Management and Leisure x Business and Management??

Hi! I'm an international student that currently doing foundation year in manchester, and didn't take maths course. I just got a conditional offer from University of Manchester for Management & Leisure as it's the only subject i can apply without maths. However, i'm not really interested with the Leisure area which i even never heard about this subject before. And i got another offer from University of Sheffield for Business and Management, which is the subject that i wanted, but i don't know about the Sheffield city itself, so i have no idea how its like to live in there. Now i'm still waiting for offer from University of Liverpool and University of Birmingham though. So, does anyones here doing Management & Leisure in UOM? If yes, can you help me to describe how its like to studying that course? because i'm completely lost here. And can someone help me what should i do now? I mean, Sheffield Uni got great reputation but they want me to get AAB which i think kinda hard, plus i didn't really know about the city! Please help me :frown:

thank you!

Reply 1

HandmadeTurnip

I don't really understand what you mean. If you're already doing a foundation year at Manchester, why are you still getting offers? Doesn't your foundation year lead directly on to a degree course?

University of Manchester

Manchester

Reply 2

Richamelia

No, because i'm in NCUK pathway, not UoM pathway. The funny thing is i'm doing business studies, economics and politics now.. But UoM only accept students who doing Maths for their Business School. My college tried to email them for a change subject but they still won't accept me. So i just left with Management & leisure now. Sorry if its a bit confusing!

Reply 3

HandmadeTurnip

Original post by Richamelia

Oh ok, sorry I didn't notice you said "in" Manchester, I was assuming you were actually doing it at UoM.

It's strange that Manchester have told you that you need Maths, it's not part of their normal entry requirements for most courses. But I guess if that's what they've told you, you can't do much about it. Ultimately, the course is the most important thing so if you feel that you'd enjoy Sheffield's more, maybe you should go for that one. Manchester and Sheffield are pretty much the same in terms of reputation anyway.

I can't really tell you much about Manchester's course, I'm afraid, as I don't have any experience of the Business School.

Reply 4

Richamelia

Haha its fine! What youre studying now? I'm really have no idea which one should i choose as my firm choice since the Sheffield wants AAB which kinda hard for me😔. And also i love Manchester already haha its so confusing!

Reply 5

HandmadeTurnip

Original post by Richamelia

Haha its fine! What youre studying now? I'm really have no idea which one should i choose as my firm choice since the Sheffield wants AAB which kinda hard for me. And also i love Manchester already haha its so confusing!

I'm studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering. I found this thread which, although quite old, has some info from a former student about Manchester's course. Maybe you should look through the course units to learn more about the leisure side, it might help your decision.

Reply 6

NJFE879

Hey there, I actually study Management and Leisure right now, and am in my first year here at Manchester... Trust me, I had exactly the same concerns and I also had offers from Birmingham, Sheffield and Liverpool for Business Management courses on the table!

Now, the leisure side of things is something that I questioned first of all, but it is something I have actually came to enjoy a lot! I have the view, that even though I do not exactly want to go into the Leisure sector, this is a great management course to be on! First of all, the main difference between this course and other Management courses is that this one is all about using the knowledge you gain in the classroom and putting it into practice. Where as most Management courses are purely about giving you the theory, this course feels that 'Managers cannot be created in a classroom, only experience and practice can create true managers' as Henry Mintzberg would say.

You still learn everything a Management course usually covers, with my modules so far including Economics, Financial Management, Marketing & Consumers, Management & Leadership, and Sociology & Psychology. However most Management courses have a lot of exams for most of their topics, this course has a few exams in subjects that kind of need them (such as Finance and Economics), but it is mainly coursework based, so you take the knowledge you learn and apply it towards companies and how companies demonstrate what you have learnt. If you hate coursework, then this may not be the course, though I have not found it overwhelming at all! On top of this, the course offers a trip at the start of the year for a weekend in North Wales, including free meals, accommodation and team building exercises so you can get to know your course mates (and this counts as 10 credits towards the first year!). You also do a 2 week placement in your first year, a 6 week placement (I think) in the second year and a 10 week placement in your final year. There is a bit of pressure placed on you to do these in the leisure sector, but it really does not matter - a lot of this year did it in banks, consultancy firms etc.

Coursework is generally related to the leisure industry in some form, but again, with the size of the leisure industry, there is no problem finding something interesting to write about. I mean, if you love Football (or any sport for that matter), music, video games or absolutely anything like that, then you'll be fine. I am enjoying the course, and though it annoys me quite a bit in some places, I could not see myself anywhere else now. You get optional units every year and you can take them in the business school if you really want (I take one of mine from the Business School) - if you decide you like the Leisure side, the proper leisure course modules (Events management, Tourism, and Sport Management) are all optional, so you can go for any you fancy.

That being said, if you prefer exams and do not exactly want the placements, then this may not be the best course for you. Also note, as you may know, Sheffield does have a fantastic rather new Business school, which is pretty awesome! It's completely up to you, I'd probably come to open days for both and see what you think. I did come into this course pretty blind and was not sure what to expect (as said, being sceptical about the leisure side) - but I have realised it is a flexible course that can be moulded more to the management side if you wish! Plus, Manchester's night life is absolutely fantastic, and you'll really enjoy the city, that I have no doubt about.

Reply 7

Richamelia

Hey, thank you so much! After reading your experiences, well first of all, it's kind of funny because i just got an offer from University of Birmingham which is same as you!! Such a coincidence! At the same time i want to go to Birmingham as well as Manchester because i know Birmi has higher rank, and my parents so happy when they know i got an offer. But they want AAB meanwhile my last exam, i got like BCC (alright that exam only 10% from my overall score) but still.. I'm afraid i'm not gonna make it. On the other hand, i feel like i'm having interest with Management & Leisure as i hate exam, i dunno why i kinda like writing courseworks (well i got plenty of times to read sources and stuff). Anyway, i want to ask you, what you do on the team building? And fo you think the Management & Leisure may limit the chance to get job in other areas than Leisure?

