INSEAD vs OXFORD SAID vs CAMBRIDGE JUDGE (INTERNATIONAL APPLICANT)

Hi there,

Happy to chime in here because I was in nearly the exact same position as you about 2 years ago. The only difference was that I got offers to all the schools you mentioned (INSEAD, Oxford and Cambridge) as an international applicant and received scholarships for all three in round 1.

The points that you have raised there are all valid and should be considered. In the end it's all a very very personal choice and depends on what you want to get out of the MBA in the end. You decision will be and should be heavily impacted by
- Your post MBA career goal
- Your post MBA location
- The Alumni you wish to connect with

With regards to your point

1. Brand recognition - correct. INSEAD is very well known among the MBA/ business community but I would argue that outside of that circle, Oxford and Cambridge will carry a better name. Depends on where in the world you work afterwards an Oxford / Cambridge masters could carry more weight than INSEAD.

2. You deposit - That is a large sum, but definitely take BB's advice and ask for a scholarship. It's very much doable if you structure the email well and ask in an appropriate manner. I was able to negotiate an extra £10k scholarship on one of my offers.

3. INSEAD has better careers and alumni pool - Agreed. INSEAD just has the sheer strength in numbers of Alumni so it would serve you well in the future. What a lot of applicants miss however, is that that exposure Cambridge and Oxford opens you up to Alumni in the broader university and not just the MBA. For the careers service, it depends on what you want to get into afterwards and where. If you want to get into consulting pick INSEAD, if you are not sure and willing to open yourself up to new ideas and new fields then all 3 schools are quite similar.

4. Work VISA - Great that you mentioned this because this is a very important point. If you want to work in the UK then Oxford and Cambridge is a good bet because of this new 2 year Visa situation (which my cohort missed out on). It makes a massive difference with UK work opportunities if your employer doesn't need to sponsor you for 2 years. I'm not sure of the situation in France or Singapore (depending which campus you pick for INSEAD) but the 2 year VISA is a big plus if you wish to stay in the UK.

I picked Cambridge over INSEAD in the end because
1. Financial - Cambridge gave me the most generous scholarship (The delta in £ between INSEAD and Cambridge was substantial)
2. Cambridge had a further reaching brand name
3. I knew I had to fight for a job either way so I didn't see INSEAD giving me the extra boost that I needed in terms of recruitment.

With those points said, it's a very personal point and your gut would be the best indicator of which choice to make to minimise your regret. £8K deposit is a large sum of money but to put it in perspective, it's 2 months of your working salary after you finish your MBA. Consider the type of friends you wish to have in the future, where you want to work and who you like to spend time with as the school will impact a lot of these factors.

I hope that helps but feel free to DM me if you have further questions

-D

Thanks bb!

First of all, congrats on your admits! Great to have good options.

MBA quality & brand: INSEAD is a tier above Said & Judge in terms of MBA program, caliber of class, etc. You will see that it is stronger on virtually any metric you can find, so won't elaborate much there.

While it is true that Oxbridge have a stronger parent brand, I believe that the MBA/Uni brand will become valuable for max 2 jobs after graduation, so I would go for INSEAD, as recruiters are aware of the differences between the programs, as opposed to a person in a pub.

Visa: Strong advantage for Oxbridge if you want to stay in the UK. INSEAD is a better option for big tech, MBB, IB, etc. (they all sponsor), but Oxbridge will allow you to apply to smaller companies if you are not interested in/can't get those jobs.

I think that the same advice would apply to EU/Asia/MEA/US. From what I'm reading you won't have a visa for these regions either, so I would pick INSEAD for bigger brands (that are the most likely to sponsor btw), and Oxbridge if you want to try your luck with smaller companies.

Deposit: In the long run it's a bit insignificant, but of course that asking for money is always good practice. Speak to adcoms and let them know of your situation, and maybe (haven't heard about this before but I presume it's possible), they could encourage you to apply to a specific scholarship that they'll be watching.

Best of luck!

You put down a very large deposit for Said. However, INSEAD is arguably the #1 B-School outside of the United States. Although Oxford may have a larger brand as a parent university, I tend to base decisions off of the individual B-School instead of the parent university. Congratulations on your admits and good luck!

just go with the school you already paid the deposit at
outcomes won't be that different

I love their approach 😂 The issue with this approach is that regardless of the school a person picks, they will inevitably hit some challenges and snags because nothing is perfect. People are even frustrated and disappointed with Harvard. So the key here is not to have regrets.... And that requires coming to terms and making peace with your decision. If you just pick one without putting the thought into it, you are a lot more likely to have regrets at the end.

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Hi,

It would help if you can at least state what your goal is post MBA. Without knowing that, all this talk might sound kinda pointless.

To put it simply:

1) if you are definitely going into consulting or targeting MBB, then INSEAD all the way.
2) if you aren't sure and want to explore more with better overall brand, Oxford or Cambridge. INSEAD will NEVER be well known outside of MBA circles.
3) Oxford and Cambridge are pretty identical; I always tell them to go to school that offers more money.
4) You always wanted to go to Oxford, so you already put down your deposit. If that's the case, then go to Oxford.

Good luck.