I?m deciding between Strathclyde and Aston for MBA. I chose those schools as I can live with family in either city and them being triple accredited. My background is business degree and 9 years work experience in different industries.

I just don?t know which school would be best, does anyone have any insight?

They both cost the same, from what I can tell the main differences seem to be:

Strathclyde
Higher average starting salary
Until 2012 was higher ranked than Aston, disappeared off FT top 100 in 2012
Glasgow seems to have more jobs than Birmingham
Bigger Alumni network

Aston
Closer to London
Possibly better reputation
More diversity in classroom
Larger MBA class

For me the schools are about equal, so I don?t know which would be better.

Looking for opinions from you fine folk.

IF thats the case then you can also consider Birmingham University's MBA. Because Birmingham recruit more experienced candidates then Aston. considering your 9 years of work exp Birmingham would be more suitable.

I also picked up on the 9 years work experience. Are you going for the Exec MBA? I know Aston has scholarship awards of £5000 per candidate for its Exec MBA. The programme has also been redesigned extensively to focus on performance i.e. being able to translate all that knowledge into practical results.

Mamit's suggestion of Birmingham is very useful. Is Warwick too far?

Also, why be limited by the offer of free accommodation? If a better school would add 100K or more to your lifetime earnings, wouldn't that be a false economy?

Yes Warwick would have been the best option, but GMAT is a mandatory requirement for Warwick.

Hi Sask,
To be honest, all the 4 universities being discussed here are top ranked univ and tough to compare with one another. But every univ has its strength. I am a current MBA student from Strathclyde Business School. To talk about strengths of Strath -- triple accredited, #1 in scotland and one of the top univ in Europe as well, #1 in Strategy, diversity of professors with varied international experience, and finally wide range of electives & project choices.

As experience is concerned, average age in Strathclyde is around 30 years with diverse industry backgrounds as well.

Aston is also in the same board as Strath in terms of course structure and ranking; but cannot be compared in terms of Strategy and professors teaching styles.

Birmingham on the other hand is comparatively smaller to Strath and Aston in terms of reputation, courses, salary etc..

I guess Mamit must be agreeing with me in terms of Strath and Birmingham!

So, you chose to decide now!

First of all congratulations for choosing to do your MBA after having 9 years of experience. Your experience would certainly give you an edge in learning as well as in application.

To answer your question, as a proud Strath student, I am presenting a comparative analysis here first on the course module.

Strathclyde:
Has totally 12 Modules apart from 2 electives and a Learning Manager course followed by a Dissertation (Research) or a project (Company based).

Here is the list of Modules
Core MBA subjects
- Operations Management
- Marketing Management
- Finance and Financial Management
- Financial and Management Accounting
- Managing People in Organisation (HR, Org Behaviour, Change Management)
- Analytical Support for Decision Making (Statistics and Analytics put into use for fact based decision making)
Specialized MBA Subjects
- Corporate Governance (Taken by an ex-Harvard Prof)
- Exploring International Business Environment (A case study based intensive futuristic Scenario Planning course)
- Strategy Analysis and Evaluation (Including Business Economics)
- Making Strategy (Strategy Formulation using Transitional Objects Method)
- Strategic Consulting in Practice - SCiP (A real time customer based strategy consulting programme - I consulted for Polaroid and presented my strategy to the UK/Ireland public relations manager of Polaroid)
- Managing (All about Managing Innovation, yourself and others) Added info: We have requested the school to extend the SCiP programme in future so that students get competitive advantage


Aston:
Has totally 10 Modules apart from 2 electives and a Global Mindful Manager course followed by a business project.

Here is the list of Modules
Core MBA subjects
- Organisational Behaviour
- Operations Management
- Marketing Management
- Business Finance
- Accounting for Business
Specialized MBA Subjects
- Business, Ethics and Responsibility
- Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Business Economics and Strategy
- Leadership Development
- Strategic Management

If we compare both schools in terms of subjects covered, I am certain to convey and convince everybody that Strath programme is robust as they cover Strategy in depth. The practical exposure is excellent. Strath MBA is regarded highly for its Strategy focus. This really changes the perspective of life.

Apart from the module, the group work that we perform for each module has given me immense confidence in managing people. I am sure everybody will benefit out of this.

Strath scores in this perspective.

Although I looked at FT ranking before joining, after visiting few B schools in UK, I am very very happy with the quality of education I have received.

