Hi Folks.. good to see some nice discussion going on about IESE. Thanks aksr for helping out a lot of prospective candidates (like myself) After some research on the top bschools in Europe,
I am confused between IESE and IEBS on what would better suit my requirements. My profile is 750/3.8yrs in Analytics/IIT/no int. experience/good acads/ avg. extra acads/some community work/CFA L3 clear. Post-mba, I want to work in an ibank/pe-firm in mainland europe (not in UK, ideally Germany) Both IESE and IEBS have their pros and cons.
13 month in IEBS compared to 21 in IESE (so lesser cost in IE and you start earning earlier)
Global Rankings IE>IESE (only slighltly though)
I would personally prefer Barca over Madrid so IESE > IE
Guys, I need your help in figuring this out. what are the other parameters one can compare the two schools on? aksr, I would highly appreciate your inputs here.
Here is a quick reply for you:
IE as you said being an year long program may be perceived more beneficial for a more experienced person! For placement you can always ask both schools of their placement records and then verify that through personal interaction ideally not on a public forum about the same!
Having said that, and if you have done some personal research by talking to Spanish junta on which MBA is best in Europe, you would be already knowing as I have even said earlier in my thread that IESE is best MBA from Spain as per local perception, and at IESE we do not even discuss about IE as a competition when we discuss on topics like career, placements, etc. inside school!
According to me IESE has a bigger brand recognition, longer history( first European 2 year MBA), greater reach than IE! That does not mean IE may not be a good school but then there have been such discussions earlier also and it all comes to your own priority!
Rankings are at times skewed by lots of things so never ever use ranking to judge schools but just use it as your first step in application process to know broadly what schools to be considered good worldwide to start your further real research! I can tell you on the ranking topic itself, that IESE is ranked 3rd as per CNN, 5th in economist ranking (were even ranked #1 in 2009), 4th in FT European MBA ranking, ahead of lots of other schools including IE ! They both are very different schools in the end and hence may have different attraction capacity for different people!
The reason to select IESE over any other school, and I have already written in above threads, how one can decide on which schools to select, is based on teaching-learning quality (for in the end you are not going to a placement agency but a place of excellence in business study), availability and exclusiveness of job positions offered, industry linkups, diversity, cultural fit, monetary consideration, and lot many more criteria with a balanced mindset! When it comes to choose on money, think of the benefits excluding money and see who much of the benefits increases or decreases and are you able to justify yourself of the benefits with the difference in money!
According to me once you decide you need a MBA from outside India, not because its easier to get into as some think, which is anything but true at selective top schools like IESE, but other more important benefits in education quality and future growth prospect, money should only be discussed qualitatively that is if you can fund it using the resources school provides in terms of loans (with co signer/ without it) availability, and scholarship grants, and then compare the quantity of the remaining amount one has to fund it through one's pocket in light of average years/ months other alumni took to repay their loans!
On working in Germany, if you know German it is very likely possible at IESE! You also need excellent track record in academics right from high school days to college days as another criteria that most of German firms look into!
Hopefully that clears your doubt! Best of luck in your application!