Anyone know how good Manchester Business School really is? Is it comparable with Oxbridge, LBS or any other 'top' schools?Thanks!

LBS is the "top" school, and indeed the only "top" school in the UK. Below that, the relative standings of the schools are debatable. MBS has always been considered a good school (along with Warwick and Cranfield, among others) but now faces competition from Oxford and Cambridge. All business schools attached to good universities with good teaching and research ratings will undoubtedly offer a good education but prestige varies considerably and is not always in line with that of the parent institutuon for undergraduate studies.Oxford and Cambridge have not been going all that long but have managed to leverage / trade on the reputations of their parent institutions. Oxford has risen particularly rapidly. Cambridge has not been quite so successful. MBS is (still) a good school and it could well be argued that it would slot between the two rather than be regarded as not as good as either.Rankings are controversial though and it is often the case that little separates schools within a tier such as all those mentioned above. To my mind the best measure is graduate salary (although this can reflect a preponderance of bankers).

As Bonzo says, there is often little to separate schools within a Tier. Depending on your perspective, the relative positions will change, which is why rankings are not consistent, nor should they be viewed as gospel.It's also rather simplistic to rate a school on the basis of graduate salaries. This (as Bonzo points out) biases the schools where grads move into IB and the like. There are, however, a number of excellent schools where the grads tend to move into public sector or NFP, so their salaries are unlikely to measure up. This does not mean that the school is poor.The measure of the school has to be a combination of personal factors (i.e. your objectives, prefered learning style, location relative to home, work experience, etc.) and school or market factors (e.g. faculty, facilities, consistency of ranking across the board, reputation, alumni, mix of students, programme focus, hiring patterns, etc.). You have got to find the one with the best blend to meet your own needs.MBS is a good schools and has a good rep. If you're considering it, there must be something that attracts you.I'd contest the statement that LBS is the only "top" school in the UK. There are several which attract a good blend of high-quality international students from all parts, including the US. I number (in no order, other than alphabetical) Ashridge, Cambridge Judge, Cranfield, Durham, Henley, Imperial, Manchester, Oxford Said and Warwick among them. This list is not exclusive though - just my impressions from reading and knowing grads from a few of these schools.It'll do you no favours to follow the 'official' rankings and pronouncements of industry commentators (including us on this site) slavishly. At the end of the day, it's your investment of time and money that matters, so it rather depends on your perspective and what you want from the BSchool experience as to which will be your best option and the driver for how your personal ranking will look.

Wise words!I think you know what I mean by "top" school but I have put "top" inverted commas for a reason. LBS undoubtedly has a solid international repututation, but your point on "personal rankings" is spot on.In my own, LBS was quite low down on grounds of fees, programme length, location, facilities and "feel" - seemed arrogant to me.On the other hand at the other end of the rankings, Smurfit shot up in my estimation by their friendliness ease of dealing with them and they way they ran their application process.I ended up at one of the other schools mentioned above! (The top one in "my rankings" for which suited me best).

Amen, Bonzo. I, too, went to a school on this list for my MBA (again based on a combined set of factors) and haven't ever regretted my choice. You mentioned "feel" - absolutely key for me at my own school.I've heard good things about Smurfit too (not on my list since not a UK school - Dublin?).Incidentally, LBS would definitely be on my list of quality schools (just forgot), though I scratched them from my own selection for much the same reasons as you did, esp VFM.

Obviously brand awareness, reputation and quality are not perfectly interchangeable, but anecdotally when I studied in the U.S. the only UK b-schools people were really aware of were LBS and MBS and some people knew Warwick.I think MBS is good for the internationalism of the syllabus, faculty and classmates, and has a strong case-based learning tradition. If those are things you are looking for in your MBA I think it is a good value place to do the course.

Bonzo, Boxershorts and Quick, thank you all for your reflections. May I ask you about your age as well? I'm 23 and wonder if I should continue working a few years, then take a MBA and move into IB or skip the MBA and just jump into IB right away? what do you think? Although I have professional consultancy experience (crm, scm, cpm), I do not have practical experience within IB/Finance. Does this leave the only option for me as a graduate position?

I'm 35. MBA more recent (at 31). For me it worked out well, because I could relate things to practical experiences. Better, to my mind, than purely theoretical learning. Also, my MBA classmates were in a very similar age-and-experience group, so that probably had a lot to do with the learning value as well as the whole social experience.

Sorry. Missed your question. I moved from IT to PM to IB to MBA. Worked for me, but each situation is different.

I have no experience of IB so am in no position to comment on your prospects in that field, but if you did have the opportunity now, then why not take it? Even if a graduate position were your only option, then you would probably find many of your cohort to be of a similar age and would likely find the salary at least competitive (my knowledge of IB does extend to knowledge of the bonus the first year analysts of a certain American IB eared this year, and it was not far short of my annual salary).I also note that none of my friends in IB have any plans to study for an MBA.PS I am 30.

How did you manage to move from such diverse fields? I'd like to move from consulting into IB but am not sure if this is possible? Or better to do pre/post mba?

If that last was for me, I went from an IT firm (software dev), where I was involved in PM-type work. From there to a specialist PM firm (sort of a consultancy, but more like an outsourcer). Got put on engagement to an IB and switched there. From there did the MBA and now in "proper" consulting. Focus on risk and change. Thinking about it, much of my work has been 'consulting' of one form or another.

Boxershorts, do you mind if I ask more detailed questions? If you don't, could you pls drop me an email at fatpoy@gmail.com and I will send you some of the questions that are whirling in my head...It's a critical point for me and I don't want to make a mistake which I regret the rest of my life...

No pressure, eh Boxershorts!It's not like making a mistake in your advice to a random stranger could lead to them taking a decision they "regret for the rest of [their] life".It's not like they'd blame you for screwing up their life, hunt you down, kill your children and blow their own brains out in your living room.Is it?

Hey Fertile,No worries, no pressure. As a consultant always go in with the caveat that I'm not being directive. The client (in this case our friend Jon) is not compelled to follow the advice - or even to listen to it.There's not likely to be a mistake in my advice. I can only advise on what I know. The mistake may come in deciding what to do with it.Jon, you're 23. The rest of your life is, all other things being equal, a long time. Confucius say, many paths to top of mountain. Well, maybe he didn't, but he should have. Life is about decisions. You make 'em. You live with the consequences. There will be positives and negatives in all decisions. You'll take many things from all your experiences. There's pretty much nothing you can do now (career-wise) that you'll regret forever...I'll send you an email. Is it "fatboy" or "fatpoy"?B

Thanks B. My email is as it is "fatpoy". There is a good proverb which says: "Ask 1000 persons but do still what you think is best" (roughly translated). fertile, I am not that ruthless ;)