MBA Smurfit School?

El Diablo 101

Hi guys,

I am entering into my last year of college studying Marketing, and I would love to do an MBA in the Smurfit school next year. I have a few question if you wouldn't mind answering them.

Thanks,

1) On the fees page, it says that for the year, it is €29,500. Is there any particular reason beyond it being triple accredited that it is so expensive?

2) If there are scholarships available, what is the best way of going about getting one?

3) I'd imagine competition is rife for the places, is it?

Thanks again

PeakOutput

if you are seriously set on an mba you would be better off travelling to england and doing a quality one there I have heard many many bad things about the ucd mba including from ex lecturers who have moved onto bigger and better things

RandomName2

El Diablo 101 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I am entering into my last year of college studying Marketing, and I would love to do an MBA in the Smurfit school next year. I have a few question if you wouldn't mind answering them.

Thanks,

1) On the fees page, it says that for the year, it is €29,500. Is there any particular reason beyond it being triple accredited that it is so expensive?

2) If there are scholarships available, what is the best way of going about getting one?

3) I'd imagine competition is rife for the places, is it?

Thanks again

Forget scholarships (they might in theory exist but in practice attempting to get one will cost you a deposit!)

The price of the MBA is pretty similar to that offered by Trinity! Yeah - E30,000, I was surprised too :eek:

They really want Masters students or people with a lot of business experience to apply; but if you have a decent business degree and E30,000 I'm sure they won't complain.

The info above probably isn't of much use to you though! The Smurf MBA is about the most highly accredited course of its kind in Ireland; but there are *some* niggles about how much weight it carries abroad.

From what I've seen it is more useful for those already in a business (low management level) who want to move up the ladder, than those attempting to enter the market.

bnt

If you ask me, the "reputation" of a MBA is a self-fulfilling prophecy: it's perceived to be a ticket in to big business and high compensation, so in the absence of regulation, schools are going to charge what the market will bear. What school would want to be "the cheap option"? But if you charge too much, you won't get the students: in other words, the school's reputation depends on there being money to pay the fees they charge.

(Look at the UK: they put a £9,000 cap on undergrad. fees, and now over 1/2 of the universities are charging £9,000. What Master of Business Administration thought up that one, and which school did he go to? I'm considering a MBA too, possibly in the UK. and need to know which schools to avoid ... )

PS: you don't need to have a business degree to go in to a MBA. I have a friend who got one, and he's an electrical engineer. I took the GMAT about 5 years ago, did OK, and had schools (including Smurfit) contacting me with offers - and I didn't have any degree at the time, just a lot of experience.

parker kent

PeakOutput wrote: »

if you are seriously set on an mba you would be better off travelling to england and doing a quality one there I have heard many many bad things about the ucd mba including from ex lecturers who have moved onto bigger and better things

You may have heard one thing, but I'd take the opinions of the Financial Times and The Economist as being more important.

Our full-time MBA programme is ranked 31st in the world's top 100 according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. We are the only Irish business school to gain a place in the rankings.
The Economist also ranked us highly for opening up new career opportunities and increasing salaries for our MBA graduates.

We maintained our presence in the top 100 in the Financial Times’ highly competitive global full-time MBA rankings and are currently ranked as 78th in the world and 22nd in Europe.
Our Executive MBA programme is ranked 54th in the world and 30th in Europe by the Financial Times.

http://www.smurfitschool.ie/aboutsmurfit/rankingsandaccreditation/

PeakOutput

parker kent wrote: »

You may have heard one thing, but I'd take the opinions of the Financial Times and The Economist as being more important.


http://www.smurfitschool.ie/aboutsmurfit/rankingsandaccreditation/

i aware of that thanks i stand by what i said you can get far far better value for money abroad

parker kent

PeakOutput wrote: »

i aware of that thanks i stand by what i said you can get far far better value for money abroad

OK so a quick straw poll:

