Aston was from amba acreditted and ranked in top financial times 100 programs globally. it seems a good program located in birmingham, england. but it feels weird to me that there is no gmat rq'ed. could be that applicants need to have strong applications outside of test scores.

for me this is one of the attractiv programs in England outside of London. I will apply to here and to Warwick business school and to Manchester.

I know what you mean - i also tend not to trust programs that accept people without GMAT(or equivalent). how ever, it seems to be a well respected school, ranked at 77 globally by the FT, also holding a high one from the economist, and having AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS accreditation, which is not that common, and very good indeed.

Well it depends on you budget if you are comparing between Warwick and Aston which is the same fees, for sure warwick is the right choice but if you can afford more than that then without thinking it should be Manchester MBA.Thats my point of view

Well andy I dont think every thing should be by checking the ranking as the ranking is just one of 100 factors which you evaluae the good MBA program.Look around MBA is a very popular product now worldwide, you can find MBA program anywhere which is something somtimes could drive you crazy.There is so many business schools dont have the triple accreditation (i.e. Judge business school).what I want to say is MBA is a product like any product in the market and I think anyone applying for the good profile MBA (product not program) already has 3 years work experience in the market so he can analyse the product(i.e. MBA)...Just think in this way and you will never miss your way.

although i generally agree with you that ranking isn't the only way, it is still a big factor when deciding on the right program for you. think of it this way - doing an MBA is like buying a car for racing: you have lots of factors, but what is really important is speed and maneuverability - in this case, ranking and accreditation. it can be that the color of the car is beautiful, but that wont help you win....
as you stated, there are lots of programs out there, some of them better then the others, and that only makes the rankings more important - how do you think recruiters decide who to hire? they certainly don't know all the schools out there, and are mostly using the rankings to evaluate the candidate.

Well andy excellent example I should clap for you and I cannot make any comment on it...BUT lets agree on something that the Aston MBA program seems like a FADE product (i.e. program).

Andy, I like the race car analogy, but I don't think it really applies to Aston. It's not LBS, Manchester or Cambridge, but it's certainly a school that recruiters will know. Definitely in UK's Top 15.

As i said earlier, Aston does seem to be a respectable school, holding the "triple crown", and being ranked in the top 100. i just written the race car analogy to make a general point. i do still wonder about the no GMAT thing.... for me, it is usually a bad sign if a school accepts people without GMAT(Generally, and not in special cases).

P.S whats does FADE mean?

Ohh sorry I meant FAD.

Alan im totally agree with you in that point as we cannot compare manchester with aston it has to be the same ranking to be a fair comparison like manchester and LBS or ..etc.But Aston I think we ca compare it with Bath and Bath is much better that Aston .Thats how it works

Why do you think that the Bath MBA is so much better than the Aston MBA?

Alan im totally agree with you in that point as we cannot compare manchester with aston it has to be the same ranking to be a fair comparison like manchester and LBS or ..etc.But Aston I think we ca compare it with Bath and Bath is much better that Aston .Thats how it works