Aston MBA or Sussex MBA

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Posted Nov 11, 2020 20:49

Hi all,

I am planning on doing an MBA in the UK this spring term and had applied to a couple of colleges. It's just that I'm on a very tight budget (15-18k for tuition) and have to make my decision soon. I have offers from the following unis -

Aston (7,5k scholarship)
Sussex (5k scholarship)
Essex (7k scholarship)

It would be of great help if you guys could help me choose one out of these. I am inclined towards Aston because of its triple crown but I feel that the ranking for the University of Sussex is higher. I also have offers from Brunel and Stirling but have kind of dropped those.

Is Aston better than Sussex or Essex in terms of general employability? It says on the wiki that Sussex has a silver standard of teaching while the other two have gold. I am really confused. Please help. TIA.

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Duncan

13.775 15.330

Posted Nov 11, 2020 21:28

If your priority is employability from the MBA then you need to find data about the employment rate of students from that MBA. The general standing of the university and the teaching quality are not strongly correlated with employment. The Economist and QS rankings often have employment data. I would expect that Aston will be very much better. If you budget is tight and your focus is on finding work then a MSc in finance might be better, and a better school might be more affordable.

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klauspoppe

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Posted Nov 12, 2020 07:39

If your priority is employability from the MBA then you need to find data about the employment rate of students from that MBA. The general standing of the university and the teaching quality are not strongly correlated with employment. The Economist and QS rankings often have employment data. I would expect that Aston will be very much better. If you budget is tight and your focus is on finding work then a MSc in finance might be better, and a better school might be more affordable.

Thank you so much for your reply, Duncan. Yes, my priority would definitely be employability and as you rightly mentioned, I did check the QS rankings to get some sort of idea on this parameter for these universities. What I found was Aston was leading with about 37-40% followed by Sussex at about 28-30% when it came to employment. I could not get much information on either Essex, Brunel, or Stirling. Naturally, I considered them to be below my top 2 options (Aston and Sussex). However, Brunel was featured in the FT top 100 EU schools for business in 2017 and 2018.

Furthermore, I also thought along the same lines as to do an MSc from a better university and I do have offers from York and Dundee for MSc in International Business. I already have a PGDM degree and so I was more comfortable with IB/Marketing than Finance. I really want to do an MBA though.

My final question to you is that should I finalize one between Aston and Sussex or is an MSc from York or Dundee a better alternative in your opinion? You did give your preference to Aston over the other four universities for an MBA. So, could you please highlight a point or two for choosing Aston over the others? The only point I have with me as of now is that Aston has a triple accreditation and fits my budget of below 18k. Hopefully, Birmingham being the 2nd largest city in The UK will have its perks when it comes to the job market and Aston being located at the heart of the city will definitely be a plus point. In addition to this, it is also a lot cheaper than London at least in my opinion.

[quote]If your priority is employability from the MBA then you need to find data about the employment rate of students from that MBA. The general standing of the university and the teaching quality are not strongly correlated with employment. The Economist and QS rankings often have employment data. I would expect that Aston will be very much better. If you budget is tight and your focus is on finding work then a MSc in finance might be better, and a better school might be more affordable. [/quote] Thank you so much for your reply, Duncan. Yes, my priority would definitely be employability and as you rightly mentioned, I did check the QS rankings to get some sort of idea on this parameter for these universities. What I found was Aston was leading with about 37-40% followed by Sussex at about 28-30% when it came to employment. I could not get much information on either Essex, Brunel, or Stirling. Naturally, I considered them to be below my top 2 options (Aston and Sussex). However, Brunel was featured in the FT top 100 EU schools for business in 2017 and 2018.  Furthermore, I also thought along the same lines as to do an MSc from a better university and I do have offers from York and Dundee for MSc in International Business. I already have a PGDM degree and so I was more comfortable with IB/Marketing than Finance. I really want to do an MBA though. My final question to you is that should I finalize one between Aston and Sussex or is an MSc from York or Dundee a better alternative in your opinion? You did give your preference to Aston over the other four universities for an MBA. So, could you please highlight a point or two for choosing Aston over the others? The only point I have with me as of now is that Aston has a triple accreditation and fits my budget of below 18k. Hopefully, Birmingham being the 2nd largest city in The UK will have its perks when it comes to the job market and Aston being located at the heart of the city will definitely be a plus point. In addition to this, it is also a lot cheaper than London at least in my opinion.

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Duncan

13.775 15.330

Posted Nov 12, 2020 11:09

37% to 40% of employment does not sound great to me. MSc degrees in international business don't have a strong placement rate, often because there is no business function for that, and students who pick IB tend to have weak quant skills. An MSc focussing in marketing analytics from a better school would have stronger outcomes. Some options that stand out for me under £20,000 are on-campus MSc with good coverage of digital marketing management at highly-accredited schools:
- ESCP (This is an outstanding school, and the course is taught across three capital cities: Madrid, Berlin and London)
- Newcastle (the e-marketing course develops many of the transferrable skills you;d see in business analysis courses)
- Oxford Brookes (the year-long placement option there is very interesting)
- Robert Gordon (Perhaps the least tech-oriented).

I'd also look for one-year conversion MSc in business analytics, like the MSc Data Science and Business Analytics programme offered at University of Plymouth.

[Edited by Duncan on Nov 12, 2020]

37% to 40% of employment does not sound great to me. MSc degrees in international business don't have a strong placement rate, often because there is no business function for that, and students who pick IB tend to have weak quant skills. An MSc focussing in marketing analytics from a better school would have stronger outcomes. Some options that stand out for me under £20,000 are on-campus MSc with good coverage of digital marketing management at highly-accredited schools: - ESCP (This is an outstanding school, and the course is taught across three capital cities: Madrid, Berlin and London) - Newcastle (the e-marketing course develops many of the transferrable skills you;d see in business analysis courses) - Oxford Brookes (the year-long placement option there is very interesting) - Robert Gordon (Perhaps the least tech-oriented). I'd also look for one-year conversion MSc in business analytics, like the MSc Data Science and Business Analytics programme offered at University of Plymouth.

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klauspoppe

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Posted Nov 12, 2020 17:38

Thank you for your inputs, Duncan. I will have a look at these colleges for sure. I am more interested in an MBA though and am planning for the spring term of 2021. The reason why I had to eliminate a couple of good colleges which had their courses in September only. I will deep dive into the options I have in hand as well and see what I can do best.

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Duncan

13.775 15.330

Posted Nov 12, 2020 17:56

If you would rather have a MBA and no job than an MSc and a job then why not go and study in a nicer city, maybe on the Mediterranean?

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