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lohit90
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HEC Paris vs IMD 28 May 2024, 16:54
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I’ve been admitted to both HEC Paris and IMD for their MBA programs commencing in Jan 2025, and now face the challenging decision of choosing the best fit for my career aspirations. Based on my profile and objectives, I would love to hear your thoughts and advice on which school might be the better option. 

  • Experience: 11 years in the marketing & advertising industry, with a specialization in digital media & data analytics
  • Post-MBA Career Objectives: My mid-term goal is to transition from a specialized profile into a general management role in Europe. In the short term, entering the consulting (focused on growth & marketing) or tech industry (focused on advertising sales) can provide the necessary exposure to support my mid-term goal while leveraging my experience in marketing & advertising.

Key Considerations:
  • Job Opportunities -
    • My primary consideration is securing a lucrative job as an older student. I am 34 yo, and was earning a little over USD100k/annum after tax in my previous job. An MBA would be redundant if I am unable to secure a job with a better position/salary.
    • I am willing to learn a European language, most likely French, since both Jouy-en-Josas (HEC) & Lausanne (IMD) are French-speaking cities. However, I am also willing to learn German instead if I decide on IMD, if this opens up more opportunities in Zurich & other German-speaking regions in Europe than in French-speaking regions if I were to learn French.
    • Besides the HEC MBA program being 4 months longer than the IMD MBA program (which would mean more time to connect with recruiters), France also offers an option to apply for a 12-month job-seeker visa while the IMD team told me I can extend my Switzerland resident visa for 6 months after completing my MBA to look for a job in Europe. So in a nutshell, France offers a longer stay-back option.
    • With a higher student-faculty ratio and smaller cohort size, I assume that the IMD Career Services team would provide more personalized assistance in placing students. Additionally, IMD's Career Services rank marginally better than HEC's in the 2024 FT ranking.
  • Cost - 
    • While both programs have similar tuition fees (I did not receive any scholarships), the cost of living in Lausanne seems higher than in Jouy-en-Josas.
    • For post-MBA, cumulative taxes are higher in France vs Switzerland.

I would greatly appreciate any insights, experiences, or advice you might have to help me make this important decision.
 ­
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HEC Paris vs IMD 28 May 2024, 18:02
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Hi. Do you see yourself taking a fairly standard recruiting path out of MBA, meaning would you be looking at the same position that a 26 or a 28-year-old graduating from HCC would be taking? Such as a consulting role o are you looking to do something more specialized or more reflective of your experience level?

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HEC Paris vs IMD 28 May 2024, 18:04
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Also, I apologize as I don’t have good information about Switzerland, have you done research about potential employers and if it is viable to stay in Switzerland or the most graduates work elsewhere?

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HEC Paris vs IMD 28 May 2024, 19:24
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While I will have to take a non-traditional recruiting path (reaching out to recruiters and building a professional network while I am studying), I am also interested in understanding the support provided by the Career Services teams at both HEC Paris and IMD. Both HEC & IMD typically have an average class age of 30, so in the coming days, so in the coming days I will ask the respective Career Services teams at these schools about how they have previously assisted older students in the recruiting process.

Regarding IMD, Switzerland remains the #1 destination where IMD graduates work immediately after their MBA. Having said that, most graduates do end up working elsewhere (with 70% finding a job in Europe).
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HEC Paris vs IMD 28 May 2024, 23:19
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lohit90
I’ve been admitted to both HEC Paris and IMD for their MBA programs commencing in Jan 2025, and now face the challenging decision of choosing the best fit for my career aspirations. Based on my profile and objectives, I would love to hear your thoughts and advice on which school might be the better option. 



  • Experience: 11 years in the marketing & advertising industry, with a specialization in digital media & data analytics
  • Post-MBA Career Objectives: My mid-term goal is to transition from a specialized profile into a general management role in Europe. In the short term, entering the consulting (focused on growth & marketing) or tech industry (focused on advertising sales) can provide the necessary exposure to support my mid-term goal while leveraging my experience in marketing & advertising.