London Business School: MBA costs £53,900
University of Cambridge Judge: MBA costs £36,000
University of Oxford: Saïd: MBA Costs £36,300
Manchester Business School: MBA costs £35,600
Cranfield School of Management: MBA costs £33,000
Imperial College Business School: MBA costs £35, 850

Remembering that £35,600 is around €43,000. I could go on, but suffice to say that Smurfit is ranked in the same lists as those MBAs. And it is cheaper than all of the above.

graduate

I am entering into my last year of college studying Marketing, and I would love to do an MBA in the Smurfit school next year

If you are a 21 year old final year student then you will not be admitted. The MBA is a post-experience degree, and if you don't know that then you haven't thought much about it. Not much point in spending 30 grand without a clear idea of what it is going to do for you.

You might wish to aim for one of the regular Marketing masters in Smurfit
http://www.smurfitschool.ie/mastersprogrammes/marketing/

Penisland

El Diablo 101 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I am entering into my last year of college studying Marketing, and I would love to do an MBA in the Smurfit school next year. I have a few question if you wouldn't mind answering them.

Thanks,

1) On the fees page, it says that for the year, it is €29,500. Is there any particular reason beyond it being triple accredited that it is so expensive?

2) If there are scholarships available, what is the best way of going about getting one?

3) I'd imagine competition is rife for the places, is it?

Thanks again

You really should not be considering an MBA if you are just coming out of an undergrad. Although there is a chance you will be accepted if you have the cash!

However people doing MBAs often comment that the best thing they get from the courses is contacts. The course content is very general, and as noted by other posters, you dont need a business background. You have to ask yourself what will you gain from doing another general business course? What sort of contact can you be to others in the course when you have just graduated?

If you are set on doing further study I would recommend doing a specialist masters. Try and think of what sort of job you would like to get into and try to pick a masters that would get you into that area. Try having a look at people on linked-in who have jobs that you may be interested in and have a look at the courses they have done. Might help you identify the route you want to take! And of course specialist masters are a lot cheaper :P

Best of luck anyway!

parker kent

Yeah I should have said as the posters above have said (got sidetracked in the UK is better value argument!). The average MBA student is between 30 and 35. And as it says on the Smurfit website:

Our MBA programmes are designed for professionals with at least 3 years experience. Programmes can be taken full-time (12 months) or part-time (24 months).

http://www.smurfitschool.ie/mbaprogrammes/

PeakOutput

parker kent wrote: »

OK so a quick straw poll:

London Business School: MBA costs £53,900
University of Cambridge Judge: MBA costs £36,000
University of Oxford: Saïd: MBA Costs £36,300
Manchester Business School: MBA costs £35,600
Cranfield School of Management: MBA costs £33,000
Imperial College Business School: MBA costs £35, 850

Remembering that £35,600 is around €43,000. I could go on, but suffice to say that Smurfit is ranked in the same lists as those MBAs. And it is cheaper than all of the above.

so we know its cheap (relatively), we knew that already. so what stats are you going to show me that shows its better value?

its been two years since i was doing most of my research so maybe things have changed a lot but i doubt it. the salary of graduates straight out of smurfit compared to graduates from lbs, oxbridge and imperial was noticeably lower and very significantly lower then the top schools in the states which is why I say you get better value abroad.

If you are a 21 year old final year student then you will not be admitted.

also thats not true, it makes it harder but not impossible

Pandoras Twist

Surely you should be looking into Masters programmes, not MBA's?

Masters in Marketing is 6,500

http://www.smurfitschool.ie/mastersprogrammes/marketing/mscinmarketing/

Penisland

PeakOutput wrote: »

so we know its cheap (relatively), we knew that already. so what stats are you going to show me that shows its better value?

its been two years since i was doing most of my research so maybe things have changed a lot but i doubt it. the salary of graduates straight out of smurfit compared to graduates from lbs, oxbridge and imperial was noticeably lower and very significantly lower then the top schools in the states which is why I say you get better value abroad.



also thats not true, it makes it harder but not impossible

That would be wrong. There are plenty of stats that measure value.The smurfit MBA is ranked 5 in the world in terms of value by the FT which is a function of salary earned before the MBA, salary after, course length, fees and other other cost including opportunity cost of not working.

