Dear Community,

I have been accepted into the MMM and MMBR Programs at the University of Mannheim and also into the MMF and IM Programs at Goethe University Frankfurt. (Note: If you are not familiar with the initials of the programs I've written their complete names below.)
I need advice to help decide which program to choose; currently I am leaning towards choosing the MMM Program at Mannheim but I would like input from those of you who are familiar with these programs and universities in Germany. Regarding myself, I have a finance BBA degree from a university in NYC, a gmat score of 730, I am a citizen of a Latin American country, and I have a few years of work experience.** I want to know which program do you think offers more opportunities to land a job in trading/banking with a top-tier bank. **I am not only interested in opportunities in Germany but also in America (the whole continent) and anywhere else.
Also, I would like to hear the opinion from someone who is familiar or might have enrolled in Goethe's MMF Program regarding its career opportunities in Germany and Globally (Maybe you can comment about the QTEM Program). The MMF program seems very appealing to me, but the University of Mannheim is very likely the best Business School in Germany and way more known globally than Goethe Frankfurt University.

Mannheim:
MMM: Master in Management - Finance Specialization
MMBR: Master in Business Research (a highly challenging and quantitatively oriented program)--Finance Track
Goethe:
MMF: Master in Money and Finance
IM: Master in International Management

Why have you applied there? So close together so is your interest really the hemisphere?

I applied to schools in Germany because of their extremely low tuition. Wages in my country are relatively low, so it does not make financial sense that I spend too much on education since I could have to repay my investment with a relatively low wage. Mannheim does have a rather strong global reputation and it is almost free to attend to. I do not speak German by the way; I will try to learn as much German as I can during my studies but I am also not only interested in working in Germany. Please let me know what your advice is.

I think you have an accurate perception of these programmes. Not much to add.

Dear RHYMENOCEROUS,

congrats to the offer at both of these universities. I think generally the outcomes will be similar, so I focus on the differences in tendency.

In general, I would slightly lean to Goethe's MMF program. I see the main (differential) advantage in the location, which means that you might easier sneak into some banking jobs (internships, student jobs, workshops, networing, etc.). Nevertheless, Mannheim is not far from Frankfurt and its network is also quite good.

Furthermore I would suspect that the name "Frankfurt" would resonate more in other countries than the name "Mannheim", although I think this is more due to the higher recognition and relevance of the city than of the university. But I guess you can judge this better from your perspective than I can from mine.

Also you might want to consider, that the Universität Mannheim is introducing tuition fees for non-EU foreigners as of next semester (winter semetser 2017/2018), although the tuition fee of 3,000 EUR per year is very small when compared to the situation in other countries. (source: mwk.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/hochschulen-studium/studienfinanzierung/gebuehren-fuer-internationale-studierende-und-zweitstudium/) But admittingly, this fee difference may be offset by higher living cost in Frankfurt.

I'm curious to as why you're not studying in your own country, or closer to home - if you intend to work there. Surely, you'd have more networking opportunities and make more substantial connections with the right people if you were studying nearer to home, no?

Thanks Duncan, eduaudax and mba hipster for your responses. To answer your question mba hipster: It is in my best interest to graduate from the highest ranked university that I can instead of graduating from a regional university with a strong local network. The higher ranked the university I obtain my degree from, the easier it will be for me to get a good job in Latin America (and anywhere else); "good job" being the key part. It is the case in Latin America that since our universities are not particularly ranked in the top places, that top executives from our companies hold degrees from foreign universities. For example, Mannheim positions well in Global and European Rankings and it would cost me very little to attend as opposed to let's say Columbia, UPenn or Carnegie Mellon, but since there are relatively very few graduates in Latin America from Columbia, UPenn, Carnegie Mellon or similar schools, it would pretty much give me a similar advantage to graduate from Mannheim as to graduate from those other schools. In short, I am looking to obtain the best education I can at a price the makes financial sense to me.

I'd be very surprised if there are similar numbers of Mannheim grads as there are Columbia / Wharton grads in Latin America.

