MSc Management, major in Finance - EMLYON/EDHEC/SKEMA ?

Question

Hi all,

Here is my situation:
 
I am currently in my last year of BSc Economics and Management.

I am admissible for the:

- MSc Management -Programme Grande Ecole at EM Lyon
- MSc Management -Programme Grande Ecole at Skema

And I am waiting for a decision from EDHEC for the same kind of master as well.

In French rankings, the distinction seems pretty obvious: EM Lyon 1st, EDHEC 2nd, Skema 3rd.

However, my desire is to specialise in Finance, and more precisely in Corporate Finance, as I aspire for a role in M&A.

Looking at the FT ranking (finance), EDHEC seems to be the best choice (3rd worldwide), then Skema (5th), far above EM Lyon (+30th).

According to the QS or TimesHigherEducation, EM Lyon is the best ranked.

So here is the dilemma...

Are all rankings reliable? Which school/programme would be the best call for what I want to do?

Thank you very much for your time and help!

billionaire · Answer

Hello Erdnaxelali Congrats on being admissible to EMLYON and SKEMA. Finance (Quant) is my forte, so I will be able to help. EDHEC is certainly strongest brand there (in Finance) and most well known outside of France among those 3 schools. At EDHEC there are some very famous names in Finance like Frank Fabozzi and Lionel Martellini

If you get accepted at EDHEC there is no question you should go there. When you look at rankings you should distinguish sources, furthermore is it overall rankings for business school or even whole university or program specific, in this case MS in Finance. Here you should trust FT MS in Finance rankings. https://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolra ... ience-2018 According to FT you can expect $104,552 average salary upon graduation from EDHEC and 65% salary increase. Only $87,764 at SKEMA and $73,726 at EMLyon. That pretty much answers your question. EDHEC is also ranked here as 3rd in world for MS in Finance but just year before it was on first place. SKEMA comes next in rankings it is 4. but was 10. few years ago. EMLyon comes as 33. was on 24. place just year ago, but there are also a lot of "unknown" schools before EMLyon in rankings that I would personally never choose over EMLyon (such as ISCTE, Vlerick, Guanghua, Kozminski, Tsinghua), but that can also be my location preference bias interfering. Here is also another list where only EDHEC is mentioned between those 3 schools : https://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-e ... nt-banking Between SKEMA and EMLyon is less easy to distinguish, I have seen rankings that do say opposite things and do not match and I did figure out the reason. SKEMA is relatively young, founded in 2009 as a result of the merger between the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce, Lille and CERAM Business School, Sophia Antipolis, so they relatively quickly gained over EMLyon in rankings for short period of time, just some rankings are still slow to reflect that. I would choose Paris/Sophia-Antipolis/Lille over Lyon, SKEMA over EMLyon, for this purpose. One final caveat: in title of your question you are mentioning MS in Finance which my research refers to, however in body of your post there is MSc Management mentioned which is completely different program with different rankings, and different settings/locations for SKEMA school for instance. Good Luck with Corporate Finance and M&A pursuits !

Erdnaxelali · Answer

Thank you very much for your help!

I corrected the typo in the title. However, saying 'master in finance' would still be relevant in that case. Indeed the second year of EDHEC's Grande Ecole programme is an MSc, thus I would be able to choose an MSc in corporate finance.

EM Lyon is a bit different: the last year is composed of a 100% of electives. Thus, I would easily be able to orientate the master towards corporate finance and m&a.

Some relatives told me that the FT master in finance ranking is mainly based on financial markets rather than corporate finance. Is that true?

Furthermore, QS ranks EM Lyon above EDHEC. So does TimesHigherEducation. To what extent is the FT ranking more relevant or reliable than these ones?

My main concerns for the selection would be employability (in corporate finance) and salary after 0/3 yrs.

Thanks

billionaire · Answer

Hello Erdnaxelali I thought it is pretty obvious what was ranking methodology of any rankings, since that info is available and provided along with rankings. FT Key: Weights for ranking criteria are shown below in brackets — (pre-experience) — as a percentage of the overall ranking. Salary today US$ (20) : average alumnus salary three years after graduation, US$ purchasing power parity (PPP) equivalent. Salary increase (10) : average difference in alumnus salary between graduation (pre-experience) or before their MSc (post-experience) and today. Half of this figure is calculated according to the absolute salary increase and half according to the percentage increase relative.† Value for money (5) : calculated according to alumni salaries today, course length, fees and other costs. Career progress (5) : calculated according to changes in the level of seniority and the size of company alumni are working for between graduation (pre-experience) or before their MSc (post-experience) to today. Aims achieved (5) : the extent to which alumni fulfilled their goals. Careers service (5) : effectiveness of the school careers service in terms of career counselling, personal development, networking events, internship search and recruitment, as rated by their alumni. Employed at three months % (5) : percentage of the most recent graduating class that found employment within three months. The figure in brackets is the percentage of the class for which the school was able to provide data. Female faculty % (5) : percentage of female faculty. Female students % (5) : percentage of female students on the masters. Women on board % (1) : percentage of female members on the school advisory board. International faculty % (5) : calculated according to faculty diversity by citizenship and the percentage whose citizenship differs from their country of employment (published figure). International students % (5) : calculated according to diversity of current students by citizenship and the percentage whose citizenship differs from country of study. International board % (1) : percentage of the board whose citizenship differs from the school’s home country. Faculty with doctorates % (6) : percentage of full-time faculty with doctoral degrees. International mobility (8) : based on alumni citizenship and the countries where they worked before their MSc, on graduation and three years after graduation.† International course experience (8) : calculated according to whether the most recent graduating MSc class completed exchanges, attended short classes, study tours and company internships in countries other than where the school is based. Languages (1) : number of extra languages required on graduation. Course length (months): average length of the masters programme. For gender-related criteria, schools with 50:50 male/female composition receive the highest possible score. For even more info, read here : https://www.ft.com/content/288c40c0-69a ... f3459514fd I think I already answered clearly question about salary and employability goes along with rankings or brand strength of the school, so that was answered as well. In your favorite QS rankings on employability factor alone EDHEC is ranked better than EMLyon . https://www.topuniversities.com/univers ... nance/2019 If you actually want to attend MS in Management and not MS in Finance then according to FT rankings EDHEC again comes ahead of SKEMA and EMLyon, respectively: https://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolra ... ement-2018 Again according to your favorite QS rankings even in MS in Management rankings in emloyability category EDHEC is again ahead of EMLyon by substantial margin : https://www.topuniversities.com/univers ... ement/2019 I believe you will be able to make some sound conclusion on your own now, after my research

Finally if you want to go to EMLyon and stay after in France only, go there, this school will do the trick, it is good school and if program suits you the best, even better. You are welcome !

MSc Management, major in Finance - EMLYON/EDHEC/SKEMA ?

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