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Defixon
Joined: 29 Mar 2020
Last visit: 02 Jul 2023
Posts: 13
Given Kudos: 2
Location: Canada
Schools: IESE'23 (A$) Cambridge '22 (A$) IMD '22 (A$)
Hey everyone,
I could really use some expert help choosing between these 3 full-time programs. I'm seriously torn.
Me - International applicant, M. Sc. in sciences, 5.5 years as a manager in a multinational consumer goods company in a digital role. Hold UK + EU passports.
Goals - Join a startup or become an entrepreneur, interested in tech, biotech or industry. Would possibly explore consulting as plan B. Targeting to stay in Europe for the short-medium term with possibility to move to NA later. No preference on country.
I've been offered a small bursary by Cambridge, medium scholarship by IESE and IMD. They are least to most expensive overall in that order.
IMD pro's
- Best overall application experience, very personal and helpful
- Best for ROI according to Forbes
- Best for personal development due to individual attention with coaches, mentors, psychoanalysts etc. all part of program
- Was most impressed with their curriculum and sample lectures
- Beautiful city in the Alps is a great place to spend a year
IMD cons
- Smallest class limits networking and recruiters (assumption)
- Most expensive
- Name recognition outside Switzerland is weak (assumption)
- Lowest ranked on entrepreneurship
Cambridge pro's
- Strong brand name in non-core MBA fields
- College system adds another dimension to experience and networking
- Connections to Silicon Fen companies and accelerators
- Emphasis on entrepreneurship
Cambridge cons
- Lowest of 3 in various rankings
- More academic VS. practical compared to the others
- Lowest of 3 in student satisfaction and career services (surveys)
- Least personalized experience during application
IESE pro's
- Highest in FT and Economist rankings
- Most satisfied students according to surveys and my own interpretation from talking to alums
- Bigger class has more opportunity to network
- Improving entrepreneurial focus
- Living in Barcelona would be amazing
IESE cons
- Longer 15/19 month program reduces ROI
- Concerns about Spanish economy after Covid
- I don't speak Spanish
- Less selective with applicants (my assumption)
Appreciate any help or advice!
Posted from my mobile device
I could really use some expert help choosing between these 3 full-time programs. I'm seriously torn.
Me - International applicant, M. Sc. in sciences, 5.5 years as a manager in a multinational consumer goods company in a digital role. Hold UK + EU passports.
Goals - Join a startup or become an entrepreneur, interested in tech, biotech or industry. Would possibly explore consulting as plan B. Targeting to stay in Europe for the short-medium term with possibility to move to NA later. No preference on country.
I've been offered a small bursary by Cambridge, medium scholarship by IESE and IMD. They are least to most expensive overall in that order.
IMD pro's
- Best overall application experience, very personal and helpful
- Best for ROI according to Forbes
- Best for personal development due to individual attention with coaches, mentors, psychoanalysts etc. all part of program
- Was most impressed with their curriculum and sample lectures
- Beautiful city in the Alps is a great place to spend a year
IMD cons
- Smallest class limits networking and recruiters (assumption)
- Most expensive
- Name recognition outside Switzerland is weak (assumption)
- Lowest ranked on entrepreneurship
Cambridge pro's
- Strong brand name in non-core MBA fields
- College system adds another dimension to experience and networking
- Connections to Silicon Fen companies and accelerators
- Emphasis on entrepreneurship
Cambridge cons
- Lowest of 3 in various rankings
- More academic VS. practical compared to the others
- Lowest of 3 in student satisfaction and career services (surveys)
- Least personalized experience during application
IESE pro's
- Highest in FT and Economist rankings
- Most satisfied students according to surveys and my own interpretation from talking to alums
- Bigger class has more opportunity to network
- Improving entrepreneurial focus
- Living in Barcelona would be amazing
IESE cons
- Longer 15/19 month program reduces ROI
- Concerns about Spanish economy after Covid
- I don't speak Spanish
- Less selective with applicants (my assumption)
Appreciate any help or advice!
Posted from my mobile device
21 Mar 2021, 09:59
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congratulations on your admits. Fantastic job!
It is always a little tricky with MBA when your goal is entrepreneurship or startups. Traditionally start ups don’t have the luxury or the benefits of paying for a business school degree. (Unless we are talking about companies like Uber snd Airbnb that have thousands of employees, millions if you count the drivers... I consider these tech, not startups). Traditional startups also often have a much shorter time horizon and are looking to hire experienced professionals that are able to affect change immediately and can bring strong track record with them. Sometimes that means it’s a business school graduate but often it’s not. Also, if you’re starting your own business, going to business school can help in the sense that you can nurture your idea and work on it while you’re at school. You can also recruit classmates and join various business plan competitions and get connected with venture capitalists and people who could mentor you along the way. Getting a mentor is super important. At the same time you are digging yourself deeper into debt and it is challenging to be the start up mode when you potentially not making any money and having rent and a loan payments due. The traditional entrepreneurship books recommend starting your own business while you’re still employed for that particular reason. To minimize risk, they recommend it starting a new venture well you have a job and a paycheck and if it doesn’t work out, then your loss is only your time. I have known a few people who went on to start the round ventures out of business school. Not because they couldn’t find a job but because they wanted to. There are always folks who start a business because nobody will hire them
. Anyway, they all took slightly different paths. Some of them did nothing with their school network well some of them teamed up with their classmates. Some of them participated in business fun competitions and one while others did not. Are usually the biggest help and assistance you can receive his financial. The biggest question is how can your business degree help you land funding. That is often the difference between a successful start up and the failed one....
