Dear all,It's so difficult to choose an MBA school through all their hype, so could you please help? Let's take 5 people and assume their pre MBA experience and post MBA job interview performance is equal, so whether or not they are hired by a good consultancy firm all hinges on the reputation of the school where they did their MBA. Let's imagine they are all the same age, and took the MBA at LBS, Cranfield, Manchester, Said and Judge. Yes, I know there are rankings that tell us what each school is good at...but there must be some kind of snob value too...some unwritten and unspoken preference amongst the consulting firms...so what is it? Anyone care to reveal the secret??

There is a post I've contributed to earlier explaining the rankings and reputations of various universities in the UK and USA. I made specific comments on business schools too, so have a look. It's entitled "Top technology uni?"To be more specific about your query, yes, there is indeed a "snob value", as you put it. The best rated business schools in the UK rank as follows if academic excellence is the sole judging criteria:LBS,UMISTAston,Said OxfordJudge CambridgeIf the judging criteria is purely "snob value", one is more inclined to suggest the following order:LBS, Said & JudgeUMIST & Aston This second opionion is always highly arbitrary and differs depending on whom you ask. This is why I'd encourage you not to focus too much attention on it. The scenario you mention of all other things equal and everything therefore "hinging" on the reputation of one's business school is actually quite remote. There will always be obvious differentiators amongst candidates long before a recruiter ever sits down and wonders, "Hmmm...exactly the same level of charisma at interview, exactly equal in analytical ability and business awareness, exactly the same results in the aptitude tests, exactly the same responses in the case study. Right - one went to Aston, the other UMIST, let's pick the one from UMIST because the school sounds sexier." I'd suggest that you should put your focus on becoming a star achiever at whichever top business school you choose. (The top part is important, but that's all). Why? Well let's say you go to interview clutching a superb MBA transcript from Aston. If your competition is an alumni of Said with a lesser transcript, your academics are automatically better, making the point of business school "reputation" a non starter.

Richard,Bit surprised not to see Cranfield and Henley on your list...think a few people may disagree with you there...and they may also disagree about Aston. Tom, Oxford and Cambridge have an unrivalled brand, LBS is widely considered the "best" in the UK, Cranfield and Henley were traditionally in the top tier along with LBS but now are being displaced by Oxbridge, and also caught up by Warwick, Edinburgh, Cass, (and perhaps even Aston). That's my opinion, anyway :)

Said is No2. Reputation tails off after LBS. MBA courses at Warwick, Manchester, Cass etc also very good but less cachet and may not open as many doors. Having seen a colleague's coursework for Henley I am now convinced it is cack.Why do you keep banging on about UMIST anyway? It makes me think you are either several years out of touch or don't know what you are talking about. The MBA was always offered at MBS, part of Manchester University proper. UMIST no longer exists anyway, having been merged with Victoria into a newly reintegrated University of Manchester.

Ranking generally a load of crap,but if a company refers to requiring an MBA from a top tier (UK) business school, in my experience they are generally referring to LBS, Said, Judge, Cranfield, with a couple of others depending on taste. Internationally, LBS would have it, and the Oxbridge schools would have an (undeserved) edge over such schools as Cranfield as people would (wrongly) associate their undergraduate standards with their business schools.

Methinks one of the posters above may have done an MBA at Aston

Methinks one of the posters above may have done an MBA at Aston

Consultancies are quite conservative so likely to value longer established brands over Said and Judge. If I had to pick one for brand recognition it would be LBS - long established, based in London where most consulancies are, and strong in financial services where much of the money is.However the MBA brand recognition will only contribute to getting you an interview. Once you are at interview then it will depend on your skills and personality. So more important is which MBA will most enhance your skills and personality.

Surely the biggest factor is whether you went to the same school as the person interviewing you / the firm's current high performers and/or the firm's partners. The same applies to whether you have worked for the same companies in the past as the key recruitment decision-makers.

I would say the list is pretty acurate for top B-schools: (in non-order):LBS, MBS, Judge, Said, Cranfield, Cass + Tanaka (This is my B-school so I own up to my prejudice).However, the reputation changes if you are doing an exec MBA (Henley), if you are focused on specific areas (Ops - Warwick/Cranfield).

Best way to answer this question is for you to get your hands on the facts! Have each of the business schools provide a list of:i) the consultancies that are going to be presenting at the school this year during the recruiting season (ie. they want to encourage applicants from the school)ANDii) alumni from the last 2 years that have gone into consulting - who has joined which firm?The schools should be able to provide both these pieces of information and once you have this for each of the schools then it should become pretty apparent which firms favour which schools. My gut reaction would be that LBS would come out top and probably Said / Judge as the next two - but why base your decision on opinions when the hard data is available?Best of luck, Tony

Hi duing the MBA in the moment, I can only say one thing. Go to the schools and look around - talk to the people - and chose the one that you feel most comfortable with. You will spent a lot of the time (and i speak almost 24/7) with those people. If you cannot stand the school itself or your fellow students it will be hard to go throu. The ranking is important to select your top group, but after this it comes down where you feel good. This will increase your skills and personality. And as the second writer wrote in the interview it comes down who you are not to what schol you went.

Hi Anna,where are you doing your MBA? Would you recommend it? What are its strengths and weaknesses?Many thanks

RG,Oh wow, so you have corrected me on a technicality. So the place is called University of Manchester. The semantics are still the bloody same. Even a cursory search on the internet will reveal that UMIST means Manchester.

I'm looking at doing an Exec MBA, I've been working at a small niche strategic consultancy for two years. As I'm based in Henley I've been considering the course at Henley Management college and would really like to hear from anyone who's done it. I'm especially interested to understand how feasible it is to even undertake an MBA when my average working week is about 70 hours (probably a walk in the park compared to most of you!) and involves European travel about three times a month. It's all a bit new to me as my undergrad is in Philosophy and German! Any advice would be gratefully received (as well as the requisite sarcastic comments)

I think you need to think about the type of consulting you want to do. It's all well and good people saying the interview is all about you, but you need to get the interview in the first place, and that depends in a big way on your school. If you are targeting a "prestige" house like Mckinsey or Bain, then you should make every effort to go to LBS or INSEAD, or to The US. If you are targeting the next tier down then it is more reasonable to look at the next tier of schools too.Look and see where your target firms recruit, and find out also if they are recruing sponsored former employees, or new recruits.