MBA - TCD or UCD

Evening All,

I found a thread on this exact subject but it was over ten years old. Since then rankings have changed. TCD seemed to slip a little but has in the last few years invested in a new or improved business school and joined UCD as triple accredited.

Both business schools have a fee of about €35,000. This is a significant amount of money to fund, albeit it was interesting to note the fee is not massively dissimilar to what it was in the very old thread; https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threa...-for-either-or-both-courses-on-the-web.84515/

I would welcome some more up to date commentary and comparisons.

Thank you

Look at students who have done them in the past, LinkedIn etc will give a good idea of their. Does some of the names lean more towards an industry you work in or want to work in? The prestige and content of both courses would be similar so you’re really looking at this for the networking aspect. Does “when I did my MBA in Trinity College….” sound better than “when I did my MBA in UCD….” for the industry you’re in or want to shift into.

TheBig40 said:

so you’re really looking at this for the networking aspect

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Firstly, I haven't done an MBA, but for any of my contacts who studied in Ireland, this has been a key part of it.

It's a bit like the private school conversation in that regard; a lot of them have created networks that have supported each other in their careers. I'd to interested to see if those connections are as easy to build with more remote studying.

Rather than comparing the 2 courses, you really need to understand what it is you want to get out of completing an MBA. There are a few industries / employers where there is a glass ceiling without one, but it's not very widespread. Getting an MBA would rarely pay off financially unless you've very specific goals in advance - from your previous posts I'm factoring in that you're already a high earner.

Any of my closer friends who completed an MBA had it sponsored via their employer, and wouldn't have done it if they had to pay themselves.

Tcd intake a lot smaller and it seems more personal and "bespoke" . My impression with UCD is they take a lot of students from India, China to bulk up their fee income, their intake larger. I think TCD would be better but based on unscientific gut feel on TCD being the more elite university. I hold an MBA from a UK university so no skin in the Irish university game. And it was employer funded. Basically the calibre of the person doing the course and their drive and focus is more critical than the easier task of selecting UCD or TCD.

The value of an MBA has diminished greatly over the last decade as people have realised they aren't very useful (think comments from big tech companies). There are probably better ways of spending your money then on a generic business degree.

fungie20 said:

The value of an MBA has diminished greatly over the last decade as people have realised they aren't very useful (think comments from big tech companies). There are probably better ways of spending your money then on a generic business degree.

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I don’t agree with this rather generic and somewhat ignorant statement. For some people an MBA can provide huge value. It can give you a huge amount of personal development and self awareness, help you build a much broader network, give you a rounded business knowledge (e.g. if you have your own business), and if you come from like a science or engineering background, it can provide a lot of learning in areas you haven’t studied before.

The key thing to understand is why you want to do an MBA and is it right for you. I would strongly recommend reaching out to some alumni and getting their take/view. Most are welcome to meet for a coffee or do a zoom call and give you that type of advice. Suggest you try speak to several, to get a balanced view.

On the TCD vs UCD question. This is very difficult to answer because there won’t be anyone who has done both! Within Ireland, UCD Smurfit has a well established reputation at this point and links with a lot of companies. There are quite a few scholarship opportunities in Smurfit. Worth checking out on their website, although for this year’s intake most will be closed. TCD has invested a lot into its new business school, so you would hope they’ve established a good course. My guess is both will be similar in terms of their content and quality of lecturers. Every university has its good and bad ones. TCD is a more recognised university internationally... the name “Trinity” just being better known. But this isn’t much value if you plan on staying in Ireland post MBA.

The next thing to consider is whether to do it Full Time or Part Time (Exec MBA)!

I recently completed a part-time masters course at UCD Smurfit and overall I was hugely disappointed in the quality of the course. So I would say TCD, but the only way is to ask alumni via linkedin.

On a side note, I'd recommend doing it full time to get the full experience rather than part-time.

Which Masters did you do DB?

Thanks all for the replies. I am looking at doing the full time course.

