Master of Business Administration MBA: Entry requirements

Kingston MBA students: typical profile for admissions

Students enrolled at Kingston come from a wide variety of professional and educational backgrounds. They come from commercial organisations, from the public sector and from the not-for-profit or third sector. Their first degree might be in a technical, social, or arts based subject. They are also from a wide age range – 24 to 54 – representing a good cross-section of career points and pathways. While diverse across these dimensions, they share various common motivations and qualities:

• Interested and active in pursuing knowledge and self development – MBA students have arrived at a point where they realise there is a lot they don't know, and they have decided to do something about it. They want to engage in a lively debate and to explore intellectual and practical issues with others like them, and with academic partners.

• Experience and maturity – Kingston MBA students have a solid foundation of experience to build on, with average experience of five years (full-time programme) and over 10 years (Executive programme). This maturity means rich interaction, practice sharing, and debate among students. They recognise that fellow students are an essential part of their developmental process, and that they have a role in the development of others.

• Leading and shaping change – Kingston students realise that change is a constant, and that through their careers, how they create, address and manage change will be critical. For some this will mean leading entrepreneurial developments; for others, reconfiguring resources and encouraging changing attitudes.

Specific MBA admissions criteria

We want your experience on the Kingston MBA to be challenging, enjoyable, and rewarding. Our criteria are defined to help ensure that you can successfully complete the MBA, and that each cohort of students has a strong ethos of team learning.

Admissions process

We consider every application for the criteria identified above, and require all evidence to be provided. Once we have considered your application form, we are likely to wish to conduct an interview with you, either in person or by telephone. This can be done at Kingston Business School or at MBA, British Council or postgraduate study fairs which we attend. In some cases, where we are concerned about your ability to complete the course successfully, we may ask you to complete a numerical test or ask for a GMAT score (we would usually look for a score of 600 or above).

It can take longer than you think to get organised to start your MBA so we advise that you apply as early as possible. We operate our admissions system all year round, so you can join the next available group of students when you are ready.

All non-UK applicants must meet our English language requirements. For this course it is Academic IELTS of 6.5 overall, with special conditions in all elements. Please make sure you read our full guidance about English language requirements, which includes details of other qualifications we'll consider.

Applicants who do not meet the English language requirements may be eligible to join our pre-sessional English language course.

Applicants from one of the recognised Majority English Speaking Countries (MESCs) do not need to meet these requirements.