Hi, I am shortlisting MBA schools in UK for next year. Any recommendations, which universities I should consider? I have BS degree in Electrical Engineering and my grades are not that great. I want to go a reputable university where investment in MBA pays of in the end..I would also like to know what other factors can be used to make up for weak grades in Bachelors degree. Thanks..

What's your pre-MBA work experience, post-MBA objectives (career change, promotion, etc.), and GMAT score?Strong work experience, a high GMAT and clear objectives (expressed via the application essays) can help to make up for a weak undergraduate degree.

Quite simply, I would ask thee "why bother"? T'is greatly expensive to embark on MBA endeavour; and pointless. Alas, many a poor sucker believe the power of a fine MBA to be a 'golden ticket' unto corporate riches. T'is however an industry to keep many a 'nutty professor' up to date with car loan repayments and financing for their lodgings. Hark these words of wisdom!

Seems to have paid off for Fred Goodwin

Thanks Sky, I have little over four years of experience in management consulting and project management. I am certified PMP and six sigma black belt. I am based in Middle East and in the past I have worked for BearingPoint (ME) for almost three years, currently I am working for a local management consulting company. Most of my work is in telecom sector, and I am considering a future in either strategy or organizational development. My GMAT score is 660 and I am considering to retake GMAT to improve on my current score. My undergrad GPA was 2.75 and I am intersted in reputable MBA school. I have googled the rankings but wanted to know the professional opinion and potential schools that I should be targeting or the schools where I stand a chance. Thanks..

Interesting question, tell me something most candidates on this forum are management consultants (with the notable exception of ACN-ers) and most who are thinking about an MBA have or at least need about 4/5 years exp. Most people (even at porrly paid consultancies) with that experience will be on circa £50,000/year. You take a year out (possibly) two spend £50,000 to do an MBA plus opportunity cost of one years wages so in total £100,000, then go back into consultancy on say £65-70k with an MBA.This means you are down about £100,000 and geting about £10k more for your efforts and even then the person who stayed in a job would probably have eanred a promotion so he/she would be in the same position as you.Struggling to see the business case ZB

Business case is that if you are at a consultancy that does fairly dull work and limited exit ops (e.g. the Acn's and Big 4's of the world) then doing an MBA can get you into firms that do more interesting work and have exit ops into better long term earnings potential (e.g. PE, Bus Development etc.)

ZB, I understand what you are saying. The region I belong to has much better prospects for an MBA. In ME, resource quality is no way near UK or US so on job learning curve is not as steep as it would be in UK or US. The long term plan is to finish MBA get some experience from US or EU and come back to ME to take care of all the financial equations. So please advice on MBA schools. Thanks

You could look at Warwick and Manchester Business Schools. Both have strong reputations in your target areas: WBS perhaps has a slight edge in OB/org development faculty; MBS has a slight edge in strategy. However, both will give you a good all-round MBA qualification and experience.WBS may be better value for money for you as it sounds like you're not looking for a dramatic change in career direction as it's a shorter (12 month), slightly less expensive, course. However, the 18-month MBS course will give you more opportunity to take internships, network, and develop yourself if you have concerns about being able to get a foothold in the EU/US job market post-MBA. Students with ME experience are relatively rare and MBS has a particularly international cohort, so you may find a good fit there (people who are interested in your experience, plus people who have experience in your target geographies).