The MBA Gatekeeper At Cambridge Judge

How does the admissions process in Europe differ from the process used by many of the U.S. schools?

We tend to have a different interview culture. We don’t use alum or current students, as do many U.S. schools. At Cambridge, we use members of faculty and this gives them a direct interest in admissions. These are the students they’ll be teaching and mentoring. Asking faculty members to give up their time, either face-to-face or by phone, is an expensive process but over time we feel the benefits outweigh the costs. And staff continue to interact with students even after they graduate; that’s a powerful point.

How does the MBA experience at Judge differ from what a student might find in the U.S.?

Obviously, the MBA itself is quite similar but at Judge, there’s a big difference in the student experience. Students are very much embedded within the larger university. They are attached to colleges. They socialize and play sport with the wider student population. At a typical U.S. stand-alone business school, you will only see other business students. At Cambridge, they’re meeting scientists, economists – it’s enriching. The philosophy faculty have begun teaching philosophy of business, but we could probably do more here to build on links with the university. We could probably also collaborate more with the wider entrepreneurial landscape.

What about the differences between U.S. and European business schools?

I think that most European students tend to have more years of work experience than their U.S. counterparts. On average, our students have worked for seven years (the U.K. average is five years’ experience in AMBA-accredited schools), so there’s more emphasis on students reflecting upon their experience and applying it to what’s being taught. We teach the fundamentals but ask students to reflect upon them. In the U.S. teaching styles might be more didactic. Even undergraduates at Cambridge have one-to-one supervisions so they learn to think on their feet.

What are the strengths of the program at Cambridge?

Our main strength is our collegiate feel which allows business school students to interact with people from across the university. But we also have a very collegiate feel within the MBA itself. We look for candidates who like to collaborate. That’s what we try to assess through questions we put to their peer and supervisor references. Collaboration gives the best learning experiences, but students also learn to work with people from other countries. We have 90 percent non-U.K. nationals and no one nationality dominates. No matter which country you come from, it’s really hard to stick to your own clique. We’ve embedded this in the program. Our first project of the year sees students working together on a consulting project. While the outcome’s valuable, the most important learning outcome is how students collaborate with one another. We hope that carries through their working lives.

What are the weaknesses?

We have a tremendous pressure on space. We are right in the center of Cambridge but after 800 years, most of the area has been developed. But we’re going to take over a new building adjacent to ours, which will provide more lecture theaters and break out areas. We’ve applied for planning permission and should be up and running by mid-2017. On a wider level, we could probably do even more to link to the wider Cambridge community.

What changes do you anticipate in the Cambridge MBA program over the next five years? 

We are just starting to review our MBA program. Any changes will affect the MBA class beginning in September 2015. Our major themes would be an emphasis on closer, more personalized mentorship and guidance of students – both on the career front but also on their learning beyond just getting a job. At a low level, this could mean advising them about electives or activities within the wider university, or what internships they could consider to further their interests. Or if a student is interested in a certain area, we’d challenge them to think big – why not organize a conference? The word coaching implies something at executive level and part-time, though I’m not saying we won’t use that word. But we are pushing our students to think more broadly about their study, career, and life ambitions.

Will the program stay the same size?

Until we have our new space, we won’t make any decision about changing our cohort size. We currently have 148 MBAs (141 in 2013).

Is there an attempt to build faculty expertise in any new areas?

We are developing more capability around entrepreneurship. It’s a natural area for us. The Cambridge area attracts 25 to 30 percent of all venture capitalist funding in Europe. Many companies in the area are spin-offs from the university. Within Europe, this is a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity and the business school wants to be part of that. Over the last year and a half we’ve set up accelerator programs within the business school. There will be more faculty coming to teach enterprise.