My background - British living in Spain
Bachelors in Law - 2.2
7 years experience in HR and Recruitment/Sales - most of my experience is abroad in different countries
GMAT - 530 (1st try)

Dear all,

I am looking to use an MBA to make a career change into a consulting company (eg one of the big 4 or a small company) or product management/marketing in ecommerce (I would probably want to move into this in the long term)

Despite my poorer academics and GMAT, I wrote a letter explaining all of this. The GMAT I only sat once in April but I am taking a online courses in economics, accounting and business analytics. I´m pretty sure I could take the GMAT again and with hard work around 600. I´m trying to boost my profile as much as I can.

My choice would be to stay working within Europe but I´m aware with the Brexit uncertainty that I could be a more prudent choice to come back to the UK and better job opportunities (I speak B1 Spanish only) with my language skills.

So far I have applied to
Birmingham- they are still reviewing my application but I spoke to the admissions
Newcastle - no response
Lancaster - invitation for an interview
UC3M - (As I am open to working also in Spain I applied to UC3M) - invitation for interview
IESEG - invitation for interview

Obviously I was delighted when Lancaster requested me for interview! But Birmingham also sounds good with the consultancy track with Deloitte

I am looking also looking at Aston, Strathclyde, Durham and potentially Loughborough. I also had call with EDHEC which sounds like a fine school and encouraged me to apply and EMLyon , which again said I could be in with a shot.
Could anyone give me advice whether

1-Which do you think would be the best choices out of the above? I know some are safer and some are stretch
2-Should I be looking at others? Are the ones I am looking at but not applied a good choice?
3-How advisable would it be to go to the best possible school but outside the UK? I know EDHEC for example has a very strong reputation in the rankings I understand that it is very hard to get a role in Europe if you don’t have the language (I´m still reviewing international mobility for a couple of these)

Please feel free to be as blunt as possible in your response´s as I really want to get this choice right.

Given your language skills, your choices are a year of language study or a degree in the UK. Given your goals, would a more employable masters at a better school with stronger placement, perhaps an MSc in finance or business analytics, be an option?

Lancaster is obviously the best choice for most students from the schools you mentioned. Cranfield and Manchester have their own tests, and both would be interested to get an extra Brit in the room.

Hi Duncan,
Thank you very much for your response. Actually, Manchester was one of my top choices but as I see they are looking for top of the graduating class and a high GMAT. I did actually email one of their admissions officers but didn´t hear a response back. I´ll try and contact him again and could try the admission. I see they have rolling admissions now, I might be a bit late but i´ll try.
Cranfield also sounds like an excellent option, that I didn´t consider before. It sounds like with both of them their own tests could be the best option.
Yes, from my understanding Lancaster appears to be the better one
Regarding the other schools in terms of ranking and if I was to apply, do you think this would be a fair way of ranking them?
1 -Durham, Strathclyde
2 -Birmingham,Aston
3 - Loughborough,Newcastle
As I also want to keep my options open should I not get in from Lancaster

I would phone up MBS were I you. Indeed, they are a bit less responsive to weaker candidates but you never know. Only take no for an answer. For you, I might put Brum above Strathclyde and even Edinburgh or Bath might make an effort for a Brit. The home team is very weak...

Aston and Loughborough are not worth considering.

Thank you Duncan, I´ll follow up with MBS then. I saw that when I was going to apply to Edinburgh their site said they were not accepting more applications, which was before their deadline, however today its now stating they are now accepting applications but on a waitlist. I am going to give it a go, apply, and contact them directly tomorrow.
I had not looked too closely at Bath to be honest but will explore with them too
Do you think Leeds and Durham would also be worth applying seeing as they are both in the FT100?Noted re. Aston and Loughborough

Durham seems much stronger than Leeds but, for your goals, better schools are helpful.

Hi Duncan, I am pleased that I have an offer from both Lancaster and Birmingham, both with scholarships as well (the one from Lancaster with an amazing scholarship, conditional to final essay). I am just thinking what to do next.
I applied also to Edinburgh and to Cranfield and thinking maybe Warwick as a long shot (however they are asking for a Gmat of min 650 or their test, they reviewed my Cv and advised me to apply)
I know that Lancaster dropped quite a lot in the FT rankings (from 35 to 70) and spoke to them about this - they had only a small cohort of 30 and a number set up their own businesses (they were also just ranked 4th in world in FTfor entrepreneurhip) so I imagine year by year can vary.
To be honest I feel Lancaster a great fit for my aims - it has a strong focus on strategy and consulting, location is good, interesting consulting projects with companies from my linkedin searching - but don´t know if Cranfield eg Cranfield seems more focused maybe on finance, aerospace and Warwick are much much better. I also have this scholarship to take into account - I know they can be a false economy - but would mean without scholarship at these 2 would be double the price. Thanks for your help in advance!

Cranfield and Warwick are much better for traditional MBA employers. Lancaster had a rather unusual spike, and is now back to normal.

I did not get in with Cranfield or Warwick (at least no news) however I am expecting an offer from Edinburgh. At this moment in time looks like Lancaster or Edinburgh would be the choices and to be honest I like both and would be happy with either, and from the rankings they look very similar. Which would be the stronger school do you think? Edinburgh seems to have been rising in the ranks

Lancaster is the safer school. More resources for taught programmes, fewer distractions and greater career support. Edinburgh has a better cohort and higher salary as a result, but it would be more work for you to connect with employers.

Edinburgh, obviously, has many more employers and in some ways is better for networking. Personally I would always pick the better cohort over more careers resources... But I am not everyone. Also, as a Edinburgh PhD candidate I am biased :)

Thank you for the advice, there are benefits for each and whilst Edinburgh would be more interesting, and as I see an older cohort maybe Lancaster in a more peaceful setting could be nice: As I imagine the work load is going to be intense. as I would ideally be looking though to pursue a career in London than in Scotland, do you think Lancaster might be a little better in that regard? I ask that because I know that the consultancy projects are generally London based.

London is certainly an easier connection from Lancaster. The school also has a site there, in the shape of its Work Foundation.

I'm not sure that Edinburgh has an older cohort, but is professionally more advanced, and higher paid, in the way in. I think it's also a bit more diverse.