The FT rankings include careers service quality. It is a key factor.

Thanks, Duncan.
I will consider it further.

After that, I tried to reach non-EU alumni of Henley and became very positive to choose Henley as a result.
Because I found that he got an offer from a tier-1 global consulting firm and successfully relocated to an office in Europe.

Although I also found someone complaints in other online review / bulletin boards services that Henley's classes are delivered at the campus of University of Reading not at the campus in Greenlands, I confirmed they are the cases for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of Henley, and MBA programme is delivered at Greenlands campus.

I understood some students of Henley couldn't achieve their primary goals as post MBA, however at the same time, it seems that the result of post MBA depends on individual and on many factors each candidate has.

I think that the most important things in job market are ourselves and the situation of job market, so the academic background is just one of factors and it doesn't guarantee our success.

Even if students graduated from a very prestigious school such as HBS, INSEAD, LBS and etc., I think they have to develop themselves as a truly resourceful business person on their own in order to achieve success post MBA, and the most responsible people for their success are themselves, support from school is just one of side factor.
As a fact, there is a lot of example that good business people with no MBA got offers from excellent companies.

Although we can learn business related soft / hard skills through the classes in b-school, I think we must not rely on school too much.
We should accelerate personal development, and try to be positive and motivated by ourselves!

As far as I know since ever, successful people have been doing so at least.
Otherwise, we must fail to be successful in job market and in a company we will join.

Anyway, although I will continue to consider my decision further, I became positive to Henley after my research and contact with Henley's alumni.
Thanks for the opportunity to consider this matter deeply.
If I decide to choose Henley, I hope I will be able to meet great cohort there!
Many thanks.

You are misinformed. The full-time MBA is based at the Reading campus. See https://www.henley.ac.uk/mba/course/full-time-mba/#__131__2140_1

I don't accept the suggestion that it's the student and not the school that is responsible. Both are responsible. There is a clear difference between schools with excellent careers services, like Oxbridge, LBS and Lancaster, and those who are trying to improve their rather weaker careers services, like Edinburgh (where I teach), Durham and Birmingham. The difference doesn't depend simply on the individual. Careers services can: bring employers and alumni to campus; coach students on their job search and networking; aid the preparation of cover letters, CVs and applications; support applications for work permits and much more. It's mistaken to think that personal motivation is a substitute for this.

How are you getting in touch with these Henley alumni? If you think that the full-time MBA is based at Henley, which it has never been, then are you speaking to recent alumni of the full-time programme? Is that the programme you are applying for?

After that, I tried to reach non-EU alumni of Henley and became very positive to choose Henley as a result.
Because I found that he got an offer from a tier-1 global consulting firm and successfully relocated to an office in Europe.

Although I also found someone complaints in other online review / bulletin boards services that Henley's classes are delivered at the campus of University of Reading not at the campus in Greenlands, I confirmed they are the cases for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of Henley, and MBA programme is delivered at Greenlands campus.

You are misinformed. The full-time MBA is based at the Reading campus. See https://www.henley.ac.uk/mba/course/full-time-mba/#__131__2140_1

I don't accept the suggestion that it's the student and not the school that is responsible. Both are responsible. There is a clear difference between schools with excellent careers services, like Oxbridge, LBS and Lancaster, and those who are trying to improve their rather weaker careers services, like Edinburgh (where I teach), Durham and Birmingham. The difference doesn't depend simply on the individual. Careers services can: bring employers and alumni to campus; coach students on their job search and networking; aid the preparation of cover letters, CVs and applications; support applications for work permits and much more. It's mistaken to think that personal motivation is a substitute for this.

How are you getting in touch with these Henley alumni? If you think that the full-time MBA is based at Henley, which it has never been, then are you speaking to recent alumni of the full-time programme? Is that the programme you are applying for?

I had an offer from the better school but no scholarship so landed at Henley Business School.

Thanks for many replies to my comments. I had some misunderstanding regarding the programme.

