LBS or Oxford or Cambridge?

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

Hello from the GMAT Club MBAbot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.