MBA in a business school vs. design school

After working 1,5 years in a global firm (in total 2 years work exp.), I decided to go on with a graduate degree on marketing, branding area, which I interested in and broaden job opportunities for me. After researching grad programs I see that there is only a few marketing/branding programs at design schools. Generally MBA or design strategy programs at design schools are cover marketing/branding (just 1-2 lessons).
Marketing programs at business schools are OK. But I am afraid of being away from creative areas, creative thinking.
For the future I want to get a job,maybe about branding, at a marketing dept. at a design driven firm or to establish my own branding consultancy.
What do you think? Which would be better? Attending to a marketing program at buss. school or MBA at design school ? Which schools would you prefer if you were me?
Thanks.

IMO, choosing a school for an MBA is about the connections and not the curriculum. Of the dozens of managers I know who have MBAs vs. the dozens of managers I know who don’t have an MBA, the biggest difference in business knowledge I see is the MBA holder will know a few more case studies. The quality of that asset is argueable.

In choosing your school, I would look at the graduates, where they work and what they are doing at that work. Not knowing your goal, there are way too many variables at play. Do you want to work strategy at an ID firm like ideo or Continuum, or an agency like Ogilvy & Mather or Leo Burnett, or a strategic firm like McKinsey or Bain? Or do you want to go corporate? The school connections are more likely to get you a job than what they teach you.

I am in an MBA program at a design school. Depending on where you want go, the connections you can make at a school matter the most. Rest is secondary.

the answer to: “should I get an MBA or should I consider some kind of MS in some kind of design management” might be answered by looking at Northwestern University’s “Master of Product Design and Management” program…
They do a 2 year part time. 1 day / week on alternate Friday’s and Saturday’s and cover all the basic MBA classes as well as an equal number of courses designed for the design / development professional in the field.
Strange as it may seem they run 23 discrete classes each of which takes 5 weeks and they run 2 at a time.
They were recognized by Business Week magazine as having one of the top 30 programs in the world for “Design Thinking”. You can get to them through: “mpd.northwestern.edu”
good luck, but I know the program is remarkable and they’ve been doing it for 10 years. :smiley:

Thanks for your answers. I decided to apply CCA design Strategy, AALTO, Tu delft and Northwestern. The deadline of CCA is the earliest one. Is there any body from CCA ? I would like to talk about the program, school and application process.
Thanks

I think it is better to go for MBA in design school. The reason is that at design school, you would be able to sharpen your other designing skills too along with getting MBA degree. This will be dual benefit to you. This is my personal advice, however your choice may be different. If you want to pursue MBA from a good school, then just for your knowledge thunderbird laureate alumni have joined hands; which is an excellent news for people seeking MBA degree.