Poets&Quants Top Business Schools

University of Oxford’s Said Business School

Contact our general manager with any questions. Profile updated: February 6, 2019.

School Data

Annual Tuition: £57,200

Full-Time Enrollment: 315

International: 93%

Average Age: 28

Median GMAT: 690

GMAT Range (mid-80%): 580-780

Female: 39%

Male: 61%

Application Deadlines: Stage 1 - 7th of September, 2018 Stage 2 - 2nd of November, 2018 Stage 3 - 11th of January, 2019 Stage 4 - 5th of April, 2019

What is the most unique thing about Oxford University’s Saïd Business School? That it is connected to the University of Oxford. Every MBA student is a member of a college or hall, meaning they are embedded right in the life of the wider university.

That involves more than drinking glasses of port at formal dinners. It also gives the Oxford Saïd MBA a distinct flavor that emphasizes the big picture. For instance, three themes cut across the entire MBA: Global Rules of the Game, Entrepreneurship, and Responsible Business. Each has its own module, but each also informs the way everything else is taught, and the themes are backed up with scores of conferences and guest speaker lectures.

MBA students also take part in the Global Opportunities and Threats: Oxford (GOTO) project. Each year academics and students from across the university focus on an issue such as Big Data, Demographic Change or The Future of Healthcare. The idea to help equip students with the frameworks and tools to approach difficult global issues.

The course involves a conventional MBA core, then students take seven to nine of the 30-plus electives, which include courses in unusual subjects such as The Circular Economy, Impact Investing, and ESG.

Intriguingly, Oxford Saïd also offers a 1+1 program that lets students take a one-year MSc followed by an MBA, allowing people to delve into a subject before capping it off with a general business qualification — an interesting (and cost-effective) alternative to the U.S. two-year MBA. So far, around 20 students take this option each year.

The Oxford MBA class of 2017-18 comprised 334 students of 60 different nationalities. This was broken down into 32% of the cohort coming from Asia, 28% from North America, 15% from Europe, 14% from Africa and the Middle East, 6% from Oceania, and 5% from Latin America.

Oxford Saïd is keen to blend all the romance and academic rigor with practicality through The Foundry, a university-wide innovation center devoted to starting new businesses, and a VC fund called Oxford Sciences Innovation. Oxford Saïd has also beefed up its skills development and careers services, increasing staff numbers from six to 24 including big-hitters from Deloitte, KPMG, and Amazon who will help students find jobs in the wide world after their time among the Dreaming Spires.

Ian Rogan, MBA Program Director 

“Our general philosophy is that we live in a time when it is imperative that future business leaders don’t only understand business, but also appreciate the complexity of the world around them.

“The private sector has a huge influence on the institutions that govern society so if you are preparing future leaders, we think that no only should they be able to compete as individuals and for their firms, but that they should do so with an understanding of the impact business has on society.

“That should be part of your business education, and if that is your aim, it helps to be connected to a great university like Oxford where a lot of these issues are in play.”

 

Notes: NA = Not available, NR = Not ranked. The ranks by the FT and The Economist are global, while the rankings by P&Q, Businessweek and Forbes are for non-U.S. schools only which is why Oxford is ranked much higher.

 

Contact Information

Location:
Park End Street
OX1 1HP
Oxford, United Kingdom OX1 1HP
Admissions Office:
+44-01-865-278804
School Social Media:

From Oxford University: 

Saïd Business School at Oxford University blends the best of new and old. We are a young, vibrant, and innovative business school deeply embedded in an 800-year-old world-class university.

One-year MBA at Saïd Business School’s Oxford University 

We aim to provide the world’s future business leaders with the skills, knowledge, and personal qualities needed to meet the world-scale challenges of the 21st century.

Our world is unprecedentedly complex, connected, and fragile. Our trust in institutions and each other is under intense pressure. Our energy, food and water security, our aging populations, the explosion in stored data – these all require managers and leaders of unusual ability, sophistication and integrity. This environment needs individuals who can inspire and influence a wide range of stakeholders, and who can demonstrate responsible leadership in the face of complex and often forgotten conflicting interests and our MBA programme will equip you with these skills.

Admissions process

We operate a staged admissions process and we strongly encourage you to apply as early as possible. Applications for the 2016/17 class will be considered in accordance with the dates given above.

  1. A good undergraduate degree: 2.1 result, 3.5 GPA or its equivalent
    Please visit the further requirements application section to learn more about each requirement. 
  2. Relevant professional experience:  A minimum 2 years full time work experience is required.
  3. GMAT or GRE score
  4. A Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Test Scheme (IELTS): If English is not your first language.

Meet us

Each year our School representatives travel to multiple cities worldwide to meet with prospective students and interact with our alumni. Visit our events webpage for more information: https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/events?f%5B0%5D=event_programmes_facet%3A596

Contact us
If you would like to speak to our admissions team, or simply sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, please fill in the form here: https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/programmes/oxford-mba/oxford-mba-register-your-interest

Our MBA Community

The Oxford MBA class is a truly diverse mix of extraordinary individuals from dozens of countries and all kind of backgrounds. Whether they are working as White House Fellows, opening up post-Soviet states to foreign trade and investment, or changing the social networking space in China, our alumni and students are rewriting the rules of the game. Read more about our MBA community.

Career Development 

The Career Development Centre is dedicated to help you finding and prepare for a role that suits your skill set and meets your career aspirations.

Recruitment: Oxford’s longstanding academic pedigree, combined with our strengths in finance, strategy and operations management make Saïd Business School an attractive recruiting ground for MBA employers.

Expert guidance: You will have access to a select group of sector consultants who have experience of working for leading firms across a broad range of sectors. They offer insights and pragmatic advice for those looking to work across a range of industries including management consulting, finance, high-tech, new ventures, media and communications, and diversified industry in general.

Internships: Internships can be extremely beneficial to anyone looking for hands-on expertise. As an intern, you can develop knowledge, competencies and experience related directly to your career goal.

Student treks: Student treks are student-led visits focusing on a particular region with a view to understanding what it is like to do business there, meeting potential recruiters and meeting alumni both in their corporate and personal capacities.

View our employment report here

The Saïd Business School has been a bridge for me between working in a small emerging market and London, the world’s financial centre. After completing my MBA, I am now an associate at Citigroup EMEA regional office in London.  I learned about this job opportunity through a fellow Georgian in my network who gave me an HR contact at Citigroup. After several rounds of interviews and a case presentation I was offered the position. Knowledge acquired in Oxford in strategy, finance and marketing, to name but a few, as well as the sector consultant’s valuable advice greatly contributed to the success in my interviewing process.

– Maka Gureshidze, Oxford MBA Alumna

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