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01 Apr 2021, 20:53
Kudos
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Hello everyone,
First of all thank you for reading this long post!. I am in the great position of having to choose between amazing programs but my head is going crazy deciding. I would really appreciate any insights or advice on how to choose. I have been admitted to Michigan Ross (admitted to Tauber Global Operations program), IESE and HEC Paris (Jan Term), I got scholarships from Ross and IESE but nothing significant to drive the decision, $10k/year and EUR$10 respectively.
Background/Goal:
I am from Colombia, my background is in industrial engineering and I am currently 31 years old. I have been working for the last 5 years in my family business (+1 in consulting before), a company focused on manufacturing and distributing medical devices for kidney treatment, and I am in charge of leading and developing different business initiatives within the organization (Business Projects Director). My goal is to get experience and knowledge from the healthcare sector and possibly from consulting companies in that realm (which will also give me a general view of different industries to develop my family business afterwards) before coming back to Colombia in a few years. (I am also interested in working on improving healthcare accesibility by working on the industry supply chain and operations scheme). I don't have any preference between the US or Europe for my post-mba experience, looking to have the most meaningful one for my desired goal.
So far my evaluation of the programs is the following:
Michigan Ross:
- Pros:
-- Tauber program seems amazing and would help me build on my operations knowledge while also accessing a lot of electives around healthcare
-- Action Learning (MAP, Tauber Project, Venture Funds, Sanger Institute)
-- Ann Arbor seems like a perfect place to have 2 years concentrating on developing leadership skills and networking without many distractions.
-- The community is amazing and the alumni network is huge
-- Having the STEM concentration makes it less cumbersome to find a job afterwards
-Cons:
-- More expensive in comparison to the other 2 programs
-- Average age of the cohort seems to be 2-3 years lower
-- Significantly lower percentage of international candidates (seems quite US centric)
-- Not as highly ranked (Though I know that rankings mixing US and European programs can be not as accurate)
IESE:
- Pros:
-- Location. Barcelona is an amazing city.
-- Great alumni network with strong presence in South America
-- Breadth of opportunities across Europe
-- Higher average age of cohort
-- Strong links with consulting and healthcare companies
-- Top program in Europe after LBS/INSEAD
-- Strong international experience
- Cons:
-- Location again. I think it will be easier to get caught in the city atmosphere and not as much in the self development process
-- Spain is not an easy market to find jobs without a work permit. Other locations are easier but it will be more difficult to recruit.
-- Alumni network does not seem as strong as Ross
-- General management program, so won't have as much operations resources.
HEC Paris:
- Pros:
-- Beginning in January which might give some time for vaccines and so on to advance.
-- Cheapest of the options
-- Opportunity to learn a new language
-- Strong brand in Europe
-- Highly ranked recently
-- Total international experience
-- Higher average age of cohort
Cons:
-- Significantly lower offer of electives
-- Not so positive opinions from alumni and students regarding Career Services
-- Does not have a strong focus on healthcare
-- General management program, so won't have as much operations resources.
Right now I am leaning more towards IESE or Ross (I don't think that the Pros of HEC are as strong). However I am having a bad time deciding between the 2. I find IESE to be the strongest brand internationally, in an amazing location, with a truly international cohort and a group of students closer to my age, but which focus is not totally aligned to my goals (though there are opportunities). Ross on the other hand has the best resources for my professional development, with the best odds of employment afterwards, but I am not sure if the lower percentage of internationals + being on the older side of the age range would make me feel out of place.
Thank you so much and best to all.
First of all thank you for reading this long post!. I am in the great position of having to choose between amazing programs but my head is going crazy deciding. I would really appreciate any insights or advice on how to choose. I have been admitted to Michigan Ross (admitted to Tauber Global Operations program), IESE and HEC Paris (Jan Term), I got scholarships from Ross and IESE but nothing significant to drive the decision, $10k/year and EUR$10 respectively.