So ye I would say that the smurfit MBA is definitly good value comparatively!

edit: It has actually dropped to 10 in terms of value in the 2011 rankings However I think this still delivers good value!

PeakOutput

Penisland wrote: »

That would be wrong. There are plenty of stats that measure value.The smurfit MBA is ranked 5 in the world in terms of value by the FT which is a function of salary earned before the MBA, salary after, course length, fees and other other cost including opportunity cost of not working.

So ye I would say that the smurfit MBA is definitly good value comparatively!

edit: It has actually dropped to 10 in terms of value in the 2011 rankings However I think this still delivers good value!

hmmm fair play to them being 15oddk cheaper to most others seems to pay off big time in the rankings.

if you click on ucd smurfit in the ft rankings you can see what i was talking about though, the (weighted)average salary of graduates from smurfit is 40K less a year then graduates from lbs. ucd is also 72nd as far as percentage salary increase and 72nd as far as career progress goes.

come to think of it however these stats mean very little to the op as he is apparently 21 and has had no career to date so maybe smurfit is fine for him and he should go for it, personally if i decide to go for an mba it will probably be stateside as they turned out to be the best options for me after i did all the research

parker kent

PeakOutput wrote: »

hmmm fair play to them being 15oddk cheaper to most others seems to pay off big time in the rankings.

if you click on ucd smurfit in the ft rankings you can see what i was talking about though, the (weighted)average salary of graduates from smurfit is 40K less a year then graduates from lbs. ucd is also 72nd as far as percentage salary increase and 72nd as far as career progress goes.

come to think of it however these stats mean very little to the op as he is apparently 21 and has had no career to date so maybe smurfit is fine for him and he should go for it, personally if i decide to go for an mba it will probably be stateside as they turned out to be the best options for me after i did all the research

You have to take into account the countries that MBA students work in afterwards. Ireland does not have as thriving a private sector as the UK or USA. Typically, people would work in the country they studied in once it is their home country. You'll find MBA grads tend to work in the UK once they are from there. Ditto the USA. Hence it is normal that on average they may earn less in a head to head comparison. FT, The Economist do take this into account. Unbiased outsiders see it as good value. You also have to take into account that not everybody can afford to move to the USA or wants to move to the USA. Smurfit is not anywhere near as bad as you portrayed it in your first post.

As for the OP, an MBA is definitely not the best option available to him. A masters in some area of business would be far better and then in future an MBA could be considered.

DáireM

PeakOutput wrote: »

hmmm fair play to them being 15oddk cheaper to most others seems to pay off big time in the rankings.

if you click on ucd smurfit in the ft rankings you can see what i was talking about though, the (weighted)average salary of graduates from smurfit is 40K less a year then graduates from lbs. ucd is also 72nd as far as percentage salary increase and 72nd as far as career progress goes.

come to think of it however these stats mean very little to the op as he is apparently 21 and has had no career to date so maybe smurfit is fine for him and he should go for it, personally if i decide to go for an mba it will probably be stateside as they turned out to be the best options for me after i did all the research

Lol, nice goalpost shift. I thought value was what mattered?

WRT the second part: due respect but the research you did in your spare time is gonna be way inferior to that of the Economist and FT. A stateside MBA may be the best choice for you personally but on average these rankings are going to be about right for someone looking at an MBA.

I think it's pretty impressive that Smurfit has managed to get right up there in the rankings especially with the geographic handicap parker kent mentioned. For an Irish university to be top 50 in anything in the world is fantastic and should be acknowledged as such.

Your condescending attitude really grated on me, best of luck moving onto bigger and better things though. Don't forget us plebs when you're at the top.

PeakOutput

DáireM wrote: »

Lol, nice goalpost shift. I thought value was what mattered?