Anyway, on to school choices... IMD has traditionally been almost like an executive MBA program so it’s no wonder that you liked and appreciated their approach the most. That’s like flying business class versus economy 😉 they to have more experienced candidates and have a smaller class size with a tight on network. Their application process has traditionally been most grueling with seven essays. I’m not sure if they have simplified it since. They tend to focus on mid to upper management groups. You get the benefit of a more senior network. Much smaller one though. I don’t know how their selectivity is. Did you get a sense from them alums about the responsiveness of the alums?
At the same time, I’m not sure that IMD is the best school for entrepreneurship between a high cost that would require sinking money in and the more traditional corporate network, it seems a great choice for somebody to try to break into a multinational corporation rather than a start up.
While I think IMD There’s a fantastic school. I really do. In your case I think it’s probably better to focus on either Cambridge or IESE. And the choice is pretty straightforward. I would consider your options based on the program links and whether you feel you need the internship in the summer as the primary choice.
I could see both Cambridge and IESE working out fairly well. There’s a pretty strong tech and mobile start up activity in Barcelona. It is also pretty cosmopolitan but you probably will need to learn Spanish sooner or later. At the same time, I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker since it is pretty cosmopolitan.
At the same time, I would be careful about the program that is not very selective of its students. Less selectivity means less unity within The Alumni community. If anyone can get in, that means there’s nothing special about being a part of this group and that takes a toll on the alum response rate. I’d research that a bit more perhaps.
PS. I would consider a fourth option which is not going to business school. Entrepreneurship and start ups are not very traditional business school recruiting paths. Thus when you graduate from one of these three programs, you need to have some thing that’ll make you attractive to start up. The biggest Driver of your value proposition will need to come from your work experience. That will be scrutinized a lot more than your degree or grades.... and if you already have a strong background, perhaps makes sense to try recruit without waiting for 18 months? Just saying. Not trying to throw your plans off but you do have more than three options.
Posted from my mobile device
It is always a little tricky with MBA when your goal is entrepreneurship or startups. Traditionally start ups don’t have the luxury or the benefits of paying for a business school degree. (Unless we are talking about companies like Uber snd Airbnb that have thousands of employees, millions if you count the drivers... I consider these tech, not startups). Traditional startups also often have a much shorter time horizon and are looking to hire experienced professionals that are able to affect change immediately and can bring strong track record with them. Sometimes that means it’s a business school graduate but often it’s not. Also, if you’re starting your own business, going to business school can help in the sense that you can nurture your idea and work on it while you’re at school. You can also recruit classmates and join various business plan competitions and get connected with venture capitalists and people who could mentor you along the way. Getting a mentor is super important. At the same time you are digging yourself deeper into debt and it is challenging to be the start up mode when you potentially not making any money and having rent and a loan payments due. The traditional entrepreneurship books recommend starting your own business while you’re still employed for that particular reason. To minimize risk, they recommend it starting a new venture well you have a job and a paycheck and if it doesn’t work out, then your loss is only your time. I have known a few people who went on to start the round ventures out of business school. Not because they couldn’t find a job but because they wanted to. There are always folks who start a business because nobody will hire them
. Anyway, they all took slightly different paths. Some of them did nothing with their school network well some of them teamed up with their classmates. Some of them participated in business fun competitions and one while others did not. Are usually the biggest help and assistance you can receive his financial. The biggest question is how can your business degree help you land funding. That is often the difference between a successful start up and the failed one.... Anyway, on to school choices... IMD has traditionally been almost like an executive MBA program so it’s no wonder that you liked and appreciated their approach the most. That’s like flying business class versus economy 😉 they to have more experienced candidates and have a smaller class size with a tight on network. Their application process has traditionally been most grueling with seven essays. I’m not sure if they have simplified it since. They tend to focus on mid to upper management groups. You get the benefit of a more senior network. Much smaller one though. I don’t know how their selectivity is. Did you get a sense from them alums about the responsiveness of the alums?
At the same time, I’m not sure that IMD is the best school for entrepreneurship between a high cost that would require sinking money in and the more traditional corporate network, it seems a great choice for somebody to try to break into a multinational corporation rather than a start up.
While I think IMD There’s a fantastic school. I really do. In your case I think it’s probably better to focus on either Cambridge or IESE. And the choice is pretty straightforward. I would consider your options based on the program links and whether you feel you need the internship in the summer as the primary choice.
I could see both Cambridge and IESE working out fairly well. There’s a pretty strong tech and mobile start up activity in Barcelona. It is also pretty cosmopolitan but you probably will need to learn Spanish sooner or later. At the same time, I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker since it is pretty cosmopolitan.
At the same time, I would be careful about the program that is not very selective of its students. Less selectivity means less unity within The Alumni community. If anyone can get in, that means there’s nothing special about being a part of this group and that takes a toll on the alum response rate. I’d research that a bit more perhaps.
PS. I would consider a fourth option which is not going to business school. Entrepreneurship and start ups are not very traditional business school recruiting paths. Thus when you graduate from one of these three programs, you need to have some thing that’ll make you attractive to start up. The biggest Driver of your value proposition will need to come from your work experience. That will be scrutinized a lot more than your degree or grades.... and if you already have a strong background, perhaps makes sense to try recruit without waiting for 18 months? Just saying. Not trying to throw your plans off but you do have more than three options.
Posted from my mobile device
18 Feb 2024, 13:23
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi I know the post is a bit old, I hope you got a decision that was satisfactory. I wanted to know where did you find the surveys you mentioned, mainly regarding the student satisfaction and career services. They would be of great help for my choosing.
