Hello everyone,

I'm going to start my MBA this fall.
I've got 4 yrs exp. in telecom and wish to make a transition towards mngmnt consulting.

I'm in at RSM Erasmus & Manchester, but recently I've applied to Esade as well. Really liked the program duration and curriculum, small class size, good placements & career service (so I hear), location, job outlook.

Some things worry me though. I'd like to discuss them with ppl who know more about the school, ideally students or alumni :

- The quality of teaching at Esade : I see most of the professors are Spanish. How good are they ? Why isn't the school bringing foreign teachers as well ?

- Why is the program so expensive ? RSM is a much more international school, with better reputation, and costs half (overall costs). What makes ESADE so special ?

- How good is the Career Service Dept and what is it that it ACTUALLY does (because it says it does a lot, but most schools do, and I know for a fact many don't) ?

- I've heard that teachers are much more open towards local students and less to foreign ones. Do you know anything about that ? How is the student - teacher interaction in and outside of the classroom ?

- I see big names in consulting on the brochures. But how many ppl have they actually recruited and how often ? Do they recruit on a regular basis ? Do most of the 27% placed in consulting go towards better known consulting companies or ... not ?

Thanks for any potential answers. I hope to keep this thread alive for a long time so that more ppl can benefit.

Jotun,

I'm a current MBA student at ESADE (7 months in to the program) and I'd like to address some of your questions...

1) ESADE has a far better reputation than RSM, check any of the rankings. It has been ranked #1 in the world by the WSJ two years running and in the top 25 in the world two years running according to the Financial Times. Rankings aren't everything (of course), but ESADE is also much more known to European businesses. As for being international, we currently have 36 countries represented in a class of 120 students.

2) Professors - the professors for the Spanish section are mainly Spanish (for obvious reasons), while those from the English section tend to be more diverse. I've had American, British, Dutch, German and Spanish professors. ESADE has a long tradition of being a Catalan school, so those students from the Spanish section that can speak Catalan with their professors do have a sort of unique relationship.

3) Career Services has been great so far. Right from the beginning the held sessions on CV and Cover Letter writing, mock interviews, etc. They've also been very helpful in bringing companies to campus and prepareing us for interviews. Career Services has been an area ESADE is really working on, and it shows.

4) Consulting - Some of the students who just graduated did internships with big consulting firms, (BCG, etc.) but placing people in consulting is not ESADE's specialty. They're working to improve that though and want to attract more candidates who are interested in consulting.

Hope this info helps!

Hi !

Many many thanks for taking the time to reply to my post, I truly appreciate it. I have decided not to go for ESADE. I cannot find enough arguments to justify the price, it costs (at least the tuition) as much as Harvard !

About the reputation, I totally disagree. Sure FT ranks Esade 21st and RSM 34th, but at least in my view RSM Erasmus is way better recognized in Europe, at least in Benelux&Germany. I feel schools have somewhat the same reach in the UK,but that may just be me. Also if you dig deeper into the FT rankings you will see RSM is far more international(teachers and students) and is placed very well for Research. Plus it has a new Dean, an astonishing person who brought LBS 2nd in the world.

The WSJ rankings are totally irrelevant. Any ranking that puts Harvard 20th (especially in a top of recruiters' preference !!!!) is definitely not trustworthy. First, ask any recruiter in the world whether he'd rather have a person from Harvard or Esade/RSM in a management position. It's common sense. Second, the WSJ is known for asking way too many "wrong" questions, irrelevant to the actual purpose of the ranking.
For example, WSJ asks recruiters to rate graduates from school X on their willingness to relocate ! And that is a part of the school's rating, but how relevant is it to the school's quality ? 0.

Did you know that in the first edition of the WSJ rankings, Stanford and Harvard came in around the 50th place, with universities such as Georgetown and Maryland in top 10 ?
They've taken out many of the wrong questions, but it is still fishy.

As always, it comes down to personal preference. I can find many strong arguments for Esade, but I feel it can't beat RSM in Germany, Holland, Belgium, or even in the UK.

Once again, thanks for the thorough answers. I already made up my mind, but I hope this discussion will be helpful for other ppl as well. Cheers !

Jotun,
I think that you never applied to Esade, and you just wanted to criticize the school, which is very sad.

Please, be more positive regarding future comments and posts.

I think your post is totally stupid and you should apologize.
I applied (do you want my pdf application,smart ass?) and asked several questions because despite many positive things I could not get it through my head what makes it so expensive.
I think I waited for a long time for any replies. If I wanted to criticize, I could have done it in many other ways. I waited for honest replies and arguments so that I make a very informed decision about my MBA.

