St Gallen vs Mannheim

Question

Dear Gmatters,

I have searched the forum about this comparison, however, I could not find any w.r.t Mannheim vs St Gallen.

My background ; 
700 GMAT, 5 years work experience in multinational companies, 3.00/4.00 GPA.

I have got admission from these two schools and I am really confused which one I should accept. I heard that St. Gallen has little more reputation than Mannheim. But the MBA fee is nearly 50% more than Mannheim. I also look forward to learn German but the German in Switzerland is also horrible. My questions are ,

1) Is it worth to pay 50% more to a program and cost of living which is more or less same in the rankings. 
2) Which do you think is better and why ?

Latest rankings 
Mannheim #69 acc. to Financial Times Global Mba 2013 Rankings
St.Gallen #82 acc to Financial Times Global Mba 2013 Rankings

Archit143 · Answer

See manheim is the on;y german school which has AMBA accredition..it is the only german school in the world ranking.. German economy is more bigger than the Swiss. There are lot of opportunity in germany......its hub....I would select manheim over stgallen

Consider Kudos If my post helps!!!

Archit

Consider Kudos If my post helps!!!

Archit

Archit143 · Answer

If your indian ...with Manheim Eurassian focus stream you can select IIM Banglore....thats a huge huge huge name in india and you can cash it later.....

Archit

whathowhatho · Answer

It depends on where do you want to work afterwards and what do you want to do. St. Gallen has a very strong reputation both in Germany and Switzerland - no matter which degree you have from this school:) And they seem to have very nice alumni/students - however I did not have a chance to meet Mannheim alumni.

Please also check the QS Top MBA ranking, for Europe it provides more accurate information on how do employers see your degree. - and it also ranks schools according to specialization - https://www.topmba.com/sites/default/fil ... t-2013.pdf

FifthEmu · Answer

Disclaimer: I did my undergrad in St. Gallen.

As stated before St. Gallen beats Mannheim with regards to reputation in German-speaking Europe (which is practically one job-market) - if you consider the whole institution and quality of academics. And that's probably what the 50% uptick is for.

The real question here is about the MBA degree - it is an American invention and very well accepted in the English-speaking world. But the situation is really different in Germany and Switzerland, where an MBA just doesn't really fit with the traditional educational environment.

I believe therefore it is impossible to say which one is better in general terms. There is no established and accepted "reputation" for the MBA programs. It really depends on what your pre-MBA experience looks like and what your goals are. But it seems that this is not entirely clear...

So: Mannheim is cheaper and you'll find it easier there to learn German - I agree. But frankly, learning German is not a one-year undertaking, especially if you do an intense MBA program. Unless you are an absolutely outstanding (and I mean absolutely outstanding!) language learner and you know that you'll pick it up "on the go" I assure you won't be able to speak decent (i.e. useful for business) German after one year. So it don't think this should be a deciding factor.

In you're case I would really go and visit both schools and check which "vibe" you prefer. The Germans in St. Gallen for example, usually like that its close to alps for skiing etc. but on the other hand it's a small town... you like it or you don't.

If you don't want to visit the schools I would go for Mannheim. 50% higher fee is too much risk for a school that you might actually like less.

Hope this helps a bit.

perfectstranger1 · Answer

Guys thank for advices .I really do believe i ll learn german in 1 year. I have german background. The point is in switzerland there are few big corporations. They do have great banking institutions but I do not want to work in bank. How is the reputation of St Gallen outside the German speaking world esp. Other part of Europe? How is their career service ? Do they find a job or help a lot? On the other hand bloomberg/economist / financial times rankings show mannheim is better. What I do not like about Mannheim is their class size is not big ( few alumni narrow network) and since there is 5 track few germans remained in Mannheim . The fees of these two schools are now equal for me since I have got scholarship from both

Archit143 · Answer

YouKnw St gallen's class size is not too big either...there placement record is appealing and ppl do find job in nearby countries...u must check its brochure..., it will be f gr8 help....
By the can u share ur profile and the gmat score....

Consider kudos if my post helps!!!!!!!!!

Archit

perfectstranger · Answer

5 years ıf work experience in finance in an int. company
700 GMAT (47 Q 40V) 
Nationality Turkish

whathowhatho · Answer

This is a nice problem to have, isn't it? If you are looking outside German-speaking countries, I think Mannheim with its Global, European, German, Transatlantic and Eurasian tracks offers you more chances. As for St. Gallen: As you can see in the placement report https://www.mba.unisg.ch/career-services/recruiters.php only 8% of St. Gallen's graduates were working in Europe outside Switzerland and 13% in Asia. But, probably it was one of the reasons why they chose St.Gallen;) Another very nice feature I've heard of and liked a lot (however could not find it at their site right now) is the possibility to take for free one of St. Gallen's courses every year - very positive for your knowledge and your network. But their class size indeed is very small (40?), so the alumni network of the MBA program will not be big, but the whole St. Gallen's alumni network must be very powerful - especially in German-speaking countries. And as for banking - well, the list of St.Gallen's employees has many other companies https://www.mba.unisg.ch/career-services/recruiters.php and 65% of graduates (s. the placement report) are working in other areas. It seems that we do not really have St. Gallen MBA alumni here in Gmatclub: Have you tried reaching out to alumni via the admission officers? They usually give you contacts very fast, if you describe what you are interested in. P.S. perfectstranger1 and perfectstranger are different people, aren't you? Or am I writing all this for somebody who has already selected a third school and not the two we discuss here;)?

perfectstranger · Answer

Hi again. So you favor St Gallen over Mannheim. Is that right? I see the job opportunities in Switzerland somewhat limited( It may be rich (GDP per capita) but it has small economy when compared to Germany. But the reputation of the school in German speaking area and in the Europe ? I have no idea which one is reputable than the other.

whathowhatho · Answer

Well, the questions are: 1) Do you want to work in Germany after your studies? If yes - you can choose any of the schools. However, in my perception St.Gallen's brand has more exclusivity on the German market. 2) Do you want to work in non-German-speaking countries in Europe or world-wide? If yes, choose Mannheim with the appropriate track As for me: I have met St.Gallen's alumni - and found them genuinely nice people (some of them working in Germany and in industry, and they also told couple of examples mentioning St. Gallen's name in some negotiations helped them - since their counterparts were also St.Gallen's graduates). I also did more research about St. Gallen and have never considered Mannheim as an option for me. But after some research to answer your questions I find Mannheim program (especially this superb exchange possibility - NYU Stern for example!!!) very interesting. Do you have the possibility to visit campuses and select the environment that you like?

perfectstranger · Answer

I am looking to improve my German therefore if I continue with Mannheim, I will stay at Germany. I will also go the related place 1,5 month ago for full German course.

I have no possibility to visit campuses. I went to Germany and Austria before. But I have never been in Switzerland. I liked Germany but I did not like Austria.

St Gallen vs Mannheim

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