Any ex-Student from Heriot-Watt EBS around?

Hello all,

I am currently finishing a UK degree and I will start a MSc in Financial Management with Heriot-Watt EBS next september. If there are any ex-students around, I would just like to hear from your experience.

-What was your domain of studies before doing your studies at EBS?

-How long did it take you to do the MBA or MSc at HW-EBS?

-Are the exam as difficult as I hear? I've been told by one of the teacher at the approved learning partner that since I am finishing a diploma in Business studies, I will have enough of background in the domain to survive the Master without too much problem, though they request a big quantity of work studies.

-What is the type of education? Learning everything by heart? or practical application of learned concepts?

-What is your overall feeling of satisfaction now that you finished ?

-Did you benefit from any extra recognition of your Master than with any other masters? Personally, for me, once at the postgraduate level of studies, a master is a master and it is valuable no matter where you did it, except if you did it in a recognized garbage university.

So I would just like to hear from your experience.

If you didn't go there and know a lot about this school, feel free to share your knowledges. It would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Regards

 

Bumping this old thread, as I have similar questions...

Especially:
- How long did it take to finish your MBA at EBS?
- How many courses per term did you take?

 

Hi, It took me 2 years to complete it. Write the first 2 exams in year one, then the other 7 in year 2. Graduated with distinction in Edinburgh in 2000.

I can only share my own personal experience of what I went through which may be very different from how things are now. Much has changed for the better since my time.

I wrote all exams at my local university (UBC). At that time I recalled I was the only HW MBA student writing there. To prepare for the exams I studied each course on average 1 hour per day for about 8 months. I don't like cramming so this long and steady approach worked for me. Plus I was working as well. I did not use any additional study materials. I relied only the black books and past exam questions downloaded from the net. My undergraduate background was in business administration as well so undoubtedly it was an advantage. But I believe anyone can succeed in this program with persistence and determination.

For me it was a lot of reading (quite fun), memorizing, and practice-writing for non-quantitative courses, and lots of math calculations practice for finance, accounting, and quantitative methods courses. Like I said I used no external materials, so what was in the black books should be sufficient for most people to study and do well.

3 hours per each exam and I consider myself a good test-taker. But I can honestly say it was no easy walk in the park those HW exams are infamously tough but fair. I found no easy or fluff questions and there were hardly any spare time to go back and review your answers and 3 hours felt like 1 hour that just flew by there were so much to read and write. Wore down those pencils pretty quickly. I would definitely rank them as one of the most physically (writing) and mentally demanding test I ever took. Out of 9 exams I only walked out of the accounting exam feeling somewhat confident that I passed it. I had no clue how I did with the rest.

I don't know if you can still find a very well written account of Tim Dobson(?) HW MBA experience on the web. It was thoroughly entertaining to read and whenever I felt I needed motivation to study I would read it for a boost of motivation. There was also a similarly good writeup by Michael Lloyd, a University of Edinburgh physician graduate who did the HW MBA. And thirdly a member of this forum did his HW MBA then his PhD at University of Florida. Sorry I can't remember his name.

14 years on for me and I am still proud of my achievement and happy with the degree. Especially seeing now how much more international HW has become with its middle east and south asian campuses and how it continues to grow its reputation and brand recognition, I feel that I made the right MBA decision. It opened the door for my first management job and gave me a confidence booster to continue with a second masters degree. For a price tag of about US$9500 for the entire program (in 2000 dollars) it was the best education investment I made.

Contrary to those who complain about the diploma's blandness, I find it to be quite elegantly understated. It hangs proudly on the wall and every time my young daughter points to it and mumbles "Harry Wat" it brings me smiles.

 

That would be edowave.