Well it is of course pity that with all this info you are still arrogant about your conviction about Lancaster. However, for your info, I have been admitted to the Warwick MBA in 2009 (Without GMAT) based on my work experience and my previous education. For your info even if you are from a recognized UK university you have to submit a GMAT at lancasteter, and they waive it for you in some cases where work experience is very much influencing your profile. This is everywhere. I have 2 friends in Cranfield and they did not submit a GMAT, and I am not saying this to counter your argument, but this is seriously true.

You asked for CEO's in the top 500 and I have given you this easily, you asked for people in the parliament and I have given you many and there are still more.

If you are not aware of those people, then it is lack of knowledge so you can't judge a school to have gaps if you are not aware of its achievements. Robert Fisk is one of the most well known correspondents worldwide and he is a Lancaster graduate.

Neither cranfield nor warwick have achieved a noble prize. Yet, they are both good schools. So achieving a noble prize of course adds to the prestige of the school, but it is not necessary a reason to add more value.

Lancaster is known for its research especially in physics and management and if you look closely by breaking the silos, you will find out that the university has made some discoveries "The development of water saving techniques for agriculture which have helped farmers in some of the driest regions of the world "

Also "Lancaster scientists were in Switzerland participating and observing the successful switch on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the world?s biggest science experiment and they were invited to be part of the experiments as they are leaders worldwide in this field.

Each university has its gaps and I know a friend at warwick who was on a marketing strategy course and students were lousy and inexperienced and the course was basic and the support was minimal? is this what you call quality? Check student satisfaction rates issued this year and you can see that Lancaster is in the top 10.

Dear friend, what matters is your experience and what you take from it. You might be from Harvard, but yet lack the personality or the talent in many other aspects of life. An argument can go on and on, but this wont change anything because you are stringent on one point that Lancaster has its gaps and other schools are perfect. Sorry to say, that you are inaccurate with what you are saying and in each thread you share you hip hop from one point to another. You started with how famous are teachers, then to how famous are alumni then now you are counting noble prizes. Not all universities got noble prizes and this does not make them any less from other schools. Warwick is a 40 years old institution, yet it is an excellent one, so age does not matter much. Same for lancatser, it is a young institution but it has some of the best professors in the world and can compete with all schools in research power and quality. 92% of Lancaster research is judged as world leading, please check this on RAE2008. Honestly I donno your background and where you come from, but you are mixing topics and your argument is rather weak. If you want to discuss this further, you can add me on skype or msn and i will be more than happy to discuss this further :)

Dear Ziad,

Although we aren?t of one mind, I enjoy this discussion very much.
This is seriously not a question of arrogance.
I said (and say it again): In my opinion, Warwick and Cass are better than Lancaster.
This mustn?t lead to the false idea that Lancaster is a bad and poor school!
I have to admit, I?m very surprised that Warwick has sent you an offer without GMAT.
I thought they make no exemptions!!! How have you managed this?
Ziad, do you think 3 years of work experience are enough to get admitted in Lancaster, Warwick, Strathclyde or Cass.
(I know it only depends on the quality of the work experience)

Thanks.

Hello Sultan,

The discussion is not personal but in some point in time everyone should look in a wider sense to realize that some schools gets better than other. This is happening now as Lancaster is expanding largely in terms of programmes, buildings (look at the new business school construction and other facilities). Look at Lancaster being selected along Cambridge and Warwick to host a worldclass center for mathematical and statistical research center. All of this proves that lancaster is at par with the mentioned schools. Professors at Cass say that Lancaster is as good as Cass and in some disciplines it is better. So it depends on what you look at.

Now for Warwick, please believe me that they are like Lancaster, they exempt you from GMAT if you have a good profile (lets say 5 years of experience, coming from a UK business school) then you can manage to get in easily.

I have applied to Warwick having the following profile:

Masters degree from Lancaster Management School
Bachelor Degree from the American University of Beirut (Top in the Middle East and Asia) and one of the top 150 worldwide.