Background/Goal:
I am from Colombia, my background is in industrial engineering and I am currently 31 years old. I have been working for the last 5 years in my family business (+1 in consulting before), a company focused on manufacturing and distributing medical devices for kidney treatment, and I am in charge of leading and developing different business initiatives within the organization (Business Projects Director). My goal is to get experience and knowledge from the healthcare sector and possibly from consulting companies in that realm (which will also give me a general view of different industries to develop my family business afterwards) before coming back to Colombia in a few years. (I am also interested in working on improving healthcare accesibility by working on the industry supply chain and operations scheme). I don't have any preference between the US or Europe for my post-mba experience, looking to have the most meaningful one for my desired goal.
So far my evaluation of the programs is the following:
Michigan Ross:
- Pros:
-- Tauber program seems amazing and would help me build on my operations knowledge while also accessing a lot of electives around healthcare
-- Action Learning (MAP, Tauber Project, Venture Funds, Sanger Institute)
-- Ann Arbor seems like a perfect place to have 2 years concentrating on developing leadership skills and networking without many distractions.
-- The community is amazing and the alumni network is huge
-- Having the STEM concentration makes it less cumbersome to find a job afterwards
-Cons:
-- More expensive in comparison to the other 2 programs
-- Average age of the cohort seems to be 2-3 years lower
-- Significantly lower percentage of international candidates (seems quite US centric)
-- Not as highly ranked (Though I know that rankings mixing US and European programs can be not as accurate)
IESE:
- Pros:
-- Location. Barcelona is an amazing city.
-- Great alumni network with strong presence in South America
-- Breadth of opportunities across Europe
-- Higher average age of cohort
-- Strong links with consulting and healthcare companies
-- Top program in Europe after LBS/INSEAD
-- Strong international experience
- Cons:
-- Location again. I think it will be easier to get caught in the city atmosphere and not as much in the self development process
-- Spain is not an easy market to find jobs without a work permit. Other locations are easier but it will be more difficult to recruit.
-- Alumni network does not seem as strong as Ross
-- General management program, so won't have as much operations resources.
HEC Paris:
- Pros:
-- Beginning in January which might give some time for vaccines and so on to advance.
-- Cheapest of the options
-- Opportunity to learn a new language
-- Strong brand in Europe
-- Highly ranked recently
-- Total international experience
-- Higher average age of cohort
Cons:
-- Significantly lower offer of electives
-- Not so positive opinions from alumni and students regarding Career Services
-- Does not have a strong focus on healthcare
-- General management program, so won't have as much operations resources.
Right now I am leaning more towards IESE or Ross (I don't think that the Pros of HEC are as strong). However I am having a bad time deciding between the 2. I find IESE to be the strongest brand internationally, in an amazing location, with a truly international cohort and a group of students closer to my age, but which focus is not totally aligned to my goals (though there are opportunities). Ross on the other hand has the best resources for my professional development, with the best odds of employment afterwards, but I am not sure if the lower percentage of internationals + being on the older side of the age range would make me feel out of place.
Thank you so much and best to all.
02 Apr 2021, 09:32
Kudos
Bookmarks
No doubt you should go for Michigan's Ross. I dont think average age would really matter, you'll always find people above 35 as well in these programs!
And if you're able to sell your experience, you'll land a job quite comfortably in US. Ross is great with placements too.
And if you're able to sell your experience, you'll land a job quite comfortably in US. Ross is great with placements too.
02 Apr 2021, 14:01
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congratulations on your admits!
Interesting profile and situation. Do you have a preference in terms of where you want to be after you graduate? You want to be in US, Europe, or South America? That would drive and influence some of my decisions there. I know you said you did not but you really don't have a preference where you would want to live? Usually people have a fairly clear idea since the work prospects are different and so is the visa situation. Also, there are different employers and different outcomes for consulting and healthcare. I would point out that Consulting, esp the MBB's is very competitive in the US. I am not sure how it is in Europe or Spain but in the US you will be competing with lots of other folks gunning for those positions. I am going to guess that in EU, you don't get a free pass with consulting recruiting but maybe it is easier to perform well on the interview if it is in Spanish? Just a though.