I think both have their fair share of international students especially on their full-time courses. Smurfit is currently ranking higher but I would agree with the last poster in that I perceive Trinity has a bigger international reputational, and I do not work in Ireland. However Smurfit does seem to be the more popular pick within Ireland, and possibly caters for more students as it seems easier to connect with UCD alumni, and I do wonder if that is what has triggered Trinity’s recent investment.

Part of me did share the view expressed above that an MBA is not what it used to be due to the numbers doing it. I suspect that is correct to an extent, but that much of it is what you make of it yourself.

I have spoken to some alumni, it was very helpful and insightful, although given the network/reputation aspect of the MBAs, many will praise their course as the best

I recently did a post graduate diploma through DIT(even though I don't have a degree) and it was akin to a FAS course. It was over 9 months and supposed to require about 10-15 hours a week but it was so easy it was a joke. 10 Hours a month was more than enough.

If you’re thinking international TCD would seem like the more logical route to go. Smurfit is very local to Ireland until one of your peers gets an international job and then you’re leaning into the old boys network to join them in some company.

I’ve done a few things over the last 15 months and have to say that doing them online while handy I don’t think you connect with people as much as you do in a classroom or in group session and a big part of the MBA should be about the interactions.
If you’re just up skilling and want an education there might be other options but you could wait and see if TCD and UCD plan to be a bit more in person in the coming academic year before dropping 35k on a zoom call.

Purple said:

I recently did a post graduate diploma through DIT(even though I don't have a degree) and it was akin to a FAS course. It was over 9 months and supposed to require about 10-15 hours a week but it was so easy it was a joke. 10 Hours a month was more than enough.

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Sounds good for the CV, although I'd like to actually learn something even if it means putting in some effort. I think what you describe is an increasing issue especially with online courses.

presidenttttt said:

Sounds good for the CV, although I'd like to actually learn something even if it means putting in some effort. I think what you describe is an increasing issue especially with online courses.

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I don't care about my CV and I did learn something. Two of the modules were particularly good but it was very very easy. It was like a Transition Year project.

presidenttttt said:

Sounds good for the CV, although I'd like to actually learn something even if it means putting in some effort. I think what you describe is an increasing issue especially with online courses.

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I wouldn't discount online courses or distance learning any longer. In my opinion universities treat students like cash cows, during my time at UCD they were looking to increase class size by 25% to increase income. Lecturers aren't teachers, they are researchers first and during my masters I found the quality of 'teaching' varied greatly. The quality was even in simple items of how to organize a class, objectives and learning outcomes etc. When we switched to online learning during the pandemic the quality dropped further. Ironically I ended up using online lectures from coursera for one of my modules to learn.

Universities like UCD in my view use their proximity to tech companies to entice foreign students because of the career opportunities. Not to mention the large fees they can charge this is the equivalent of a free lunch. They are slow to innovate and respond to change.

Dublinbay12 said:

wouldn't discount online courses or distance learning any longer. In my opinion universities treat students like cash cows, during my time at UCD they were looking to increase class size by 25% to increase income.

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I’d totally agree with this, I’ve done some truly fantastic distance learning but the OP is looking at an MBA and I think a massive part of this type of course is the personal networking and interactions qnd that sort of relationship is harder to develop online

Dublinbay12 said:

Universities like UCD in my view use their proximity to tech companies to entice foreign students because of the career opportunities. Not to mention the large fees they can charge this is the equivalent of a free lunch. They are slow to innovate and respond to change.

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There's a reason we have the highest per capita number of medical graduates in the world. Trinity and UCD are 30-40% foreign students and the RCSI is significantly higher. I think RCSI charge about €50k a year. (And then the doctors who stay here lie about it and say that a high proportion of newly qualified doctors emigrate because they are so under paid and over worked here whereas in fact they are just going home)

Distance learning does mean that Irish students can attend really high quality universities without having to leave their homes, let alone the country. It'll be interesting to see how that aspect of education changes in the coming years. Is an MBA just a really exclusive version of LinkedIn or does it teach people things that they really can't learn while working.