I confirmed again and found that Henley's FT MBA programme was re-designed in 2012 and the current programme is based on Reading as you said.
(The alumni I reached was a student before the re-design in 2012.)

However, in my opinion from my 10 years' experiences in several grobal consulting firms, most of my colleagues don't have MBA but successfully enteted in a global consulting firm. That is why I think that each individual should have responsibility for their own career, and having MBA is just one of factors to get a job offer from a good company. Although having MBA of a prestedious b-school should be a good advantage to pass only a firm's screening of applicants with their CVs, the real inteligence should be required to pass interview rounds after that especially in case studies.

As I said, it is the fact that there is a lot of consultants who survived in job market without MBA and they are the majority of the consulting industry.

Of course, there are some interviewers who give the importance to candidates' academic background such as b-school which a candidate graduated from, but such interviewers must be lack of keen eyes for the talent, lack of the ability to judge prospective business people truly.
I can say that good academic record is not useful so much in the real business situation even in consulting practice. I think the real value to undertake MBA is expand global experiences and network of people.

People working in tier one companies or consulting firms never give a person an indulgence for a successful career or promotion just because of his/her having good b-school's MBA.

I will stop posting here but just would like to encourage those who want to join the consulting industry to develop themselves as much as possible! It is not too late even after the graduation from a b-school. Because surviving in the consulting industry is more severe than surviving in job market as a fact.

People working in tier one companies or consulting firms never give a person an indulgence for a successful career or promotion just because of his/her having good b-school's MBA.

Sadly, Emma's comment is wishful thinking: "Although having MBA of a prestedious b-school should be a good advantage to pass only a firm's screening of applicants with their CVs, the real inteligence should be required to pass interview rounds after that especially in case studies."

The reality is that many employers have target schools. Of course, a great MBA can only help you to get in the door. Hipster presents it far too gently: that the big schools have relationships with employers. It's more profound: many employers will hire only from certain schools. If you are not from one of these schools, you'll need the sort of introductions or experience that make your second or third tier MBA unimportant. That's nothing to do with the strengths of weaknesses of interviewers: these people are professionals implementing a corporate policy.

Here is a great example: Type in the names of some UK universities at https://www.bcg.com/careers/join/default.aspx. The top ten UK universities in the QS rankings are there (https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2016). Henley/Reading, City, Cranfield and other lower schools are not even on the long list.

Stated in such a general way, I'd take this reasoning with a large grain of salt. It really depends on the country you look at: Some very well-respected schools aren't mentioned in the BCG list, e.g. HEC Paris, IE, all(!) German schools, etc.

Does that mean BCG doesn't hire from any of these schools? Of course, not. HEC is (MBA aside) the most prestigious school in France, same for IE in Spain. German universities have hardly any tiers at all - in fact, I don't know any consulting firm in Germany that has strict focus schools in the sense that they only hire from there.

Short remark on career services: I'm always surprised by how much students in the US (and other countries) push the responsilbity of job hunting to the career department. Finding a job and developing a career is (and must be) up to the student, just because it is his/her career. The school can facilitate the process, but that's basically it. All the career departments of high-ranked schools I visited (Oxford, Cambridge, INSEAD, IMD) were very honest about their role. There is no magic bullet, connections, secret tunnels to McK offices or whatever. Eventually, the student is responsble.

Stated in such a general way, I'd take this reasoning with a large grain of salt. It really depends on the country you look at: Some very well-respected schools aren't mentioned in the BCG list, e.g. HEC Paris, IE, all(!) German schools, etc.

Does that mean BCG doesn't hire from any of these schools? Of course, not. HEC is (MBA aside) the most prestigious school in France, same for IE in Spain. German universities have hardly any tiers at all - in fact, I don't know any consulting firm in Germany that has strict focus schools in the sense that they only hire from there.

Short remark on career services: I'm always surprised by how much students in the US (and other countries) push the responsilbity of job hunting to the career department. Finding a job and developing a career is (and must be) up to the student, just because it is his/her career. The school can facilitate the process, but that's basically it. All the career departments of high-ranked schools I visited (Oxford, Cambridge, INSEAD, IMD) were very honest about their role. There is no magic bullet, connections, secret tunnels to McK offices or whatever. Eventually, the student is responsble.

