YoussefEsmat wrote:
Hi There
ESMT had one student who left the program early this year , and it was myself .
Not sure about the previous post but it’s certainly not me , putting the previous post aside for now, let me give a quick feedback about my experience in ESMT , because it’s more relevant for this blog readers
When I was applying to schools last year this post actually helped me to make up my mind so it's only fair to return the favor .
here’s what happened and you be the judge , I will try to split the discussion into 4 sections so you don’t get confused
1-first my personal process for choosing school
2-my personal experiences in the semester I spent in ESMT
3-my general thoughts about the school
4-few comments about the post above by my evil twin I guess
1-first my personal process for choosing school
If you follow the post from the beginning it started in 2007, with some people expressing some worries about the school , which was understandable at the time , new school not much data about . as a prospective MBA student putting fwd an investment (both money and time) it’s normal to get second thoughts, specially with a clear message stay away from the school mentioned like that in the post, however it’s good to remember that blogs tend to reflect personal thoughts not facts and in this case posts from someone who decided not to join (am sure he made a logical rational choice)
U will see some positive thoughts and some negative thoughts as human beings we tend to be risk averse so usually the negative thoughts /comment will tend to stick , that’s normal ( I learned that in a course by the way in ESMT)
So being and engineer and a rational person , I did the logical thing contacted the school and asked for some solid data about rankings, student placement , alumni and base salary and I asked for student with a similar profile as Mine and contacted some of them
The school administration was really transparent and direct about everything , long story short the information I got was satisfactory for me and sealed my decision and I joined the program in January 2012, I was awarded a partial scholarship which certainly helped my decision
Bottom line ESMT is not Harvard , ESMT is a young school but once you see the school progress/evolution (applicants, rankings, class profile) in the past few years you easily tell they are on the right track .on the other hand as ESMT school realize that fact they offer other attractive perks that –at least for me-balanced things out , like small class, one year program and financial aid
2-My personal experiences in the semester I spent in ESMT:
There is some information you can get about Berlin and the campus on their website , they are all true , great city and amazing/state of the art campus , one thing personally I noticed the staff is really helpful and because of the small class size the administration seemed to know all of us by name and helped us throughout the entire settling in process ,the atmosphere was simply friendly and accommodating .
Class: was pretty diverse to be honest ,and they were all really interesting and we got along quickly. But as with any group of people or teams there’s always some issues that arises but it’s all part of the learning experience I think.
Academic staff: if memory serves me well in the few month I spent I took courses around, Organizational behavior, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, judgment and decision making, I had an engineering background so I never dealt with those topics before, I liked the material a lot to be honest , I won’t give much feedback about professors on this form, but I remember we had few comments and the school after each course issues a feedback form which they take seriously …..
Administration: ESMT have a young group of very friendly, professional and outgoing staff they helped us a lot with all administrative logistical ,housing and various issues we faced
Campus: is also as promised and described in the website I liked it a lot
Alumni: we arranged a couple of mixers where I got to meet some of ESMT previous Alumni , not a huge group but the ones I meet where certainly doing well , job wise and career wise and I remember asking few of them clearly weather the MBA from ESMT helped boost their career significantly I would say 2 out of 4 people I asked the answer was yes, the other two where sponsored by their companies and they went back to work there . but in general they all seemed engaging and willing to help for sure
Also we had few career coaching sessions, each of us was assigned a career coach, and we get to spend if I remember correctly like 1.5 hours each other week with them .I only attended one of these session but the coach was really experienced (had an impressive resume) and above all well connected in terms of business relations, which is certainly something valuable within for an MBA student.
About the German language: well study is in English, the few ALUMNI I talked with had not all of them had German background and where working in German companies, however like after the first month I decided I will spend serious time learning German because it will certainly open more doors for you .so if you make up your mind to go to ESMT having a German language proficiency will certainly increase your chances of landing a job in Germany
3-My general thoughts about the school /general advice for anyone seeking MBA
Do your homework , ask around , seek validated information not just for this school but for other schools , ESMT was the right choice for me (knowing I was accepted in HEC as well the only other school I applied for) is ESMT right for you ? , only you can tell ,but it’s certainly a school you need to explore not scratch or steer away as the posts are advising
Through ESMT or any other school for that matter you can always contact them and ask for references for current or past students , I keep in touch with most of my colleagues , most are stressed from the study load some are anxious about Jobs , some have started conducting interviews ,others not .
But keep in mind it’s only October right, usually u judge a business school with employment after the first 3 months of graduation. So my advice talk to current students and last year students to get a comprehensive overview (that’s for any school not just ESMT)
Would I advise the school for anyone, actually I did for a few people I know who have a similar profile/needs /situation as mine
4-few comments about the post above by my evil twin I guess
First a comment to the Author: Not cool man , posting as someone else , I think it’s actually illegal ,and morally wrong regardless of the content or your intentions !!!
Second a comment about the content of the post:
all information about me is wrong specially about my reason for leaving the program , in a nut shell it was personal reasons and I got a job offer that was hard to turn down, nothing related to the school and I was offered a deferral to next year
The school was very understanding and supportive of my decisions keeping in mind that my departure may have impacted the class profile and diversity ,also someone else could have made benefit of the scholarship(it was a partial one by the way) ,however they were very professional about it and honestly that’s what you would expect from a decent school
About the comments about Alumni, Job Fair, reputation, academic standard and others well ,honestly I have no reliable information about that nor am in a position to deny or confirm that I simply wasn’t there , but from what I have encountered specially academic standard wise the few courses I attended it and the few alumni I have meet certainly this was not the case , I can confidently say that post is quite biased against the school and the fact that the author is impersonating me then let’s just say he is not 100% reliable (to put it delicately ) .
But as a prospective candidate I would certainly encourage you to check the validity of the allegation above, I can tell you it’s all wrong but as a rule of thumb , do your homework ,contact the school, contact current and past students , check statistics trust me you can get the info you need easily
Sorry for the long reply, but like I said that blog was helpful for me and as an MBA candidate you will appreciate all the guidance and help you can get ,I know I would have
Feel free to contact me , either through ESMT if you will contact them for application or any inquiries you may have , or through the blog , I will try to check every now and then
good luck everyone
Hi
I am from India. I am pretty much keen in joining an German university next year through GMAT?
Could u pls let me know where the german universities stand globally and their placements and other information?
I need a scholarship grant thats why i am looking towards germany?
Your response can help me a great deal.
Thanks