Calling all IESE Applicants (2015 Intake)

I am in for round 1. Let's hope this one gets a bit busier than last year's.

Good Luck to both of you!!

I would advise to start with giving short introduction to fellow applicants. People will motivate to join us in the discussion.

From from the UK, 4 years work experience and post MBA goals are Banking, Consulting or the Energy sector - not really made up my mind yet. Pretty much open to all options at the moment.

Number of reason for attending IESE - Study outside the UK, learn a new language, a 2 year program and long term goals to stay in Europe/UK. (and of course the weather)

Attended an Open Day a couple of months back and impressed with the how easy it was to speak with current students and an alum. Admissions team were friendly and it has been easy to contact admissions/students via email. Pretty well organised and the case method of teaching was interesting.

The first application essay is a bit annoying where you have to tweet your answer (I don't even have a twitter account!! What is a #???? ) Got there at the end with some help and a number of revisions

Anyone else willing to share

I will have just over 3 years of work experience in real estate finance by the time the course starts. I am of German nationality and I am currently based in Hamburg. I first got in touch with IESE through the “Feedback on your profile” service, which allows you to send your CV and have it checked by the adcom.

They got in touch with me 2 weeks after sending my CV in and organized an informational interview for me outside an MBA fair in Hamburg. I was amazed by the kindness of the staff. Afterwards I decided to visit the campus around mid-March this year. The adcom organized a whole “open day” just for me. I sat in two classes, talked to current students and was shown around the beautiful campus. Everyone I talked to – current students as well as a number of alumni – was incredibly helpful.

The reasons for choosing IESE are quite similar to NeverGivingUp’s. One of the major reasons is that I would like to switch careers and make a move into consulting. The two year program will be preferable here as it allows me to intern with a company halfway. Also, I come from a rather “untraditional” undergrad background having studied architecture and I am sure a 19 months program will do me better.

Essay-wise I am almost finished, and I am already looking forward to sending my application and to hopefully getting some good news before Christmas!

FROM IESE MBA Director's Blog: New Financial Times Ranking for the full-time MBA

Today the Financial Times has published its annual ranking of full-time MBA programs. Our program is ranked 7th in the world, the same as last year. I am happy to see that IESE’s MBA has consolidated its top-ten status in the world with four consecutive top-ten placements since 2011. The FT ranking surveys the class of 2010 with respect to several dimensions that measure the salary evolution of the graduates and the impact the MBA had on their careers. In this context, I am glad to see that our graduates are extremely happy with the career progress they have been able to make thanks to the MBA (5th rank worldwide) and that they have achieved their aims with respect to the program (4th rank worldwide). This latter criterion seems particularly important to me as it measures in how far our alumni have achieved the goals they set themselves before doing the MBA and thus constitutes an authentic measure of satisfaction with the program. Among the top-ten MBA programs, the salary levels the classes of 2010 report are lower than the salaries from the year before them. For example, Harvard’s weighted salary is 4.8% below last year’s; Stanford’s is 5.2% lower and IESE’s is 2.0% below last year’s. This reflects the clearly difficult economic environment the class of 2010 has lived through – worldwide – since its graduation. Still, besides the growth in leadership skills etc., an MBA in a top-ten school makes economic sense: Increases in salaries from before the MBA to three years after the MBA are more than 100% (125% in the case of IESE). Let me insist that a ranking only gives a snapshot of an MBA program and is an incomplete account of its characteristics and qualities. The time our students spend on campus with classmates, faculty and staff, and the transformation the program brings are difficult to capture in a few numbers. I am grateful for the positive feedback from our alumni; it reinforces our commitment to develop this world class MBA program in line with the mission of IESE. Tomorrow, in the same way as last year, I will share my thoughts on the results of the ranking with our current students.

FROM IESE MBA Director's Blog: A Great Preview of the MBA: Open Days

Prof. Alejandro Lago leads a case study session during an Open Day Choosing a new car is comparatively easy. You see cars in the streets that you may like, you read some information on the web that compares different models along criteria that matter for you and before making a choice you can test drive the car. You know what you will get and how it will work for you. It’s not so easy with an MBA. When you are thinking about doing an MBA, you can read about the programs, consult information on the web, rankings etc. You can ask people you know who have attended the school. Still, you may not have friends from all the schools you are interested in,  and you don’t know how the experience will be for you in many MBA programs. Certainly you should go and visit the school you are interested in; meet with students, faculty administrators and “breathe” the atmosphere of the place and the people. All this comes to my mind as we have just organized this week Open Days in Barcelona and New York. (Pictures are here). They are meant to solve the problem described above and give you the possibility to know as best as you can what the IESE MBA is about. The format of the day is very simple: - Presentation of the program by an admissions officer, followed by a - Detailed explanation of the Career Services activities, and the companies that come to recruit on campus - A case study, conducted by a faculty member. This allows you to test for yourself the actual classroom experience in the program. - Panel Discussion with alumni on how the program shaped their lives and careers. - Panel Discussion with current students. We conduct Open Days in Barcelona, New York and Madrid – the schedule can be found here.

Hiya, you should find the essays around sections 10-15 of the application, I've submitted my application so I cant go back to find the exact section. The essay questions were:

IESE Essay 1: "Tweet" your post MBA goals (280 characters)
IESE Essay 2: Describe a recent professional situation (1-2 years ago maximum) that demonstrates your fit with IESE's mission and values (300 words)
IESE Essay 3: I wish that the application had asked me... (200 word limit)
IESE Scholarship Essay How do you plan to finance your MBA and why do you think you deserve a scholarship? (200 word limit)

Hope this helps

Submitted my application Sunday night. Very excited to hear back. Does anyone know how long it will roughly take to get feedback regarding a potential interview invite?

In for R1- constantly clicking refresh on my outlook account.

BACKGROUND:
28 yr old Brit, but have been living in Japan for the past 4-5 years (excluding an additional year in Japan as an uni exchange student)

WORK:
Working in international shipping/logistics with a specialty in power plant construction projects (4 yrs) + 8 mos at matriculation
Experience in banking in a administrative/office clerk function (2-3 yrs pre-Bachelor)

Reasons for IESE:
Brand power in Europe - looking for a good transition back to Europe.
Strong in management consulting (post-MBA job aspiration).
19 months to develop management knowledge (I presently have no significant academic mgmt. experience)
Extra language potential
Really diverse studentship!

Fingers crossed!

Hey,

I've not heard anything back yet. The assessment date in Barcelona is the 17th of November so I'm hoping we hear something by the next 2 weeks. Best of luck with your application.

Has anyone heard back from IESE by any chance?

Got the TAP login details yesterday evening, but nothing with relation to interview invites etc.

submitted mine for round 1. I'll post if I hear anything.

Hi Everyone,

I submitted right at the deadline, and I received an interview invite on October 15! Just sharing so that everyone will know.

Still have not heard back. Does anyone know whether IESE sends all invites out in one go?

I submitted my application way back in September and haven't received anything yet. Considering imagineserpents submitted his/her application on deadline day and has received an interview it doesn't look too positive for me. Can't imagine how all invites have been sent out a week after the deadline.