Duke MBA vs IESE MBA

Question

Hi everyone! I Have a dilemma. I have got admitted by Duke with 60k of scholarship and by IESE with 20k.
Briefly about me, white male. Entrepreneur. I did my undergraduate in China and still working with China in Latvia. Keep Importing Chinese goods—own retail shops in my hometown. Post-MBA goal is to expand my business internationally.
Location does not matter. I really appreciate any help you can provide.

bb · Answer

Congratulations. I am not sure your race really matters 😇 but citizenship may.

Hey if you are planning to be running your business in Europe, it kind of makes sense to stay in Europe and be nearby and on the same time zone, potentially. That makes it a lot more convenient than being eight hours apart and a day away by flight. Assuming you’re putting to keep your business and keep running it after you graduate.

My suggestion would be to stay in the region were you planning to work. If you’re planning to expand your business to US, then go to school in the US but if you’re planning to expand within Europe, I would stick with Europe.

It’s not that you as business education does not work in Europe or something like that but your net work will be in the US if you go to Fuqua

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tert4seasons · Answer

Thank you for your reply. I understand that I am going to have a great experience regarding entrepreneurial knowledge in both ways. Having spoken with many students from both programs, it's even harder to pick the right choice. Since each program has its advantages in terms of location and connection. However, I have to make my decision in a week...

ExpertsGlobal · Answer

Hello  tert4seasons ,

As you intend to come back to your business eventually, you should be where your business is. This will help you build your network - literally the most important thing.

As you are in Latvia, we are assuming that you will eventually settle down in Europe; hence, IESE might be a better choice.

Thanks.

All the best!

tert4seasons · Answer

Thank you for your advice!
 While I don't have a preference between US or Spain, I do put a lot of stock in the MBA experience, the curriculum, opportunities to network, alumni network and above all the long term benefits of the MBA.
Having spoken with many students from both schools, it is pretty hard to make the right decision...
I also really liked the team Fuqua, each student was pretty supportive.
Do not know what to do...

bb · Answer

In my experience the style and approach to everything will be different. Administration, student bodies, professors, recruiting, everything is pretty different. 
But if you are not going to recruit and you don't care about job search, think where you want to have the alum base. Fuqua is US and IESE is EU and some Asia/India. That will be your main value for the MBA I guess plus whatever confidence you gain/etc.

tert4seasons · Answer

Again, appreciate everybody's help and support:)
Another that I want to do is to test new things since my cousin will stay in my homeland and keep running our business. I would like to try myself in consulting or at least land an internship. And both schools seemed great. But speaking with both schools' alumni, I understood that there are more opportunities in the states to scale up my business and test new things. Huh, still reluctant to make the right decision:(

bb · Answer

Good luck! I totally understand it is a huge decision. The competition for consulting jobs is tighter in the US - the pay is meaningfully higher and most international students when offered a job in Europe at MBB or another consulting company, choose to pass it up at least for now. They prefer to start in the US and they can always transfer over. It is harder the other way around. Some food for thought. Though I think IESE will be cheaper. 😇

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tert4seasons · Answer

Agree here. But given the scholarships, it's the same money out of the pocket.

testtaker2019 · Answer

Not sure if you factored in the cost of living in the various cities when you look at the overall cost. I found that the cost of staying on campus vs college town vs staying in a big city (even here there are variations).

This complicates the feasibility assessment a little bit but i think it makes sense to be aware of some of these hidden costs of the program.

yasminegunawan · Answer

Hi, I just got acceptance to Duke Fuqua MBA in round 4. I'm wondering, should I still apply to IESE in round 4 (deadline 2 May)?
The essays are almost ready and I just need to contact my recommender to submit the letter and I have a pretty close relationship to the recommender. The LoR questions are the same as with previous schools that I applied so my recommender can just quickly submit the LoR.

My goal is to go to Mckinsey, Bain, BCG (MBB) consulting in my home country (Indonesia). A bit interested in tech but not sure since all my work experiences are in consulting.

I know IESE MBA rank is higher but I think Duke's brand name is stronger than IESE. Also, I consider work-life balance (normal sleep hours) important when doing an MBA.

Would appreciate some thoughts. Thank you so much!

Duke MBA vs IESE MBA

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