Dear All

I am new here, researching which MBA to pursue and wondering about my chances and profile to join a good MBA through distance learning.

I have been looking into distance learning good schools and have drawn a short list and would be interested on your feedback on these.

My profile:
I am 30 with a master in Public Law, a Master in European Affairs and 8 years experience in european project management (business orientated, from writing bids, to leading teams of people from different offices across different EU countries) as well as training small companies on various subjects in different countries in europe too. Living in the UK.

Budget is not exactly an issue but I do not really want to spend over 20k as I also have other things to pay for and a family that hopefully will be growing in the next few years.
Aim is to get a higher profile, open further international opportunities.

My shortlist is:
1. Warwickshire Business School - 16500 pounds for 3 years
2. Edinburgh - Heriot Watt - 800 per course, 9 courses to do?
3. University of Liverpool (i like the different specialisms - entrepreneuship, international) - 12800 pounds

Then not so sure about Henley (i like the project management aspect), Bradford, Durham or Strathclyde


Any views from your experience? Things that I should think about?

Thanks in advance

Hi,
About a year ago I have been in the same situation like yourself. To choose the right MBA curriculum is truly very important. I did pay a lot of attention to rankings in the Economist or FT. When doing so, I considered also the development of programmes over the past years and more importantly their international accreditation.
Now, Warwick has the so called triple-crown accreditation which some of its competitors did not have. With my intention to continue working in an international environment this has been Warwick's edge over the competition.
Since I used to live and work in Scotland for 9 years Strathclyde was one of my favorites, too. Clearly location and ranking were important here. They did not rank as good as Warwick but the chance to visit my ?second home country? from time to time was tempting and looking at it internationally they did come relatively close.
Since I am now based in Germany I had also taken some German Business Schools into consideration. I have visited them on MBA-fares, attended information sessions, but none did come anywhere close to Warwick when it came to value for money.
I had also approached Strathclyde and Warwick to send information material and asked questions on the phone. The feedback I got from Warwick was most positive and, I have to say, more professional and timely than the other's. I kind of felt most welcome and at home from the first day I got in touch.
They had invited me to an online information session - THIS WILL TAKE PLACE AGAIN, soon, I believe between 6pm and 7pm on Tuesday 30th March. You can take part from home, all you need is a PC, internet connection and a headset. You can ask anything and be sure the Warwick guys will get back to you.
When you attend this online event you can already see the technology used for online lectures and even available to YOU in the future to network with fellow students (all quite high caliber with various interesting backgrounds) in virtual study groups should you not find a local face2face one.
This leads me to the next point. The Warwick Alumni network. Clearly this is alive and very useful to build your worldwide network. There are current and past students from China to the US, from Australia to Austria and at least annual regional gatherings to stay in touch.
Further, Warwick have intensified their Career Services for their students this year. There are several offerings to choose from, individual coachings or seminars, etc. some are free of charge, few have little extra cost, some are more expensive.
Apropos cost, overall you will stay well below your 20K limit. There are indeed non-compulsory offerings at extra charge, like live lectures in Warwick during a January Seminar or in Stockholm in March or even in Singapore which allow you to speed up your studies or to recap. But their cost are absolutely reasonable considering charges for training sessions by Microsoft, e.g.-. It is also another opportunity for you to network.
When you plan to start in July'10 you will have plenty of time to adapt to studying-again coming back from work and you have an extra 6 months to work on the portfolio of courses, such as Market Analysis, Economics for the Business Environment, Organisational Behaviour, Operations Management and Accounting and Financial Management.
Once you have passed the Warwick Application / Selection Process and got accepted you will have an early Christmas with the box of study material and books arriving on your doorstep. All contents are absolutely up to date and reflect on recent developments following the world wide credit crunch. Even the financial stuff is not really boring and you do not need to exercise heavy and deep mathematical computations like in many German classes of Economics where I find this part is far too exaggerated.
Oh, and coming back to specialisations like entrepreneurship, this will be available to you at Warwick as well during the second year when you have a wealth of courses to choose from. I am sure there will be more to your liking.
I enjoy my time with Warwick so far. Objectives are clear; the support by the staff is great and timely. To give you two more examples: After attending an online lecture and having a question the lecturer herself, Dr. Rhian Silvestro, got back to me with a page long response and explanation. For my first assignment on Operations Management I received a real positive feedback from my tutor that was longer than my actual work... (some 15-odd pages) and a specimen answer on top. Now how is that?
Also, improvement programmes are under way where students can give feedback and where this feedback is seriously taken in consideration. What more would you want from an DLMBA?
You would not regret choosing Warwick Business School.

