Hi friends,
For those interested in one-year European or UK MBA programmes, I would like to draw your attention to Cranfield SOM. I sometimes heard that people not familiar with UK schools tend to think that it is just like any other second-tier programmes, but I believe that such opinions don’t do justice to Cranfield. This is a very respectable school which has strong reputation in the UK (and a good career placement there). The students are in general mature and experienced, which could be seen as another advantage.

Is anybody going to apply to Cranfield this year, or at least considering the possibility?

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Facts & Figures:

Location: UK, Bedfordshire
Site: http://www.cranfieldMBA.info

Rankings:
http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba/choose/rankings.asp
Economist IU 2008: 13
FT 2008: 30 (upward trend)

Programme cost: 28000 £. (as of 2008)

Class Profile:
http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba/mbaprogramme/studentprofiles.asp
Intake: 119
Male: Female ratio: 4:1
Foreign students: 81%
Average age: 33
Average experience: 8
Average GMAT: 660

Admission process and Requirements:
http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba/applications/admissionsprocess.asp
Min. years of experience: 3
GMAT: about 600 (balanced). Also, an applicant may choose Cranfield Admission Test as an alternative to GMAT, although GMAT is strongly recommended.

Salary & Career Opportunities:
http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba/postcareers/index.asp

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Here is the link to the old Cranfield thread:
http://gmatclub.com/forum/106-t57632
Also, gmatclubber apieterse (Cranfield alumnus) offered to answer some questions about the programme.

I am definitely apping to Cranfield as my own tier 2 school in the next couple of months if things don't go so well in R1. Cranfield has a NZ govt sponsored scholarship worth NZ$100k (basically fees and some expenses). I will apply for that.

Kudos

Hi AugiTh,

The reason for people's being accepted so early is that Cranfield has a rolling admission process - you may see the details if you check the link in the initial post. Also, the adcom releases decisions quite fast.

It is advised to apply as early as possible - they recommend before May, but I'd say that it will be better if you manage to send them your application during winter or in early spring: the year is not so good for prospective MBAs, as you know , and the programme is relatively small.

Good luck to you!

Hi again, AugiTh, and thanks for posting the link. I have read this document too, and I personally think that this condition is rather a recommendation than a strict rule (or it may be something that has left from previous years), as I knew that they considered applications throughout autumn as well. Also, there are a couple of admits already - you probably saw the posts on pagalguy forums.
I don't think that mid Jan or even Feb will be too late and plan to apply myself, but I also know that the competition will be stronger: a lot of people who applied to INSEAD/LBS/Oxbridge/St Gallen etc. and didn't get admits will probably apply to Cranfield at this point.

[quote="abhaypratapsingh"]My back ground is in Finance and banking.
I was having Cranfield on my list initially , but once i saw the course content of their mba proggramme , I could not find anything for finance, hence I am not applying there now.

thnks,[/quote]

You should have a look at St Gallen. They are specialised in this segment. Located in St Gallen, near Zurich--the financial hub of Switzerland.

I had a question and hope somebody can cprovide a clarification. I am a prospective applicant for the full time MBA program and I am planning to submit my application for the by Feb or March. I am getting stuck on the essays and I am not exactly sure as to how to get this resolved. I am also applying at Notre Dame and Emory (2 Yr programs) in USA.

I work as an IT consultant and most of my experience has been in the health insurance industry in USA. My goal after the MBA is to join a management rotation program in the US health insurance industry and eventually move into product development.

My concern is that would Cranfield frown upon a goals essay that talks about joining the industry in a specific country? I am not sure about the health insurance practices in other countries.

Finally!!!
I got an interview call.
Interview with Mr David Simmons!
Is there anyone else who is in the same boat as me?
We could may be try rowing together?
AugiTh

Scorpioguy,
If the rotation program is going to be international (eg. 3 months North America, 3 months Europe, 3 months Asia) then you can very easily connect your next step with the Cranfield International Program --> the contacts you can make, networking with current and past students, experience working with the multicultural "Learning teams" etc etc

Business schools look for people with concrete ideas. The point is to show that you have thought your goals through and the path you want to take to attain the goals. So it is a plus point to be specific.

