Hi All.

I have offers from Birmingham, Aston and Strathclyde for Sep 2023 intake.

Could someone help me rate these schools?

I have 15 years of experience-8 years as a project manager in risk management/change management in investment banking area-and intend to do MBA to study and work in the UK for a couple of years and see how it goes from there. My experience is mostly with top tier banks, in India and 4 yeas in Singapore.



Which of these 3 will help me

a) experience a more practical and less theoretical MBA(slightly senior cohort maybe)

b) find a job basis my previous work experience and probably with the help of their respective career services?



Birmingham and Aston being in Birmingham vs Strathclyde in Scotland.



Many Thanks.



PS:This is my last chance to do MBA for various reasons and am not looking at GMAT option at all.

[Edited by Phoenixmba2023 on Jun 08, 2023]

With your work experience, why are you not directly applying to roles? 

If you want to work in IB, when an MBA choice should focus on the schools they recruit from the most: generally that means LBS, Oxbridge and Insead. I strongly recommend you rethink your GMAT preference. The MBAs you mention don't have strong relationships with investment banking. Strathclyde will be the best of a bad bunch if you must pick one. 

Thanks Stuart for your insights.
I have applied for a few roles but there are no responses-the obvious unsaid reason being I am not in the UK but overseas. I am confident I will be able to find a role on my own, post MBA, but then I am spending at least 50,000 pounds and foregoing my current salary for one year. So my investment is quite high and its a very important decision in my career. 
So I should be able to learn and keep abreast of the latest happenings at least, in the one year. And I believe the folks who study in the UK are given preference when it comes to jobs in the UK.
Also am banking on my wife getting a job as she has a similar profile and she may find a job in London if all goes well. Will this mean Strathclyde is not a good choice? If we want to stay together, would Birmingham be a better option in the scenario she has to commute 2 days to office (remote working hybrid model) and 3 days WFH.

Many Thanks.

[Edited by Phoenixmba2023 on Jun 09, 2023]

Why would your wife only look for work in London?

Hi Duncan,
My wife currently works for UBS in IB Technology in India.
 She is a Murex SME. First preference will be for her to try and get an internal mobility but with the UBS-Credit Suisse merger it could be an issue. So next preference would be to find a job for her in the UK and Murex jobs are most likely to be found in London.(Banks/Luxoft/Synechron etc) To be honest, I have not explored Birmingham and Glasgow yet from that view point. Of course she can look for a job outside of Murex as well-she is into capital markets technology. But her job will be crucial as I will be completely concentrating on my MBA.

[Edited by Phoenixmba2023 on Jun 09, 2023]

With your work experience, why are you not directly applying to roles? 

If you want to work in IB, when an MBA choice should focus on the schools they recruit from the most: generally that means LBS, Oxbridge and Insead. I strongly recommend you rethink your GMAT preference. The MBAs you mention don't have strong relationships with investment banking. Strathclyde will be the best of a bad bunch if you must pick one.  

Hi Stuart
Could you let me know your reasons for putting Strathclyde ahead of Birmingham?

Thanks for your time.

[Edited by Phoenixmba2023 on Jun 14, 2023]

Placement success in IB,

Thanks Duncan.
Would my wife be able to find a job in Glasgow?
I see a few roles in Barclays but overall an Indeed search for jobs in IT/BFSI in Glasgow is not showing many jobs.
In the absence of scholarship award info before I pay the deposit, I will have to choose between Birmingham and Strathclyde(awaiting feedback of an interview that went quite well). The tuition fee is more or less same for both these schools.

Am ignoring Aston at this point in time as its not > Birmingham.

So it boils down to London job(remote with 2 days WFH) and Birmingham stay for my wife  vs Glasgow job and Glasgow stay.
Please share your thoughts.



Thanks.