I am also a Chartered Manager from CMI in the UK.

Got 7 years of work experience.

Please know that the admission criteria at Warwick is equal to Lancaster. yet, Lancaster MBA is known to have more consultancy challenges, more empahsis on the soft skills and very powerful in management, Strategy and marketing. Please have a Look. I am not promoting it because i am from there, but believe me I have experience of both Warwick and Lancaster and Lancaster give you more support. If you need more info, please feel free to add me on skype and I can tell you more about both schools.

Skype: abuzooz25

All the best dear
Ziad

Dear Ziad,

My profil is as follow:
? Electrical Engineering / 5 Years / Darmstadt University of Applied Science / Germany.
? Master in Renewable Energy / 2 Years / University of Kassel /Germany.
? 3 Years as a Project Manager at Siemens in Germany.

I wasted 2 years to learn German. I still believe that it?s not enough to get admitted. 3 years aren?t enough! I'm intrested on marketing.

In one thing we would probably be agree: The Marketing Management Program in Lancaster is good and highly respected. As per my information?s this is better than the Master of Marketing and Strategy from Warwick.

How would you access my suitability?

Thanks

Dear Sultan,

Your degree does not hold any marketing content in it and the masters in advanced marketing at Lancaster is for experienced people in marketing and it is an advanced course. Most people i know who were on the same year cohort are now working in multi-national marketing organisations at senior levels. As I said it is better than you add me on Skype or MSN to discuss this further as it is quite hard to explain everything here. I know many professors at Lancaster and I can help you in the application process if needed.

All the best
Ziad

I want to thank you all for your powerful and constructive contributions...

well this is my last post kinda busy now so i cant write alot

wont delve into how good this school or other is so good at because like i say it rather highlight your strength but not so much how does your strength compare to others.

i like lancaster and always recommend it ahead of the likes of durham aston or bath

the fact that your friends and yourself get into cranfield and warwick without gmat is very strange and thank you man. ppl i know before have proflie very strong but they had still do GMAT for cranfield and warwick.

so if lancaster require YOU to take GMAT and not warwick then it is something I admit I have to think about it

all the best, lancaster is very strong in consulting and another thing is with lancaster mba students can take any courses in business school you like but those extra courses wont be marked, so take that advantage

Also the exchange is pretty good. where you plan to go?

I have been admitted to the Warwick MBA in 2009 (Without GMAT) based on my work experience and my previous education....

Dear Ziad,

My profil is as follow:
? Electrical Engineering / 5 Years / Darmstadt University of Applied Science / Germany.
? Master in Renewable Energy / 2 Years / University of Kassel /Germany.
? 3 Years as a Project Manager at Siemens in Germany.

I wasted 2 years to learn German. I still believe that it?s not enough to get admitted. 3 years aren?t enough! I'm intrested on marketing.

In one thing we would probably be agree: The Marketing Management Program in Lancaster is good and highly respected. As per my information?s this is better than the Master of Marketing and Strategy from Warwick.

How would you access my suitability?

Thanks

I have been admitted on the full time mode but I deferred my acceptance due to family reasons (that was 2 years ago) Now I have am admitted to the Lancaster MBA as I love the structure of the programme and the fact that you have 3 consultancy opportunities. I know a couple of people from previous years who got an exemption from the GMAT.

I have done GMAT 5 years ago when I was admitted to Lancaster for an MSc in IT management and got 690 but I honestly see that this exam does not really judge the quality of a student. An MBA is more about networking, learning from others and being exposed to the latest thinking in management and other topics. So I think a good degree from a good university with nice managerial experience, balanced GMAT not necessarily 600, good recommendation letters and excellent interview would get you to decent highly regarded business schools.

