Hi at all!

I'm interested in an one year MBA program in an English spoken country.

I expect my GMAT at 600.
My first degree and my career background so far is quite good.
I'm from Germany.

Currently my career goal is the management consulting branch.

Does anybody know any details about the following schools:
- Durham
- Smurfit
- Strathclyde

I know the FT and economist rankings in detail. But where are the differences between these schools.

What are the pros and what are the cons about these three? Which insider information do you have?

Why are Durham and Smurfit falle off in the rankings? Why is Strathclyde on the up?

Thank you very much for your help!

Kind regards!

What sort of management consulting firms would you like to work for? The top firms do not hire at those schools really.

Search the discussion board for discussion about them. The ranking movements were fundamentally driven by placement outcomes; Scotland has a better economy.

Take a look at How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571

Hi Duncan,

thank you for your reply.

With "About them" you mean the three schools, don't you? Or the consulting firms?
I think I read every post about these schools. But I would be great to get more informations. But I think you're right, that getting in contact with current students or graduates via linkin is a good idea.

I want to continue my work in the automotive sector. But I want to do a more international and more strategically job.

I must not be mckinsey. A second tier top management consulting firm is also good.

If you ask my today, I want to continue my work in Germany after getting the MBA.

My biggest weakness is my englisch and also my little international experience. I want also broaden my knowledge about strategy.

Thats why I want to study in a englisch spoken country.

The best German schools (ESMT and Mannheim) have good contacts to the top management firms. - But if i won't study abroad my internationality weakness would stay.

Kind regards!

If you want to work in Germany, study there. The second tier consulting firms won't recruit for Germany at non-GMAT schools like Durham. Also, will your English really improve that much more in Durham than in Germany? Either way, no more than 10% of the class with be native-speakers.

The best option might be to take the advanced track at HHL; that way you can spend a semester abroad, and still be in Germany so you can find work.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Is it really so important that the firms recruit at the school?

I mean, isn't it possible to apply directly for a job at a certain company.
If the CV, the person is interesting in the whole, do you think the fact having studied at one of the three is such a big disadvantage?

I'm really unsure.

DO you know any other programs like the Mannheim global track with such a great option to study not only for a few weeks at other universities?

And: is there anything negative, anything you should know about durham, strathclyde, smurfit or Lancaster?

(I mean like it is with Hult for example?)

Which school has the best international reputation on your point of view - out of the four?

Kind regards.

If you're applying for jobs where the quality of the MBA does not matter, why take an MBA? Those jobs won't pay the premium needed to justify the MBA.

There are several programmes with formal international exchanges: LBS; Insead; HEC; Bocconi has a campus in Mumbai, and other partners; Manchester; maybe Cranfield; Lisbon has an MIT exchange; IE has a partnership with Yale, I think... these are all better than Mannheim in a general sense.

There is nothing specifically negative about the non-GMA school: the students and their outcomes are worse for obvious reasons. Read: Why you should take the GMAT http://www.find-mba.com/board/38939

If you want to work in Germany, in an MBA-level role (rather than one you could get without an MBA) then HHL and Mannheim are the schools with the best international options.

Hello Sep14,

In my view, you should not get too obsessed with the name of the school, as long as you have a shortlist of officially accredited/recognized schools. If you know what you need and what type of a programme will meet your expectations, you can find a suitable one among these.

Generally speaking, the more professional experience you have the less weight your school will have on your career prospects. Business life is more about what you put on the table as a result than where you have graduated from.

As Duncan has also mentioned, Linkedin is a great source for this. You may look for graduates or current students of the programmes you are interested in to see what they are actually doing.

Regards,

Is it really so important that the firms recruit at the school?

Thank you for the last two further answers.

I totally agree your statements.

Do you or anybody else have other perhaps better options than Strathclyde, Durham or Smurfit? - With an 550/600 GMAT

I definitely want to study abroad. - in an English spoken country.

And sts and mba hipster, what would your preference be among these three? And why?

Kind regards.

Well, since I have not made any detailed research about these schools -perhaps except Strathclyde to some degree-
and I am no expert on the topic, I can not mention a specific one to select from these. However, I can share my "personal preference" with you, which is towards the schools in or around London- or in England in a broader sense. I am not sure whether they offer programmes that suit your needs, however you may want to have a look at some other schools as well such as Henley, Manchester, Surrey, Lancaster, Liverpool, etc.

Regards,

I don't think any of those are better than Strathclyde, other than Manchester. Manchester is a tier up, on a par with Imperial and Cass, while Lancaster's placement is rather dire. Bath has a better cohort than Strathclyde, so I would also look at that.

Hi Duncan, and everyone, ;)

I've just read at the homepage of the imperial college business school:

Candidates with extensive work experience (6+ years) may be considered for a waiver of the GMAT requirement.

What do you think about this?
Do you know any other good schools with this limitation?

What do you think about imperial in comparison to strathclyde and durham? Why is this school better?

Thanks for your help and ideas.

Kind regards.

I think the waiver depends on how it's used. If it's used because the work experience is enough evidence of the quant and verbal skills, then it's helpful, especially with women since they are most likely to self-exclude. If it was used to admit people without the necessary quant and verbal skills, then it would be a problem. The fact that it's discretionary is a good sign.

Imperial is better because its has better outcomes, most obviously on the metrics measured by the FT ranking: http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2014 It attracts a higher quality cohort: that is the most important.

I recommend Durham MBA only if you want a VERY academic degree. Their main focus is on you writing a lot of papers. Class participation is not valued; all that you are graded on are your papers. So it is a great course if you want to be a business writer. They do NOT focus on public speaking, presentations, debates, and challenging each other. Also, they will NOT help you find a job. They make this very clear from day one. They do not have connections with companies to recruit their students. They have a very bureaucratic system, so changes do not happen often and when they do, they happen very slowly. Also the housing they provide from nearby colleges is very mediocre. Even though MBA fees are much higher, you receive no special treatment in accommodation. They are extremely small rooms, extremely basic amenities and living area. The transportation system is also very precarious. On Sundays, for example, there are no buses for you to go to town, so you have to walk at least 30 minutes if you need to buy something in town. And during week days, you only have buses until 6pm. So if you are out of classroom at 6pm, you better get ready to walk a lot!

It's funny, I was just talking to somebody who was overly happy with the support she received from Durham's career services, and mentioned that she did have one-on-one meetings with a career consultant, which did help. But she also networked herself, and hit the pavement from day one, attended events, etc.

I suppose that everybody has their own experiences, and in the end your success might have as much to do with how much you put in to the experience as what others can do for you.

Thanks for the last two comments.
Perhaps there are other further first hand experiences about the schools?

Kind regards.

Imperial seems to be the best of this selection set, but mostly because it's in London and a wider range of jobs will be found in that city versus others in the UK.

However, Smurfit has some reasonably good post-MBA salary stats, at least according to the FT. Might be worth considering as well.

As always with this tier of schools though, and assuming you'd be applying as a non-EU citizen of course, if you could bump your GMAT score a bit to where you're competitive at schools like Cass, Manchester, etc., your post-MBA job viability would be increased substantially.

Can't comment on the Imperial GMAT waiver. You should contact them directly, I'd wager.