CEIBS 2012 - Calling All MBA Applicants

submitted yesterday! Hoping for the best

Good luck!!!

Hi Guys,

I gave the interview and have my fingers crossed....Is there any one else who has already given the interview??

Applied R1. Got interview. Had it 2 weeks ago. No word yet, was told by 12/20. Re-applicant after ding last year R2.

What is req GMAT score for Ceibs for a person having 4 yrs work ex.

Avenkatesh, there is no minimum GMAT score to apply, but the average for 2011 admissions was 692. The admissions dep't tends to look at the whole picture though with the GMAT being only one component of a candidate's application.

Best of luck to all~

interviewed 2 weeks back as well, hoping for the best for next week!

Great news!

CEIBS MBA Programme has been ranked #1 in China in Bloomberg Businessweek China’s rankings for 2011/2012, retaining the top spot held since the last survey in 2007. The ranking solidifies CEIBS MBA Programme’s #1 position in the last 3 consecutive Businessweek China surveys.

Find out more here: https://www.ceibs.edu/media/archive/101236.shtml

Got my admit notice, always exciting! Hope to make it work - CEIBS was my first choice.

GMATMonkey,

Good for you. I remember you from last year. I was dinged by CEIBS last year after being placed on the waitlist. I did my best to get off the waitlist but CEIBS ended up accepting others who didn't even bother to attend the school. I gave up on CEIBS because I determined that it:

1) is overpriced (about 40% more than comparable mainland programs)

2) lacks the resources and broader academic milieu of a b-school located at a major university

3) is not authentically Chinese (As I like to say: CEIBS is about as "authenticly Chinese as a Chinese fortune cookie is"). CEIBS has two pressing issues it needs to address in the medium-term...1) is it a European or a Chinese school? Who really runs the show there? Identity crisis looming! Furthermore, with the collapse of Europe - and it is going to get uglier and worse off for the EU - 2) how much longer can CEIBS afford to keep the "E" in CEIBS? I anticipate that a re-branding will be necessary...the school's abbreviation already has too many letters as it is!

4) is quite pretentious about its international reach...the school is hardly the best business school in China and is not known outside of urban business circles. Plus, no one in Europe has ever heard of the school. And the school's reach and notoriety barely extends beyond China's shores (except at overseas MBA fairs, of course)

5) has an unclear vision and strategic outlook - CEIBS is attempting to do two things that are largely incompatible - 1) become and sustain itseflt as China's premier b-school while also becoming a prominent global business school, a la INSEAD, IMD, etc. In my opinion, the school is attempting to grow too fast in two diametrically opposed directions and is sacrificing its legitimacy as an authentically China-centric school by accepting so many foreigners who have no real interest in working in China or mastering the Chinese language for this purpose. As such, it is actually devaluing itself and the one major strength it has going for it - its location in the world's next economic behemoth. This is such a terrible thing to squander by attempting to play the "glocal" game, especially when according to China Manager, a wholly domestic rating, CEIBS is only still tied w/ Tsinghua SEM for 1st place.

In fact, CEIBS has to spend a tremendous amount of funding just to compete w/ more established schools like Qinghua and BeiDa that have b-schools. Qinghua still receives far more applications from domestic applicants because Qinghua is more famous, cheaper, and more recognizable. It is hard for CEIBS to be fully recognized when it is so new in comparison to these much older and more established schools. I do give its PR department credit for all its efforts and for running so many info. sessions throughout China just to get its name established...but CEIBS is far from the #1 choice in the minds of the majority of domestic applicants. I would venture that more domestic applicants still prefer the established names or foreign schools over CEIBS. And of course, despite what CEIBS may now be stating in its promotional materials, the best Chinese students still prefer to go overseas! Okay, back to the list...

6) lacks any dual degree options for those students wishing to establish a greater global or pan-Asian knowledge and contact base. Except for the usual hum-drum exchange options, it lacks the dual-degree programs that add an extra bonus to most other Asian MBA programs. Granted, one has to hand it to CEIBS for going it alone...but I think there would be much more value for students in a dual degree program.

