I got an offer from Durham B School for Full time MBA - sep 2012 intake. Can any one give his/her review on DBS?

also based on the current economic conditions, is it right to do MBA from UK

There's a lot of discussion about Durham on this site. Look through the discussions at http://www.find-mba.com/university/1419/durham-business-school-durham-university/discussions

I see Durham is now number 3 in the Sunday Times' ranking of UK universities: http://registrarism.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/sunday-times-2012-university-league-table/

Great news Duncan.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/study/sunday_times/

Great news Duncan.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/study/sunday_times/

I am current Global MBA student - not full time.

I am current Global MBA student - not full time.

Without knowing your background and your objectives and what you would like to get out of an MBA, it is difficult to give generic answer. Also I am not a FT student and my objectives are entirely different from a typical FT students.

Duncan has summarised neatly here ..

http://www.find-mba.com/board/22931/1#post-22932

Hi,

I have looked on their website and they're writing average age is 31 with average work.exp. 10 years.
Well, I have one question to you Duncan: I am from Germany and here, we've finished our undergraduate studies with at least 25/26 (in the past; now they have changed that with introducing the bachelor degree (3years)).
I have studied 4.5 years with 2 internships.
How should I have more than 5 years of work experience with 29 (I am applying for the 2012/2013 intake, then I will be 30 with 4 years of work experience)? That drives me nuts.
And I am an engineer, and in Germany you don't get a managerial job as an engineer within 5 years. NEVER. Or you know someone etc (you know what I mean).

Do you have any advice?
Kind regards from south Germany.

Hi Martin. I'm not really sure what your question is. Many schools will count your internships towards your work experience.

Why are you choosing Durham? Given your lesser managerial experience, would not a more experiential programme with more projects, team work and case studies not be better? Durham is a famously academic MBA.

Hello Duncan,

sorry, maybe I wasn't that clear enough.
Many b.schools require significant managerial work experience, which I don't have. Should I wait until I have a managerial position (at least 5-6 years) or should I apply anyway? In Germany we call it Eierlegende-Wollmichsau. That means, that companies (in this case a University) prefer applicants with 10 years work experience, undergraduate + postgraduate studies but not older than 30 years (yeah, its ironic ;-) )
And why Durham? Well, at the first glance because of its reputation. Searching on their website I didn't figured out that its more academic than practical. I thought that every MBA is a mix of academic and practical part.
Do you recommend any b.school with a higher amount of practical work?
Information about myself: I am working in automotive sector for a big German supplier (I also did my Diploma Thesis in this company). Have the possibility to get a 1y Sabbatical to study. Post-MBA: I will (want to) work for this company, don't want to change the employer.
B.schools I have in mind are:
-Bradford University
-Nottingham
-Aston
-Durham
-Strathclyde

kind regards from Germany.
Martin

Hi Martin,

I think you'll find that schools are more flexible. You may not have been managing people directly, but if you've been managing information, money or resources then most schools will consider you.

From what you've written, I'm not sure I would be looking at the UK only were I in your shoes. Is there a reason why you're doing that? There are some great MBAs in the ,,DACHs'' region which might work better with your career goals. In particular, I would look at Universität Mannheim.

For five UK schools with a strong alumni network in the auto industry try:
-Warwick Business School (Especially strong links with Jaguar Land Rover and Delphi)
-Cranfield School of Management (Has some interesting alumni at Ricardo and GM)
-Henley Management College (Strong links with Ford, but their full-time programme is brand new and I'm a little unsure about it)
-Aston University
-University of Birmingham.

PS If you were not limited to 12 months, then I would also suggest Manchester Business School or HEC in France.

Hello Duncan,

thanks for your response. Why UK? I don't know, personally I don't care about the country where I can study but UK Universities have a high reputation in Germany. Many companies (recruiter) like it if the applicant has international experience. In my case, I have studied in Germany, did all my internships in Germany and I have a good job here in Germany. There is only one possibility for me studying in DACH region: part-time. I am also considering that, but with my actual job (60% on business trips worldwide) it is more or less impossible. I will think about that. Maybe a job-change and part-time could be an interesting point (I live close to Switzerland).
Or when worse comes to worse I will not doing the MBA. The main reason doing it is, getting a better job (decision maker). Now, I am just a "techie". A problem solver.

I will take into account the B.Schools you've mentioned.
Thank you

Hi Martin,

One more thought: Aston, Birmingham and Warwick all have the advantage of being close to the centres for the UK automotive industry. Warwick is especially well connected for manufacturing generally. Birmingham has a very strong specialised MBA programme for supply chain and purchasing.

I think Cranfield and Warwick are the best of the programmes I've mentioned and, personally, I would choose Cranfield.

Why not joining the Master in Manufacturing Management at Cambridge or Tech Policy programme?

A hands-on master degree with loads of management materials as well as projects and on-field trips which also take you to Germany to see the best manufacturing industry and network with some people there.

And there are no shortage of car producers coming to Cambridge to recruit as well as many consultancy and banks

Else look at Cranfield and Warwick where they have very good links with manufacturing firms around the world

Hi Martin,

hope youve already decided something for your MBA dream by now.
FYI, I am 31, I have a non-German background and have lived in Germany since 12 years, completed my dipl. ing. in Germany, and am now a system architect (yes, it has a lot to do with engineering and problem solving) at the biggest automotive supplier in the world originated from south germany. I only had roughly 3 and half year of works experience as I started in October to consider an MBA as a tool to accelerate and eventually change my career (I'd like to do more finance).
Meanwhile I got an unconditional offer from Aston and Strath respectively (I also got admitted from a reputable german university, not Mannheim, but I rejected it as soon as I had received the offer from Aston). And that despite lack of "managerial experience" like your perception to their requirement. Yes I did coordinate some of sub projects. But not the one with budget or disciplinary responsibilities.

I was kinda worry about that, but at the same time I started to work towards the completion of application (GMAT, TOEFL, references, essay preparation, find-mba forum, and so on :)). And look at what Ive got in my hands now...
So, if you are not yet considering to move towards the application, I can only say, just do it. Surely you have to put some extra hard works for your application in order to get admitted. But those b-schools are not very "tough" as they look like in their website (I am not talking about Harvard here..). They are not insurmountable. Ein Versuch ist immer wert....You'll never know....