Most top business schools such as Cass, Lancaster, Manchester and Cranfield can waive GMAT if you are from a well regarded British university and have sufficient senior position from a decent firm. To support what you say, in Lancaster we have people from Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, BT, Booz Allen, Tata, Siemens and all have senior positions. GMAT average is 650 and competition for places is 12:1, due to this high competititon they place GMAT and experience as their first priority, however when places are quite filled up, they do some exceptions for those who carry decent profiles to be on their programme. Things like this happen every year, every day.

Warwick and Cranfield both need GMAT regardless where you come from

So yes, i agree that lancaster is good enough but the gap is still there.

Well I have the proof that I got admitted without GMAT to warwick. By the way and for your info warwick is not at par with LBS not anytime now and not anytime in 10 years!!!

Lancs, warwick, Cranfield and Manchester are at par, each with its own capacity and each excelling in some aspects of business.

I think 3 years in raw rankings are not in anyway wrong preferring Lancs over other schools. Numbers talk my dear and after 8 years of work experience and visiting both warwick and Lancaster, I can tell you Lancaster is a much more supportive system and to be extra honest, Warwick is money minded and all what they care for is to rip you off.

With all the rankings on hand, i am still not claiming that lancaster is better, i am saying each school has its own strengths and weaknesses and this does not put any school behind. there are great business schools in the UK such as Henley management school and Ashridge but both are in the shadow as they focus more on EMBA rather than MBA.

Again and Again warwick is not a goddess school and it has its flaws and pitfalls like any other school. Schools go up and down and it is high time that you start seeing other schools at par with the top triangle as u name it.

Chees

Dear Ziad30,

Nobody here is disagreeing with the fact that Lancs is a good school or is anybody at war with proving which one is THE BEST...You are doing great believe me...getting into an MBA program in any accredited school is indeed great achievement...but I disagree with few of ur input...

1. The MBA program office at Warwick told me that Warwick never ever takes any student on full time MBA without GMAT...never...reason being that Warwick is a member of GMAC hence to keep its membership it has to make GMAT mandatory. Only 5 schools in UK are GMAC member (LBS, LSE, Warwick, Asridge, Cass)...please see this link: http://www.gmac.com/gmac/aboutus/governance/memberschools.htm

2. I appreciate the fact that you love the Lancs-MBA...and its really nice to know that you have chance to work on consultancy projects...but believe me its not something unusual at any top tier school like LBS, Warwick, HEC, INSEAD etc...A consultancy project serves two purpose- give a first class opportunity to a student to gain hands on experience and well, generate revenue for the school!! At Warwick we have dozens of such project running all year round...not just for MBA but also for MSc and MPA program.
Please see the 2009 info about projects at Warwick here: http://www.wbs.ac.uk/downloads/ebrochures/projects2009/

3. Well, I was a full time employee of Accenture and was also associated with BT for more than 1.5 years at the Ipswich office in the UK and I still do think GMAT is very very important..true that the maths and english does little as far as the MBA program is concerned but its a threshold qualification that judges if a person has at all any capability to manage time, quant and of course how well are his communication skills...the only alternative to GMAT is perhaps GRE...all good schools ask for GMAT...some schools ask GMAT even for MSc Management e.g. LSE, HEC etc...almost 40% of the recommendation letters and SOP submitted are forged so GMAT and Interviews are the only possible ways to evaluate a student.

Honestly as far as quality goes I see following schools immediately out of the triangle (as mentioned by you); I have arranged as per decreasing order of quality:

1. Said
2. judge
3. Cass
4. Asridge
5. Lancaster
6. Manchester

_Nes

Dear Nes,

Thank you for the reply. To keep it short, any school has discretion over its criteria and each school can admit some students without GMAT and this is a fact even if the school is a member of GMAC. your ranking for quality puts warwick better than said, Judge Cass and lancaster and this is not true for various reasons which I have witnessed.

For consultancy, please note that Lancatser has consultancies for all its MBA, MSc's and undergraduate programmes. Please check http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/masters/itmoc/ this programme is associated with SAP and Accenture,

I wont bombard you with links but you can check the website and see that most programmes are in partnership with universities and companies.