Key Considerations:


  • Job Opportunities -
    • My primary consideration is securing a lucrative job as an older student. I am 34 yo, and was earning a little over USD100k/annum after tax in my previous job. An MBA would be redundant if I am unable to secure a job with a better position/salary.
    • I am willing to learn a European language, most likely French, since both Jouy-en-Josas (HEC) & Lausanne (IMD) are French-speaking cities. However, I am also willing to learn German instead if I decide on IMD, if this opens up more opportunities in Zurich & other German-speaking regions in Europe than in French-speaking regions if I were to learn French.
    • Besides the HEC MBA program being 4 months longer than the IMD MBA program (which would mean more time to connect with recruiters), France also offers an option to apply for a 12-month job-seeker visa while the IMD team told me I can extend my Switzerland resident visa for 6 months after completing my MBA to look for a job in Europe. So in a nutshell, France offers a longer stay-back option.
    • With a higher student-faculty ratio and smaller cohort size, I assume that the IMD Career Services team would provide more personalized assistance in placing students. Additionally, IMD's Career Services rank marginally better than HEC's in the 2024 FT ranking.
  • Cost - 
    • While both programs have similar tuition fees (I did not receive any scholarships), the cost of living in Lausanne seems higher than in Jouy-en-Josas.
    • For post-MBA, cumulative taxes are higher in France vs Switzerland.

I would greatly appreciate any insights, experiences, or advice you might have to help me make this important decision.
 ­
Show more
­lohit90 Congratulations on the stellar admits! Neither would be a wrong choice. Both HEC and IMD have cohesive cohorts, but the much smaller class size at IMD can be an advantage for an international job seeker.

IMD gets some of the best companies to recruit for leadership tracks (exclusive to a few B-schools only like LBS and INSEAD). The level of roles offered at IMD seems to be slightly higher than HEC Paris. There is surely a focus on leadership roles. If you know what companies and seniority roles you might be targeting and how IMD fits in, there's no better choice.

At HEC, you can enjoy a more well-paced program, and truly relish and absorb the MBA experience. You can do an exchange at Sloan (very competitive) or Yale and further enhance the MBA experience. The recruitments will be competitive given the large class size, and a lot will depend on your networking capabilities.

Regarding the French learning, if you start now from zero, I don't think you can be prepared enough in time for the recruitments for roles that are typically targeted toward French-speaking candidates. I have learned French for 5 years and I am conversational, but it was still hard for me to think about technical interviewing or case interviewing in French. I hope you can set some realistic expectations with that.

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting 
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- [email protected]­

 ­
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HEC Paris vs IMD 29 May 2024, 00:11
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As someone who studied French for a very long time prior to doing one MBA semester at a French-speaking Grande École business school, I’m afraid there’s very little chance you’re going to become business conversational within a year. And they are not very good about speaking English, even if the office is officially an English-speaking office.
If you’re also considering Germany, I think that would be a much better path because people who don’t even speak German can work in Germany.
IMD = industry recruitment
HEC = consulting recruitment in general

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HEC Paris vs IMD 29 May 2024, 00:16
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MBAGuide

lohit90
I’ve been admitted to both HEC Paris and IMD for their MBA programs commencing in Jan 2025, and now face the challenging decision of choosing the best fit for my career aspirations. Based on my profile and objectives, I would love to hear your thoughts and advice on which school might be the better option. 







  • Experience: 11 years in the marketing & advertising industry, with a specialization in digital media & data analytics
  • Post-MBA Career Objectives: My mid-term goal is to transition from a specialized profile into a general management role in Europe. In the short term, entering the consulting (focused on growth & marketing) or tech industry (focused on advertising sales) can provide the necessary exposure to support my mid-term goal while leveraging my experience in marketing & advertising.

Key Considerations:






  • Job Opportunities -
    • My primary consideration is securing a lucrative job as an older student. I am 34 yo, and was earning a little over USD100k/annum after tax in my previous job. An MBA would be redundant if I am unable to secure a job with a better position/salary.
    • I am willing to learn a European language, most likely French, since both Jouy-en-Josas (HEC) & Lausanne (IMD) are French-speaking cities. However, I am also willing to learn German instead if I decide on IMD, if this opens up more opportunities in Zurich & other German-speaking regions in Europe than in French-speaking regions if I were to learn French.
    • Besides the HEC MBA program being 4 months longer than the IMD MBA program (which would mean more time to connect with recruiters), France also offers an option to apply for a 12-month job-seeker visa while the IMD team told me I can extend my Switzerland resident visa for 6 months after completing my MBA to look for a job in Europe. So in a nutshell, France offers a longer stay-back option.
    • With a higher student-faculty ratio and smaller cohort size, I assume that the IMD Career Services team would provide more personalized assistance in placing students. Additionally, IMD's Career Services rank marginally better than HEC's in the 2024 FT ranking.
  • Cost - 
    • While both programs have similar tuition fees (I did not receive any scholarships), the cost of living in Lausanne seems higher than in Jouy-en-Josas.
    • For post-MBA, cumulative taxes are higher in France vs Switzerland.

