LBS or Oxford or Cambridge?

Question

Hello everyone,

this is my first post on this site, but I have been a regular reader of the forums for some months now.

I have received decisions from all the schools I applied to and I am hoping that you can help me decide which one to pick.

I have offers from LBS, Oxford, and Cambridge, and a waitlist position from INSEAD.

My background is 4 years corporate development in financial services (currently as team manager) and my goal after the MBA is to do corporate development in the high tech / telecom sector.

Obviously, LBS is the best ranked business school among my offers. However, the total cost of the programme is considerably higher than for Oxford or Cambridge. The question I am asking myself now is:

Is LBS worth the investment for me? Or could I achieve my career goal just as well with an MBA from Oxford or Cambridge?

It would really help me a lot if I could hear some thoughts from you on this.

Cheers,
Marco

BM · Answer

As you said, an MBA is an investment. But as this is one of the biggest investments that you will ever make in your career, let's take a closer look at the tuition fees:

Oxford MBA = £37,750 
Cambridge MBA = £ 36,000
LBS MBA = £57,500

I quickly went to each school's website to obtain the tuition information, so please correct me if there are any errors. But looking at these numbers, I really don't see what the problem is. In the grand scheme of things, is the difference between £36,000 and £57,500 going to make any difference?

As mentioned already, this is about the rest of your career - the rest of your working life. And that's something worth more than worrying about a couple of thousand dollars. If the figures above are correct, then this shouldn't be one of your major concerns.

If this is what's holding you back from choosing LBS, then for God's sake choose LBS! It's worth the price.

enkie · Answer

Though it's worth noting that Oxford's tuition fees include meals.

enkie · Answer

Wait NO, the 52,000 for Oxford is Executive MBA, not regular fulltime MBA. The fulltime MBA is 37750. https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/degrees/mba/Pages/Fees.aspx

BM · Answer

Thanks for the correction, enkie! Previous post amended. Kudos!

bb4238a · Answer

I'm going to approach this a little differently because I don't think listing the tuition fees captures the bigger picture:

- Tuition Fees - 
LBS MBA = £57,500
Oxford MBA = £37,750 
Cambridge MBA = £ 36,000

- Average Living Expenses -
LBS (two years)= £39,360 (£1,640 a month ave)
Oxford (one year)= £12,500
Cambridge (one year)= £8,500

Without counting the difference in travel/material/opportunity costs between the one year and two year programs, you're left with the following totals:

LBS= £96,860
Oxford MBA = £50,250
Cambridge MBA = £44,500

Looking at these numbers, I would say there is a significant difference in price between LBS and Oxbridge...However, I can't answer whether or not LBS wouldn't be worth the price. I think you need to have a realistic conversation with yourself and also potentially a member of the career services team (or alumni if you can find any in your target field).

What are you trying to get out of the MBA? Will LBS fast track you there? Will LBS give you easier access to the people you know you need to network with? If so, it may be worth the price. However, you also need to be honest about how big a financial burden you are comfortable taking on...

Best of luck, they are all excellent programs!

Frozenace · Answer

The difference between living expenses between oxford and cambridge isn't that great.

In london you can easily spend 1640 a month, but if you flat share (and cook), you can do it for much less.

markus11 · Answer

recuirtment scene is not as good as it used to be in london. there also seems to be issues around visa / bank loans / job prospects.

You need to think carefully that extra 40k is going to be any value add. Check out LBS 2012 calling all applicants thread..some good discussions over there recently. will help.

sanjuro9 · Answer

oxbridge are fine institutions and considering your career goals, should position you where you wish to be. If it had been banking in London or NYC, the choice would have been hands down LBS, period.

Contact career services and be nice and ask about employers in your targeted sector and function. Request to be connected with alumni and get their opinion. You will make much more educated decision.

You won't go terribly wrong with any of the decisions. Good luck with your waitlist.

happyface · Answer

Discussion in LBS 2012 calling all applicants thread is a scam. See my post on pg 24. Good luck to all lucky ones with more than one offer!

tebon77 · Answer

Folks - I was at this decision point about 2 years ago. Decided to go to cambridge & got into a very exciting mobile tech startup in Product Manager role (corporate development is not a stretch if that is what interests you). Moreover, my cambridge classmates have moved into likes of Google, IDEO, FB, Expedia etc & similarly currently a bunch of workmates are from top schools (HBS, LBS etc).

Cambridge provides a variety of options to get into the tech/telecom scene (obviously depends on how much you use the opportunities) - Silicon Valley comes to UK, Silicon Valley road trips, Internships etc..Like with all schools, if you want to go beyond banking/consulting/mba rotation programs - one needs to hunt & network like crazy <well worth it>.

Regards,
Pratik

MBAbot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club MBAbot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

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LBS or Oxford or Cambridge?

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