Cranfield SOM 2009

I just want to see the countryside -- although a visit might be better timed once we have our GMATclub contingent on-site...

Hi Buff,

Thanks for your Cranfield report. I really enjoyed it, since I was also accepted last year, but declined the offer to go to HEC Paris after LBS sacked me from its waitlist. My main concerns against Cranfield had been the student mix, the reputation outside UK and lack of Finance lectures.

However, if you have any questions regarding Cranfield feel free to ask me. Maybe you should also think about HEC if you are interested in Finance. The HEC alumni network is quite strong in London, though it is weaker since the credit crunch...

Cheers,

Hi Cat,

thanks for the post. I will surely PM you regarding any questions that I will have regarding Cranfield.

How is your current experience at HEC shaping up? Perhaps you can start a new thread, considering HEC Paris doesn't get many posts dedicated to it over here. I for one would be really interested to read your posts.

-buff

Buff,

Please feel free to PM me. It' worth to apply ASAP for Cranfield since they got a fund for scholarships, so you can easily get 10k scholarships. Moreover, the reservation fee was only £200 until 1st June, so you have still time to apply for other schools in the meantime...

I am thinking about starting a thread for HEC, if anyone is interested. BTW, HEC has just signed a double degree agreement with MIT Sloan in January!

Cheers,

Hi all,

If any of you attended Cranfield's "On-campus interview Day" on 26th Jan,
please do pen in your experiences here.
Regards,
AugiTh

Hi Guys,

My telephonic interview lasted a little more than an hour.

The following questions were asked:
1. Why did you chose XYZ as the business leader you admire most?
2. Have you met XYZ?
3. What are the characteristics that you found attractive in XYZ?
4. How do you relate your abilities with abilities of XYZ?
5. What leadership qualities do you pocess?
6. Give me an example where you proved your leadership abilities?
7. Are you a leader or a manager? What is the difference?
8. How would your subordinates/project team members describe you?
9. What are your weaknesses?
10. If "pqr" is your weakness, give me an example where this happened and what did you do about it?
11. Why Cranfield?
12. How did you come to know about Cranfield?
13. Why MBA now?
14. In your opinion, how does Cranfield stand apart from the rest of the MBA schools?
15. What would you gain from your MBA?
16. Your most significant professional achievement?
17. Case study: 10 minutes
18. My questions

I hope this helps other candidates. You can PM me if you have more questions!

@catgmat: Many thanks for sharing your experience with me!!!!

I thought it may be useful to get some input from a recent Cranfield MBA alumni.

Fisrtly, I had a fantastic year at Cranfield. Not only did I learn a lot, but I have also made life-long friends.

Cranfield is not the most glamerous of business schools, it's stuck on a converted airforce base in the middle of the countryside and there's not much around to do other than play touch rugby with your classmates and have a few beers in the pub. However I think this is exactly what seperates Cranfield from other schools. The MBA student body form an exceptionally strong bond as the vast majority live together on campus and spend most of their free time together. What's fantastic about this is that it means I now have friends and business partners from about 37 different nationalities !! Another result is that the MBA Alumni body is a very cohesive one. It's been 6 months since I finished my MBA and I can already tell you that the MBA Alumni connection has been a big help in my post-MBA business life. Every year some distinguished MBA Alumni give some masterclasses to the student body, in my year we had Andy Harrison -CEO EasyJet, Charlie Mayfield - Chariman John Lewis Group, Andy Bond - CEO ASDA and Kate Avery - Group Director for Legal and General.

Another thing to note is that the quality of the education is world-class, some of the lecturers where the most inspiring I have ever had in my life. Even after many sleepless nights and countless hours in lecture theaters many lecturers still managed to enthuse me in lectures. Because Cranfield also has a strong commercial business education arm, most lecturers also have to sell their concepts and models to senior business leaders and therefore you definitelly get a "real world" business education and don't just get fed some model that an academic dreamt up. Also there is a massive emphasis on class participation, so you have to know your stuff 100% before you even get to class.

In short, for any of you embarking on a Cranfield MBA, I envy you for the experience and assure you that you will have one of the best years of your life.

Good luck with your applications!!


Ps. For those of you who do choose other schools, don't miss out on the annual Cranfield MBA REGATTA in the Solent in July. It's a fantastic weekend that always gets outstanding reviews from all the schools that participate.

