Lancaster 2008; interviews & beyond

[zeroqueue]

Originally Posted by darthcoder

Hi zeroqueue, could you share your profile please?

WE - 8.5 yrs
Entreprenuer - started a venture.
undergrad in Zoology
post-grad (MCA)
international exp - 6 mnth
GMAT 640
TOEFL 116
EC - decent

[rao_sn]

Posting in this thread as I didn't get reply in the other thread(Question somewhat belong to this thread too )

Hello,
I am looking to do My MBA in UK in 2009. Here is my brief profile
GMAT:660 ( Quant 48, Verbal 32 )
AWA: 5.0
Education : BE
Experience:
4 years 4 months - In one of the best IT companies in India
3 months - In a startup later aquired by a welknown MNC
3 years - In one of the best MNC ( product company)
Total: 7 years and 7 months till Date.
Worked as software Engineer ( No Team Lead experience )

I have shortlisted few schools
Lancaster, Warwick, Cranfield, Tanaka, strathcyclde(?), Edinburgh(?) I am looking for a budget of around 25L.
Looking for around one year programme (12 to 15 months are ok)

Questions:
1. What are my chances of getting into these colleges ?
2. Am I missing out any good colleges which matches my profiles ?
3. Are these colleges fall in to ( or close to ) my budget ?
4. I haven't taken a TOEFL. Is it a must to take TOEFL for some english language test ? Can't I do with out it ?
5. What are my chances of getting some scholorships in these colleges ?
6. Can I go ahead with early application for 2009 ? I mean can I apply to these colleges in couple of months ?

Generic questions:
1. I want to change my profile to marketing, or finance background. Do you think is it possible to change my profile from IT centric role to these with MBA
2. How are the campus recruitment in these colleges. Or what are the chances of getting a job immediately after MBA ?
3. I have been reading this forum and reading some conflicting reports on HSMP. On one of the thread I read that HSMP list for MBA colleges will be revised in 2008 and colleges like lancaster will be added. Some one else was suggesting that all MBA colleges will be scrapped altogether from HSMP list this year. Could some one give me more concrete
background. I known HSMP is work permit. But can some one list out obvious work impacting rules of this HSMP. What happens if my MBA college doesn't have HSMP. Will I be forced to return to India after my MBA. Or is there any way I can manage for a year or two and try to get my HSMP done.

Any info regarding the above will be appreciated.

Regards
rao_sn

[mbaapp08]

Got an admit from Lancaster MBA today. I'm yet to finalize my destination. Have an admit from Imperial, which probably suits my technical background better. Yet to decide

[mbaapp08]

Originally Posted by mbaapp08

Got an admit from Lancaster MBA today. I'm yet to finalize my destination. Have an admit from Imperial, which probably suits my technical background better. Yet to decide

Any suggestions/views are most welcome...would be of help to me and people in a similar situation.

[gabriel666]

Originally Posted by mbaapp08

Got an admit from Lancaster MBA today. I'm yet to finalize my destination. Have an admit from Imperial, which probably suits my technical background better. Yet to decide

Lancaster's business school has a very strong brand name in Britain, but Imperial University has a very strong brand name overall. So reputation wise in the end there is not a lot to separate the two, though I would consider Lancaster to be slightly better.

If you are looking for quality of education in business studies I would certainly go to Lancaster because in almost all parameters LUMS beats Tanaka, Lancaster is one of the very few triple accredited schools, it has the best RAE rankings in Britain (matched only by LBS), it has excellent TQA ratings and it also is among the top colleges for undergraduate studies. You should also consider the fact that Lancaster has been witnessing an excellent growth in its brand name over the past few years (it has been the fastest growing in this department). So in most cases I would choose Lancaster over Imperial.

[mbaapp08]

Imperial's strengths to make the discussion more even -
1)A world renowned brand which is better recognized internationally - Imperial was ranked as the 5th best university globally- Brand 'Imperial' is really huge.
QS Top Universities: THE - QS World University Rankings 2007 Top 150 European Universities
QS Top Universities: Top 100 universities in the THE - QS World University Rankings 2007
Times Higher Education

2)Tanaka -ranked 6th in the world for Technology and 8th in the world for entrepreneurship - a great place for technology management.

3) Its location in London which seems to a huge plus and Tanaka's seemingly better job/placement record for its students.

While this is true, Lancaster is a much older and established bschool. The fact that Lancaster offers three consulting opportunities is what makes it stand out. Though I'm inclined towards Imperial as of now, I shall take an informed decision after weighing all the factors.

[DPS1]

Hello All,

I had my interview yesterday with the MBA program director and got the admission offer today. Will take up the offer most likely.

[astronomydomain]

Hi Guys,
Good to see so much helpful info being exchanged on this thread. Keep up the gud work.

Now, I am joining LUMS(lancaster) MSc-Operations Research and Analytics with the sept'08 intake.
I have around 7yrs of experience in Financial Services management in India. My last assignment was with Dell as an operations Manager.

I voluntarily decided to join a specl. Masters, and not an MBA, cuz I want to get into Business Analytics and Research in future. And an MBA would have been quite generic to add any specialized skills to my profile.

Can any one of you, alumnus/aspirants/current students guide me on the course structure and also its value with the employers and credibility in the job market.

lookin forward to your replies.

cheers