Post-graduate studies: I chose Cranfield SOM, Strategic Marketing programme Posted by Tomi Heikkinen , Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 12:39, in Labels: cranfield university, GMAT, IELTS, marketing, post-graduate studies

A bit of personal reflection, and thoughts to young people in a similar situation.

For some time now I've been contemplating about continuing my Marketing studies. I already have a BBA on International b2b-marketing under my belt, but I've felt for some time that I want to deepen my knowledge and expertise in an academia, particularly abroad in order to hone my English.

I recently applied to three British universities, and was offered a place in each. My selection was Cranfield University's School of Management's Strategic Marketing programme. I'll explain my reasons later, after sharing my experiences of the application process itself.

The offers naturally didn't come without hard work, sweat (and almost tears). They required some test-taking, namely the IELTS English language test and the GMAT test. IELTS wasn't that difficult - I acquired the nearly-free preparation materials, went through them once or twice and got a very good average band score of 8 our of 9. GMAT on the other hand.. For those who don't know, GMAT is an originally American-developed test to evaluate prospective candidates applying to top-tier business schools. The exam evaluates your a) basic mathematics skills, b) your logical thinking and English language skills and c) ability to read and write on an academic level. I've never liked high school level maths, and hadn't practiced it properly for seven years, while I had trained my reasoning and English skills more or less daily. And considering the universities didn't care what the score for analytical writing was, my focus for preparing for the test was on practicing my long-lost (but quickly recalled!) mathematic skills.

I spent some month and a half training and training and calculating and calculating. And sooner than later the exam day arrived. I happily got an average score (logical thinking and English skills + maths) that topped the score required for an entry to Cranfield, but I was disappointed with my math score. Indeed, the exam proved once more that I'm more suitable for Marketing rather than hardcore Economics or Financing.. I was disappointed with my analytical writing score aswell, but needlessly to be honest, since my preparation and focus during the exam were not adequate, i.e. other areas prevailed.

About Cranfield. I'm thrilled! The teaching staff, the programme structure and the location were the winning combination that made me choose Cranfield over two other British universities offering great Marketing programmes. Cranfield, if I understand correctly, is more or less in the middle of nowhere in rural England. At first glance, this sounds bad, right? On the contrary! My goal is to focus on self-development, to learn new and seek new perspectives as much as possible, and what is better than to do so in an environment that is calm, peaceful and away from distracting temptations like continuous clubbing and partying associated with student life? Afterall, Cranfield is a university geared strictly to post-graduates, so I expect a laid-back, mature environment.

The Strategic Marketing programme structure struck my nerve in a good way when I was searching information about interesting post-graduate courses. It's logical, seems efficient and discusses all the topics I'm personally interested in regarding the wide theme of marketing, including themes like brand, key account and sales management. Of course I could be missing out on important topics which are of utmost relevance but of which I'm not aware of, but the programme content ensures my initial motivation level is at its peak.

And last but not least, the faculty in Cranfield SOM's Marketing programme is respected, experienced and professional - their books crowd my marketing knowledge source library!

So, off I go next September. Hopefully by then the overall quality of these blog writings will start to improve..