Hi everybody,

I just sent all my application to ESADE.

The problem is that I have low gmat (580) but I have a really high GPA (110/110 in italy- top score with 28,2/30 of average) and real good career progression (31 y.o. with 7 years in marketing / sales in the 2 biggest FMCG companies worldwide. I'm actually a manager leading a group of 3 people.

I had also international experience in Spain and US and I'm fluent in english, spanish and italian.

In addition to that I had 3 references letters instead of the 2 required ( 2 sales director and 1 general manager).

I planned to repeat my gmat exam at the end of this month but this will be my fifth and last time. Incredible!!!

I'm really scared that though they told me I meet their requirements they could just reject me if I don't score better on the GMAT.

I'm incredibly frustrated because ESADE is my first choice and I really don't know how to improve the GMAT (at home I always score over 700 and it seems I have no problems).

However I really would appreciate every kind of opinion, especially from who lived a similar situation.

Is the GMAT so fundamental to enter?

Could I have a possibility with everything outstanding except this score?

Thanks everybody

I think it you might have a shot. I actually got rejected from ESADE with a 610 GMAT, a good undergraduate GPA, and 3 years of experience in a very unique, and artsy field.

Although, I got accepted to IE. So, you just never know... depends on whether you're able to impress someone in the admissions department. I went to a QS MBA Fair and I think the IE representatives like me a lot when they met me, and probably helped my application quite a bit. You might try going to a recruitment event in your home country and doing some schmoozing!

I really overhauled my application for IE, and I think it was a lot stronger than the one I gave to ESADE, so that probably also helped.

You said you've taken the GMAT four times. What did you get the other 3 times? They will look at all of your scores, not just the best one! Although, the best one holds the most weight, I think. It's good if you've shown continual improvement. That's odd that you'd do so much better on your practice tests. What do you think the problem is? I would say to take it again, but if you've already submitted your application, it could already be on its way to the admissions committee.. so they might not see your new score unless you're taking it really soon and notify them of that.

Hi Sally,

Many cumpliments for IE. It is a really good school.

I will also apply there in January. I finished my application and I also spoke with the admission department. We will see what will happen. I would prefer to have the Gmat. They told me it is really difficult to enter with 580. They need at least 600. Anyway I'm glad to know you entered with 610. It means they look to the overall picture. better!!!

Anyway about the gmat, yes it was a progression from 490 to 580 but still I wanna repeat, at least to have more than 600. I spoke with Esade and they will start to evaluate without the Gmat. I hope it will go well. I really like this mba program.

Did you have the interview with esade or they rejected you before?

Can I ask instead how was the interview with IE?

Thank you again and a lot of good luck and cumpliments for your IE MBA.

Andrea,

Yes, I did interview with both ESADE and IE. Both of them were very casual interviews, where they just asked pretty straight forward questions about what my motivations are, and what I would bring to the program.

This was a big contrast to EADA, where I also interviewed. Theirs was a very awkward list of questions, such as "What kind of animal would you be?" and "If I gave you a brick, what would you do with it." I was also admitted there, which is a second tier school in Barcelona.

I know barajayan, who also posts on this forum, got into ESADE with a 640. I didn't get the impression that my GMAT score was necessarily the reason I wasn't admitted. If it was, they probably would not have bothered to interview me!

But, you're right, I've heard from a lot of places that 600 is threshold you have to pass to be considered at top schools. So, it probably would pay off to take it again if you think you can score at least that. Good luck!

Spanish schools, especially IE, are very flexible with their admission requirements..
Maybe, andrea, you will be admitted anyhow, but I wouldnt go IE. I ve heard terrible stories about that school..
Last, but not least, you must be prepared to pay 50.000 euros, that is IE asks for the same tuition London Business School and INSEAD do...

NO WAY!

ale, what sort of terrible stories have you heard about IE?
I have seen one post on here about them, but the criticisms were similar to those made about a lot of other top b-schools (such as, "they didn't find me a job".) I have also heard the the facilities are cramped. Although, I've also heard people say great things about the Venture Lab, and the internationalism of the program.

