Hi!
I want to take an MBA in Dubai to stay there working after it. I'm in contact to Hult Dubai and it seems to me a good option but I have done a research on internet and I found many shortcomings. In general, people say that the quality of professors is very good (what is really important) but the career service "doesn't help" too much. Taking into account that I'm going to resign from my job, the career service becomes a key point for me.

PROFILE
Degree in Business Administration and Master in Banking and Financial Markets
11.5 years of Commercial Banking experience (most of them engaged to Corporate Department) and the last 8 years in management positions.
GMAT 600
Semi-professional football player (3rd Division) for several years
Starting up an entrepreneur project and a youth association

Is Hult Dubai a good option for me? Is there anybody who could share his/her experience there? Is there anyone whose job is related to admissions and can give me any advice?
Would you recommend me any other MBA program where I have real options to be admitted?
Thank you very much in advance!!

I think it's a good idea to read through the Hult thread. Hult is a special school. Most of their faculty, and even most of their "Deans", do not have PhDs. I think the only have one teacher who lives in Dubai, so the roots are weak there and the program will lack the added edge that comes with research-active PhDs.

Your profile fits a EMBA instead: why not do that?

If you want to do a full-time programme, you might be better off going to a world-class school outside the Gulf. With your work experience, many schools will forgive your low GMAT. Hult, of course, has a seat for every applicant.

Thank you very much for your answer, Duncan!!
Actually, I have read all I have found about Hult in this forum and in some others and I think that there are some interesting things and many shortcomings (speaking about the 5 campus).

I'm interested in a full-time programme because I will leave my job and I will move to other country to be focus just on the MBA. In a first approach I would like to work in Dubai after my year in the Business Shool so I supposed that Hult could be one of the best options because it is located there and it should provide me stronger networking in the area.

Anyway, could you give me any advice about other Schools for whom my profile could be suitable? (either in Dubai or in other place). There are some other Schools in my mind such as Cass, RSM, even Notre Dame in USA.... But I don't know if they could provide me the necessary networking in the Gulf. Thinking about Oxford or Cambridge with my profile would be a waste of time, wouldn't it?

Thank you very much in advance again, Duncan!!

Did you read "How to use LinkedIn to find the best school" at www.find-mba.com/board/33571

The schools with the most MBA-holding alumni in the UAE are: Manchester; LBS; Insead; Beiruit; and Strathclyde. Clearly these are the schools with the most valuable networking. With Manchester, you can even take some electives in Dubai. So, I would stretch for there and have Strathclyde as a safe school. Either way, work on your GMAT.

I have been doing some research about the schools you suggested me. Manchester looks interesting but it is a 18-months programme. With similar duration, LBS seems to be the best one, doesn't it? But it is a part-time program.
Unfortunately, I couldn't skip my job 4 days every other week (if I took it in London) or almost a week per month (in Dubai) so I would have to resign my job and to move definitely to Dubai. I suppose I would be the only student in that EMBA who did it, am I wrong? That is the reason why I am not focussed on EMBA.

What about Cass Business School? If it has an EMBA in Dubai it should have good links with the region, don't you think so?

Finally, Hult said to me that they have a new Corporate Relation Department in Dubai, since last October, that will collaborate with the Career Service. Could it push the school in that region increasing and improving the opportunities of good students? I suppose that students with low standards will fail trying to find a job although any school try to help them...

Thank you very much!!!!

These schools with the best networks in Dubai have their main campuses outside Dubai. The most effective approach would be study full-time outside Dubai and then use internship and their alumni networks to find positions in Dubai. Manchester is there years part-time in Dubai, or 18 months full-time in Manchester. LBS is 20 months full-time in London or part-time in Dubai. I realise that it sounds counter-intuitive, but a full-time programme at a great school will be better for careers services than part-time programmes in Dubai at a lower-quality school.

Schools always speak positively about their future plans. It is not likely that Hult will equal the schools we have mentioned above, and it would take a decade to do that.