I would greatly appreciate any insights, experiences, or advice you might have to help me make this important decision.
 ­
­lohit90 Congratulations on the stellar admits! Neither would be a wrong choice. Both HEC and IMD have cohesive cohorts, but the much smaller class size at IMD can be an advantage for an international job seeker.

IMD gets some of the best companies to recruit for leadership tracks (exclusive to a few B-schools only like LBS and INSEAD). The level of roles offered at IMD seems to be slightly higher than HEC Paris. There is surely a focus on leadership roles. If you know what companies and seniority roles you might be targeting and how IMD fits in, there's no better choice.

At HEC, you can enjoy a more well-paced program, and truly relish and absorb the MBA experience. You can do an exchange at Sloan (very competitive) or Yale and further enhance the MBA experience. The recruitments will be competitive given the large class size, and a lot will depend on your networking capabilities.

Regarding the French learning, if you start now from zero, I don't think you can be prepared enough in time for the recruitments for roles that are typically targeted toward French-speaking candidates. I have learned French for 5 years and I am conversational, but it was still hard for me to think about technical interviewing or case interviewing in French. I hope you can set some realistic expectations with that.

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting 

 ­
Show more
MBAGuide Thanks for your input. Much appreciated!

While I agree with most of what you have mentioned, I have a couple of follow-up questions:
  1. Focus on Leadership Roles at IMD: Do you think the focus on leadership roles at IMD has dwindled over the past years? Based on my observations of the average class age, average compensation post-MBA, and the seniority of roles across different sectors and functions, IMD seems to be attracting younger candidates and focusing on fewer leadership roles.
  2. Recruitment at HEC: Besides the greater competition during recruitments at HEC due to the larger class size, wouldn’t this also mean that there are more roles being filled at HEC? Could the larger network and more extensive recruiting efforts potentially offer a broader range of opportunities?

Regarding learning French, I did study French for a year in middle school but have forgotten most of it. I plan to achieve A2 proficiency by the time I start my studies, while aiming for B1 proficiency by the end of the MBA program. This may not qualify me for roles requiring native French speakers, but it should give me a foot in the door for opportunities requiring both English and some level of French proficiency.

Thanks again for your insights!­
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HEC Paris vs IMD 29 May 2024, 00:19
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MBAPrepCoach
As someone who studied French for a very long time prior to doing one MBA semester at a French-speaking Grande École business school, I’m afraid there’s very little chance you’re going to become business conversational within a year. And they are not very good about speaking English, even if the office is officially an English-speaking office.
If you’re also considering Germany, I think that would be a much better path because people who don’t even speak German can work in Germany.
IMD = industry recruitment
HEC = consulting recruitment in general

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­@MBAPrepCoach Thanks for your insights! Will keep these in mind while deciding. :)
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HEC Paris vs IMD 29 May 2024, 00:55
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lohit90

MBAGuide

lohit90
I’ve been admitted to both HEC Paris and IMD for their MBA programs commencing in Jan 2025, and now face the challenging decision of choosing the best fit for my career aspirations. Based on my profile and objectives, I would love to hear your thoughts and advice on which school might be the better option. 









  • Experience: 11 years in the marketing & advertising industry, with a specialization in digital media & data analytics
  • Post-MBA Career Objectives: My mid-term goal is to transition from a specialized profile into a general management role in Europe. In the short term, entering the consulting (focused on growth & marketing) or tech industry (focused on advertising sales) can provide the necessary exposure to support my mid-term goal while leveraging my experience in marketing & advertising.

Key Considerations:








  • Job Opportunities -
    • My primary consideration is securing a lucrative job as an older student. I am 34 yo, and was earning a little over USD100k/annum after tax in my previous job. An MBA would be redundant if I am unable to secure a job with a better position/salary.
    • I am willing to learn a European language, most likely French, since both Jouy-en-Josas (HEC) & Lausanne (IMD) are French-speaking cities. However, I am also willing to learn German instead if I decide on IMD, if this opens up more opportunities in Zurich & other German-speaking regions in Europe than in French-speaking regions if I were to learn French.
    • Besides the HEC MBA program being 4 months longer than the IMD MBA program (which would mean more time to connect with recruiters), France also offers an option to apply for a 12-month job-seeker visa while the IMD team told me I can extend my Switzerland resident visa for 6 months after completing my MBA to look for a job in Europe. So in a nutshell, France offers a longer stay-back option.
    • With a higher student-faculty ratio and smaller cohort size, I assume that the IMD Career Services team would provide more personalized assistance in placing students. Additionally, IMD's Career Services rank marginally better than HEC's in the 2024 FT ranking.
  • Cost - 
    • While both programs have similar tuition fees (I did not receive any scholarships), the cost of living in Lausanne seems higher than in Jouy-en-Josas.
    • For post-MBA, cumulative taxes are higher in France vs Switzerland.