I didn't shift anything i clearly said that, besides the advice from ex smurfit lecturers, my research was two years old.

edit; and value, along with relevance to career goals, is what matters to me i congratulate them on now being ranked highly for value for money

WRT the second part: due respect but the research you did in your spare time is gonna be way inferior to that of the Economist and FT.

with due respect to the rankings, which i do have high regard for, a very small increase in score in one area (say value for example) can jump you up a huge amount of places in the rankings. they also take into account a limited (not small but limited) number of variables. you need to do your own research to find out which mba suits you personally as they vary in content hugely and any independent adviser will tell you that.

MIT for example is probably top of the rankings if entrepreneurship is your goal. I cant remember the university name but I remember thinking how strange it was that the top school for logistics management was way down the general list and people might disregard it as a result even if that area was their end goal.

I think it's pretty impressive that Smurfit has managed to get right up there in the rankings especially with the geographic handicap parker kent mentioned. For an Irish university to be top 50 in anything in the world is fantastic and should be acknowledged as such.

it is indeed however, without draggin this off topic, it shouldnt be a rare occurence (trinity and ucd were ranked in the top 100 but dropped severely in the last decade) we have the potential to have 1 solidly in the top 50 and 2 solidly in the top 100 if we do things right IMO

Your condescending attitude really grated on me, best of luck moving onto bigger and better things though. Don't forget us plebs when you're at the top.

condescending to who exactly? if you are getting offended on behalf of a business department in ucd then you need to lighten up.

DáireM

The condescension wasn't confined to your criticism of UCD. I just got the impression that unless anything is in the absolute world elite you look down upon it. Apologies if I've taken you up wrong.

This could've been phrased a lot better for example:

PeakOutput wrote: »

come to think of it however these stats mean very little to the op as he is apparently 21 and has had no career to date so maybe smurfit is fine for him and he should go for it, personally if i decide to go for an mba it will probably be stateside as they turned out to be the best options for me after i did all the research

Which to me read as: "I mean, I wouldn't dream of it because it's ****e but you go right ahead OP, sounds right up your alley!".

You could've given much more constructive advise than this. If Smurfit really isn't worth much as you say you should've advised them to get some great work experience behind them and then apply for a world-class programme in 10 or 15 years, which presumably is what you've done.

PeakOutput

DáireM wrote: »

This could've been phrased a lot better for example:



Which to me read as: "I mean, I wouldn't dream of it because it's ****e but you go right ahead OP, sounds right up your alley!".

I can actually see how that would have come off like that now that you have pointed it out, i didnt mean it like that. I meant that the stats I was listing were all relative to people who had careers going in but because he dosn't have a career going in if he gets accepted and graduates he will obviously move up a few rungs of the career ladder and that would put him in a good position for being promoted younger then normal down the road.

You could've given much more constructive advise than this. If Smurfit really isn't worth much as you say you should've advised them to get some great work experience behind them and then apply for a world-class programme in 10 or 15 years, which presumably is what you've done.

nope definitely dont have 15 years of experience in anything I am in a similar position to the op in that I am about to get my degree but I am older and have 3-5 years of work experience and was very much set on doing an mba when I graduated last year but have cooled off on the idea somewhat mainly because the one I would really love to do is 3 years long but that might be a thread for later.

From my research you can get into a top 10 /20 / 30 mba straight out of your undergrad but you have to excel in other areas to make up for your lack of experience

DáireM

PeakOutput wrote: »

I can actually see how that would have come off like that now that you have pointed it out, i didnt mean it like that. I meant that the stats I was listing were all relative to people who had careers going in but because he dosn't have a career going in if he gets accepted and graduates he will obviously move up a few rungs of the career ladder and that would put him in a good position for being promoted younger then normal down the road.



nope definitely dont have 15 years of experience in anything I am in a similar position to the op in that I am about to get my degree but I am older and have 3-5 years of work experience and was very much set on doing an mba when I graduated last year but have cooled off on the idea somewhat mainly because the one I would really love to do is 3 years long but that might be a thread for later.

