Comments on: How can I get into an MBA program in UK?

By: Musavir Gajani

Musavir Gajani — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:47:37 +0000

Dear hassan, though the three people before me have already guided you to the right way, still I thought to share my views.
The thing which confused me a bit in your query was “IBA’s test is tough”. Believe me bro, its not that tough if your academic standard is this much that you are thinking about a “good UK university” and/or a “scholarship to study abroad”. I suppose, you must be agreeing to this that any good university in UK must be better than IBA or LUMS. So if you are considering IBA’s test as “tough”, how about the ones in UK? So get yourself chilled and start atleast considering IBA’s test as a simple one.
Moreover, if you are deciding not to go abroad and doing your MBA from Pakistan, I would suggest you to include SZABIST in your options as well. It indeed is a very nice university and since HEC has ranked it 3rd in Pakistan, it has gained a lot of image in the invisible minds of the companies. The graduates of SZABIST are considered as intellectuals having a great sense of real scene in the market. If you still want any help regarding this issue, feel free to contact me at gmusavir@hotmail.com.

Regards,
Musavir

By: Khalid

Khalid — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:48:33 +0000

Khalid
Jun 21 2008

Coorect MBA from LUMS and IBA is the best bet if you really want to work in regional market.These two institutions are not very well taken in west.However all good MBA programs in UK need 2 years experience.Belive it or not only good ranking university grads get in to good jobs otherwise it is sheer waste of time and money.I would say that only top 15 uni grads land in proper jobs. One litmus test of these universities is whether do they have proper business schools or just department.All good schools publish their data of employment for their graduates.
My advice is to look for a decent job if possible or give a try for LUMS or IBA.
Title of any UK university will not help.Employer is very smart today and well conversent with foriegn degrees.

By: Aman Pervaiz

Aman Pervaiz — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:56:24 +0000

3.) I agree with Younas comletely. I am writing this post just to stress the importance of having work experience. Almost all good universites in UK or anywhere else for that matter require at least two years of experience, such is the nature of an MBA degree. From personal experience I have seen people who have obtained an MBA degree from UK from a B-grade university and not being able to find a job. Such people are fated to blue collar jobs in UK and if they come back to Pakistan, they get into mediocre comapnies at best. I strongly suggest that you consider getting job experience and then going to UK to get into a better university. However if you plan to stay in Pakistan, LUMS and IBA are your best bets.
If you have any more concerns, please feel free to share them.

By: Muhammad Younas

Muhammad Younas — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:41:38 +0000

@ Hassan,

Thank you very much for sending a detailed query. This will really help anyone reading this blog entry to advice you better.

Find my answers/further-questions below to your queries.

1) Not sure if all but I agree that most of the companies prefer students having an MBA degree over the students having bachelors degree. But I believe you are missing a point here. Those MBA students usually have some quality work experience under their belt whereas you are planning to have your MBA right after your bachelors degree. People usually go for an MBA degree when they are ready to move towards the management position after gaining enough work experience in their fields. Still some others do it for a career change. A lot of people believe that they will get access to higher paid jobs just by having an MBA degree which personally I don’t agree with. Maybe someone from MBA background would be able to answer this better.

However my main point for your query 1 is that companies prefer MBAs over BBA students because they believe they can get much more benefit from them as they would have some work experience.

2) I agree with you that last degree counts a lot and getting it from abroad is a good idea. Usually people get their last degree from a country where they want to settle in and get some work experience. So if you are looking to get some work experience in UK then getting a degree from there would be good idea. However if you plan to come to Pakistan then I am not sure if an MBA degree from UK would help much as compared to a degree from LUMS or IBA. You won’t have any work experience and you won’t be more valuable to an employer compared to a LUMS or IBA grad who will have 1-2 years of work experience with some company.

3) Hassan, on one hand you say that you are afraid that won’t be able to pass the IBA test and on the other hand you are hopeful that you will get academic scholarship in university abroad.

Hassan you have a good academic background and you should be able to get into a very good university for MS Management/Marketing/Finance etc. Though to get into an MBA program in a good university you might require a couple of years of work experience. Almost all good universities in UK requires 2 years of work experience for MBA. They also require GMAT scores.

If you want to go to UK in coming Fall for whatever reason, I would advise you to go to a good university for MS program in your field of interested (Management, Marketing, Finance, Entrepreneurship etc) then going to a B-grade university for MBA.

Have a look at Aston University, Warwick University and University of Manchester websites to look for a MS program in your field of interest. Just for your information, all students in UK are allowed to work part time up to 20 hours during their studies. After they graduate they are allowed to work in UK for one year (which will be extended to two years from next year) for any employer without any work permit.

Best of luck !!