I would greatly appreciate any insights, experiences, or advice you might have to help me make this important decision.
 ­
­lohit90 Congratulations on the stellar admits! Neither would be a wrong choice. Both HEC and IMD have cohesive cohorts, but the much smaller class size at IMD can be an advantage for an international job seeker.

IMD gets some of the best companies to recruit for leadership tracks (exclusive to a few B-schools only like LBS and INSEAD). The level of roles offered at IMD seems to be slightly higher than HEC Paris. There is surely a focus on leadership roles. If you know what companies and seniority roles you might be targeting and how IMD fits in, there's no better choice.

At HEC, you can enjoy a more well-paced program, and truly relish and absorb the MBA experience. You can do an exchange at Sloan (very competitive) or Yale and further enhance the MBA experience. The recruitments will be competitive given the large class size, and a lot will depend on your networking capabilities.

Regarding the French learning, if you start now from zero, I don't think you can be prepared enough in time for the recruitments for roles that are typically targeted toward French-speaking candidates. I have learned French for 5 years and I am conversational, but it was still hard for me to think about technical interviewing or case interviewing in French. I hope you can set some realistic expectations with that.

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting 

 ­
MBAGuide Thanks for your input. Much appreciated!

While I agree with most of what you have mentioned, I have a couple of follow-up questions:


  1. Focus on Leadership Roles at IMD: Do you think the focus on leadership roles at IMD has dwindled over the past years? Based on my observations of the average class age, average compensation post-MBA, and the seniority of roles across different sectors and functions, IMD seems to be attracting younger candidates and focusing on fewer leadership roles.
  2. Recruitment at HEC: Besides the greater competition during recruitments at HEC due to the larger class size, wouldn’t this also mean that there are more roles being filled at HEC? Could the larger network and more extensive recruiting efforts potentially offer a broader range of opportunities?

Regarding learning French, I did study French for a year in middle school but have forgotten most of it. I plan to achieve A2 proficiency by the time I start my studies, while aiming for B1 proficiency by the end of the MBA program. This may not qualify me for roles requiring native French speakers, but it should give me a foot in the door for opportunities requiring both English and some level of French proficiency.

Thanks again for your insights!­
Show more
­

lohit90  Now to the first point, my frame of reference comes from when I was at Insead in 2018 and IMD was a constant point of discussion as many of the coveted leadership positions offered at INSEAD were also available for IMD. During some discussions with the career coaches, I realised how strongly IMD was positioned in the industry roles (something I had not known earlier), as also clearly mentioned in the previous comment. But you know what, since an MBA is such a big financial and personal decision, it cannot hurt to reach out to your POCs at either school and ask them to refer you to someone who can give you insider information. I always tell MBA applicants that they should not just rely on the statistics published on the internet to draw traffic, but really take the chance to understand what the school and career centre have done to improve industry connections and the overall hiring experience for students.

As for HEC - my mentees who will be graduating from HEC this year have had a very fulfilling experience with the MBA program overall. But I can only report from my perspective that those who had already worked abroad in specialised positions, had a high salary and a good career plan, felt somewhat limited because HEC did not have the best connects with MBB firms or similar. I know this is a particularly bad market, but think which alumni would best help you get the referral so you could atleast interview for your dream companies. They found something they liked, but not something they could not have had without an MBA.
This is not necessarily true for younger candidates for whom HEC and the career after is a big step up in every way. Think about where you are in your career, your seniority in the company, and make a thoughtful decision. Again, I would say talk to the POCs at the career centres before making a final decision.

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting 
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- [email protected]­
 ­
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HEC Paris vs IMD 29 May 2024, 01:48
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­

lohit90  Now to the first point, my frame of reference comes from when I was at Insead in 2018 and IMD was a constant point of discussion as many of the coveted leadership positions offered at INSEAD were also available for IMD. During some discussions with the career coaches, I realised how strongly IMD was positioned in the industry roles (something I had not known earlier), as also clearly mentioned in the previous comment. But you know what, since an MBA is such a big financial and personal decision, it cannot hurt to reach out to your POCs at either school and ask them to refer you to someone who can give you insider information. I always tell MBA applicants that they should not just rely on the statistics published on the internet to draw traffic, but really take the chance to understand what the school and career centre have done to improve industry connections and the overall hiring experience for students.

