The Apprentice: Simon Ambrose
Simon Ambrose
Qualifications: MA Economics, Cambridge
Career: Internet Entrepreneur
Home town: Clapham, London
Profile: Highly competitive, proud and ambitious, Simon can speak six different languages and says he achieves his best work under pressure. He was made redundant from his last job as an investment banker, and has since tried his hand at a number of internet based, entrepreneurial ideas. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants; he once booked a table for 10 at a top celebrity eatery by posing as a Manchester United football agent. His first job was assisting in a discount jewellery shop where he was trained to differentiate between real and fake diamonds by judging their weight in carats – a skill he still has. At university Simon tried his has hand at acting and even performed at the famous Cambridge Footlights. He enjoys yachting, karate and kite boarding.
He says: “My Dad bought me an Amstrad PC when I was six and I learned how to program it. I still have it. It will be a dream come true if I end up working for him.”
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So, he’s got an “MA Economics, Cambridge”. Interesting… Cambridge give you the MA for nothing (except a nominal fee) three years after you graduate. There’s absolutely no studying involved and the qualification has no intrinsic value,meaning only that the studuent attained their BA Hons a couple of years earlier. Few people bother to mention the MA and those who do append it with (Cantab) to indicate that it doesn’t compare with MAs from other universities (Oxford excepted, which does the same thing – look out for MA (Oxon)). The equivalent from Cambridge is an M.Phil which is a ‘real’ taught research degree.
I guess it’s no great surprise that he’s inflating his qualifications, given that he’s posed as a “Manchester United football agent” just to get a table in a fancy restaurant but it does smack more than a little of desperation. It also suggests that we can take the rest of his CV with a grain of salt as well.