first criteria, then Man and Warwick wins.
If finance is your main objective then CASS is known in that area.
If job is your prime objective then Melbourne wins.

No matter what people claims, UK having a very serious issue regarding jobs for international students. I heard even LBS/Oxbridge are having trouble for internation students. Schools might claim 95% placement stats but I have reason to believe that not even 50% international students get job of their likings. I personally trust "sense of the ground" more than tall claims of the schools. I had discussions with current students of many schools in UK and definitely all are worried, some are very pessimistic and some are still keeping hope. All are hoping that situation will be better in future!!!!

I think Wouldbecrazy has hit the nail right at the sweet spot.

An internship does help a lot while switching careers but there is no guarantee that you will get an internship in your chosen field, so the whole purpose gets defeated temporarily. Also i would like to state that there may be better chances of finding a job after an MBA from MBS but there is no surety there too, just that the outlook is better because of Australia's proximity to Asia & its resilient economy.

I am no ambassador of MBS's MBA but there are two more things that i would like you to know & consider. The MBA program at MBS does have an Internship module but it is only 4-5 weeks long, so you still get to do a slightly shorter internship but most probably in top companies in Australia. Secondly the international exchange options at MBS can just wow you. You can study as an exchange student at LBS, Chicago, Wharton and a few more of the world's top schools and develop a network which can take you places in the future.

Having said that if i have to choose between Warwick & ManBS, i would choose ManBS for all the reasons that Wouldbecrazy has already mentioned, but keeping in mind that it won't be easy for international students to find what they set out for. Also with the way Italy is behaving, i only see the chances going downwards.