From my research you can get into a top 10 /20 / 30 mba straight out of your undergrad but you have to excel in other areas to make up for your lack of experience

Sorry about the condescension thing then, my bad reading it wrong.

parker kent

Peak Output you're wrong in your comments about UCD and Trinity slipping badly in the past 10 years. UCD have actually risen strongly in the past 10 years in University rankings. When Hugh Brady became president, elevating UCD in the rankings was a core aim. They were not in the top 100 at the time. They have since entered the top 100.

On a related note, there are now 2 main rankings systems. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings split from the QS World University Rankings. Previously they released a joint list, now there are 2 different lists. UCD is ranked 114th and 94th in the respective lists. Trinity have usually been in and around the top 50 throughout the last decade with occasional leaps and falls. They are 77th in the Times list and 52nd in the QS list.

PeakOutput

parker kent wrote: »

Peak Output you're wrong in your comments about UCD and Trinity slipping badly in the past 10 years. UCD have actually risen strongly in the past 10 years in University rankings. When Hugh Brady became president, elevating UCD in the rankings was a core aim. They were not in the top 100 at the time. They have since entered the top 100.

On a related note, there are now 2 main rankings systems. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings split from the QS World University Rankings. Previously they released a joint list, now there are 2 different lists. UCD is ranked 114th and 94th in the respective lists. Trinity have usually been in and around the top 50 throughout the last decade with occasional leaps and falls. They are 77th in the Times list and 52nd in the QS list.

weren't both in the top 100 in the late 90's early 2000's? then dropped down and ucd dropped a little further then trinity, possibly into the 200's or lower and then they started rising back up again?

there was a big deal made on these forums when they dropped out of the top 100, maybe it was more recent actually as I wasn't using boards in the early 2000's

edit; anyway its off topic, I started writing a paragraph here but it was too long so ill bullet point everything

1. op it is my opinion that if your dead set on an mba and you have the opportunity to do one abroad then you would be better off doing that especially if you did your undergrad in ucd.
   
2. either way you are going to want a first and very strong gmat scores to make up for not having any experience
   
3. if you can get a good job in the area you are interested in excelling in the job could be far better for your career then attending an mba right now.
   
4. getting a job might obviously be a problem in this climate so if you have tried and couldn't find anything then an mba might be a good way to bridge that gap while gaining a respected qualification
   
5. mba's overall are not as high in demand as they were pre recession, advisers are not sure if they will ever return to their pre recession position of being considered so valuable but nobody really knows
   
6. the cost of an mba is massive compared to other masters because of their perceived prestige, is the cost worth it to you when you could bridge the time gap i was talking about earlier with a cheaper but not necessarily lesser masters programme

this is all my opinion from my research and as people have pointed out some things have changed, this is not an attack on ucd or anyone who attends ucd

parker kent

No that didn't happen. The Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings ran from 2004-2009. Obviously that has nothing to do with the 1990s. The trend for rankings mainly started in the 2000s

UCD made the top 100 in the THS list for the first time in 2009. Brady made a big deal of it at the time as it meant they reached their goal.

UCD in Top 100 in Times Higher Education QS World University Rankings

University College Dublin ranked 89 – up 19 places from 2008
UCD has entered the top 100 of the prestigious Times Higher Education QS World University Rankings, having risen to 89 in 2009. The top 100 is widely recognised as a benchmark of quality in the international higher education community and with over 2,000 universities surveyed, the ranking puts UCD in the top 5% of universities worldwide.

http://www.ucd.ie/news/2009/10OCT09/081009_the.html

But the Times-QS list is often criticised and that is why the Times launched their own list last year.

Edit: The drop you are talking about happened last year, not the 1990s.

steve9859

I did one of the 2 main Irish MBAs recently. I shant say which one (UCD or Trinity) as it is not really important to my point. My own post MBA experience has taught me that an Irish MBA is just not worth the money. I regret not having gone abroad to a recognised school - I personally think I made a bad mistake doing an MBA in Ireland.