Thank you so much for the help!! :smile:

Reply 8

NJFE879

Hey, haha, no problem! That is an odd coincidence. First thing I would say is not to bother looking at ranking tables... I know when I was looking at Universities I sat and looked at rankings for ages trying to find 'the best University'. It led to me being determined to go to the University of Warwick because it was 'the best' at Business, yet when I actually visited the University, it was probably the worst open days I went to and I thought it looked/sounded awful! That's not to say it is, but in the end, I did not even both applying to Warwick. To me, it is obvious which Universities are well thought of and which are the 'best'. If you go to any University whether it is Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Bath or any like them, you will do fine and the difference between how well perceive them is not huge! Am I saying this because you feel Birmingham is better ranked? Not at all, as said, I loved Birmingham and it was actually very close when it came to me choosing where to go! However rankings vary - take this for example; using official world ranking tables and a newspaper one in the following order 'QS World University Rankings', 'Academic Rankings of World Universities' and 'Times Higher Education World Rankings';

Manchester is ranked: 30th, 38th and 52nd respectively
Birmingham is ranked: 64th, 101-150th and 148th respectively

I used this example in another topic that said the same type of thing. Rankings change, move and vary depending on where you look. In terms of world rankings, Manchester is commonly one of the highest ranked within the UK and almost always ranks higher than Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds and others similar. Does this mean it is a better University? Not exactly. As said, in my opinion, ranking tables do not mean a lot, especially when some tables split it down into topics! The things you want to look at is what the University is known for, if it has won any awards lately (proper official ones) and so on. For example, when I was looking at Birmingham, it had just been ranked the highest in student satisfaction and enjoyment ratings for the year (I think). Manchester on the other hand currently has the higher employability rating in the UK, with the highest proportion of students finding graduate levels jobs on leaving the University! Again, this changes, so take it with a pinch of salt - however these sort of things do shed light on what the University is like. Most importantly, visit the Universities. I know you are an international student, but if you have no already, try to visit them! I know (as said with my Warwick example) - though it sounds cliché... You do tend to know straight away whether you could live there or not and if that is somewhere you want to be for three years.

As for your questions; I am assuming you are referring to my mentioning of the trip with the team building? In this case, you spend a day at a great activities centre within the hills/mountains. For us the year was split in half and one group went on the Saturday, the other on the Sunday. When there, the group is split into two teams and a load of activities are put onto the board, it is then up to you as a team to complete as many as possible, gaining a different amount of points for each activity within a set time period and trying to beat the other team. This is followed up by going out to a local lake in the afternoon and raft building, again scoring points for your teams depending on how well you work together, the quality of raft and amount of laps you can complete on it (round a marker and back). At the end of the day the winning team gets a prize (for us it was a bottle of wine for the winners I think) and the losing team got a bottle of coke. This may change a bit for last year, but it was good fun, and you have some 2nd/3rd year students there to supervise and help, which allows you to get to know them as well. The weekend overall is good, though you do business related activities during the day, it is quite good fun and it really allows you to get to know everyone on the course (which is good, since you will be with them for 3 years!).

As for the job question, I will give you the answer I gave to someone else; 'I am not an employer. However I assume that if you did choose to go into anything to do with the leisure industry, it would give you an advantage because you have specialised knowledge of that sector. For other companies outside of the leisure sector (whether it be banking, consultancy or any such company), you would simply sell the management side of the course, show that you cover all the usual management modules and explain how you learnt how to apply the theory into practice and gained a lot of valuable work experience during the course. I will never forget a presentation one University showed to my old college last year, that stated that approximately 90% of employers do not mind what degree people have when receiving job applications, and instead they focus on the University they went to, the classification they got in their degree (or are expected to achieve), as well as work experience etc. As said, I am not an employer so I cannot testify to this, but for the most part if you go to a good university and do well in your degree, regardless of what it is in, you will likely do well. Of course, it is then down to what jobs you feel you are capable of doing, and what your degree has given you experience in. In which case the Management and Leisure degree covers Financial Management, Business Economics, the Psychology/Sociology of workers and people, Marketing, Human Resources management and a lot more that will make you very versatile - some have came out of their course and even gone into accountancy and completed their CIMA qualifications (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) or another similar qualification. This goes to show that there is no pressure to get a generalised job in the leisure sector, but the option is there if you want to.'

Hope this helps, I know it's a hard decision and it will be a life changing one! I am not going to tell you where to go, since both Birmingham and Manchester are fantastic - I personally would not change where I am now, however I may have said the same at this point had I ended up at Birmingham.

Reply 9

Alejandro.mf

Hey, I am an A-level student deciding on my final University choice and im stuck on whether to choose Manchester University for Management with International Business Economics or ESADE with its Bachelor in Business Administration. I know that ESADE is the Best Undergrad Business School in Spain but Id want to know if Manchester could be compared to ESADE or even be better. Does anyone have some experience with these universities or could give a valued opinion? Thanks

Reply 10

Richamelia

Hey, i would like to ask again.. If it will be more of practice in the subject, what we kind of practice we do? Like we work in a company? If yes, then what kind of company? Because i just got accepted from uni of liverpool (also want me to get ABB) and i'm like more confused which one should i choose! And do you know where most of students in the subject came from? So sorry if i ask too much but seriously this is so hard to choose! I dont want to leave manchester as i feel like settled already in the city but not sure about the subject (still!) while i'm thinking to getting out from my comfort zone (in this case maybe move to liverpool) probably a bit hard for me too. Thank you!