Hi everybody, I am new to this site and would like to have your advice on following situation: I am sales professional with more than 8 years experience in the medical device industry (large US corporation) and have a BA from Mannheim, Germany. My last role was sales manager ( Switzerland & Austria) and led a team of 5 people. I felt that I need more managerial and leadership skills to be well equipped for future executive roles in the MedTech industry. I want underline my career with a graduate program and decided to go for a master. Given the fact that I am 36 and have a small family I want to shoot for a 12 -15 month program and no GMAT required. I got accepted by Thunderbird in Phoenix, Arizona and have also an offer from UK Leeds Uni and interviews with Bath, Newcastle, Durham, Liverpool and Aston. I would love to live in the US or UK postgraduate. Currently i am in the US in an English language school. DePaul and Loyola MBA as well as Suffolk Boston and LaSalle in Philly were another options in the US, but they weren’t in the FT rankings. Sorry for my long intro but I really appreciate your thoughts. Thanks in advance

It's a very false economy to save the GMAT fee and exclude yourself from the best schools. Don't rush. Take the GMAT and get into a top UK school. Unless you have US residence, don't bother with the US. Manchester, Imperial, Warwick, Cranfield etc are the schools you should aim at.

Hi Duncan, thanks for your input. Regarding the GMAT its not about the fee, it’s about the time to prepare for it, it’s just a hurdle I would like to skip and go fast track as there is some good opportunities who value work experience. As for the the US I don’t have residency, for the moment just the offer from Thunderbird. What do you think of it?

You are not trying to get into Stanford, right? You don't need a 780 GMAT. If you completed high school maths then you can take the GMAT with ten or 20 hours and get 550 or 600. That gives schools that require the GMAT the option to admit you. Manchester and Cranfield even have their own tests, which are free.

Thunderbird is a great school but the chance of you getting a work permit for the US is infinitely small. So, don't waste your time.

Thanks a lot for your fast response. Totally agree, I should take the GMAT. As most of the MBA aspirants have backgrounds from Finance or Consulting, as a general advice, is an MBA for a salesperson from high-tech/ Med-tech or any other industry (excluded finance and consulting) a booster for an executive career? Or is the MBA more focused on finance and consulting?

The MBA can help with almost any career first. I am a marketing guy. In my LBS study group I had a weather forecaster, an aerospace engineer, an operations guy and an investment banker. I dont think it's the case that most MBA students start from finance or consulting roles.

[Edited by Duncan on Feb 20, 2020]

Thanks for that Duncan, much appreciate your feedback. Given that there were just Leeds, Durham, Aston, Newcastle, Nottingham and Liverpool, what would be your choice nowadays ? Despite this I will of course take the GMAT and apply for Warwick, Manchester and Cranfield. Thanks again

I guess Durham is the highest ranked but use LinkedIn to see which school has the best network on your target market

I certainly would not consider Liverpool.

Thanks for your valuable insights. Liverpool out :)
Greetings from Denver

Hi Duncan, I wanted to give a short update about my MBA journey: Unconditional offers from
1. Full-time Master of global management at Thunderbird- PHX / full scholarship (70k)
2. Full-time MBA Durham University/ partly scholarship
3. Full- time MBA Aston/ partly scholarship
4. Full- time MBA University of Leeds/ full scholarship

Then I have a conditional offer from Cranfield for the full time MBA. I am really indecisive what to do, I will turn 36 soon, I also considered applying for Cambridge, but the time for preparing for GMAT and ielts/ TOEFL is too short, as I just have the PTE. Would you rather wait one more year and try getting inside Cambridge or go with one of the other program to not lose one year? I am a sales professional/ manager in the med-tech industry and plan to reach senior level management. Sorry for the long text, but any advice is highly appreciated.

Stop thinking about Thunderbird.

Ignore the scholarship. It's like buying a 50ml shampoo for £1 because it's cheaper than 200ml for £1.20.

Send your CV to Cambridge now, and ask them for an assessment. Ask what GMAT you might reasonably need given your unusual and valuable background.

Cranfield and Durham are the best choices in your hand. Use LinkedIn to see which has the best network. If you can, visit classes and smell the differences. They are sooooo different, there is no way you can be indifferent between the very different academics and students.

I have no idea what prep you think it required for the GMAT. Ten or 20 hours should be enough for you to get 600 or 650.

Thank you for the great advice, I am very grateful for your feedback and have already contacted JBS. About Cranfield and Durham I did my research and found that Cranfield has a better reputation for its MBA whereas Durham tend to be more academic but ranked better. But will focus on JBS now, in case of no admission I will prioritize Cranfield then Durham. Thanks again Duncan