Why Cranfield

Recently I have been contacted by a few prospective students who ask the question: why should I apply to Cranfield School of Management for a Masters? So here we go...

Firstly, the School is highly ranked in the major league tables. It is one of an elite group of business schools worldwide to have triple accreditations - EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System), AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) and AMBA (The Association of MBAs).

As you look through the timetable, you will see the various codes we have for each module, for example, MSP – Marketing Strategy and Planning, MBC – Managing Brands and Customer Equity, IMC – Integrated Marketing Communications etc. Deadlines are highlighted in the bottom row. Students are divided into two streams, Yellow and Purple, so that a smaller class size is ensured. From time to time, we also have Joint Sessions for both streams. I did PPE for my Bachelor, Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Warwick University, and I was so glad that they were convinced and gave me an offer. ^_^ I haven’t done a lot of marketing before, so I found the course a bit challenging when I first started.

For me and my colleagues here, Cranfield is far more practical than theoretical compared with the other leading business schools in the UK. The professors here are great as most of them come from the industry, they’re also distinguished academics with research excellence, which means that they teach us stuff with reference to their industry experiences working with leading companies, which is incredible. This will also prove helpful when we choose our thesis topics/in-company projects. You can always find ways to focus on the particular area in marketing that interests you, in your thesis. We also have written assignments for which we’re allowed to choose our own companies of interests. Perhaps during those assignments, you can research further into other contexts. There is freedom within the set frameworks, basically.

You may be concerned with job prospects beyond Cranfield. There is a powerful network called the CMA (Cranfield Management Association) which is the alumni body of the School of Management. Joining the CMA allows you to search for profiles of all the registered alumni and find out what they ended up doing in what areas, with which companies, etc.

The Careers Development Centre offers brilliant services to students. Even before you come to Cranfield to start your course, you will be invited to attend webinar to work on your professional CV which is included in a Yearbook for the Class of your year. It helps enormously in identifying what I really want to do, what the most impressive work experiences I have had before, and to present my strongest points in the best possible way. Dunnhumby, for example, selected some of us from the Marketing class to be their potential candidates and came to give us talks on the application procedures. I think you have a great advantage of being a Cranfield student, as those who need to know the name of Cranfield (the executives, the HRs), know it. Visiting Professors of Cranfield are experts in their specialised areas, which is again value-adding as we gain some much insight and innovative ideas directly from the industry leaders.

If you want to find out about who are currently on the course, I suggest the following link, which you might have come across already:

http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/p14181/Knowledge/Career-Development-Service/Search-Online-CVs

where you will find a terrible picture of me along with my CV – one of my worst smiles! :P

I remember when I first came to study overseas all the way from China in 2005, I was all alone and found everything here in England incredibly amazing yet challenging. The lovely experience and the bubble life here will fill you in so that you always have something to work on, until a time when you don’t have time to think about anything else… At least for me, this was the case. And the learning curve was so steep and I am confident that I know my stuff much better now, because I have always been working under pressure and meeting deadlines, or preparing for presentations and exams. It was invaluable experience for me, honestly.

Five years on, the learning experience here in the UK is brilliant. Especially with the one year master programme, you get to learn so much within just one intense year packed with classes, discussions, teamwork, more teamwork, presentations and more presentations. Yet you will still find yourself in different kitchen parties every weekend, socializing with your cohort, learning about 20+ different cultures which you otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to learn about. I’m going to stop here and work on L'Oreal Brandstorm pre-case study now... Have team meeting in a bit.

Thanks for your interest in Cranfield, and best of luck with your application! Feel free to get in touch if you have any other questions. I'll probably comment on accommodation next week.