ESMT Berlin vs Mannheim Business School MBA

Question

Hi,

I got an admission in the FULL TIME MBA of ESMT Berlin & Mannheim Business School. I come from a background of financial services of over 8+ years and have mainly been in risk management. I am a German National with minimal command over the language since I have lived abroad for 95% of my life. Now, however, I want to pivot my career for the short-mid term into consulting/strategy and as an alternate stick to Banking and financial services, and in the long term venture out into the fintech space and explore disruptive entrepreneurial ventures. I do intend to focus a lot on the German Language and gain proficiency during the MBA course.

Any guidance as to which school to go for in terms of employability prospects, a better support network and most importantly what aligns better to my long term goal.

Thankyou in advance

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

Congratulations on your admit  ozeekay  
ESMT Berlin and Mannheim Business School Both are among the best German MBA B-schools.
While Mannheim Business School is leading The ESMT by a few more points, ESMT is no where lagging behind in overall B-School Experience. Both Schools have almost similar Consulting Placements 25% for ESMT and 22% for Mannheim for 2019 employment track records. So its a tough choice to select between two.
I will suggest you to contact alumni on LinkedIn and see How their choice of college effect their career.

Mo2men · Answer

Congrats ozeekay I would not think twice about Mannheim. This is the real destination for MBA in Germany. Its reputation is evident. You can also take a look for review for ESTM https://gmatclub.com/reviews/business_school/esmt-146 You can read about both schools here: https://www.ft.com/content/9fee3148-2fe ... ef563ecf9a Good luck

ANALysis · Answer

neither

nojudging · Answer

Neither will get you a job in strategy or consulting in Germany.
McKinsey definitely will require that you speak German to get a job in Germany.
BCG is less strict with language but also expects top school graduates. Neither of these schools would be good enough for them. They hire their German MBA graduates from higher-ranked schools in Europe.
Now talking about boutique consulting. They usually have smaller businesses as customers. German language is even more important as these customers don't deal with non-German speakers that often.

Your possibility of becoming a consultant, either in-house or in a professional service firm is very bleak. Better know it now before throwing in your money, not to mention both Mannheim MBA and ESMT MBA have lame career services (check FT ranking, tick only the career service rank item). You are most likely to end up in a fintech startup in Berlin.

ESMT Berlin vs Mannheim Business School MBA

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