St. Gallen

I completely agree with you here. The website does mention that German classes are available so I will have to take advantage of those. I'm not sure how feasible it is to get a grasp of basic German within a year especially while doing the normal MBA work. Hopefully recruiting companies will be willing to invest in me and send me to intensive learning courses.

Does anyone here know anything about the University of St. Gallen? It seems to be a new full time program but a very well establish University. I wonder how recruiting would be there if you don't speak German. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Hello Casbroker!

HSG St. Gallen (Swiss Federal Institute of St. Gallen) is one of the most respected Universities in Central Europe, maybe comparable to London School of Economics. However, as you mentioned, its MBA programme is quite new and not yet renowned or ranked. Although this MBA programme is quite affordable and strong, it is still lacking its brand name.

Regarding the language I would not worry too much about German, if you wish to work in Switzerland. Switzerland has four different official languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh). Usually English is the official language in corporate companies such as Novartis, UBS, Crédit Suisse.

Cheers

Judging from a finance and consulting perspective, I would say that St. Gallen is definitely recognized as the best university in German speaking Europe (IMD is in the French part of Switzerland). All top I-Banks recruit there, and if you get good grades you will surely find a job in your desired field (keeping in mind that most European offices actually care about your grades, not just the school you went to).

To reassure you: The university hosts the most prestigious career fairs in German speaking Europe - the Investment Banking Days and the Forum HSG.

https://www.investmentbankingdays.com/index.html (who's who of I-Banks)
https://www.forumhsg.ch/index.php?id=29&L=2 (120 companies, everything from McK to UBS)

Both of these are organized by students - the school is big on extracurricular activities. Plus, the Career Services Center is fantastic.

I have absoluetly no clue why HSG's reputation isn't reflected in the rankings of FT et al., but talk to any recruiters in Switzerland, Germany, or Austria, or look at the number of top managers in these countries who are HSG alumni and you'll see that it's an excellent choice (if not your best bet considering your search criteria). Furthermore, the professors are top notch, most of them are the authors of the most widely used German text books in their fields.

P.S. I remember somebody on the BusinessWeek forum posting about his MBA experience at HSG, I'm sure you can ask him any MBA specific questions you might have. One thing is for sure: the University has an excellent reputation. And if you move to Switzerland you'll save taxes and get a higher salary compared to Germany

I just found out that I am in at St. Gallen! They don't give you much time to accept so I'll have to do some serious thinking over the next couple of weeks.

In any case, here's something that might interest you if your primary concern is UBS. Out of my circle of friends at uni

2 got a job with Goldman (1 in London, 1 in Zurich)
2 got a job with Lehman Brothers in London
1 got a job with Credit Suisse First Boston in Zurich
(and granted, 2 got a job with UBS Investment Bank in Zurich)

I guess you can see where I'm going with this - UBS won't be your only option.

Thanks for the info Diplo. Are you an MBA student at St. Gallen?

I am aware that UBS isn't the only show in town at St. Gallen. As far as your friends working in Zurich, what type of jobs do they have with those banks? Are they in Corporate Finance?

I'd like to work in Sales & Trading or Investment Management. I'm aware that S&T is primarily in London, NYC and Tokyo. But, Investment Management jobs can be found the world over.

Diplo, trader

do you have any idea about consulting jobs after St.Gallen MBA , specially technology ? Can they be found around Zurich,geneva areas ? Also any idea about jobs in Germany - Dusseldorf,Frankfurt etc.

Thanks.