CambridgeMBA wrote:
@libraal
in what way would you say that "Cambridge Judge Business School does not live up to the brand and quality one would expect from Cambridge?"
I don't mean this in a defensive way. Rather at the school, we are always looking out for ways to improve. Just yesterday, we had a very good, useful session where an external consultant mapped out the brand vs what's actually happening, so I am keen to hear your views.
Conrad Chua
Head MBA Admissions
University of Cambridge
Conrad,
I'll try my best to give an objective feedback and observations. Nothing personal and I do hope that Cambridge (and other MBA programs, if applicable) take this on board.
- Judge, similar to Oxford, effectively leverages the Cambridge brand, location and its collegial nature. This is emphasized in all of the marketing materials and even utilized during the interview day (dinner, Cambridge tour), etc. Utilizing it, it attracts lots of people from all over the world including US where Cambridge (and even perhaps more so Oxford) brands are strong.
- By effectively leveraging the brand, Cambridge (and Oxford) have successfully competed away students from the likes of Cranfield which have longer established programs. As part of the MBA experience is interaction and learning from fellow students, having more diverse and arguably more outstanding student body works in favour of Cambridge.
- One can say Cambridge to people who are not closely familiar with the MBA world and get an instant recognition. However, in the MBA brand world taken on its own likes of LBS and IMD have stronger brands and recognition. For example, an MBA HR recruiter at my company recognizes both IMD and LBS, but doesn't recruit and has nothing much to say about the likes of Cambridge and Cranfield. Although with Cranfield, my company runs an internal academy training.
- I don't believe that students actually get to draw as much benefit from the collegial nature as Cambridge claims them to. Firstly, part of them won't simply have the time to do so because the year is so short. For example, my understanding is that the social representatives this year were so busy at the beginning, that they hardly managed to put any time into arranging proper social activities. Secondly, although my sample may not be representative, more than half of the students I talked to couldn't give me proper examples of how they are benefitting from access to Cambridge colleges. On top of that most of the MBA students choose to be housed in the same college (one of the more modern ones, I can't remember the name now), so basically the MBAs interact with MBAs in the end rather than with the non-MBA students from other colleges.
- Career Services continues to be of questionable quality. I know Cambridge is trying to do something and it has revamped its CS by firing the old team but one and hiring new folks - you can perhaps shed more light on this. During the CS pitch a question was posed if CS folks individually helped students to find their dream job to which the answer was along the lines that "we're not yet on commission to do so". Now, this may have been an awkward joke, but every joke has a hint of truth. In Cranfield, CS reps did mention that they approach placement of each student individually without even being prompted the question. I do understand that CS has a tough task on their hands, but I shall leave it to other students to investigate. One thing that one could check is the assessment of the career services by students in the various rankings.
- During the engagement with the current students, I couldn't help the feeling that the ones the prospective students go to speak with were effectively drilled to only mention the positives without ANY mention of the negatives. Now, I don't know if all schools do it, but apparently at Cambridge students are instructed not to share the negatives with external parties under the threat of damaging the school reputation/ranking and, thus, effectively ruining their own future. One perhaps gets this with other schools, but the students from other top schools I've interacted with tend to be frank enough and at least admit some shortcomings of their school. With ethics trumpeted by every school and preached at every corner, I feel like I'm being lied by a marketing without even having the luxury of the "small print". To me this borders misrepresentation and fraud!
- Finer touches may distinguish one school from another. As with people, taking rejection and formative feedback with grace sometimes distinguishes top performers from the rest. One can go through the hassle of writing a lengthy apologetic e-mail explaining the reasons for rejecting a school and then at the minimum expect a short thank you and wishing of luck in the future (INSEAD do this). Now, how about implementing this small tweak with Cambridge AdComs? A little thank you goes a long way and costs you nothing.
- Continuing on admitting mistakes and dealing with failures - a subject so close to every MBA applicant. I appreciate the Cambridge brand, etc., but there is a fine line between confidence and snobbery/haugtiness. I, therefore, found your post "What got me hopping mad on Saturday" (
https://www.thecambridgembaadmissions.co ... -saturday/) and responses to disapproving feedback very disturbing. I see nothing criminal in the question "Why Cambridge?", it's an absolutely legitimate question and the same question could be asked about other schools with even longer history. MBA programs are products sold to the end customers. Now as an end customer and buyer of something expensive, would you buy something without asking "Why X and not Y"?
- A rhethoric question is "Are MBA programmes similar to vineyards?" If yes, then somethings will only come with maturity and vintage. In which case, one could argue that Cranfield with its longer established programme could be a safer bet than Cambridge. However, Cambridge does have the strong international brand going for it and perhaps in the next few decades its MBA programme indeed will have the maturity/vintage to complement rather than contradict its brand.
Best wishes!