Had my interview on tuesday with Sean Rickard. I heard back today that I have been admitted to the program. So here is the de-brief:

FYI - my essay topic for the interview was business leader that I admired the most.

1) General question about career experience
2) Business leader - quick presentation on qualities of the leader I had chosen followed by questions on entrepreneurship, people skills, corporate responsibility of the leader. Final question was of the three characteristics that was discussed earlier which one is most important in my opinion.
3) Question on American economy and the role of the market in creating this crisis. (This is where I messed up. I initially answered incorrectly and he had to repeat the question. I felt that even after taht my answer was unsatisfactory).
4) Questions on why Cranfield and what do I think on the learning environment of Cranfield, i.e., lots of disucssion in the classroom.
5) My questions
6) Sean suggested that I look into accommodation fairly early if selected as I hope to travel with my family.
7) Wished me luck and said that I should hear back by thursday.

I prepared for the interview by going through my essays and the interview experiences detailed on the pagalguy MBA forum. My profile - Indian male, 33 yrs, 700 GMAT, IT for 11 years in USA and India.

hi Friends!
This forum has been quite informative.I am considering to apply for 2010 Intake.I am BE In Electronics and since the last 5+yrs i am working in telecom domian.I have a good academic and avg extracurricul. My GMAT score is 720.

Actually i find 1yrs MBA programmes more suitable thats why i am considering to apply in Crainfield.My queries are :
What are the strengths and weeknesses of crainfield prog.How is the prog valued in europe.?.Is there any scholorship available and approx to what percentage of tution fee.How is the placement and the place.How is the prog in comparison to Manchester and Emperial.
waiting to hear from u guy.

Hello

I am an admit to the 2009 - 2010 batch and will be joining Cranfield.

Strength
1) 1 year program - faster ROI
2) Strong focus on GM
3) One of the best schools in UK - within top 15 in Europe according to some rankings. I found that a lot of FTSE 100 CxO's are from Cranfield
4) Lot of focus on personal development
5) Good career services
6) Strong alumni network
7) From a personal perspective - I was an older candidate with a family. Based on my research this school seemed to fit me very well. The average age of applicants is 33 and the average experience is 8 years.

Weakness
1) MBA program is generalistic - meaning no concentration on finance, OPS etc. What I mean is that you can tailor your course but there are no official concentrations.
2) Location - a bit far away from London (90 minutes).
3) Less name recognition outside of UK

Scholarship - yes it is available and the amount varies by your background / achievements / leadership etc. I believe of all the Indians who got an admit so far only 1 person got a scholarship and that too for 3000 GBP.

Manchester and Imperial Was not among my target schools. Hence no idea about comparison between them. But based on most of the rankings Cranfield is a better program than these schools.

Hi, silverstream

I will join Cranfield this year. Reasons:

1. Good program in GM and marketing
2. Placement report: in all rankings Cranfield is in top for placement and final salary. For me, it is more important the efficience than school's brand or the number of foreign teachers.
3. Location: the fact that the school is not in a big city is an advantage for me. That means a stronger connection with other students and more time to learn.
4. I will go with my wife, and Cranfield offers good conditions for families.
5. Alumni

Hi catgmat,
what was your concern about student mix. can you elaborate. thx.

Hi Humblewinner,

When I visited Cranfield I looked through the profile book 2008 and noticed that Cranfield admits 3 major groups to the programme (UK, India and Nigeria approx. 40%). Also I was astonished that other nationalities such as US, Asians and Continental Europeans had been in the minority.

Although I think that Cranfield has a very good programme, alumni network and reputation, I was very disappointed of the student mix that seemed somehow unbalanced. So, I finally turned down the offer due to this disappointment.

However, maybe you should ask AdCom for the current profile book!

Cheers,

Is anybody applying to Cranfield EMBA ?

I might apply to Cranfield MBA (not EMBA).

My concerns looking at the curriculum were;
looks diluted (very little finance related courses) and lack of practical project.

Am still trying to find out how Cranfield compares to Warwick and Lancaster two others schools I might consider. Any ideas anyone.

I got admit for 2010 batch. I will be joining from sept. Unfortunately i am unable to find any accommodation in campus hostel. They said its full so I am looking for some accommodation off-campus. Can someone please help me out with it.

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GMAT Club Moderator Team.