Lancaster also offers a unique programme along INSEAD, McGill, and other 2 schools located in India and Japan. So they have the international exposure with top schools. I think you know that INSEAD would not cooperate with any school unless itis prestigious. Please check this link http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/executive/open/impm/

In conclusion, everyone on the Lancaster MBA got GMAT with some little exemptions for those with long years of experience.

at Warwick, only MBA needs GMAT, other programmes needs nothing as per the website. If you check lancs's website MBA link, you will see the criteria and u will see that it is at par with that in Warwick.

Both are good schools and i regard them as top in the country.

Cheers

Honestly, today I must be looking true braggart..:) but my real intention is not to prove 'Warwick is great'...its stupid but I am amazed to see a person having 8yrs of workex would put forward points without proof...

1. almost every MSc course of IT Management at any business school in every school has such partnerships...there isnt anything great in that and you need not take reference from ITMOC to prove that Lancs-MBA is good...this is really funny!
Warwick is a member of SAP Uni Alliance and Warwick-ISM is associated with Deloitte (http://www.wbs.ac.uk/students/masters/ism/) ...so now I ask..."ITMOC is associated with SAP and Accenture"..So what?!!

2. About partnerships at Warwick...less said is better!:) Warwick is a part of PIM http://www.wbs.ac.uk/about/global/study.cfm

3. Please do not 'think'...please put forward arguments if you have correct arguments...all the MSc courses at Warwick asks higher score than Lancs-ITMOC!! Like Lancs, Warwick says GMAT is optional but 'unlike' Lancs, Warwick actually asks for GMAT/GRE scores to few unfortunates like me:)...almost 45% people had to produce GMAT/GRE scores for the MIM course and Warwick also fixes cutoff for GMAT/GRE scores for MSc students!..see page 62 of 2010 brochure http://www.wbs.ac.uk/downloads/ebrochures/masters2010/


Lancs is not at par with Warwick...ask anybody...but Lancs truly is a good school without any doubt.

nice talking to u but need to study now...Cheers mate...!

_Nes

Honestly, today I must be looking true braggart..:) but my real intention is not to prove 'Warwick is great'...its stupid but I am amazed to see a person having 8yrs of workex would put forward points without proof...

1. almost every MSc course of IT Management at any business school in every school has such partnerships...there isnt anything great in that and you need not take reference from ITMOC to prove that Lancs-MBA is good...this is really funny!
Warwick is a member of SAP Uni Alliance and Warwick-ISM is associated with Deloitte (www.wbs.ac.uk/students/masters/ism/) ...so now I ask..."ITMOC is associated with SAP and Accenture"..So what?!!

First of all, any thread I have is proven to be correct as I provide examples! I gave you the ITMOC example to inform you that not only warwick has links with corporations. So your argument here is invalid. I am not mentioning this to prove that Warwick has no corporate links, but to open your eyes that most top business schools have links on mostly every course.

2. About partnerships at Warwick...less said is better!:) Warwick is a part of PIM www.wbs.ac.uk/about/global/study.cfm

Good for you the PIM, it has good schools but many top schools are not there, so this means nothing honestly.Lancaster has also a group of universities which are partners and have extensive exchange programs with all around the world, please check. http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/international/exchange/partners/
Again I am not saying anyone is better here but I am saying there is nothing to brag about here.

3. Please do not 'think'...please put forward arguments if you have correct arguments...all the MSc courses at Warwick asks higher score than Lancs-ITMOC!! Like Lancs, Warwick says GMAT is optional but 'unlike' Lancs, Warwick actually asks for GMAT/GRE scores to few unfortunates like me:)...almost 45% people had to produce GMAT/GRE scores for the MIM course and Warwick also fixes cutoff for GMAT/GRE scores for MSc students!..see page 62 of 2010 brochure www.wbs.ac.uk/downloads/ebrochures/masters2010/

First please note that it is mentioned clearly in page 62 that GRE and GMAT are not required except for MBA students but if you have either tests this will improve your application. My friend this is the same as in Lancaster, on the ITMOC it is clearly mentioned that if students have GMAT or GRE they have to send them as they will have better chances to be accepted.

