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Manchester Business School MBA gets you closer to London

Manchester Business School MBAThe Manchester Business School MBA is a little different from the other UK and Europe based programs. While a majority of the European bschools (with exceptions like the London Business School) offer one year programs, the Manchester Business School MBA duration is longer (18 months).

This longer format allows students to take up a 10-week MBA internship. That can be a big advantage in getting jobs in a tough economy and tougher UK work permit visa regime that’s been introduced. In an earlier (2010) MBA ranking, Businessweek ranked the Manchester Business School MBA at number 3 in the world for Return on Investment.

Prashanta Chettri shares his success story starting from GMAT preparation to getting an admit from the Manchester MBA program along with other offers.
 


My Manchester Business School MBA experience

by Prashanta Chettri

 
Almost ten years have gone by, but I still remember the career event at St. Joseph’s school, Darjeeling, where students who had just completed their tenth standard board exams and joined the commerce stream were briefed on career options that would be available after an MBA degree. Little did I know that ten years on, I would actually be pursuing an MBA degree in Manchester.

After completing my ISC examination, I moved to Bangalore to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce degree. In my third and final year of college a certain Goldman Sachs visited our campus. I applied for a job, got selected, and joined the firm as a foreign exchange operations analyst as soon as college got over. I spent four years with the firm, and left it to do some travelling.

I got some time to reflect on my career and decided that it was as good a time as ever to pursue an MBA. Whilst I started preparing for GMAT and selecting suitable colleges, I decided to do some voluntary work with a charity organization called Hayden Hall that provides education and health care facilities to underprivileged sections of the society in and around Darjeeling.

My GMAT Preparation

Preparing for the GMAT was tougher than I originally thought. Turns out that studying is a habit, and a four-year gap is pretty tough for average human beings like me. My first attempt at GMAT did not go well. So, I had to start from scratch and give it another go.

Thankfully I got a good score the second time round. Here are a few takeaways for people contemplating GMAT (at least based on my experience). First, there are a lot of GMAT coaching centres out there – but not all will work for you. I used Princeton the first time round, and for some reason their approach did not work for me.

Don’t get me wrong – this is no reflection on who good or bad Princeton is since I know tons of people who have absolutely aced the GMAT using Princeton. Having said that, each coaching centre has a different approach. So, it is important for you to find a approach that works for you.

Personally speaking, the Manhattan GMAT approach worked me. I would also advise people to give themselves some time to get into the habit of studying. Discipline is important. Of course, the latter part is important for average humans like me. If you are a genius:

1. I am sure you will be just fine
2. I envy you (in a nice way!)

How I managed my MBA applications

After sorting out the GMAT, I had to take care of my applications. The way I went about this stage was – 1. Select the colleges, 2. Start writing essays, 3. Find consultants who can help with editing the essays. Now this approach was not the best one.

Why? Well, I reached out to Sameer and MBA Crystal Ball at stage three. Now, when I did that, I realised that I had not worked on my MBA story at all. That, as Sameer pointed out, was imperative so a successful application. So instead of following my approach, I would recommend:

1. Finalize your MBA story – why MBA now and what after MBA?

2. Get in touch with admission consultants with this story and see if it makes sense. MBA Crystal Ball helped me out a lot with this. It also helped me determine which colleges are realistic for me and which ones are not.

3. Update your MBA story based on the feedback you get at stage two, and compose your essays accordingly.
If stage one and two are completed with an open mind, writing the essays should come naturally. In fact, you may not need anyone to edit your essays.

MBA Crystal Ball had helped me choose Manchester Business School as one of my options. After submitting my applications and subsequent interviews, I chose Manchester Business School amongst three offers.

I chose Manchester for two reasons.

One – the school was one of the few in Europe that offered an 18-month program.

Two – Manchester is just two hours away from London, the hub of investment banking in Europe.

Life @ Manchester Business School MBA

I have just finished the first term of my MBA degree at Manchester, and the term has proved to be everything I wanted and much more. We have students from 28 nationalities and professionals from multiple sectors and industries. If the past three months are anything to go by, the next fifteen months are going to go by in a blur.

I have spent a majority of my Christmas break working on internship applications. If everything goes according to plan, I can look forward to a good internship over the summer that should solidify my chances for securing employment post-MBA.

Whether things will actually go according to plan is a different story altogether. But one thing is for sure – 2013 is going to be an exciting year!


Prashanta would be happy to address any queries on the Manchester business school MBA rankings, class profile, scholarships, GMAT, stipend, internships or jobs in Manchester and London). if you want to join the discussion, head over to our –> Manchester Business School MBA forum .

Also read:
Manchester Business School MBA or Indiana Kelley MBA?


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Sameer Kamat
About Sameer Kamat
Founder of MBA Crystal Ball. Author of Beyond The MBA Hype & Business Doctors. Here's more about me. Follow me on: Instagram | Linkedin | Youtube

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