Hello
I am looking to do a part time MBA from a reputed university but within budget (arent we all?). I have just been granted admission and a substantial scholarship from Brunel University. Though it is AMBA recognized, I am wondering if I should wait it out to see if I get into the ones that have been ranked higher. I currently am waiting to hear from Oxford-Brooks (bit of a commute, but is ranked higher than Brunel), Cranfield (way over my budget, but the reputation is immense) and Aston (within budget and top reputation). With Brunel, the commute is the easiest as I live 15mins away. However, I dont want to make that my top selection criteria.

What do you guys think? Any ex-students from Brunel out here? I regret not attending an open day! The problem is that the other unis dont start till Mar-Apr 2018 and I dont believe they will get back to me before enrolment is due at Brunel.

Thanks in advance.

What are your goals? Which schools have the best network? Could Henley be an option?

Thanks for the reply Duncan. First of all, impressive profile!
My aim is to move into a position of product owner or Business development for a firm possibly in middle-east region (closer to my extended family). Long term plan is to give entrepreneurship a go. Henley is way out of my budget unfortunately. The options I have listed are the ones I am looking at due to the restrain.
I am not sure about the network Brunel has, though the local influence seems to be pretty decent. It has a brilliant engineering school and me being from engineering background, I wonder if it would be an advantage.
With your expertise, do you think the AMBA mark is assurance enough of the quality of education? Oxford-Brooks and Brunel are in the same bracket in terms of fee. The other two I consider are elite but on a lower fee compared to the unis in that class.

Henley is just £4000 more than Brunel on the flexible option: https://www.henley.ac.uk/mba/course/flexible-executive-mba#bottom-feesFunding and, especially for the middle east, it's much better.

No, I don;t think AMBA is enough in terms of outcomes. There are big differences in outcomes.

Thank you very much. An update- I had an interview with Oxford Brookes and today, I have received their offer letter. I was really impressed with the interviewer. The biggest advantage they have is the flexibility during the course and fee payment distribution across the course.
I honestly didnt know that Henley had a flexible mba what costs a lot lower than their executive mba (their executive mba costs 39k). I have since taken your advice and will be applying for it. My issue is that Brunel starts the course on 8th of Jan. I guess I will have to drop them and continue to apply for better ones like Henley, Aston and Birmingham. The scholarship I got from Brunel was too tempting to let go of the opportunity. But I guess you do MBA only once in a lifetime.
Thanks again. Do you recommend any other colleges I could apply to within commutable distance from Watford? My budget is around 20K.

I think you should aim for Henley.

Thank you for all your inputs. Lets see if I get in! Oxford Brooks will be a backup if I dont.

Hi Duncan
A little update. I have since applied for the Hanley, Aston and Cranfield.
I had an interview with Cranfield and was verbally offered a place for the Jan intake. However, that means I literally have one week to gear up for the course! My question is, do you think its a good idea to negotiate a place on the April intake once I get the offer letter from Cranfield? Do institutes usually agree for such arrangement?
It will suit me better as I will get to know my fate with Hanley and Aston too. And arranging finances will be a lot easier. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

[Edited by RoaringCrow on Jan 09, 2018]

Yes, part-time and EMBA are usually very negotiable. One thing is not easily negotiable is the fees.

Thank you donho199. I just received an email offering me the place for Jan. I will call them up first thing tomorrow to discuss. The first day is on 17th and I cannot fathom how do they expect someone to prepare at such a short notice. Hopefully sense prevails and I am allowed to join in April without the need of fresh application.

Update yet again: Cranfield has accepted to defer my admission for April.

Still waiting to hear from Aston and Hanley regarding my application.

A question: If I do end up getting an offer from the other two too, which one do you recommend I go for?

Cranfield

Thanks Duncan. Would you please give me reasons for preferring Cranfield over others? Note that I intend to enroll on the executive program. These rankings place Henley higher than Cranfield. : https://www.ivyexec.com/best-executive-mba-rankings/europe
Also, as stated before, planning to move to middle east at some point. Is Cranfield a more global brand than Henley?
Thanks in advance

That is not a good ranking.

The Henley EMBA is ranked in the FT, the Cranfield program is not.

Hi Laurie
You are right. They were listed last year (2016) at 99th and fell out in 2017.
I will just wait to get an offer from Henley first I guess before I am in the position to choose. Maybe I am being a bit too overconfident at this stage :)

The Henley ranking reflects the 'normal' EMBA I think, since the distance learning MBA used to be called a distance learning MBA before being renamed a flexible EMBA.

Hi Laurie
You are right. They were listed last year (2016) at 99th and fell out in 2017.
I will just wait to get an offer from Henley first I guess before I am in the position to choose. Maybe I am being a bit too overconfident at this stage :)

Dear all
Thank you all for your inputs so far. I have today received an offer from Henley for Flexible Executive MBA program. I have some serious doubts and wonder if anyone could help me.
1. Henley did not have an interview?! Was my application/reference that impressive? Or is that a norm? I am taken aback by such screening. Having applied for 5 universities so far, not one of them offered me a place without an interview. Should I be worried about this?
2. The EMBA from Henley is 39K and flexible EMBA is 25K. Though I will be asking them tomorrow, does this imply that the program is more online based than campus based? None of documents sent to be with offer imply this.
3. Cranfield MBA seems a lot intense (24months compared to 30months of Henley flexi EMBA) and had the most difficult screening process in comparison to others. How much importance should I give to this? As pointed out earlier on the thread, Cranfield EMBA has not been listed in top 100 (for whatever reasons), but is a great school.

I do know both business schools are of immense reputation. But there is big money involved here. Hence I do not want to regret the choice I make. I hope I hear from the others with their inputs. Thanks in advance.

The flexible MBA is an online MBA and I don't think you can assume that the outcomes for the on campus EMBA apply to distance learning students.

It sounds to me as if you should be visiting classes and speaking to alumni. Having visited both schools myself (I took a Henley course and considered the PhD at Cranfield) I find Cranfield very much better, but worse as gaming the rankings.