I am a 34 year old engineer with 10 years of international experience from US and Europe. I am looking for an MBA from Europe mainly UK. I hope to get advice from the group to select the right MBA school for my profile.

What is the reputation / career prospects of MBA from Oxbridge Vs Lancaster Vs Cranfield? (All are in FT top 50 rankings). I have offers from many Uni but I am considering Cranfield, Lancaster, Strathclyde and Edinburgh because of 50% scholarship offers. (How realistic is the 50th rank of Lancaster?)

How about the MBA at Edinburgh? I am surprised to see that they do not figure in FT rankings but their class composition for 2014/15 is just great.

The reputation of these schools and their placement are well documented. Do you have a more specific question?

Do not take an inferior option because of a scholarship: The sad facts about scholarships http://www.find-mba.com/board/37055 For some roles, Cranfield is on a par with Oxbridge ( consider te approach at How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571 ) but it would be a bad investment to swap a fairly modest scholarship for the much lower salary resulting from a worse MBA.

The Edinburgh MBA is too small, as far as I can see, to regularly get enough survey responses to the FT survey. That's the same at many other UK schools, and that's why Ashridge, Bath, Birmingham etc are in and out so often.

Thanks for your feedback about Edinburgh. I also derived similar conclusions. However, their student composition really looked impressive including also some old age students. http://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/mba/recruitment/mba-student-profiles

I am thinking of zeroing in for either Lancaster or Cranfield. Both are in FT top 50 ranking. The only shortcomings in my opinion could be the small batch size, low % of European/US students and probably less functional focus in comparison to tier 1 (Oxbridge, LBS).

I am seeking advice on two questions:
1. Does an advantage of tier 1 schools really offer too strong differentiation than the tier 2 schools in terms of career growth and industry-wide recognition?
2. Which one among the tier2 schools offers the best MBA in terms of course coverage and career prospects? (Value of money could be Lancaster that's why I didn't ask about it)

To answer these questions accurately we'd have to look at your specific context. I don't have the time to do that with non-clients, but generic answers are:
1. Yes. Of course.
2. If we start from your definition of tier 2 then Cranfield and Manchester stand out in having more course coverage (four and five terms, respectively) and, as the FT data show, high salary. Manchester and Cass are strongest in terms of career progression, again according to the FT.

Great.. Thanks for your reply Duncan..

Cranfield's actually ranked higher for international mobility than Cambridge and Strathclyde.