7) This is not really an MBA issue...but CEIBS' EMBA program - the largest in China (and I believe the world) is nothing but a friggin' diploma mill, pumping out a tremendous amount of mediocre middle and senior management graduates. To its credit, the MBA program, in turn, does receive the quality teaching and pedagogical resources necessary to develop this crucial flagship program.

As an aside, I met w/ a CEIBS rep who interviewed me last year at an MBA fair this year and was told that I was a great candidate and that I should apply. Ironically, when I mentioned that I HAD ALREADY applied and was rejected (and even interviewed by the person I was speaking to), the rep squeamishly looked at me with a puzzled look and said their office would research the matter. But I never touched base with them to follow-up.

GMATMonkey, did you participate in the evaluation session for rejected applicants this summer?

I didn't because I knew the decision was complete B.S. and didn't want to hear them justify it. That's what I told the rep I spoke to at this year's MBA fair. The rep was very nice about wanting to research the matter further. But I think I'll just wait to be accepted by some of China and Asia's other leading b-schools that I've applied to this year (and been interviewed by) before I then contact the hacks who work in CEIBS' Admissions Office to ask them exactly WTF happened last year with my application.

GMATMonaky, by the way, did you apply to any other schools in Asia this year? If so, are you considering those schools as well?

After being rejected during CEIBS' last admissions cycle, I did some further research and discovered that there were much better Asian MBA options for me that I had not fully considered and have pursued those this year. Every single one of them is much cheaper than CEIBS' ridiculously high tuition fees!

GMATMonkey, I do commend you for putting up with the CEIBS process once more. I hope its Admissions staff was able to give you some legitimate feedback that helped you improve the application for this year. While I found CEIBS' admissions decision-making to be rather insufferable and abhorent, I have met some of the people and found them quite pleasant. It is too bad that they rejected me last year because they lost a motivated and very competent student and potential future alumnus. But nonetheless, stupidiy is not a crime and CEIBS has to deal with its own mistakes, particularly accepting applicants who aren't fully commited to China, especially in the case of accepting applicants who never even matriculated although I made it very clear while on the waitlist that I would have matriculated if accepted. Anyway, it is for the best.

Good luck to all!!!

As usual, feel free to rage back at me in terms of the list and other ideas I've drafted above.

got my admit and the CEIBS merit scholarship...

waiting for other schools.

xuexoa - do you post on pagalguy.com. I have found a similar post about CEIBS from someone on the forum. Just wondering if you are the same person

aviroop,

Yes, I am the man. My writing style should be easy to spot, especially on that Desi board. Congrats on your application. CEIBS is a good school. Don't get me wrong...but if one has sufficient interest and language skills, then one will likely land a decent US$ 30-35,000 USD job in Shanghai upon graduation from CEIBS. If one is lucky and/or has specialized experience or skills, the salary figure will be higher, but likely no higher than US$ 50-50,000.

From an ROI perspective - and don't get me wrong, ROI should NOT be the only factor one uses to decide upon whether to attend a b-school or not - one could find a similar-paying, similar-responsibility job upon graduation from a program like FuDan, BeiDa, or TsingHua...yet these programs only cost about US$ 28-32,000 to attend! CEIBS' tuition is approximately US$ 50,000 and I just don't see where the extra value arises from paying a premium tuition rate to find a similar-type job in China, especially considering that CEIBS' reputation is still not fully cemented in comparison to the automatic name recognition that arises from these more established universities, particularly in comparison to Shanghai's FuDan or JiaoTong universities that are very renown.

Of course, my above example assumes that one wants to 1) actually work in China, 2) has the requisite language capabilities or is willing to work steadfastly to develop them, and 3) is willing to accept a relatively lower salary in absolute US$ (or other hard currency) terms for the chance to build a career in China and slog it out, competing in China with other "HaiGui" returnees as well as overseas-born Chinese, and also the massive domestic managerial class.

