So, I redid the numbers and Strathclyde still comes out ahead on the ROI calculations. The tuition is just low enough to make up the difference in cost for child care.
My selection criteria started with the Financial Times Rankings http://www.ft.com/ of top 100 MBA programs.
1) I looked at what schools had 1 year programs.
2) My GMAT score was 550. I didn't really put a lot of time into studying for the GMAT because I really wanted a program that was more interested in seasoned professionals. So, I then looked at schools that didn't specify a min GMAT over 550 or had verbage that suggested they were looking for more experienced applicants.
3) Then, I eliminated all the ones that I flat out knew I couldn't afford or that would take more than 20 years to pay off in the ROI calculations.
4) Then I did something really stupid. I included the Economist's EIU rankings. I went to Curtin in Perth (Australia) in March of 2007 Perth was nice. The Curtin MBA absolutely sucked. Between trying to find a place in the middle of mining boom and lecturers who couldn't be bothered to even change the label on the material from what they were teaching the undergraduates, and lots of little things. i withdrew on the assurance that I would get a FULL refund. A few months later they only refunded half the money. Disheartened, I went back to work and decided to try doing an MBA part-time. It just hasn't worked out. My priority is family and when I get home in the evening I am happy to spend time with my wife and son. I figure my son is only going to be interested in hanging out with Dad for a few more years and I want to be there for him. I haven't had a job that will let me work on an MBA at my desk so here I am looking at a full-time MBA again.
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I hope you like Glasgow, and Strathclyde, then. I've found some of the same issues you met with in Perth here in Glasgow, but that was at 1) Glasgow University, and 2) the Philosophy Department. On the other hand ... if you're comparing it to the US, you're going to be unhappy, I think, because that's just kinda the way people are in the British System.
ReplyDeleteYou have to seek them out, and you're expected to be your own researcher: the skill most academics expect for you to develop, first, is the ability to conduct your own research. They expect you to learn this by being thrown into the deep end.
That was my hard lesson, here. Had I expected it ... it would have come as a shock, but I would have recognized it, at least.
ah, well the strathclyde MBA is more structured than that. The first 4 modules are very much taught and then the 5th module is where they kick you out of the nest. http://www.gsb.strath.ac.uk/mba/syllabus/default.asp
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