Despite the spin and marketing from Smurfit and Trinity, they are not recognised as decent MBAs in the UK or USA - my experience has been that absolutely no value has been placed on the MBA at all. I have been incredibly disappointed by the response from employers to an Irish MBA.

They might be worth it if you are 100% staying in Ireland, but then networking is probably more important, along with an ACA (which is massively more valuable than an MBA, and cheaper!). I have no hesitation in recommending an MBA (after a few years work experience), but unless it is done at a recognised (maybe a top 50 school) I really think it is a waste of money

parker kent

On topic, the MBA is not designed for people straight out of an undergrad. It specifically says so in the guide to the MBA. The OP would be much, much better off to do further study in business such as a marketing, accounting etc masters. And then the most important thing is getting actual work experience.

parker kent

steve9859 wrote: »

Just one point of clarification before I start: Trinity was ranked in the mid 60s (for the MBA course, not the business school) back in 2005 or so. But then class sizes got too small and it became ineligible for a ranking, even though the tutors etc has stayed the same. There is a focus on getting the class size above 35 for 3 years running so that it can regain its ranking which I would have no doubt would be top 100.

To my main point:

I did one of the 2 main Irish MBAs recently. I shant say which one (UCD or Trinity) as it is not really important to my point. My own post MBA experience has taught me that an Irish MBA is just not worth the money. I regret not having gone abroad to a recognised school - I personally think I made a bad mistake doing an MBA in Ireland.

Despite the spin and marketing from Trinity and UCD, they are not recognised as decent MBAs in the UK or USA - my experience has been that absolutely no value has been placed on the MBA at all. I have been incredibly disappointed by the response from employers to an Irish MBA.

They might be worth it if you are 100% staying in Ireland, but then networking is probably more important, along with an ACA (which is massively more valuable than an MBA, and cheaper!). I have no hesitation in recommending an MBA (after a few years work experience), but unless it is done at a recognised (maybe a top 50 school) I really think it is a waste of money

Which brings it back to my point. Where you do your MBA changes your employment opportunities in THAT country. Most countries are focused on their own countries. The reason you got that response in the US is that most business men in the USA went to one of the top business schools in America. An MBA in the USA is important if you want to work in the USA. Ditto most other courses. They like to see CVs with universities they know about.

It is the the pull of the alma mater and the resulting networking. We don't really have that same draw to our Universities in Ireland as most go to the same few universities. An Irish MBA gets Irish contacts. A UK MBA gets UK contacts and so forth. It all depends what you want to do afterwards.

Also, Smurfit's MBA is in the top 50, so your last point slightly contradicts your earlier points.

PeakOutput

steve9859 wrote: »

Just one point of clarification before I start: Trinity was ranked in the mid 60s (for the MBA course, not the business school) back in 2005 or so. But then class sizes got too small and it became ineligible for a ranking, even though the tutors etc has stayed the same. There is a focus on getting the class size above 35 for 3 years running so that it can regain its ranking which I would have no doubt would be top 100.

To my main point:

I did one of the 2 main Irish MBAs recently. I shant say which one (UCD or Trinity) as it is not really important to my point. My own post MBA experience has taught me that an Irish MBA is just not worth the money. I regret not having gone abroad to a recognised school - I personally think I made a bad mistake doing an MBA in Ireland.

Despite the spin and marketing from Trinity and UCD, they are not recognised as decent MBAs in the UK or USA - my experience has been that absolutely no value has been placed on the MBA at all. I have been incredibly disappointed by the response from employers to an Irish MBA.

They might be worth it if you are 100% staying in Ireland, but then networking is probably more important, along with an ACA (which is massively more valuable than an MBA, and cheaper!). I have no hesitation in recommending an MBA (after a few years work experience), but unless it is done at a recognised (maybe a top 50 school) I really think it is a waste of money

This is the same feedback I have gotten from anyone I have spoken to about it. some were ucd students some were trinity students (no mba students but top business related undergrads in their class who were deciding were to do their postgrads)

each went on to be accepted into great programmes abroad and are very successful compared to their friends who got roughly the same undergrad degree but stayed in ireland for their postgrad.

that is not to say the people who stayed in ireland are unsuccessful, they did well in their postgrads and have decent jobs they just don't have as good jobs as the ones who went abroad and do not get the calls or emails from headhunters like they do.