KPMG audits the data gathered for the FT rankings. Certainly schools can try to game the rankings, but it would be impossible to keep the sort of immoral manipulation a secret in an academic institution. If you think that happens at the ranked schools, then I think you mistaken.

Hi - I am recent alumni from Henley EMBA. After graduation I have been recruited by what I think is one of the best Consulting firm, I am working in their Strategy Practice. It is true that career desk did not helped in that process. Henley MBA has been a life changing experience. You need to be prepared to work hard and have a solid career plan. I recommend the experience. During my MBA I chose the international track and carried out consulting missions in Shanghaï and Cape Town. Inspiring.

[Edited by Ludovic on May 06, 2017]

I invite people to compare the quality of Ludovic's English with their notion of the sort of EMBA who gets hired by a top consulting firm. There is zero chance that this person is both sober and working in English (as a consultant) for a top strategy firm.

[Edited by Duncan on Mar 17, 2017]

I invite people to compare the quality of Ludovic's English with their notion of the sort of EMBA who gets hired by a top consulting firm. There is zero chance that this person is both sober and working in English (as a consultant) for a top strategy firm.

I live in continental Europe now, what I stated is entirely true, really. You could have considered that my english level is not really the essential factor enabling to valuably advise companies, particularly outside UK. Let say I compensate with the 4 other languages I can speak, maybe.

From my cohort, in addition to me, I count 1 at Accenture, 1 AT Kearney and 3 in Big 4s.

[Edited by Ludovic on May 06, 2017]

Indeed I made the point that you are either drunk or not working in English for a top strategy firm. It sounds like the latter. I am sorry if you find that insulting but, honestly, if you write like this and have a masters degree from Henley then no wonder the top strategy firms do not actively recruit there.

I work in English Duncan and can rely on my expertise to deliver in countries where Executives are rarely native English speakers. I speak 4 other languages. So, not sure what is the intent of your post.

I chose Henley but I also initially received offer from Warwick and Manchester. As far as I know most poeple of my cohort achieved their carreer goals after graduation.

[Edited by Ludovic on May 06, 2017]

@Ludovic .
From what I understood, you attended the 3-4 year duration Henley EMBA taught at the Greenlands campus.
This thread is about the 1 year duration Henley Full-time MBA taught at the Reading campus.
Whatever you did to earn your degree in 3-4 years, we did it in less than 10 months. Add to that the pressure of job search with no help or support from the School.
Careers is no magic bullet and we weren't expecting one. Trouble is Henley careers is an empty gun, for decorative purposes only.
As for BCG, ATK even Nissan, google, facebook etc, notice how their adverts for new MBA recruits ends with please contact your university careers service for more details?
Scratch that. Say you applied yourself and got into the interview phase. Everyone you are competing with has experience with case interviews courtsey school careers, except us.
Even for companies like Amazon, where initially you have to sit through exams such as Kenexa, everyone has a practice run via their school, except us.
Most people have met alumnis or peers in the field through events except us.
Most people got individual tailored advise except us.
It's not like we didn't pay for it. We did. Forget results, even intent to help was missing.
For example, when some students tried to arrange case interview materials on their own and asked career service for funds to order materials (£150-Mark Cosentino if I remember correctly), they were told that kind of budget doesn't exist. A few weeks later , the careers office got themselves a new room furnished with imported cane furniture, reclining chair, cot, coffee table etc.
Of course careers is no magic bullet. Hell all of us did what we did on our own. Thing is we didn't have to. It could have been easier/better, only if competent people were involved.
I have seen many EMBA alumnis writing positive feedback about Henley.
Have you ever come across one positive feedback from a full-time alumni in any of the public forums?

Eventually the student IS responsible.So choose your school wisely. Where you can get help. Where people want to help. It will make a mountain load of difference.