Let us check both the entry requirements for the MSc in finance noting that both institutions are partners with the CFA association so both should have the same requirements to be partners on the CFA. Pls check http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/masters/pgfin/finance/

MSc in finance requirements at Warwick are
A first- or upper second-class honours bachelor's degree from a United Kingdom university
IELTS test score of at least 7

At Lancaster:
Entry requirements: at least upper second class honours degree or equivalent; IELTS 7.0 or TOEFL 250 if first language is not English. Applicants whose qualifications were not obtained in the UK may well be required to provide a GMAT score
So as you can see most students on this MSc are required to do GMAT; as they are from overseas, on this finance course, whereas in Warwick no one is required to submit a GMAT score. This does not mean that warwick is less than Lancaster!!! Do not put through arguments without checking the facts. So I can now say that I am surprised to see you forwarding arguments without proofs.
Lets compare another course

MSc Management

Warwick requires:

We expect one of:
? A first- or upper second-class honours bachelor's degree from a UK university
? The equivalent from an overseas university
? a professional qualification which we judge to be at a comparable level.
? Some candidates might be requested to submit GMAT but in general it is not necessary
Lancaster requires the following
We look for a minimum of a 2:1 honours degree or equivalent (a minimum GPA of 3.2 on a 4-point scale).
? IELTS: A balanced score of 7.0 overall with a minimum grade of 6.0 in each element of the test, or:
? TOEFL 600 or above (or 250 on computer-based test, or 100 internet-based).
So as you can see they share similar requirements so I can?t see where do they ask for more?
Also for MBA students of both Warwick and Lancaster are required to submit the same requirements.


Lancs is not at par with Warwick...ask anybody...but Lancs truly is a good school without any doubt.

No comment on this mate, its your opinion and I can see that you are the one being bias 

nice talking to u but need to study now...Cheers mate...!

_Nes
---

If I were having offers from, both, Warwick & Lancaster (and I hv), I will choose Warwick for sure.

Advantages of Warwick over Lancaster:
- Location. Lancaster in located at very very remote place.
- Warwick has better industry tie-ups.
- Reputation. Warwick is much more reputed than Lancaster.
- Professionalism. Warwick is very professional and management runs University like an enterprise.
- Job Placement support. Warwick has one of the best career support service in the world. It's simple, if you are at Warwick, you have a great chance of getting the job.
- Size. Warwick is very big in size compared to Lancaster.
- Employers preference. Warwick is one of the most favored Universities by employers.
- Entry standards. Entry standards at Warwick are higher compared to Lancaster. Warwick is one of the very few UK Universities, which charge application fees for each course and still receive numerous applications. Only a top-tier institution could do so.
- Part time jobs. Chances of getting part-time jobs in Coventry are brighter than that in Lancaster.

Advantages of Lancaster over Warwick:
- It's small and very friendly University. Warwick is sometimes secretive and too professional in certain aspects. They even charge for the orientation program.
- Costs. Lancaster is cheaper. Overall costs are dramatically reduced.
- Research. Lancaster is research-intensive University.
- Financial support/Funding: Lancaster offers many Funding/Scholarship/Bursary options.

So if we consider all these factors, Warwick is definitely much better choice than Lancaster. In fact, I discussed all these points with one of the well-known professors at Lancaster and he also agreed to it!

Hi dear friends

I have one question?

My friends :he is a entrepreneur and managing a Institution since last 6 years.

He belongs to medicine and a very buzy person to prepare dedicatedly for GMAT

He got profile acceptance from Warwick, and the are demanding for GMAT

So is their any bypass to get in.