Kind regards,
Michael

Hello

I have similar background to yours and have spent a year thinking about which school to choose. As my job involved a lot of travelling, distance learning was the only feasible option. I chose Warwick and started in 2008, and now have one year left to complete. I have not regretted my decision and still think Warwick is the best for DL (I think there was first worldwide ranking of DL MBAs last year and Warwick was third in the world, and first in Europe). Quality of programme is very good and opportunities for face to face contact with tutors and students really add value. Having said that, there are things that can be improved but I have noticed staff being very responsive to our comments and suggestions which is encouraging.
Finally, they scored brownie points with me when I was allowed to sit exams in December near my home (in London) as I was nine months pregnant at the time. Instead of me travelling to Warwick, two staff came down to London.

Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions and good luck.

Best regards
Aida

I'm in my last year at Warwick, and went through the same exercise of choosing a school. I decided on Warwick in the end (and would do so again!) because of:
- ranking (see earlier reactions to your post)
- flexibility: you can mix and match distance learning with 5-day face-to-face modules at Warwick (so you can do a particularly interesting module face to face). Also you can pretty much go your own pace. (Warwick is very helpful with that).
- "blended learning": even for distance learning modules there is face-to-face time with group work etc: 1-1.5 days per module in the "september seminar". This face to face time is very good, and you get to know your fellow students!
- cost (I also did not want to spend a fortune)
- I also was very interested in entrepreneurship and have found Warwick's related topics very good (Entrepreneurship & New Venture Creation, Entrepreneurial Finance, Innovation & Creativity).

Good luck choosing!
Petra

Dear Michael, Aida and Petra

Thank you very much for your very detailed, informative and personal answers relating to your experience with the WBS MBA.

Really valuable information that makes me more confident on the choice to make.

Like you Michael, I lived and studied in Glasgow (Glasgow University in my case) and was attracted by the whole atmosphere and going back to Scotland even if just for a week every year when doing DL.
Warwickshire sound slike a top draw and I have started the application process after my first post here and I am looking at meeting the school in London next Saturday during an MBA fair.

Provided my application is strong enough I should join the rank in the near future.

Thank you again for your experiences sharing and your time in replying to my message,

All the best

Toni

Hey guys,

Thanks - very useful information. I initially thought the triple-accreditation may not hold too much meaning for me, but from your posts I think it definitely reflects the fact that they've been running the DL MBA for >20yrs. Plus their network is good and hopefully I can leverage on this even on distance learning..

Hi All

just a quick update on how things are going.

I have applied to Warwick a few weeks ago and got accepted. Starting the MBA on 1st July.

Any of you curently doing or having been accepted to start in July with Warwick on Distance Learning?

all the best

Hi,
I'm starting in July.

my only comment on warwick is that its 3 years program and i see it long time !!
if you comare it to Leicester wat would you choose ?
leicester is almost half price and 2 years

Hi,
I have been researching on best university to pursue DL MBA for quiet some time.
I cross referenced global MBA ranking and online MBA listing and narrowed down to these..
1) Warwick Distance Learning - 3 yr - 18,600
2) Durham Global MBA - 2 yr - 12,640
3) Strathclyde - 2/3 yr - 12,700

I have been to WBS and attended the open event. Good feedback over all.

How are others I listed ? Should I consider any other university?

I live in Swansea, but I am willing to commute within UK to attend mandatory seminars, exams etc.
I have 9 years experience in IT sector.
I do understand in the long run 6K difference may not matter much but since I will be self financing, would like to look for best value for money.

Going for MBA in july. Fingers are crossed.

Here is a good one.
http://www.find-mba.com/board/20012