I’ve chosen!

Good news everyone. I’ve chosen where I want to study for my part time MBA!

I’m going for part time MBA at Manchester.

Here are my reasons:

Price; it’s good value for money. And I feel happy to pay it.
Flexible; it’s highly flexible. I can still do my international work and undertake an MBA. As long as I have an internet connection I can take the class room with me. Plus I get to choose three electives. Bonus.
Time off work is about right. I go to campus three times a year. I think that is a level that work would allow and give me the time off.
International component; I can take courses at different overseas locations including Miami! Guess where I’m going for my next holiday!
Time: the taught element is 18 months long. The second component is a project for 6 months. So not too long, they’ve cut down the duration of the course and increased the number of trips to manchester.

But even with this amazing list, I going to have to think carefully on how to manage the downsides;
Less contact with fellow students.
Less careers support
Less face- face time with lecturers.

Suggestions include:
Make effort to socialise with students who live in London and the surrounding area. Maybe a quarterly meet up. Does anyone know of any?

Make most of other networking opportunities I have through work. And if there any external networks I can join. Who says you should only network with classmates and alumni of the school you attend?

For careers it might be worthwhile to make more of an effort to build relationships with the careers advisors and see what extra informal support I can receive. Though I suspect I may need to use some of the money saved from attending Manchester on careers coaching. But we will see.

what next
Well, I had a brief thought of applying now and starting in July when I got an email saying fees will be increasing for January. But I checked my diary, I have plans. Namely stay sane leading the latest work project and go on holiday and watch loads of sport at the commonwealth games. So a January start it is.