LBS/INSEAD/Booth. Europe or US?

Hi. This is a pretty big decision picking the geographic location. There are huge implications in terms of visa and job markets and culture and school style.

I personally think the US schools provide the best ROI and best opportunities. The best job prospects and access to the biggest job market and economy. Most innovation and best salaries are here.

Here’s the thing, it usually doesn’t make sense to go to school in a particular country or continent only to immediately leave to either go home or to another continent. you get the benefit of a work permit after you graduate, and that is part of the value proposition. I know some people who have gone back to their home countries but mostly because they could not find a job that they liked or wanted or got a really good offer back home but those case is a pretty rare and I would expect that, after living somewhere for a few years, you would end up working there for a few more years and by the time you’ve been there for four or five years and while it’s not home, it’s where your network is, and where all your friends are. It becomes difficult to leave and break away from everything that you’ve known and kind of sort of almost go back to pre-business school environment. I want to people feel like it’s a step back. So, even mentally it feels like losing or going backwards. This is one of the reasons people don’t come back as much to their home countries. It’s not that they don’t like their home countries, it’s just they have a new life in a new place.

So I would highly recommend that you spend time figuring out the country location you would like to be in. I know you were just starting out, but I have seen people in the same situation who have already been admitted to a variety of business schools and they were saying that they don’t care where to go to school. to me that sounds insane. It sounds like they have not done due diligence and they have not done the research and they’re almost too lazy to do it. 😱

And the crazy thing is that it’s actually not that hard. You just go through some employment reports to get a sense. Ideally, I would highly recommend speaking to some of the current students and building a mini Netwerk of current students. Keep in mind that current students are very busy and Will not be able to give you hours of their time but you may be able to catch them for 15 minutes and maybe they’ll give you another 15 minutes if your questions were good. I would do as much research beforehand as you can so your questions are smart. I would ask the students why they chose that country and that particular school. Keep in mind that life is unpredictable, and while you may like London, Perez, and Chicago, you may not be able to get into these particular schools. There are a lot of variables and things are unpredictable so you need to have some safety options , and you need to be committed. Otherwise, if someone is not committed, and they don’t care where to go to school, they will usually end up going to the easiest path of least resistance. Nothing wrong with that, but seems if you’re going to go through the hassle and work, might as well research the destination

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US universities are famous in all subject matters, not just business, boasting campus enrollment numbers in the tens of thousands. Harvard alone offers over 3700 courses. US MBA programs are typically 2 years long and the cohort comprises 60%-70% domestic students.

On the other hand, European and UK universities teach mainly Business studies, and nothing else, with 90% of international students in the class. The programs are usually 1-1.5 years long, thus, the return on investment is higher and quicker than in most US programs.

INSEAD for example is ranked no. 1 in FT Global MBA Ranking 2021. INSEAD MBA is a 10-month long program with two intakes – January and September. The school has two campuses for its full-time studies: Fontainebleau and Singapore. Most of the students learn on both the campuses and the school is a global brand. While the course does not have any specialization, it has a large number of electives.

London Business School (LBS) which is 2nd ranked in the FT Global MBA Ranking 2021 has only one intake of September and as the name suggests is based out of London. The students have an option to choose not only which electives they would like to study, but also the length of the program which varies between 15, 18, or 21 months. LBS offers a large number of electives and concentrations- change management, entrepreneurial management, finance, marketing, etc.

For more info on deciding between US/Europe MBA programs read this article and watch this video: