Hi All,

I have a BA Hons in Strategic Marketing with a British Accreditation Council (BAC) stamp of approval. I have always wanted to do an MBA but have been putting it off or I was too young with too little experience to qualify. Now I am 27 with 4 years of management experience and I have recently started an advertising agency 6 months ago. I am also involved in a few other ventures and very driven.

I will always want to be in my own businesses rather than climbing the corporate ladder. The reason why I want to do the MBA is to fast track my personal knowledge especially in areas where I need more work such as Finance. I want to be able to apply my knowledge gained from the MBA in any form of business in the future. It would be nice to know that if things don’t go to plan I can get a good job with an MBA but this is not a priority.
I want the status of MBA because I have always had an automatic high level of respect for people of such a status. I feel it will be good to have when pitching or trying to get meetings with corporate clients and brands.
I plan to pursue a Chartered Marketer CM(SA) when I qualify for experience. Possibly a Chartered Manager UK I’m not sure yet if it’s worth having though?

THOUGHTS:
- Do I need an accredited MBA that’s so expensive when it’s more for personal gain and application?
- SA has some triple crown and ranked unis such as UCT and Stellenbosch (I can’t seem to find an online programme though) and Henley which seems to be the most expensive at +-13k GBP. Cheaper than UK/US except for Manchester Met.
- How important is the alumni factor and in terms of future business?
- I would prefer an online learning as I can see ‘life happening’ especially with a start up
- I would MUCH prefer assignment learning over exams, as I find it more practical and I test and retain knowledge better through them.
- Startups are a lot of time and effort, realistically, should I hold off for a bit and rather focus on getting the business to a more comfortable place?
- I will be funding it myself with the help of my parents initially, do I need to go expensive?
- Will UK/US be better for international business and give me a better edge?
- Do and will people look into where I got an MBA and could it be a topic of discussion other than when interviewing?
- There’s so many choices online that are so much cheaper but not really accredited.
- Accredited is nice, but do I need that.
- I came across UNICAF (BAC Accredited) which is 99GBP per month??
- If I don’t go South African, Bradford? Trent? Illinois? Oxford Brookes? etc.
- Manchester Met? is it any good? respectable and reputable?
- What’s the cheapest triple crown?
- Do you need triple crown? If you could only pick one accreditation which would it be?
- I have never been an A or sometimes even B student, how will that affect my placements and acceptances?


I know I’m all over the place, considering my position, I’m hoping to get some direction from more experienced people such as yourselves and I’d greatly appreciate any form of guidance.

Thanks in advance.

[Edited by FutureMBAcandidate on May 09, 2020]

Does your degree only have BAC accreditation? Some universities will only accept degrees with formal higher-education accreditation. 

Hi Duncan,Thanks for getting back to me.It does have the higher-education accreditation the BAC is a plus.

Hi Duncan,Just following up, I'm quite stuck and in need of some guidance by someone that is an expert in this field. I'd really like the opportunity to pick your brain if you don't mind. Hopefully others in the same boat as I could benefit from this too.Best

You have a lot of questions. Take a look at my profile page to see how to hire me for a consultation. I don't think you have a good feeling for the difference in outcomes and experience between MBAs of different qualifies. 

I would browse the board a bit because many of these questions have been addressed in one form or another. 
I (personally) wouldn't do an MBA unless it has accreditation from AMBA, EQUIS, or AACSB. I think if it doesn't have this accreditation, it will not be worth the money. In terms of knowledge gain, you'd be better off just taking free online courses on Coursera or whatever. 
That said I am not sure any MBA would fulfill all of your goals. An MBA may help contextually with a startup, and maybe a really great MBA (like at Stanford) would help put you in touch with VC people or whatever, but I'm not necessarily sure it would be necessary. You can build confidence and a network by going to events, short courses and all that.