Also, IE has a lot of financial aid availalbe.. that's one top reason I'm leaning toward going there. I don't plan on paying the full 50,000 euros..

I also wouldn't say they're flexible on their admission requirements. They are, however, flexible on the GMAT requirement, as they will accept the GRE and their own admission test. And they seem to give the GMAT lower weight than some other schools. They are more interested in work experience.

If I end up going there I will certainly write about my experience.. I might start a blog and post a link here :)

ale --

i just realized you're the person who wrote the post "IE vs. RSM"... which did you end up choosing? I guess not IE!
Any info on what made you decide against IE would be appreciated!

You guess right, sally!
In the end I elected to go RSM! Truly international (97%), all professors with PHD (100%), very technical, small class size, tough and demanding program, the rest is up to me and not to the career service.
Career service is an excuse of those students who are not able to find a dencent work place.
And I am pretty convinced about this choice, but as you can understand, I will be able to tell only once i am done with the program!

I know well many people accepted to IE and I can guarantee you (maybe its by chance) they are not in the tier 1 of my ex colleagues at my University, ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Why accepting an internal test? why accepting many other English certificates? One student was accepted even without the TOEFL IE asked for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In conclusion I would go IE only if I did not have any other option especially when i consider they ask for 50000 EUROS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have much more to say, but if you are intersted write me without hesitation!!

bye

That's a lot of exclamation points!

I can see why people would would criticize IE for trying to make itself seem like a more prestigous school than it really is.

Although, in my case, I don't mind if it's a tier 2 school. For me, I really want to be in a location where Spanish is the first (and only) official language. That means being in the Madrid area or in Latin America. And I think IE has a better reputation than most Latin American schools.

I also work in a creative industry where having a name-brand degree doesn't really get you that much. I want an International MBA for the education and the experience, not because I think it will get me an automatic pay upgrade. I am also very interested in entrepreneurship, and I like IE's focus there.

So, while IE may not be for everyone -- especially suit-wearing types who want to go into finance or consulting, I feel like it's a good fit for me.

Also, like I said, I don't expect to pay full price. IE actually offers a "Fellows" program, where if you work at the school you can get half off of your tuition. They also have a lot of large scholarships available, especially for women.

Guys,

Don't be so negative about IE when compared to other schools. 10 years ago RSM was well ahead of IE but today IE as a business school is = or better than IE. What will see in the coming years...

Matter of personal views, of course..

I am nobody, but I was accepted and refused, I preferred to go to RSM, well known for having one of the toughest and most challenging faculties among top business schools!

Moreover, I currently have many friends at IE and they are not only truly disappointed, but also telling me they feel IE's reputation is just starting losing respect..

Hi,

I made the test again and I scored 570.
So I will have to submit all with 580.

I can't imagine they will tell me I will be rejected because I need 20 points more though I have a really good profile....

anyway we ll see

Ale --

Here's an interesting re-post from a few months ago on the Business Week message boards:

"Monstruo: ?Never met a superstar going to IE.? I?m assuming that by ?super star? you mean high achieving individuals?

I am a future student of IE?s IMBA class, November 2009 intake and I will only post once. Around 70 out of the 400+ students from our class have joined the Facebook group: IE IMBA November 2009 Intake. I highly encourage all of you to regularly check this page and all IE IMBA student pages to get better insight into the quality of our class.

Here are just three examples from my class:

A Harvard Law School graduate working at a reputable U.S Law firm; High achiever in education and professional career.

A Stanford graduate and UPenn grad student; High achiever in education.

Co-founder of a New York based Media Company; An Entrepreneur, high achiever in professional career.

?Superstars? go to the top schools. If you have not met any from IE, maybe you should visit our campus some time. I am sure many of my schoolmates will be glad to share with you their reasons for picking IE over INSEAD, IMD or LBS. I assure you that I had credentials which qualified me for those schools: diverse international experience, multicultural background and an entrepreneurial professional background not mentioning great GMAT and GPA from a top U.S school.