Your post is out of line, pathetic and offensive. If anything is sad around here, that's you.

Hello Jotun,

I?m a current MBA student of the IESE. Before I was accepted I also applied for RSM and ESADE, with clear preference for the latter. I think there should be some clarification:

Comparing the cost of both programs, i.e. tuition fees and average living expenses (ESADE 12 month MBA vs. RSM 15 month) the ESDAE is approx. 2.000 ? above the RSM. On a different calculation you also have to consider the opportunity costs, which are higher for the RSM MBA since this program takes 3 month longer.
To sum it up: Both programs are about the same in their overall costs.

Regarding the WSJ ranking I agree to some extend ?also the results are based on the recruiters? perceptions of the MBA student, which is a totally different approach from other MBA rankings and could partially explain the divergences. Nonetheless the FT ranking in 2008, as a globally recognized ranking, places the ESADE on 21 (+ 6 positions to ranking in 2006), the RSM only on 34 (-10 positions to ranking in 2006). Although the ranking shouldn?t be considered only criteria for the MBA decision, it reveals a poor development for the RSM. It?s going to be a tough job, even for a Dean like Mr. George S. Yip.
To sum it up: ESADE MBA is clearly the better ranked and could improve its position significantly.

I am not very surprised about your statement, that RSM is better recognized in Germany and Benelux, since the Business Schools is located in those countries. You wound find the same result with the IESE/ ESADE/ IE asking companies in Spain or Latin America about business schools.
To sum it up: Globally the ESADE MBA is still better recognised than the RSM MBA.


At the end everyone should choose the school regarding its personal preferences rather than basing in only on the ft-ranking. Since I want to work in a Spanish speaking country (after finishing my MBA) it was important to become fluent in Spanish. Moreover for me there was not other place in Europe that would combine the MBA and lifestyle better than Barcelona.

Hope I could help you.

Marcus

Marcus,

Why did you end at IESE if you previously applied to the ESADE and RSM?

Firstly I just wish to clear out one thing. A spanish MBA is more recognized and has more opportunities then a dutch MBA. Reason is very simple, LATIN AMERICA, quite a lot of the US and Spain, speak spanish and doing an MBA from a spanish institution makes it easier to work with global companies operating in these regions.

ESADE, IESE, IE Business School. All three of them cost a lot of money, but at the same time, the quality of education, the facilities, and the reputation far exceeds any dutch MBA.

RSM is a very good school, and yes they are more cost effective, But they have been losing ground recently and it will take time.

Jotun if u have made up ur mind already, then its fine, you had to look at your finances and your own scenario. But in a perfect scenario where money was no object, ESADE would be a better choice then RSM any given day.

I got in at IE business school, TiasNimbas, and RSM. So I know a bit about spanish schools, and RSM. ESADE is very well respected, even the people from IE said that, I should apply to ESADE as its a brilliant school. Spanish schools have a unique edge and well they provide top quality education and that is why they cost so much! But they all have a great ROI ratio.

Hey guys, it is not so useful to insist on comparing ESADE and RSM general international value - the conclusion will always be subjective.

Thats why my first question to help people here on the board is: what is your personal career goal? Only keeping this in mind you can take the right decision.

For someone intending to work in Northern Europe, it won't help that much to have Spanish language skills, nor knowledge of Spanish business culture, and the other advantages of a Spanish MBA. Most likely a German or Swedish employer will also prefer someone with RSM MBA, even if in theorie RSM would slightly lose competition with ESADE in terms of international reputation - simply because the employer might relate more to RSM because he has come across other RSM MBA olders before - and not so many Spanish MBA holders.

On the other hand anyone going for a career in Latin America should prefer a Spanish MBA out of two comparably good MBAs (or a US MBA as everywhere) - is that not common sense?

I do believe that conclusions are subjective, but solid arguments is what we share here and what we value.

I also think that personal career goal is always important. We all know that local companies are more familiar with local schools, but many companies that recruit MBA are global companies and they tend to focus on the global reputed schools.

If you career goal is in the marketing arena and the recruiters at you school are the top global recruiters in this area you will feel that you have chosen the rignt school. The same for Consulting, Banking, ...For instance, if BCG recruit at the top 3 Spanish Schools, this is a good signal, but the fact that Europraxis (local consulting firm with prestige) recruits also here, is not giving and edge compared to the other non-spanish school.