Research MBA Programs

Top 3 means LBS, Said and Judge

The criteria are

1. Job option after the study, simply no money no honey, no matter how attractive the proposal is. Absolutely important due to very volatile UK immigration issue.

2. Quality of the programme for General Management

3. Location, climate, cost or ROI, class size, class quality, class mix, etc. are important but the top two or the number #1 is the most important factor.

Job prospects in diverse industries and service sector will be more important at current economic uncertainty rather than concentration in Finance or IB sector.

Some at the top of mind are like Bath, Manchester, Lancaster, Cranfield, Warrick and probably Cass (stated not in any order)

Please share your views about these schools. Feel free to add some more if you think that address #1 point above.

Thank you very much for your thought. Honestly, I do not believe half of the information the schools claim, specially employment and salary data. Numbers are too easy to play with!!

What I understood that Imperial is focused on entrepreneurship, not sure whether due to recent recessions or historically so.

Cass has huge locational advantage.

Manchester has longer period and internship options, not sure how many students really get a chance though or the quality of that. I have seen MBAs doing internship in local automobile dealership (no comment on how good or bad the idea is)

Reading Henley is an interesting option

Rest of the schools are not beyond the doubt at the moment. Not yet convinced to bet my money and time on Bath, Manchester, Lancaster, Cranfield, Warrick and probably Cass. It is a tough decision as I will be able to do a MBA once in life.

True but expensive option.

Then again, making a mistake is even bigger problem.

Jon@Admissionado wrote:Haha!
I think a healthy skepticism is always a good thing!
That's why it's always a good idea to
1. Visit
2. Speak with students and alumni so that you can get the REAL lowdown on the schools.

Hi,

I've just started a full time MBA at Manchester Business School so happy to chat to you about that if you want some insight. Or check out my blog at www.mbamanchester.com for a few titbits.

alunl wrote:Hi,

I've just started a full time MBA at Manchester Business School so happy to chat to you about that if you want some insight. Or check out my blog at www.mbamanchester.com for a few titbits.

Thank you so much. I must say that after the top 3 in UK, MBS is one of the best option along with Cranfield and Warwick.

In good time, there can not be any second thought in joining any of the above schools. But now, time is different. Economy is not in a good shape, Job outlook is probably the worst, Visa rule changed. Visa rule per say may not be so adverse but what matters is, how the employers perceived it. There is absolutely no denying that most employer THINKS it is a major hassle to recruit a non EU candidate. I said THINKS and that is the perception.

So my friend, how do you evaluate post course job options for an Indian guy. For Gods shake, don't give superficial answers like XX% or complicated answers like the great 'IT DEPENDS!!'. Life can be quite simple and we can honestly say that broadly or roughly around 80% students get a reasonable job. The picture is around 50% for Indian students.

So can you please honestly give a rough picture based on previous 2 years performance? Give your feel, say what you think. Tell us how is the morale of the fellow students in job outlook?

Thank you

I've only been here a few weeks so I can't give an accurate figure for Indian students. What I do know is the latest overall figures are c. 80% in decent jobs within 3 months (although those figures are for 2010. It was c. 95% pre-recession).

I'll ask around and see if there is any further information I can get for Indians.

alunl wrote:I've only been here a few weeks so I can't give an accurate figure for Indian students. What I do know is the latest overall figures are c. 80% in decent jobs within 3 months (although those figures are for 2010. It was c. 95% pre-recession).

I'll ask around and see if there is any further information I can get for Indians.

Great, highly appreciate your feel from the ground.

Also, can you mention something about the current class like

Class Size?

Scholarships

Class Mix like how many Indian, how many Indian IT?, Average age, work experience, work sectors.

How interacting are the teachers? how interacting are the students? There are some schools where teachers and students are in different planets ..and even different students are in their own planet!!

How is the overall atmosphere? pressurised, stressful, directionless? fun, easy, carefree?

The reason I am asking so many question is, I know you are a genuine student who is not yet moulded to give diplomatic answer.

Thanks mate.

Hi,

Not sure of all the answers to your questions but here goes:

Class Size?
> This year's full class is 116. This is split into two for lectures.

Scholarships
> Don't know the exact numbers but I do know that a number of Indian students got scholarship money ranging from £5,000 - £10,000.

Class Mix like how many Indian, how many Indian IT?, Average age, work experience, work sectors.
> There are about 20 Indians on the course. Most of them seem to come from consultancy & banking sectors with not many specifically from IT.

How interacting are the teachers? how interacting are the students? There are some schools where teachers and students are in different planets ..and even different students are in their own planet!!
> The lessons are certainly open to interaction and the students certainly speak up. There is a noticeable difference between interaction rates by nation. Indians and North Americans pipe up the most, East Asians are the quietest with Europeans and Latin Americans somewhere in between.

How is the overall atmosphere? pressurised, stressful, directionless? fun, easy, carefree?
> The MBA proper has only just started so the atmosphere has moved from relatively stress free to becoming more pressurised. Multiple group assignments mean you have to juggle a lot of deadlines and it's fair to say that some handle this better than others.

Great ..)

Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Alunl >> Any new update about MBS?

In terms of job options after study, its worth focusing on schools whose career services also have a strong hold on getting their students jobs in international markets. Instead of toughing it out in the highly competitive UK jobs market many MBAs are now looking to establish their careers in emerging countries. A number of career services are now working with multinationals abroad and students are getting creative about how to get jobs. I know of a Cranfield MBA who had lived in the UK for 13 years decided to head back to China and build her career there. She's now working with Fagron in Shanghai and there are so many more like her.

Agree, being open definitely helps. personally, for me, 'exploring the unexplored area' has some fatal attraction.

For top schools, jobs comes to them.

For rest of the schools, the school has to work really hard to get job for most of their students. Here comes the KPI of the placement section. KPI is one part but equally important is how those KPIs are defined, how closely or seriously those placement KPIs are monitored in the school.

But ultimately what matters is the PASSION of few key people in placement section. Passionate people goes beyond the boundaries and makes wonderful things.

Now, can some current students or alumni share some of these wonderful schools, which does placement service passionately?