As for HEC - my mentees who will be graduating from HEC this year have had a very fulfilling experience with the MBA program overall. But I can only report from my perspective that those who had already worked abroad in specialised positions, had a high salary and a good career plan, felt somewhat limited because HEC did not have the best connects with MBB firms or similar. I know this is a particularly bad market, but think which alumni would best help you get the referral so you could atleast interview for your dream companies. They found something they liked, but not something they could not have had without an MBA.
This is not necessarily true for younger candidates for whom HEC and the career after is a big step up in every way. Think about where you are in your career, your seniority in the company, and make a thoughtful decision. Again, I would say talk to the POCs at the career centres before making a final decision.

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting 

 ­
Show more
Thanks a lot for this, Aanchal! Yes, I definitely plan on continuing to talk to my POCs at these schools, and potentially some alumni as well, before making a final decision.­
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HEC Paris vs IMD 29 May 2024, 02:01
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lohit90

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­

lohit90  Now to the first point, my frame of reference comes from when I was at Insead in 2018 and IMD was a constant point of discussion as many of the coveted leadership positions offered at INSEAD were also available for IMD. During some discussions with the career coaches, I realised how strongly IMD was positioned in the industry roles (something I had not known earlier), as also clearly mentioned in the previous comment. But you know what, since an MBA is such a big financial and personal decision, it cannot hurt to reach out to your POCs at either school and ask them to refer you to someone who can give you insider information. I always tell MBA applicants that they should not just rely on the statistics published on the internet to draw traffic, but really take the chance to understand what the school and career centre have done to improve industry connections and the overall hiring experience for students.

As for HEC - my mentees who will be graduating from HEC this year have had a very fulfilling experience with the MBA program overall. But I can only report from my perspective that those who had already worked abroad in specialised positions, had a high salary and a good career plan, felt somewhat limited because HEC did not have the best connects with MBB firms or similar. I know this is a particularly bad market, but think which alumni would best help you get the referral so you could atleast interview for your dream companies. They found something they liked, but not something they could not have had without an MBA.
This is not necessarily true for younger candidates for whom HEC and the career after is a big step up in every way. Think about where you are in your career, your seniority in the company, and make a thoughtful decision. Again, I would say talk to the POCs at the career centres before making a final decision.

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting 

 ­
Thanks a lot for this, Aanchal! Yes, I definitely plan on continuing to talk to my POCs at these schools, and potentially some alumni as well, before making a final decision.­
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­
Would add one last point here. You may get into some startups in France with an A2 level French where the crowd is young and most would manage in english. Likely, these startups will have HEC Paris or INSEAD folks as founders.  But to get into corporate strategy or strategy sort of roles with big organisations, you will have to be at a C1+ level. ­
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HEC Paris vs IMD 29 May 2024, 02:09
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MBAGuide
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lohit90  Now to the first point, my frame of reference comes from when I was at Insead in 2018 and IMD was a constant point of discussion as many of the coveted leadership positions offered at INSEAD were also available for IMD. During some discussions with the career coaches, I realised how strongly IMD was positioned in the industry roles (something I had not known earlier), as also clearly mentioned in the previous comment. But you know what, since an MBA is such a big financial and personal decision, it cannot hurt to reach out to your POCs at either school and ask them to refer you to someone who can give you insider information. I always tell MBA applicants that they should not just rely on the statistics published on the internet to draw traffic, but really take the chance to understand what the school and career centre have done to improve industry connections and the overall hiring experience for students.

As for HEC - my mentees who will be graduating from HEC this year have had a very fulfilling experience with the MBA program overall. But I can only report from my perspective that those who had already worked abroad in specialised positions, had a high salary and a good career plan, felt somewhat limited because HEC did not have the best connects with MBB firms or similar. I know this is a particularly bad market, but think which alumni would best help you get the referral so you could atleast interview for your dream companies. They found something they liked, but not something they could not have had without an MBA.
This is not necessarily true for younger candidates for whom HEC and the career after is a big step up in every way. Think about where you are in your career, your seniority in the company, and make a thoughtful decision. Again, I would say talk to the POCs at the career centres before making a final decision.

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting 

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Thanks a lot for this, Aanchal! Yes, I definitely plan on continuing to talk to my POCs at these schools, and potentially some alumni as well, before making a final decision.­
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Would add one last point here. You may get into some startups in France with an A2 level French where the crowd is young and most would manage in english. Likely, these startups will have HEC Paris or INSEAD folks as founders.  But to get into corporate strategy or strategy sort of roles with big organisations, you will have to be at a C1+ level. ­
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­Ah ok, thanks for letting me know! :)