Hope this helps.
AugiTh

My Debrief from a Cranfield MBA Preview day.

On a rainy Saturday morning, my alarm goes off at 7am. After a visit to a warm city pub the night before, I still have to get out of bed relatively early to get to Cranfield for a preview day. My throbbing head somehow didn't agree, but i still boarded the 8.20 am train from London Euston station to Milton Keynes Central, a mere 30 mins away.

Milton Keynes had put up a bright and sunny morning. I got into a Taxi for the 20min ride to Cranfield University. For those of you that don't know, Milton Keynes is a "baby of a town". Built in the 1960's in a flat part of the country, it is designed in a very American way. I swear that it has the widest streets in the UK. What it lacks in character, it makes up for in convenience i suppose. In 20 minutes however, the rolling English countryside became the norm once again and the narrow country roads led me to Cranfield University. Cranfield is an interesting place. It was a world war two Air Force base. Today it is a graduate only university, one that is 90% privately funded. Apparently they don't qualify for a lot of government grants because of no undergraduate programmes. Instead, the university is based on Management, Engineering, Health and Aeronautics courses.

When I arrived on the front entrance of the School of Management, I looked at the facade of the building. Quite naturally I compared it to the other top UK schools (LBS, SBS, JBS). Cranfield's appearance did not match what the other three had on offer. The building, although functional, didn't have charm. I decided however not to make this an issue. I was here to learn about the programme after all.

When I was greeted by the Admissions staff at the front desk, I was pleasantly surprised. They had a "pack" of information ready for me, including a branded folder, a personalised name plate that I would use in the lecture theater and even some branded mints. I hadn't experienced this personal touch from the other schools I visited. I suppose it's competitive out there fore programmes like the Cranfield MBA.

The day kicked off with a presentation from the assistant MBA director. To be honest, my tiredness was effecting me since all the "brochure type" information in this session was making me want to snooze. Looking at the schedule, I was more interested in the later parts of the day.

An hour later, came a short break. I took this opportunity to mingle with the fellow attendees. I was impressed by some of the people who'd made the effort to come to Cranfield on a Saturday. There were Associates from investment banks, to lawyers and also entrepreneurs that I conversed with. The age demographic was a bit different. A lot of these people were 30+. The day was about to get interesting.

After sipping a very strong coffee in this break, I raised my alertness level. Bob Lillis, the professor of Operations Management presented to us the Case Method. In the next 30 minutes, he basically said that 40% of learning at Cranfield is by delivered in for form of cases and went on to present his strategy on reading, summarising, and learning from cases. We were then presented a 8 page "easy case" on a Business Ethics issue from a Canadian lending institution. We were given 10 minutes to digest and summarize the material. Then a short class discussion took place. A word of warning, you WILL be cold called upon at Cranfield. Then to everyone's surprise, we were randomly split into groups of 6 and were sent to a syndicate room for 15-20 mins to come up with a resolution to the ethics problem that was in the case. Each group then had to present their summary. I was hooked to the case method.

Another plus side to Cranfield was that they put on a nice lunch . I was sat next to the Exec-MBA Director for a part of this and he did a good job selling the school to me. I was impressed on the student culture at cranfield. I suppose if you put 150 people in a small village in the middle of no-where, you get a tight-knit community.

Next was a lecture on Financial Strategy. Again the lecture was largely presented by providing a simple case study on financing a new water company. To most people's surprise, the financial model used went against their gut instinct. But mathematically it was a better model. It was good way to learn the material.

The last session of the day was an interactive Q&A session with recent grads of the full-time and exec MBAs. Once again, this interaction left me impressed. They were open about the cranfield experience and did not put any marketing spin on it what so ever.

So I left Cranfield with a decision to apply within the next few weeks. It will be worth it.

-buff

Please share your interview experience here...
Alumni, current students please do pen in your suggestions.
AugiTh