ESADE vs MBS vs Cranfield vs Schulich
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29 Mar 2014, 06:25
Hey Guys
I have offers from several schools, and I need to choose a couple to reserve as I await responses from more schools.
I have detailed all that I know about these schools, and I need more enlightenment from your experiences.
Please help me get more clarity on my current predicament.
Brief about my background, goals:
I am an Non-EU citizen, english speaker with 5+ years of Experience in IT.
Main goal for MBA is to shift to IT strategy consulting and also test my entrepreneurial ideas (For which I do not have enough knowledge yet)
In the programme, the most important thing to me is the diversity with a strong Alumni network(I have only applied to schools that fit my future goals, schulich doesn't match as much as I would like) So I do not want many Indians in the course.
ROI, i.e., Post MBA placement in Europe/Canada/US is important. Thus the immigration rules also come into play.
International exchange/electives is good to have, but not vital.
I will not/cannot return to my home country post MBA due to the sizeable investment in the course.
What rankings say:
ESADE is the best of the lot, hands down. Manchester and cranfield might be on par on the overall, but at a detailed level, cranfield is better in the subfields. Schulich is the worst of the lot but high on VFM, but not as high as cranfield.
My observations about the schools:
ESADE is very well ranked, is one of the best in EU, is very diverse and has a highly customisable course. The alumni network is also strong and the school believes in personal development and nurturing entrepreneurs. Moreover, ESADE creapolis is an added advantage of being in the school.
The negatives are quite simple, Spain's immigration laws are not friendly towards Non-EU students. Plus I think that in the developed world, Spain is not doing well, with youth unemployment reaching 50%, and overall being around 25%, which is scaring me quite a bit and making me wonder is ESADE would be the biggest risk, if this risk would not have been there, I would probably be heading to ESADE.
MBS is not the best school in UK. It has a strong network and a good course but the diversity is not as high as I would like. I hear it has too many Indians, but I cannot verify this. It is internationally recognised, but their career services are not that good (or so I hear). To add to this, Manchester is not London, i.e., London has the highest number of job opening and is the preferred place to study (My friends in UK have unanimously told me this)
Cranfield is a very good regional school and well respected in UK, and is also a part of case competitions which include the elite in the world. Their course is the shortest in the list, 12 months, which makes me wonder if there be enough time to network and look for a job in such an intensive course. They say its close to London, but its not. Its 2 hours away from Waterloo station. Moreover, the campus is very remote, with nothing nearby, and there is no choice but to stay in the campus, which again makes me wonder how well will I be able to network. Despite this, their course is good and they also emphasise on personal development. The class size is small, but diversity seems to be near OK levels, with last year's class having 27 nationalities.
Schulich is the safest choice in the list, but also the worst ranked worldwide. Because of Canada's relatively easier rules, it nearly guarantee ROI. Their course is decent, but 2 years seems a little too long to me. Diversity is the biggest issue for this school, as they have an Indian MBA course. This basically means that in the second term 50-100 indians will join the Toronto campus, literally destroying the diversity.