RSM Fall'08 Interviews and admits

[shwetha.sun]

Best of Luck to all Applicants and Congrats to all RSM Admits. I am Ananth Sundaram, admitted to fall'08. Looking forward to meet all classmates. Welcome all applicants to throw in their queries.

Ananth

[700willdo]

hey ananth,

congrats on the RSM admit. I also have admission for the '08 season but I am facing a big dilemma reagarding the financing. Unlike you guys from India who have to face a much more competitive applicant pool, I am from Nepal so I felt I was admitted pretty easily. Anyways, my question is how are you guys thinking of financing the 36000 Euros for tuition and another 15000 Euros for other expenses including living and fooding. All in all its a 50000 Euros thing which to me is a pretty big investment. Have you got any info about placements at RSM.

Its nice of you to start this thread so that we can share info on RSM which I think we all need to decide. I think I will share my analysis here about the school and lets see what you guys think about it.

The most attractive feature to me are:
1. Great diversity: 95% international students from 40 nations

2. Right class size for my taste. I think that 100-150 is the right class size for me because it is just enough to not be too small and small enough to recieve personal attention from the career services centre. Also I dont wand to be just another guy in the school so I think the class size is just right.

3. 15 month program with a 3 month internship in between. I think just right in combining the US and the European models on MBA. Also better than spending 2 years in school.

4. Average age of participants about 29 and average work exp of about 5 years. I think just about right because not too young and not too old.

5. Rotterdam a great city. Second largest port in the world so I believe ample good opprtunities for jobs. I also believe that RSM brand has good mobility althrouhgout Europe.

The downsides of RSM to me are:

1. Biggest downside is their lack of scholarship opportunities. They tell me that due to their limited endowment, they have to survive on the tuition fees so they cannot afford to give out huge scholarships.

2. Has been slipping in the ranking recently. I believe that is why the new Dean has been hired, to get the school back up to where it was in terms of its rankings.

Now here is my question:

Have I got the details of the school correct? I have done a lot of research on this school because I have to decide whether to accept the schools offer or not and the details above are purely my perceptions of the school. I will appreciate anyone's viewpoint regarding this school and thank you in advance.

Phew!!! That was a long post

[shwetha.sun]

Let me congratulate you first on being accepted to RSM!!
Your post was very informative, well and all of the info was correct too. RSM is ofcourse one of the best courses and among the top schools in Europe. Personally I had applied to a couple of schools in Europe and US and got mixed reactions from all the schools (some accepts like BU, ESADE and some dings like OWEN, tepper, HEC).
There is one more point to add abt RSM, it's new Dean, George Yip from LBS. I think he can play a crucial role in lifting RSM rankings. As far as placements go, my interactions with a currently studying student was very positive and encouraging. Add to it an attractive European economy too.

Regarding financing, this is one area I am struggling too. Banks in India finance upto INR 20 lakhs(Euro 31250). I plan to apply to some other banks too for additional loans. RSM does lack considerably in providing attractive scholarships, the ones offered are too few and too competitive.
All in all I personally would rate RSM as one of the best options for me (already an MBA with 700 GMAT and 3 yrs work ex across IT and Finance industry). And with whatever few research I have done on the school I would personally vote for RSM.

[700willdo]

ananth,
looks like we have a conversation going here so I will ask a couple of questions:

1. How well established is the RSM brand name in India. I intend to work in India in the medium term so this question
2. How well established is the RSM brand name vis-a-vis NUS Singapore
3. I didnt find detailed employment reports of RSM. Have you got something on that
4. How smart is is to take on huge loans to go to RSM

all the best with everything mate

[shwetha.sun]

hi!!

1. Honestly speaking I am not too confident for that matter on any B-School when it comes to working in India with compensation at par with what you can get abroad. However, we need to do some research on that. I believe that after a couple of years work-ex abroad, it will be the School name PLUS the job profile we carry at that time which will fetch us some good career profile back home. Regarding brand, I believe RSM is pretty well established in India
2. NUS is an Asian school and I think that your career opportunites in Asia would be slightly higher if you graduate from NUS than from RSM.
3. You can check on the Blackboard and on web-site regarding the employment report.
4. RSM is poor in offering schols. All alumni must have taken huge loans, and most of them are recommending RSM, so I think that is quite encouraging .
Hope this helps, sorry I myself am not adept in answering these queries fully.

[kmanda]

Hi All,

I am applying for the 2008 fall course aiming for the 15th July dead line.
I have a few questions about doing an MBA in RSM.
I have over 10 years of experience and currently working as a director in a financial company. The reason I want to get an MBA is to gaim more financial knowledge and also to work in Europe for a few years. Currently i am working in Japan.
I am wondering if it is worth investing time and money after this much experience in RSM. I think this is the best time to do an MBA due to the financial market situation and once we graduate from RSM in Dec next year I think the markets will pick up.
Also I am married with no kids, so will take my wife along.

Any thoughts on the above?

[shwetha.sun]

Hi
Sorry to reply so late...
I guess if you are looking at a career in Europe, then graduating from a B-School from Europe will definitely make more sense. I see that RSM is definitely an excellent option. Again, you may also research on more schools in Europe, probably find out more on the courses offered, as you will be in an excellent position to choose the course you want to pursue.

FYI
I know a person joining RSM with 10 years exp in Finance who is coming with his wife and kid, he is a chartered accountant in India. During the interview with the admission panel plz open up and clarify all your concerns, they really appreciate that and are very helpful too..

[700willdo]

hey guys,

After giving a lot of thought I have finally decided to decline the RSM admission offer due to 2 reasons basically. I have to accept though that RSM was my first love and still is and this was a very difficult decision but I just couldn't get over the reasons to not attend.

1. The major factor was the cost. After talking to an alumni, I figured that it would cost me around 60000 Euros for the whole program. As good as the program is, I couldnt convince myself to pay that much for RSM program and also because it does not help me to spend that much because of my career goals after the MBA.

2. We are expecting our first baby this late October or November so I want to be closer to home so that I can come back for the important moments. I also want to be in a place where it will be easier for my wife to travel to.

I have admits from a University of Washington and NUS (Singapore). Looking at the above two factors NUS is running ahead of the other schools. As of now, not decided on NUS too but I can now sleep peacefully knowing that I have one less thing to worry about i.e. what to do with the RSM admit.

All the best to all the RSM admits and hope you get all you are looking for at RSM.