Dear Rashid,

Thank you for your email and CV which I have read with interest. With regards to our MBA programme you appear to meet our requirements in terms of your work experience. The Admissions Committee look for a minimum of 2 years paid work experience with evidence of growing responsibility, international exposure and personal development within an applicant’s career history, through managing an increasingly larger team of employees, for example, or taking responsibility for more challenging projects. The current class possess an average of 6 years work experience each.

The academic entry requirements for application to our MBA programme state that the overall grade for your undergraduate degree needs to equate to a minimum of a second class uppers or the international equivalent (for example an overall GPA of 3.5 or above based on the US 4.0 scale). You don’t appear to have stated the final result of your undergraduate degree.

Applicants are also required to submit results of a GMAT or GRE taken within the last 5 years. If you have not yet taken either test, we advise taking 2 to 3 months to prepare for the exam and whilst we do not publish a minimum standard, we generally look for a score over 600 in the GMAT, though a score in excess of 650 is considered a more competitive score. The current class has an average GMAT score of 690. In the GRE we recommend that applicants have achieved a verbal score of 159 and a quantitative score of 157 as a minimum, whilst scores in excess of 160 are viewed as more competitive.

We would also need to see an English language test score which meets our minimum standards and was taken within the last two years. We currently accept either the IELTS test or the internet-based TOEFL test. We look for an overall score of 7.5 in the IELTS test with 7.0 in each component. In the TOEFL test we require an overall score of 110 with a minimum of 22 in Listening, 24 in Reading, 24 in Writing and 25 in Speaking.

In terms of the MBA application, we recommend spending about 3 weeks over your supporting essays as they are your opportunity to showcase yourself, explain your motivation for wanting to study for an MBA at Oxford and should make the Admissions Committee want to interview you. In particular, the committee would want to understand why you are considering a second MBA at this stage of your career. The references are also important so I would advise choosing referees carefully. Choose people who know you well, who will be honest about you, and will sell you to the School. Many applicants choose one academic referee and one from their professional life, though two professional referees are acceptable.
Please take a look at our full requirements before applying and make sure you meet them. We operate a 6 stage admissions cycle; forthcoming application deadlines and the full admissions schedule are available on our website.
Please note that my advice/assessment does not guarantee you an offer of a place to join our programme. Decisions to call applicants to interview will be made by the admissions committee based upon an assessment of the whole submitted application. Please be aware you will also need to meet all requirements that are relevant to you, even if they are not mentioned in this advice.

Kind regards,

Alex Macknamara
MBA Admissions Assistant Adviser
Saïd Business School
University of Oxford

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