Hi,

I recently attended a short business growth course and was strongly recommended to pursue an MBA by someone who lectures on the MMU MBA course.

I have 7 plus years of experience managing all aspects of my family business. We have an ecommerce website and in the past 7 years I have managed the implementation of a bespoke website, marketing strategy, implemented a warehouse system, implemented a full ERP system and deal with all the day to day issues of running a business. The business has seen steady growth year on year.

I think I have great experience but would really appreciate an honest response to two questions:

1. Does working for a family business look back on application because of the implications of nepotism?
2. I do not have a degree. Are my chances of getting onto a worthwhile course slim? Will a high GMAT score remedy this?

My ideal school would be the Uni of Manchester Alliance Business School and my long term goal is to work for a big consultancy firm after we sell the business.

I really appreciate any help with this.

Thanks

Hey there. I am not sure that Manchester Alliance Business School would accept since it is one of the top schools in UK and Worldwide as well. Its requirements are quite strict forward.

Lemme answer your questions.

1. You should not mention that you work for a family business because I am also the one who is working as a Director of my family business but I never mention that. You should state that you work as a normal person at the company. Because from my experience, most people do not have great impression for working for a family business such as they think of you that u don't have good actual experience, u got XXXX position as it's your family business but not by your efforts.

2. You should look for an MBA at Cranfield University (Cranfield School of Management). I have seen from its website that if a person has an adequate work experience regardless of having Bachelor degree, he/she can apply for its MBA program. But you would need a minimum of GMAT 600. You can also submit your details and CV to check for the eligibility as per following link;

https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/cranfield-mba-programmes/mba-full-time

Hope this could be a help for you !

Hi Thant, 

Thanks for your response. 

I have already made contact with Cranfield but I did say that I worked for my family business. The lady on the phone didn't seem to think it mattered much. Maybe it will during the application process. 

If I were to omit the fact that I work for a family business, what should I do about references? The owner is my father.

Do you think an online MBA is worth it? Do you think an online MBA from a business school that has triple accreditation but a low QS ranking would be worth it? Like MMU?

Thanks

Hello there.

Regarding the references, I suggest you to add your father as a superior along with his position title. For myself, I add my mother in the references section along with her position (Executive Director) while I am working as a director. You will not be asked to fill in your parent's name during the application towards the MBA program since it is not government related form, right? So obviously, no one will know the reference is your father unless you tell them about it. 

An online MBA is definitely not worth because the elements of MBA includes physical interaction between the students and lecturers, short visit to companies, networking, and etc. I have encountered such issue before. I planned to join MBA at NUCB Japan (which has triple crown accreditation but very low QS ranking). At that time, the expert graduated from LBS and Manchester University has told me that triple crown accreditation means that you will be learnt the MBA academically properly but will not not have an international exposure and employability. Those MBAs are only suitable for the people who already have a secured job because their strengths are limited from shifting into another companies (because of low employability and reputation like I said earlier).

Honestly after all, I do not recommend you to pursue online MBA. University of Strathclyde also accept students who have no bachelor degree but adequate work experience of course. I suggest you to apply mid-ranged ranking universities for an MBA regardless of triple accreditation. (consider AACSB first, then EQUIS, then AMBA)

https://www.strath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatetaught/mba/mba-fulltime/#entryrequirements

Although Strathclyde's QS ranking is 302 which is kinda lower than Glasgow Uni (#73), Strathclyde has more employability and reputation when it comes to MBA because of more practical exposure while Glasgow is more towards research area. 

So, the QS Ranking for specific subject need to be filtered as per link below;
(In this filter for Business study, Strathclyde is #96 and Glasgow Uni is within #151-200.

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2021/business-management-studies

Good luck !

It's misleading to say: "triple crown accreditation means that you will be learnt the MBA academically properly but will not have international exposure and employability." AMBA accreditation guarantees a strong academic design for an MBA, and EQUIS and AACSB accreditation means you also have a strong institution. Those help employability. They don't prevent them. see: Why international accreditation matters http://www.find-mba.com/board/41224 

So, a triple crown school might not also have a strong international reputation (very few schools are famous globally). However, a triple crown school is, on average, better than a school without accrediation. 

LBS and Bayes (formerly Cass) entertain applicants without a degree and both are highly ranked business schools.