Apart from these, Strath also offered an international-exchange programme option for students to do an additional module from EM Lyon - France.

We were offered with 23 electives ranging from IT based SAP for Business Development to Leadership Development. However, 'Creating Shareholder Value for CEO' was the most sought after and a specialized elective. Of course there were other electives such as M&A, Project Management etc as in the other unis...

Strath is the only school here in Scotland to conduct Careers Fair where several B schools students from Scotland Participate. IBM, Amazon, Google, GE are few to name as the visitors.

We also made an industrial visit to Amazon...

Some of the professors Peter McKiernan, Collin Eden, Fran Akerman to name a few...please google them and see...are world class with research capabilities

This year Strath offered several projects through Industry collaboration counting more than 24 in various areas from Pricing Strategy to IT Strategy. In fact one of the large Actuarial and Risk insurance company's Market Strategy to enter US project was initially awarded to Strath students and later given to CASS B school after my fellow students won another bigger project and opted out of it. We were overwhelmed with options.

Last but not the least, Glasgow is the only city in UK to offer four seasons everyday.

I would recommend Strathclyde 100%...Enjoy Scotland! Enjoy Scotch at its best!

Hey, being a current Strathclyde student here?s what I can tell you regarding its program. While both are 1 year MBAs and triple accredited, it?s a pretty tough call. However, I wouldn?t be taken in by the fact that the Aston has a larger class, I find the learning in the class room to be more interactive. That said, the Strathclyde 2012 intake includes students from 28 nationalities which, in my opinion, is a very diverse class. I believe the class size is around 30-40 (if I?m not mistaken).
Also, apart from the obvious considerations, I found the way the Strathclyde course structure to very effective and logical ? each course runs over a 2 week intensive period and there is a very strong emphasis on group work ? pretty much every course presents an opportunity to learn and work with colleagues. I found the majority of my learning came from my peers who brought insights from various industries. The final project/thesis presents several options to work with UK based companies.
And finally, the faculty at Strathclyde are top class. Take a look on the university website on staff background and qualifications. The strategy component of the course was the most stimulating and interesting part of the course. It was where everything I learnt came together very well.
Not sure if it?s too late, but check out the following site:

http://www.prospectsnet.com/employerchat/servlet/employerchat.chatuser.ChatUserServlet?mode=listchats&empcode=SRI

It?s a live online chat session on Tuesday 3 July between 11.00-12.00 (UK time) for MBA applicants who may wish to discuss the program in more detail.
Hope this helps, all the best!
Cheers

Is Warwick too far?

I volunteer as a MBA mentor at Manchester Business School. My observation there is that the hiring process is very slow, and required much more personal networking. Even at Manchester, it takes longer to get hired. I think that really proves that you need to get into the best school you can; at less well respected schools it must be terrible.

To talk about strengths of Strath -- triple accredited, #1 in scotland and one of the top univ in Europe as well,

I agree with that. Quite a fast progression at Edinburgh, but on the other hand Strathclyde still feels like a larger school. For networking in Asia, it will still be better.

Students from Edinburgh visited Strathclyde for the Careers Fair and it was a good networking opportunity. They felt most of the students are from US unlike Strath where we had 22 nationalities although large part is from Indian Subcontinent. I am not sure if ranking alone holds good to compare the schools although its one of the factor.

They felt most of the students are from US unlike Strath where we had 22 nationalities although large part is from Indian Subcontinent.

21% of Edinburgh students are from North America. Actually, a very interesting mix: http://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/mba/edinburgh-mba/student-profile

Dear Sask,

I guess lots of suggestions and options are now appearing for you. Its high time that you decide and chose the best school that satisfies most of the criteria you need. Because not every school has all advantages.

So, consider you key aspects that you wish to achieve from this MBA and get the best out of it!

Cheers,
Anusha

Thank you everyone who reply.

Just want to know, which better Aston or Strathclyde? For me they same, one has to be better.

It depends on your career goals. I would recommend Aston for most people, after suggesting better schools.

Just want good job with good pay, in technical or government.

Why Aston over Strathclyde?

My key recommendation is to go somewhere better than either Aston or Strathclyde: I think you can do that.

Unless your goal is specifically to work in India, I think Aston is better than Strathclyde. The central Birmingham location is better, the cohort is more diverse and their MBA allows formal specialisations.