The M7 is dead, long live the E7!

Question

Hi everyone!

I figured I would share a little breakdown of the Top European MBA programs in relation to their US counterparts.

It goes without saying that the M7 are still king, I just used a little Artistic license with the title.

From here on out, the following schools shall be referred to as the   E7 !

INSEAD/LBS:

These are options 1A/1B outside of the US and especially in Europe, usually comes down to 1 yr vs 2 yr or geographical preference.

IMD

Top tier MBA program that always secures very lucrative compensation packages (dominates Forbes ranking, among others). Typically seen as a cut below INSEAD/LBS, but can surprise people.

HEC Paris

Can go toe-to-toe with any school on the list. Places well across multiple industries.

Oxbridge (Judge/Saïd)

Exuding prestige, these schools parent institutions need no introduction. While Judge gets the edge in this direct comparison, both MBA’s are cut from the same cloth.

IESE

Deceptively sneaky feeder to many industries, arguably the best school to place in certain localities.

Naturally you have plenty of other european schools that do very well like IE, SDA, ESADE, Mannheim, etc. Very much like the M7 have Tuck, Yale, Haas, etc.

The E7 however are a cut above the rest in Europe and shall henceforth be given the respect they deserve.

The M7 is dead, long live the E7!

Pakman33 · Answer

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Arro44 · Answer

I like your comparison and I think the list for the top European schools is pretty comprehensive.

However, I´d say HEC,IESE and to some degree IMD have the problem that they are not very well known outside of Europe.
While this a generally a problem for European schools outside of Oxbridge, it is elevated for the schools mentioned above.

And as someone who hat the choice between an M7 and its E7 counterpart,

The M7 is dead, long live the M7!

Businessconquerer · Answer

What about ESADE, IE?
I have heard good things about those

Great comparison overall
I believe, that the EU B-schools have started getting increased attention now a days
Just one small Quirk, I'd place INSEAD in ranks of Kellogg and Wharton, for obvious reasons

souvik101990 · Answer

Great post! I am not sure about the references for each school. I think the top schools in this list - for example - INSEAD is a better reference for Kellogg and Booth. INSEAD has a laser focus on consulting recruiting. Similarly, a lot of EU schools place incredibly well in general management stuff rather than IB/PE shops.

Pakman33 · Answer

Thanks for liking the post

My idea for the references was more to compare the tiers within the M7 & E7 respectively and not so much the placement or program strengths. HBS/GSB are widely regarded as a cut above the rest of the M7, in the same way that INSEAD/LBS are a cut above the rest of the E7. Wharton makes up the HSW-tier, kind of like IMD competes with INSEAD/LBS. HEC has been on a tear lately, similar to Booth. Saïd/Judge have the brand recognition of Oxbridge, like Sloan has with MIT. IESE places very well in Spain/Latin America & Consulting, like CBS in NYC & Kellogg in Consulting.

Pakman33 · Answer

I was inspired by your decision to make this post

E7 = European 7 They are more regionally focused, but very much in the same way that schools outside of HSW, MIT, Yale, Berkley, etc and some other big brands are unknown outside the US.

Arro44 · Answer

Very fair point.

I think some US schools that are significantly affected by that are the likes of University of Virginia, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania. (for Chicago & Penn their b-school might be more well known outside the US than their respective university in general is)

I am aware that Booth & Wharton are household names in the b-school world and that Darden is a very strong school too.
However, even though UC breeds lots of Nobel laureates and UPenn is an Ivy League school, their "University of ...." name sounds a little run of the mill in Europe.

Outside of people who are into academics or work fields with a lot of b-schools applicants, many people in Germany would not be able to differentiate between U of Chicago & U of Northern Iowa/ U of Central Nebraska.

Kind regards,
Chris

The M7 is dead, long live the E7!

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