If one is a foreigner, particularly a South Asian applicant, who is not willing to do so, then a dual degree from NUS-HEC or an NUS-PKU or an SNU-Fuqua or an SP Jain or ISB degree or TsingHUA-HEC are much better options, in my honest and humble opinion. CEIBS doesn't offer any dual degrees so one is basically left with only the Shanghai market at one's disposal and the rest of the mainland and HK market as secondary prospects.

Few people in Singapore, much less in Bangaluru or Taipei know of CEIBS, while Nanyang, NUS, Waseda, HKUST, UHK, etc...maybe even CUHK, tend to open more doors overseas...yet these schools don't pretentious have "international" in the name. Of course, CEIBS does have an African campus so it is international in an operational - albeit not in a recruiting - sense, at least not yet. And of course, it costs a lot more to attend that the others, except for HKUST.

If salary considerations are important, then HKUST, NUS, etc. are all better for finding jobs in their respective higher-salary markets as well as in other Asian markets with lower salaries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, etc.)..,plus, NUS' tuition is only US$ 32,000 and there is no application fee. These schools have a wider reach, even across Asia, does when it comes to placements and recognition. If memory serves me correctly, Nanyang's tuition is even less than CEIBS'...research these issues yourselves to see what I mean.

For further reference and cost comparisons, one can read my posts on CEIBS' negative points in last year's CEIBS threads on both GMATClub and Pagalguy.

If I were a South Asian or other foreigner and not fully "all in" on spending the rest of my life in China, then I'd think twice before applying to CEIBS. For Asia-Pacific based careers, I still think that other programs, particularly dual degree ones, offer better options. For those wishing to go from Asia to Europe or North America or the Middle East, my question to them is: why CEIBS?

3 QUESTIONS:

1) What kind of feedback does CEIBS actually provide to rejected applicants during the 3-day application feedback window? I'd really appreciate some insight on the matter from those who have participated in such a session,

2) CEIBS does have a partnership with Shanghai JiaoTong University. How does this partnership, if at all, benefit students? Are mixers and other interactions held with JiaoTong's Antai School of Business, which is quite reputed? Do CEIBS students get to take advantage of JiaoTong's learning and athletic resources? Does this partnership provide access to JiaoTong's strong technical and engineering programs for those interested in such matters? I know these points sound rhetorical but I am truly curious about this matter becuase I've never found any information about how this link between the two schools has actually been actuated to directly benefit students. Maybe administrators and professors benefit from it directly and then flow the synergies to students through better lectures and classroom activities, but I'm sure interested to know.

3) How is CEIBS' Phase III construction going? Will the 2012 entrants benefit from the completed facilities before they graduate?

Thoughts? Comments? Cheers!

Hi All,

I am a non-Chinese applicant, and obviously cant speak one word of Mandarin. Got some questions for a few current students or anybody who thinks can answer my q's.

These questions may probably be redundant, but would appreciate help.

First off, I read a lot that CEIBS is China centric school and most of the opportunities are in China only. Ofcourse most of the B schools offer placements in their country primarily, but in general, how are the opportunities for CEIBS students, outside China.

Second, How easy/ difficult is it for non-Chinese students, who speak basic Mandarin ( the level of expertise I would attain after going thru the pre-course Mandarin classes) to land a job in the CEIBS placement programs in China itself.

I am looking at Consulting. I was in IT industry, so i am targetting the likes of consulting companies in IT but also inclined to management consulting(if ofcourse the companies are ok with recruiting people who have no prior exp in management consulting.)

Ofcourse my friend xuexoa has posted some valuable info, but just wanted to know the details in terms of numbers and statistics on how are the prospects.

Thanks for all your help!!!

Got the admit email... but no scholarship info yet....

Everyone, please update your Schools in the profile to include the CEIBS status!

xuexoa

have you visited the school, talked to current students or alumni to come up with your opinions about the school?

Interested to know more about your research - glad to discuss this over pm.

Hi guys,

Congratulations to all those who got admitted....

I was just wondering that while studying at CEIBS are there any opportunities for students to work and cover living expenses somehow?