Women in Business Scholarship

These scholarships support opportunities for talented female candidates to join the Alliance Manchester Business School Full-time MBA programme.

Compared to Full-time MBA programmes at many leading business schools, school has a good percentage of female students per class – currently 46%. 

This scholarship has a value of up to 50% of the tuition fee.

You can be a female candidate of any nationality - all nationalities are eligible for consideration. You should:

• Have excellent academic, professional and personal achievements
• Have strong leadership ability
• Show determination to act as a role model for other women.

You can be a female candidate of any nationality - all nationalities are eligible for consideration.

These scholarships are awarded on a rolling basis as part of the admissions process, normally at the same time as an offer is made.

• Letter of Recommendation
  
  • You should ask two people to act as your referees. School only need one work-related reference from either of the two people you choose. You should choose a referee who:
    • Knows you well and can talk about your skills - a reference from a big boss who hardly knows you won't benefit your application
    • Is a manager - they should have closely supervised your work, meaning they can provide a better, more in-depth reference.
  • If you don't want to ask your current manager, choose someone else who knows you well enough in a work setting. This might be a former manager in your current or previous company, or a long-standing client.
  • If you work in a family business, don't choose a family member as your referee.
  • How to submit your reference
    • You'll need to add the contact details for your referees in the application form - you should use their work email, not their personal email.
    • After you've submitted the application, your chosen referees will receive an automated email with login details for online reference system. Your referee will need to complete and submit the short reference online. This will then upload directly into the university application portal with your other application documents.
      
      
      
• Statement of Purpose/Personal Statement
  
  • The application form includes the essay questions. 
  • Application Essays: Full-time MBA is hugely competitive - the essays are your opportunity to help school understand your profile and what makes you stand out. Make sure you write in an essay format. Do not write a generic ‘statement of purpose’ or copy and paste lines from your CV, as this will make your application less competitive.
  • Essay 1: Personal Essay What makes you a strong candidate for the Manchester MBA programme? (Mandatory, minimum 400 words)  Please write a personal essay that covers the following:
    • Professional Experience:
      • Share with school the story of your career to date; how have you progressed, what achievements are you most proud of and how have they shaped you as a person?
      • Tell school about any leadership/management experience you have gained – this could also be in your personal life (e.g. managing people, leading teams or projects, managing important client relationships etc.).
      • Do you have any career gaps on your CV or very short-term positions that need explanation? If you do, please tell them about that.
    • Personal and Academic
      • Tell school about any personal and/or academic achievements that you would like to highlight.
      • What motivates and inspires you and what would you hope to contribute to your MBA class?
      • School understand that for various reasons not everyone is ready to ‘fly’ during their first degree and can be great achievers later or in other ways – you are welcome to tell them about that if relevant.
  • Essay 2: Career Planning Questions (Mandatory, minimum 300 words): Candidates take the Full-time MBA programme for different reasons including, to fast track their career in their current sector, to change sector, to develop entrepreneurial skills, and/or to increase opportunities for an international career in another country or region of the world. University of Manchester's experiential MBA programme will help you to develop your skillset and Postgraduate Careers team provide a personalised approach to support you with your career journey.
    • Why is this the right time for your MBA?
    • Tell them about your short-term career goals immediately after graduating from the MBA.
    •  It is important to be flexible and adaptable, so also tell school about your Plan B if you are unable to achieve your preferred goals immediately after graduating.
    •  If you are looking for an international career – to change the country or region in which you are currently working - tell them more about this.
    • What is the connection between your current career background and your post-MBA goals and what gaps in your skill set do you need to develop through the MBA?
      
      
      

• Other Documents
  
  • Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV)
    • You must upload a complete and up-to-date CV as part of your application. This should be no more than two pages.
    • If you've had any significant gaps in employment history, you can provide reasons for these on a separate document.
    • What to include in your CV
    • In your CV, you should include every job you've had since graduating from your undergraduate degree, if you have one. List your jobs in reverse chronological order, starting with your current position.
    • For each position, you should include:
      • The company name and job title - if you've worked in more than one position for the same company, list each position separately
      • The month/year the position started, and the end date
      • Bullet points of your key responsibilities and achievements - include details about management experience or reporting levels if it's relevant.
    • You should include a one or two-line description of the context in which each company you've worked at operates. For example, you might write 'Global investment advisory firm with operations in 8 countries and $36B USD AUM'.
  • Complete your Video Assessment: After you have submitted your application, school will send you an invitation to take the video assessment, which is delivered by Kira Talent on their platform. Add this email to your safe list: no-reply@kiratalent.com so you do not miss the invitation.
    • You will need to complete the video assessment by the corresponding deadline for the round you have applied for - you will have around 7 days to complete it. School will not assess your application until both your application and your video assessment are complete.
    • University understand that the traditional essays and test scores only tell them part of your ‘story’. The video assessment provides you with an opportunity to share what you will bring to the unique MBA in a more personal way and bring to life the person they have learned about in your application.
    • The video assessment comprises of four questions, which are designed to be answered without preparation in real-time. This will help them gain a sense of your personality, potential and communication skills, particularly your ability to think on your feet and communicate in a concise manner. The four questions are as follows:
      • One motivation-based question
      • Two competency-based questions around the themes or leadership and teamwork
      • One random light-hearted question
        
        
        
• Before uploading your documents, please check that:
  • The file name does not include non-standard characters such as accented letters or those from different alphabets such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian etc.
  • The file name does not include any spaces, punctuation or symbols eg. [ ]
  • The file name does not exceed 64 characters in length (including the extension such as .docx).
  • The file size does not exceed 10MB.
  • The file is not password protected.
  • Please also ensure that documents are submitted in their original language as well as with an English translation, where applicable.
  • University accept the following file formats:
    • Word
    • PDF
    • Plain text
    • JPEG

Documents Required

• Online Application
• Academic Transcripts
• Two Reference
• GMAT/GRE Test Scores
• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Two Essays 
• Complete Your Video Assessment
• English Language Proficiency