Restrictions on starting an MBA course

Am curious to know though, last time I was looking into doing such a course at both Leeds business school and Uni of New South Wales, that there are still restrictions on age, number of years in a relevant industry and prior degrees. Is this the same in Germany/US?

Yes in the US, each school has their own "niche" and each have a certain profile. The higher up the rankings, the higher the admission criteria - including years of relevant experience.

The MBA - as we think of it in the states - is relatively new here in Germany. There are some very notable partnerships popping up i.e. Duke/Frankfurt and Kellogg/Whu...these are very serious institution in the US and wouldn't enter partnerships here in the vaterland unless there was a market for it...and by market I mean both participant and employer market as one without the other is a brand disaster... but the ages tend to be younger, even for the so called "executive MBA" programmes.

If you are looking at Leeds and Wales, I'd advise a peek into Henley. Good brand in UK and decent brand in Europe and quite creative online options as well, which means you could do your diploma whilst working here in Germany. Though for anyone seriously considering an "online" degree program, I'd recommend taking a short course either a crash one with INSEAD...you can actually take courses at the latter without being in the MBA programme...or probably better yet given Topsy's recommendations, a course with Open University if its allowed.

as an add-on to jml's comments, the US MBA programs *in general* have a lower average age of the students, require less work experience (putting more stress on GMAT scores, undergraduate degree), require an undergraduate degree (exceptions are made), and cost more.

also, it is not un-common for a US MBA student to have no work experience (comming directly from their undergraduate studies) - provided they had exceptional grades in undergrad, and an "impressive" degree (like engineering).

like jml said, the MBA is relatively new and somewhat unknown in Germany (in the US / UK sense). I hear that the Uni in Cologne will be starting a program soon... so the reputation of an MBA does seem to be improving in Germany.

side note, the Kellogg / WHU partnership is a bit of a mis-nommer. I did a semester at WHU during my MBA and was un-impressed with what I saw of this "partnership" - the Kellogg courses were in the executive weekend MBA program only, not open for "regular" students (still want to add that the full-time WHU students are very impressive).

finally, you may want to approach things this way: choosing an MBA is very much like buying a house. It is a huge financial commitment, it is a long term decision, there are significant risks involved, the rewards can be great, and it is worth the up-front investment when making a choice. there are lots of schools, each is different, take the time you need, and be clear to yourself what you want to get out of it.

oh, and you will commonly hear this: the hardest part of an MBA program is getting accepted. there is a lot of truth to this.

hope this helps.

I have heard that before, that once you have a foot in the door, almost all of your attention should be on the dissertation. Am still hedging towards doing it in the Midlands or somewhere in Australasia, where difficulty to get accepted may have some extra merit on a CV if you get through.