Whether it pleases the people on this list or not, IE is a global top 10 MBA program. As an IE student, I highly respect all the three schools I mentioned as top European schools but I consider IE to be amongst them. Through IE, in addition to getting a superb education, I can live and study in the heart of the Spanish Capital and finish with my elective period at (amongst other IE partner schools) Cornell Johnson or NYU Stern. I can then decide to continue my education with a dual degree from MIT or Tufts. I rest assured that at least 25% of my classmates will become entrepreneurs possibly in their home countries and I won?t find myself lost amongst London finance and consulting job aspirants.

When we?re comparing Business schools, we need to go beyond rankings. Each person has to make their own personal ranking list of schools based on the combination each school offers. IE has wonderful rankings but it?s the combination it offers me and my classmates that attracted us to the school. And yes, I ?chose? to go to IE, ?super stars? do go to IE just as ?superstars? go to all top schools J "

Also, I did visit that Facebook group page and was very impressed by the credentials of students posted under the "Greetings & Introductions" topic in that message board.

Here is a link:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=231361317563&ref=ts#/group.php?v=app_2373072738&ref=ts&gid=73668820568

The group is private, and you have to request to join. I think they approve most people, though.

The link above won't work unless you are already logged into Facebook, by the way.

I don't know about IE but I do know about RSM and ale82 misrepresents the RSM MBA program. I did my MBA there and the quality of the professors was very low -- 2/3rds were flown in from other countries, many from the third world. Many of the professors did not have a PhD. The quality of the students was low and many could not speak English. The response of RSM to the problem of students not speaking English was to make the TOEFL optional. The career centre at RSM is truly awful. Avoid RSM like the plague.

Hmm I wouldn't view having professors from around the world as a bad thing. I went to undergrad at a major US university and we had our share of professors from India, Korea, etc. Those countries seem to produce a lot of professors! But, for the most part, their classes were as good as any American professors I had.

Anyway... it's fine if you think RSM had bad quality professors. But, I wouldn't blame that on the fact that many of them came from outside Europe. It's kind of an offensive thing to say to a group of people who come from all over the world.

On the other topics, you have a right to your opinion. But I think it's strange that a student would be so negative about his own school. Surely, you must have taken something positive away from the experience? I think if you told us both the good and the bad it would make your statements seem more credible. As it stands, it just sounds like you are trying to burn the school. The same way Ale is trying to burn IE...

Matter of personal views, of course..

I am nobody, but I was accepted and refused, I preferred to go to RSM, well known for having one of the toughest and most challenging faculties among top business schools!

Hi everybody,

I just sent all my application to ESADE.

The problem is that I have low gmat (580) but I have a really high GPA (110/110 in italy- top score with 28,2/30 of average) and real good career progression (31 y.o. with 7 years in marketing / sales in the 2 biggest FMCG companies worldwide. I'm actually a manager leading a group of 3 people.

I had also international experience in Spain and US and I'm fluent in english, spanish and italian.

In addition to that I had 3 references letters instead of the 2 required ( 2 sales director and 1 general manager).

I planned to repeat my gmat exam at the end of this month but this will be my fifth and last time. Incredible!!!

I'm really scared that though they told me I meet their requirements they could just reject me if I don't score better on the GMAT.

I'm incredibly frustrated because ESADE is my first choice and I really don't know how to improve the GMAT (at home I always score over 700 and it seems I have no problems).

However I really would appreciate every kind of opinion, especially from who lived a similar situation.

Is the GMAT so fundamental to enter?

Could I have a possibility with everything outstanding except this score?

Thanks everybody

Your high GPA tells them you are "book smart" in Italian. The GMAT shows if you are quick on your feet under pressure in English. There must be a difference between the practise setting and timing and the real test. Practice in a more similar setting. I think they will offer you a seat of you get 640.

When you choose a career path you usually met with loads of limitations. Even I had hard time in passing my Bar Exam and had to take it multiple times. At last I quit my job and concentrated completely on the test prep.

[Edited by Twigg33 on Jan 24, 2018]