Thank you
Naved Farooqui

@Naved:

Sorry buddy! Warwick will not waive the GMAT criteria. Your Friend has to give it. And there is no need to panic. If he has good work- experience, it might compensate for the lower GMAT score. And scoring 600-620 in GMAT is not that hard. :)

If I were having offers from, both, Warwick & Lancaster (and I hv), I will choose Warwick for sure.

Advantages of Warwick over Lancaster:
- Location. Lancaster in located at very very remote place. (you have a point in this but then warwick is not in the middle of the city nd coventry is too small as well)
- Warwick has better industry tie-ups. (that was quite old, check Lancaster news, they are building huge tie ups with the industry by linking each programme with not only one company and the school is being supported by big firms such as Accenture, Deloitte, SAP, IBM) also the school is affiliating with top universities worldwide and opening campuses abroad in India, Singapore, Malaysia). Check www.lums.lancs.ac.uk and hit on news
- Reputation. Warwick is much more reputed than Lancaster. (that is not true, each university has its strength so you cant say this school has better reputation and the proof is that in the UK, there is no official ranking issued by the government except for research, and in research Lancaster is higher ranked in research power and in business it is at par with warwick even better as it is named as the 6* business school.

- Professionalism. Warwick is very professional and management runs University like an enterprise. A university has to be run as an institution and not as an enterprise. If you mean financially, both lancaster and warwick are healthy and you can check this link http://domino.lancs.ac.uk/info/lunews.nsf/I/C27F414D291D1574802575FA004279AB. If you are
- Job Placement support. Warwick has one of the best career support service in the world. It's simple, if you are at Warwick, you have a great chance of getting the job. This is not very accurate because all my class mates at lancaster got jobs within 3 months and this was through the university career services. We had a lot of support and this is out of experience!
- Size. Warwick is very big in size compared to Lancaster. Do you mean campus? or do you mean in number of students? If you visit lancaster campus you will be amazed with the number of new construction and development that is taking place. The campus is 280 acres in size and has the best accommodation in the country.
- Employers preference. Warwick is one of the most favored Universities by employers. Thisis true but lancaster is also highly desires especially for those with computing, physics, statistics and management. Each university is preferred in a special field so you cant generalize.
- Entry standards. Entry standards at Warwick are higher compared to Lancaster. Warwick is one of the very few UK Universities, which charge application fees for each course and still receive numerous applications. Only a top-tier institution could do so. please read my previous discussion where I present that this is not true. Lancaster in business has very high entry points and required GMAT for its MBA and other MSc courses, please check the links supplied above.
- Part time jobs. Chances of getting part-time jobs in Coventry are brighter than that in Lancaster. In Lancaster you are unable to work due to the high pressure and involvement you have on the course. Also you are involved in company based projects, which leaves u with no time to work. As for the application fee, this does not indicate that the school is top tier or not. most if not 99% of the UK business schools do not request money on their applications. Example is LSE, Durham, Lancaster, Cranfield, Manchester. For yoru info the competition for places at lancaster MBA is 12:1 please check the economist whereas at warwick it is 4:1, please check before stating a wrong assumption. Although Lancaster MBA is higher in tuition (23,500 Pounds) where as Warwick charges (21,400 Pounds) yet, lancaster receives higher number of applications every year.

Advantages of Lancaster over Warwick:
- It's small and very friendly University. Warwick is sometimes secretive and too professional in certain aspects. They even charge for the orientation program. Man Warwick is money minded and this sucks honestly and it has been advised by many students that support on warwick programmes is under expectations, this is why Lancaster is higher ranked in student satisfaction.
- Costs. Lancaster is cheaper. Overall costs are dramatically reduced. This does not apply for its courses. Lancaster has courses that are higher priced than warwick)

- Research. Lancaster is research-intensive University.
- Financial support/Funding: Lancaster offers many Funding/Scholarship/Bursary options. Of course because lancaster gets a lot of research grants, government funds due to its internationally renowned research.

So if we consider all these factors, Warwick is definitely much better choice than Lancaster. In fact, I discussed all these points with one of the well-known professors at Lancaster and he also agreed to it!