Hello!
I was offered a place for executive MBA in both Imperial (Tanaka) and Cass business school. I tend to choose Imperial, but I definitely don?t know if I?ts really better or not...?
Can someone please help me with my decision?
Thanks!

I had the same dilhema a few months ago when choosing my MBA. I was a graduate of LSE didnot want to do a 2 year MBA and wanted to find the best 1 year MBA for Finance.

I did a comparison based on several factors which I list below and came to a conclusion that Cass is a much better MBA than a Tanaka MBA.

I provide my findings for your information so you can make up your own mind.

CURRRICUM
Tanaka has a basic core + basic electives
Begg (Dean of Tanaka) calls it a vanilla (general) MBA.

Cass has an EXTENSIVE core and over 20+ specialised electives + option to do international symposiums in China, Emerging markets weeks in Argentina, Consultancy in Easter Europe in Poland, Outsourcing projects in India.

All terribly important for (BRIC/Emerging markets)

As of 2007/8 Cass also has a language specialisation (Chinese/Spanish/Japanese)
6hrs per week which resembles INSEADs

MBA LEAGUE
Cass is definitely moving more like the NYU of London (LBS would be Columbia) and is known in MBA circles and competitions more than Imperial, Warwick and Manchester put together.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Also, if you look at the development programme of Cass it includes over 100hrs of PDP with providers which are used by McKinsey, BCG and Banking Career Coaches (external) that are the same ones that INSEAD and IESE are using.

Cass MBAs get a full day on PDP training every week.

FACULTY SPECIALISATION
Tanaka is a research-led school.
Cass is a true business school.

Lets look at a famous Professor at Tanaka (e.g. well known researcher in economics David Begg)

and a famous Professor at Cass (e.g. 18yrs leading investment banker and ex Managing Director of D. Bank and Morgan Stanley - Scott Moeller)

SPECIALISATION & FACILITIES
Cass is strongly geared in finance
it has Bloomberg Professional Terminals and Dealing Room
Reuters x3000 Terminals
Thomson Investment Banking Terminals
AND IS THE ONLY school to have a campus in Canary Wharf

On the other hand, Tanakas graduates make money from R&D spin off companies of the college.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
IMperial came 10th in the world for ente. and R&D

Cass makes history with its private equity module (one of the first int he world PE modules as an asset class that will be taught holistically in an MBA programme)

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS
Arguably WBS, MBS, Said and Judge are EXCELLENT places BUT a lot of people cannot take superbia and donot go to WBS, Cranfield etc for this reason. They want to be at the doorstep of city institutions and live and breath the colour of money (and attend evening events at their doorstop). Who can network better in the city of london a Warwick alum or a Cass alum ?

Cass alum (both MSc and MBA) work around the corner and you can call them to go for a beer after their work. Not sure if the same would be that easy with any other non-City based school. The only other school I know that enjoys such strong links with bankers is NYU.

Fro my social circles Imperial/Tanakas graduates tend to be Coders, Scientists and Biologists (or in banks they would be the hard core quants?.feed them pizza under the door)

The Cass MBAs are coming from all types of background and I have found the Cass Exec MBAs to be actually investment bankers, traders or brokers who work in teh city and went to Cass on the basis of proximity to their work and practical (not theoretical) tuition of finance.

Arguably an excellent source of a network to tap into and give you a job later...

VIBE
If you speak to a Cass MBA cohort most were accepted at Tanaka but chose Cass after experience 1 day in both schools.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST (BRANDING)
Some schools, hide behind the mother brand (Imperial MBA hides the Tanaka MBA)
Some wish to have their own new brand like Cass MBA

LBS is also a Univ. of London college but I know no one that knows this fact and links LBS with the University of LOndon. LBS has its own rank and brand.

Cass is moving that way and soon it will be less and less affiliated with the mother brand and no-one would compare it with City Uni. Two different things. Like no one cares about LBS and University of London.

For example, IESE is the b-school of which Uni?
(Navarra is the answer).
I hope it illustrates my point.

Cass I think will soon not care about its parent brand.
It has its own world rank MBA brand.

SO. DO YOUR RESEARCH first and visit each School
Experience the programme
The people
The tutors


So if you really compare
-academics
-electives
-pdp
-alumni
-facilities
-specilization

Cass is simply the best 1-year programme in London and a full provision business school with focus in finance, trade and shipping.

Put it simply:

If you want to be a banker: Go to Cass
If you want to start your own business: Go to Tanaka

Hope it helps.

Last note.
PS. Imperial left the federation of London and lost its best asset. A link to the University of London Careers (one of the best careers service out there and links to other better-linked-to-finance colleges ie. LSE). Now if you take the Imperial College alum most are scientists versus Cass that most are bankers. So who can get you that interview at Goldman Sachs? think think think....

:-)

ALL THE BEST !!!

Thanks for your detailed and serious answer!!!

Actually I came to the same conclusions as your. However, I?m coming from the hi-tech sector (software engineer and now a product manager) and I?n not absolutely sure that I want to move into the banking sector. From what I heard Imperial by trying to imitate MIT and Stanford contains possibilities to get Hi-Tech management skills and networking in addition to a nice ?CITY? education (though not as good as the Cass provides) making the Imperial a better options for me?. What do you think?

I think if you go to a business school then go to open your wings to something new.

If you go a business school to do one of the same (high-tech) why do you need to spent 30k + lose a years salary (a minimum of 60k-100k loss I would have thought).

If you want to learn to exploit HighTech take a trip to Silicon Valley or do an open enrollement programme at MIT.

Otherwise, if you go to B-School go to learn business and experience different subjects from different faculties that you may never have seen before. Otherwise do a specialised masters programme.

@MBA student: Im looking for a Masters in Finance or a MBA (finance) from a good uni in UK but my grad percentage is really now (57%-eco hons. from SRCC, DU). Am I eligible to apply? Which, if any?