What Students Say
Likes
- Quality of education offered at the university is quite high. Professors with distinguished careers teach her and makes for a nice environment.
- Campus is extremely nice. Spacious, green and airy during the summers. All important places are quite easily accessible and has plenty of nook and corners with their own charm.
- Accommodation is expensive but worth it. The overall management is quite good and the turnaround time for any complaint is extremely quick.
Dislikes
- The town is quaint. There not much to do in Lancaster. Its big enough to spend a year but beyond that it is quite a dull town.
- There's everything you need on campus from accommodation to general groceries but it is on the expensive side.
- The term is planned in a way where it has ebbs and flows. Some weeks are extremely heavy and some weeks are dull, its never in a balance.
Course Curriculum
10
- The course is mostly based on practical learning. The positive aspects are the teaching and the experiences they curated for us. The negative points would be the management of the course, as it would get quite hectic during some times of the year.
- Typically there are about 2 classes in a day with an hour-lunch. Each class is 3 hours long, with smaller breaks in between. This usually happens on 2/5 days in a week. The other days are for other activities and assignments.
- Average number of students: 55. Indians enrolled: 35 approximately
Admission Experience
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Applied to 5 in total.
- Manchester: rejected last round. The real reason is ambiguous but I assume it is probably due to lack of work experience. I had about 4+ years of work experience, and it seemed like the class average was a bit higher.
- Uni of Bath—admitted; I did not select this as they did not offer any scholarship.
- Uni of Loughborough-admitted; admitted but I only applied as a backup; priority was Manchester or Lancaster
- Lancaster University: admitted with 33% scholarship
- Uni of Strathclyde-admitted; admitted but I only applied as a backup; priority was Manchester or Lancaster
- I picked Lancaster University for its curriculum. The overall syllabus is more geared towards consulting skillsets and I wanted to find my footing in that sector; therefore, it became a natural choice. The Uni's Strategy courses are really good and they taught me a professor whose work is recognised within the industry. It also ranked quite high in the rankings for strategy-related courses in 2021 before the faculty changed, therefore making it my top choice.
- The application process is as follows: Application with SoP -> Interview -> Result. The application requirement varies every year but generally its a standard form with an SOP of about 800 words. You will get an invite for a meeting/interview within 4 weeks and then the result in about 4 weeks.
- Eligibility criteria are quite standard. About 3+ years of solid experience as a minimum before applying. GMAT cutoff is 600. Not many apply with a GMAT score but it helps with the scholarships and among those with a score, about 630 is the average.
- Overall, the admissions process is quite smooth; it just takes a while longer than the others. There are no particular challenges if time is taken out of the equation. I applied for the September 2023 intake and my decision was made simple because this university does not offer January intakes for my course.
- The overall process can take 2 months from start to finish. I applied in late January, my interview was scheduled in late February, and my result came in late March. However, this is my timeline and I assume that if one were to apply closer to the final deadline, they would get their result faster but the chances of a scholarship reduce quite significantly.
Faculty
10
- My cohort was around 55 students. I am unsure about the faculty-to-student ratio as we had multiple tutors during the year.
- The teaching methodology focuses on making you think and shapes your leadership. I actually think there is a huge influence of philosophy in the teaching, which, more often than not, leaves a lasting impression.
- There is a dedicated careers team that helps in the job hunt/application process but eventually it will depend quite heavily on the individual.
- Prof. Kim Kaivanto for Economics is quite good. But the best is Prof. Gerry Johnson, who I think is one of the best overall in the strategy field.
Campus Life
10
- College has only one campus.
- All facilities that are needed are present, including a fully functioning gym and library.
- Roses is an inter-university competition between Lancaster and the University of York and has a deep history and legacy.
- Extracurriculars are dependent on the individual but there are all the options one can imagine on campus. There are a lot of sports clubs that students sign up to and the list of clubs easily stands over 50.
Part Time Jobs
- There are limited TA and RA opportunities in the UK so I will not be able to comment on that.
- There are other on-campus jobs available for students and there is a wide variety from hospitality to catering. Standard minimum wage of £12 per hour applies. The maximum number of hours that a student can work in the UK is 20. Most people abide by this rule.
- £12 per hour. It is quite easy to find a part-time job, there are plenty on and off campus. Students generally find it on a walk-in basis or when the jobs are posted on the Uni website. The process generally involves having an interview, that's it. In some other cases there might multiple rounds of interview with a CV screening round but in general, it rarely happens.
Placement
6
- About 25% of my batch is employed after 6 months. The average salary range is between £40k and £60k. Students generally find jobs by networking and/or applying on LinkedIn. I cannot share employment data as it is private but a lot of good companies recruit the students here, from the top banks to management consulting firms. The overall job-finding experience will depend quite heavily on the student.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- I used the college website to find my accommodation.
- Monthly rent is about £700/month.
- I did not find any challenges, as the university accommodation process was simple. All students who get an admit get a link to book their accommodations so it was quite easy to do. I would recommend staying on campus.
- The on-campus accommodation was about 10 minutes away from my classroom.
Exams
- GMAT is appreciated, not required. TOEFL needed is band 6.5, with no less than 6 in any section.
- Documents needed: SoP, CV, LoR, Standard Application
- Yes, interviews are a part of the process. It generally lasts 30 minutes, and it is with the Director of the MBA. It is quite simple, with the focus on what the director wants to see in you and what you bring to the cohort. Pretty straightforward process.
Fees
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Breakdown of Fees:
- Tuition is £36,000 for the whole year.
- Scholarship £12000, which will be deducted from your total, so net tuition was about £24,000
- Accomodation £8500 (£170/week x 50 weeks)
- All fees are charges per-term. There are 3 terms in total, so expect the total to be served 1/3 portions in all terms.
- Monthly Expense (excluding accommodation): £250 average/month.
Scholarship
- Yes, I received the Excellence Scholarship. The eligibility criteria is ambiguous but I'm assuming it is a function of the quality of your SOP and your background.
- Award Amount was £12000, which was the highest for that year.
- Most of my batchmates received scholarships with an average of around £7,000. I would say about 30% of the class receives an average scholarship of £7,000.