If I attend Mannheim I will be able to apply for admission into their "double degree" option which, if I were admitted into it, would allow me to study one year in Germany and another year in 1 of 7 different countries (USA and Canada included) at the same cost of attending Mannheim. Since both my Gmat score and my GPA are at the upper range of Mannheim, I have a decent chance of being admitted into the double degree program.
It is logical to think that there are more Ivy League Graduates in Latin America than Top European Schools Graduates but at least in my country, I can count with the fingers of my hands the number of Ivy League Graduates that live here, so like I said, it would give me a similar -albeit an inferior- advantage to graduate from Mannheim as from a top USA B-School that costs at the very least 15 times more per year than Mannheim does.
If anyone still has anything to add please do so because I have at least 2 weeks to make my decision and all your comments will help me a lot to make the best decision I can; I am now unsure on whether to even go to Germany or to wait a few years to gain enough experience to apply for a Top USA/Canada MBA program but the latter one is a much riskier investment for me.

There are, obviously, more than a handful of Ivy League graduates in every Latin American country.

I think you'd be surprised. FYI: 5 Latin American countries have a population of less than 500,000 (2 even have less than 50,000). Also, some of our countries suffer from extreme poverty which makes access to foreign (even local) education incredibly difficult (no access to student loans, low purchasing power, high savings visa requirements, etc). Also, if you graduate Ivy why would you come back to make like 1,200 bucks a month in some of our countries?

Those five are not countries: they are parts of France. I just searched Linkin for Ivy alumni in Uruguay, the least populous Latin American country. There are 152 from Harvard alone: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetGeoRegion=%5B%22uy%3A0%22%5D&facetSchool=%5B%2218483%22%5D&keywords=uruguay&origin=FACETED_SEARCH

Well by the strict definition of the Latin American Region, regardless of their sovereignty, they are all considered to be part of Latin America. 3 Languages are mainly spoken in Latin America: French, Portuguese and Spanish. There is something very interesting about Uruguay: it happens to be one of the richest countries in Latin America according to many econ metrics. Maybe try to look for Ivy Graduates who are citizens of Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba etc. and who went back to work in their countries after graduation.

Hi RHYMENOCEROUS,
I think by today you are now maybe focusing on your studying at one of those schools in Germany (I hope that it would be Mannheim University because, personally, I prefer that school too).
I intend to apply for the next year (2018) admission at MMM of Mannheim but as your the same as your concern, Goethe's MMF might be benefit me a lot as well when it comes to my financial/banking/insurance career path.
Could you please share with me your status, are you happy with the school life and how is the program?
Many thanks.
Thomas

Dear RHYMENOCEROUS,

congrats to the offer at both of these universities. I think generally the outcomes will be similar, so I focus on the differences in tendency.

In general, I would slightly lean to Goethe's MMF program. I see the main (differential) advantage in the location, which means that you might easier sneak into some banking jobs (internships, student jobs, workshops, networing, etc.). Nevertheless, Mannheim is not far from Frankfurt and its network is also quite good.

Furthermore I would suspect that the name "Frankfurt" would resonate more in other countries than the name "Mannheim", although I think this is more due to the higher recognition and relevance of the city than of the university. But I guess you can judge this better from your perspective than I can from mine.

Also you might want to consider, that the Universität Mannheim is introducing tuition fees for non-EU foreigners as of next semester (winter semetser 2017/2018), although the tuition fee of 3,000 EUR per year is very small when compared to the situation in other countries. (source: mwk.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/hochschulen-studium/studienfinanzierung/gebuehren-fuer-internationale-studierende-und-zweitstudium/) But admittingly, this fee difference may be offset by higher living cost in Frankfurt.

Dear Community,

I have been accepted into the MMM and MMBR Programs at the University of Mannheim and also into the MMF and IM Programs at Goethe University Frankfurt. (Note: If you are not familiar with the initials of the programs I've written their complete names below.)
I need advice to help decide which program to choose; currently I am leaning towards choosing the MMM Program at Mannheim but I would like input from those of you who are familiar with these programs and universities in Germany. Regarding myself, I have a finance BBA degree from a university in NYC, a gmat score of 730, I am a citizen of a Latin American country, and I have a few years of work experience.** I want to know which program do you think offers more opportunities to land a job in trading/banking with a top-tier bank. **I am not only interested in opportunities in Germany but also in America (the whole continent) and anywhere else.
Also, I would like to hear the opinion from someone who is familiar or might have enrolled in Goethe's MMF Program regarding its career opportunities in Germany and Globally (Maybe you can comment about the QTEM Program). The MMF program seems very appealing to me, but the University of Mannheim is very likely the best Business School in Germany and way more known globally than Goethe Frankfurt University.

Mannheim:
MMM: Master in Management - Finance Specialization
MMBR: Master in Business Research (a highly challenging and quantitatively oriented program)--Finance Track
Goethe:
MMF: Master in Money and Finance
IM: Master in International Management