Mba

[califit]

Anyone taking MBA currently?

Pls share your experience. I'm interested to know the school you're in, course, workload, etc. And most importantly, the cost...


TIA!

[glitzy]

yes i would like to find out more abt this too!

i have been surfing around and all the information gets confusing! some programmes require GMAT scores while some don't..

Is an MBA more useful and worth the investment or a financial test like CFA? I am not working in the financial sector so CFA is not necessary at all but I would like to beef up on my financial/business and mkting knowledge..

[aloev]

I was interested in taking a Masters course too. Not necessary MBA but was looking at it and some other courses. What I found out was that if you are interested in taking MBA and some other related Masters courses in our local University, you would need to take the Gmat test first. If you are taking these Masters courses as distance learning or via local institutions but foreign degrees, then Gmat tests may not be needed.

It all depends on which Masters course you are taking and which school are you taking it in.

Actually all the schools or institutions will list the prices for the individual Masters courses. Just surf the net for the information ***.

If you are working and studying at the same time, the work is of course tiring, no qalms about it. I think some places do allow you a longer time to get the Masters degree by taking a unit/coursework at a time.

MBA is actually quite a general degree. There's also master degrees and graduate diplomas available which are for graduates to delve more into their field of interest.

[candie]

my cousin taking a general MBA at MDIS ... its part-time so can take it while working

i've been out of uni for two years (going on three now) and am just starting to consider taking MBA now ... hated school but think I will probably need an MBA in future (perhaps start it when I am 25)

[glitzy]

which MBA is more prestigious?

local or distant learning?

if i can i wanna go overseas to do it.. but it will cost a lot of moolah man!

[pas2121]

I'm currently at a business school in the uk doing my phd, so i get to meet lots of ppl who are doing their mba full time. basically the mba is a good idea under the correct circumstances, like if you know it will help further your career or increase your salary potential. but other times it can be a drain on resources. best bit of advice is to ask urself what u intend to do with the mba.

glitzy, in general u can actually go do an mba overseas. alot of universities offer automatic loans to ppl accepted onto theie mba programme, and then u pay back when u graduate and start working. in the uk, getting an mba from a recognised uk uni will give u a kind of permit to stay in the uk to look for work

[califit]

I actually intend to take a local MBA, from NUS. But I don't mind taking long-distance MBAs too. Going overseas to study might not be feasible, as I've got my committments, etc here.

Am interested to know more about cotters experience on both local and long distance mba =)

Do share!

[glitzy]

thanks, pas2121!!
can shed light of roughly how much a 1 year MBA in UK uni will cost - incl living expenses?

[pas2121]

hi glitzy,

the cost can vary in the UK, especially when it comes to living expenses. London is the most exp, then in general it gets cheaper the further north u go (warwick, then nottingham, then manchester, then edinburgh, for example). The websites i've listed below give a rough estimate to the livin expenses for each city.

personally, if you're interested in a UK MBA then it's important to go for brand - the three with "brand" are London Business School (2 year MBA, 41K pounds tuition fees), Said Business School @ uni Oxford (30K pounds tuition fees) and Judge Business School at @ uni of cambridge. (28K pounds tuition fees)

http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/mba/fees/ for Oxford
http://www.london.edu/mba/feesandfinancing.html for LBS
http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/mba/finance/fees.html for Cambridge

Other business schools to look at are Manchester Business School www.man.ac.uk, Warwick Business School www.warwick.ac.uk, Aston Business School http://www.abs.aston.ac.uk. these are all very good. but u know how singapore is like when it comes to brand...

Hi Califit -

if you want to go local then i strongly recommend the Insead programme because of all the local MBA programmes it's one of the most integrated (and in the FT rankings Insead is listed as France/Singapore in terms of country of origin), and allows you to spend some time in France rather than the entire term. Also, consider EMBAs, those allow you to work and study at the same time, but its generally for more senior management.

[sweetie_inc]

yes i would like to find out more abt this too!

i have been surfing around and all the information gets confusing! some programmes require GMAT scores while some don't..

Is an MBA more useful and worth the investment or a financial test like CFA? I am not working in the financial sector so CFA is not necessary at all but I would like to beef up on my financial/business and mkting knowledge..

hi, in my opinion, CFA is very financial & may be too deep for someone who got not much finance background... but think it's better to find out more from someone who hv done it...

CFA is usually taken by finance mgr...

*jus my 2 cents worth*

[glitzy]

thanks all for your replies!

wow, pas2121, 1 year MBA at Cam would cost around $100k. Don't think I will aim for LBS though, for 2 years MBA course, I might as well take a US MBA and cost of living in US is slightly lower than UK..

For local MBA, is Insead considered more prestigious than NUS or NTU MBA?

[pas2121]

LBS's program is very american in style actually, but yeah in general if you want the ultimate MBA (brand etc) then it's still currently the US, couple of my friends are in Harvard GSB, they get an automatic loan but it's 5% interest rate.

As for local MBA, i know i might get hantam'd by NUS/NTU grads for saying this, so lemme just say first that the following is my opinion only .

I think Insead is better, because 1) the MBA you get is an Insead MBA taught by Insead tutors and you interact with French students who come to singapore. Basically the degree is exactly the same as the person who enrolled in France. So it's actually not an external programme, but a twin-location programme. (there's a major difference in terms of recognition)

2) Insead is highly respected worldwide as a business school, if you are looking to work in Europe especially, it has more brand equity than our local unis. (that is not to say our local uni's are not good, it's the same philosophy i mentioned when comparing LBS to say, Warwick... both are good, one is more prestigious)

one more thing i should mention on this forum - never be intimidated by brand-name uni's, because you never know what you will get into if you don't try. Case in point, someone I knew applied to NUS to do a masters at the business school (non-MBA) and got rejected, but was accepted into Oxford for the same programme. It all comes down to timing, your application and how you sell yourself.

[pas2121]

yeap, Harvard Biz School, sorry in my mind it's always harvard graduate school of business, i think it was the old name, heh.

[ruthie]

pas2121, how much does the Insead MBA cost overall, estimated? I am thinking of doing a Masters, not necessarily MBA.

[pas2121]

hi ruthie,

Insead has listed its prices here at http://www.insead.edu/mba/admissions...ndexpenses.htm, their tuition fees are about SGD$88851, which is about on par with the tuition fees for UK MBAs. if you go to the website, you'll find that it's possible to do the MBA in singapore, and spend 2 months in France (vice versa for those who sign up in France).

but you mentioned tht u were interested in doing a non-MBA masters, what field are you interested in? There's a big diff in terms of the training that MBA and non-MBAs get, even those who do MSc's or MA's in business studies. I think it's important to decide what you're interested in doing with your career / life, then figuring out how a masters will help you get there.

Personally, i'm a big fan of postgraduate education in the right uni, cause the training broadens the mind in general, and enables you to see and analyse things from a different perspective. But the uni has to be the right one ***