Age, in the US, most programs will be 27 as the average age. That is how it is going to be and Europe is usually a bit more. That is just how it is and no way around it. It is trickier to be an older and more experienced MBA since recruiters are often looking for a certain experience/pay/age bracket and being 33 when you graduate will put you outside of many on-campus opportunities. https://gmatclub.com/forum/mba-after-30 ... 00397.html Here is an interesting write up by one Alum.
I would recommend sticking with IESE and Ross as the main choices since you don't speak French and there is no reason to add that complexity into the fold. On the other hand, speaking Spanish is handy in IESE and gives a bit more help if you are recruiting with other international students who do not speak Spanish, it gives you a bit of an advantage....
P.S. Some other thoughts/ideas:
Do you have a network somewhere? Do you have good friends or family in the US or in Spain? I would put more emphasis if you did/do as that would help you settle in and be a good safety net should another COVID lockdown or smth like that happen. US by the way is on target to get everyone who wants it vaccinated with at least one shot by July 1. That is less than 3 months from now and double-shot by probably mid-Aug per NY Times dashboard. US may be ahead of spain/EU on this one, though there are still quite a few uncertainties and I don't know if I would put my money on COVID openings/etc but just in case.
What if you got EU or US citizenship? Does anyone of those make things easier/better for you in the long term?
I would consult with your family since they are likely to help/support you. What do they feel most comfortable with? You are likely to see setbacks in either business schools. Interviews that bombed, offers pulled, etc. Everything happens and you don't want them tell you that you were wrong to pick one program over the other. I would involve them to some extent but you have to judge how much and absolutely need to brief them on pros and cons. They may not know about the STEM visa in the US vs. 1-year job permit in Europe.
PPS. The only part that matters is what kind of job market you have access to after you graduate. Your electives don't matter, so don't even worry about that. (for many reasons).
Interesting profile and situation. Do you have a preference in terms of where you want to be after you graduate? You want to be in US, Europe, or South America? That would drive and influence some of my decisions there. I know you said you did not but you really don't have a preference where you would want to live? Usually people have a fairly clear idea since the work prospects are different and so is the visa situation. Also, there are different employers and different outcomes for consulting and healthcare. I would point out that Consulting, esp the MBB's is very competitive in the US. I am not sure how it is in Europe or Spain but in the US you will be competing with lots of other folks gunning for those positions. I am going to guess that in EU, you don't get a free pass with consulting recruiting but maybe it is easier to perform well on the interview if it is in Spanish? Just a though.
Age, in the US, most programs will be 27 as the average age. That is how it is going to be and Europe is usually a bit more. That is just how it is and no way around it. It is trickier to be an older and more experienced MBA since recruiters are often looking for a certain experience/pay/age bracket and being 33 when you graduate will put you outside of many on-campus opportunities. https://gmatclub.com/forum/mba-after-30 ... 00397.html Here is an interesting write up by one Alum.
I would recommend sticking with IESE and Ross as the main choices since you don't speak French and there is no reason to add that complexity into the fold. On the other hand, speaking Spanish is handy in IESE and gives a bit more help if you are recruiting with other international students who do not speak Spanish, it gives you a bit of an advantage....
P.S. Some other thoughts/ideas:
Do you have a network somewhere? Do you have good friends or family in the US or in Spain? I would put more emphasis if you did/do as that would help you settle in and be a good safety net should another COVID lockdown or smth like that happen. US by the way is on target to get everyone who wants it vaccinated with at least one shot by July 1. That is less than 3 months from now and double-shot by probably mid-Aug per NY Times dashboard. US may be ahead of spain/EU on this one, though there are still quite a few uncertainties and I don't know if I would put my money on COVID openings/etc but just in case.
What if you got EU or US citizenship? Does anyone of those make things easier/better for you in the long term?
I would consult with your family since they are likely to help/support you. What do they feel most comfortable with? You are likely to see setbacks in either business schools. Interviews that bombed, offers pulled, etc. Everything happens and you don't want them tell you that you were wrong to pick one program over the other. I would involve them to some extent but you have to judge how much and absolutely need to brief them on pros and cons. They may not know about the STEM visa in the US vs. 1-year job permit in Europe.
PPS. The only part that matters is what kind of job market you have access to after you graduate. Your electives don't matter, so don't even worry about that. (for many reasons).