A huge amount of the eventual success of mba students is down to them being able to make use of their universities alumni network and I don't think that the networks in ireland can compare

discount everything I say because I am still an undergrad myself if you like I don't care but these are first hand accounts to me from very successful people

Which brings it back to my point. Where you do your MBA changes your employment opportunities in THAT country. Most countries are focused on their own countries. The reason you got that response in the US is that most business men in the USA went to one of the top business schools in America. An MBA in the USA is important if you want to work in the USA. Ditto most other courses. They like to see CVs with universities they know about.

the difference, I believe, is that while the reputation of say an LSE, LBS Harvard or MIT is well recognised and respected here, the reputation / respect of ucd or tcd is not reflected in the uk or the states in the same way. I honestly believe that if there are two identical irish candidates applying for a job and they are the same in every way accept for one attended london business school for their postgrad and one attended ucd or trinity, and they both get the same score in their postgrads. Rightly or wrongly I think the LBS grad would be a shoe in for the job.

parker kent

PeakOutput wrote: »

the difference, I believe, is that while the reputation of say an LSE, LBS Harvard or MIT is well recognised and respected here, the reputation / respect of ucd or tcd is not reflected in the uk or the states in the same way. I honestly believe that if there are two identical irish candidates applying for a job and they are the same in every way accept for one attended london business school for their postgrad and one attended ucd or trinity, and they both get the same score in their postgrads. Rightly or wrongly I think the LBS grad would be a shoe in for the job.

All of my posts state that it depends what you want to do with your MBA. In Ireland, a UCD or Trinity MBA would not be easily overlooked. It depends where you want to go and what you define as success. I have already stated that working in the UK would be better served with a UK MBA. The same as working in the states would be easier with an MBA from on of their top business schools.

Also, I'll just repeat. Undergrads should not be applying for MBAs.

steve9859

parker kent wrote: »

All of my posts state that it depends what you want to do with your MBA. In Ireland, a UCD or Trinity MBA would not be easily overlooked. It depends where you want to go and what you define as success. I have already stated that working in the UK would be better served with a UK MBA. The same as working in the states would be easier with an MBA from on of their top business schools.

Also, I'll just repeat. Undergrads should not be applying for MBAs.

A Trinity or UCD MBA might be valued in Ireland, but if someone is going to spend €30k (+ salary foregone) doing an MBA, they should think long and hard about whether they want to risk being restricted to only looking in Ireland for a job (as has been agreed by most posters, an Irish MBA does not travel overseas). Do an MBA in the UK and you have the whole of UK, Ireland and the rest of Europe to look at - much better chance of getting a return on your investment.

If committed to staying in Ireland, I would recommend following a more focussed course of study - do a masters in whatever is relevant to the job to which you aspire

steve9859

parker kent wrote: »

Also, Smurfit's MBA is in the top 50, so your last point slightly contradicts your earlier points.

Smurfit's MBA is 98 in the FT MBA rankings (which is the main ranking and in many people's eyes, esp in UK and USA, the only one that really matters)

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings

parker kent

steve9859 wrote: »

Smurfit's MBA is 98 in the FT MBA rankings (which is the main ranking and in many people's eyes, esp in UK and USA, the only one that really matters)

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings

As I said above, the lists changed last year due to the FT-QS split. Neither have been solo for long enough for one to be considered the only one that matters. Prior to last year, the FT-QS list was the only one that matters. But that is in terms of overall University rankings, not MBAs.

MBA rankings are slightly different as they have 3 rankings that are considered pretty equal. The Economist Intelligence Unit is pretty well regarded in terms of MBAs, particularly in the USA. The Smurfit MBA in 31 on that list. CEMS is the other list that is considered important in Graduate Business Schools.