Hello

I am looking for input from someone who has a detailed understanding of the EU MBA market and who has been through it. I am from India and have recently been accepted by the HEC Paris MBA program. I am excited to be accepted as it is a very strong brand in France, however, their career report and career opportunities present some reasons for concern.

a. Mean Salaries of 128000 $. Now I am already working in the European market and this number is hard for me to believe because most people I have seen who make this kind of money are Directors or VPs. Morever, Insead Mean salary is 105000 $. Now, I understand that Insead maybe considered a slightly better program so I cannot explain the difference in salaries. Some can make the argument that its because of purchasing power parity inflation of salaries. Even on this count, Insead is a more international program and is subject to the same inflationary pressure as HEC, even more so as their graduates also tend to spread across the globe. Are HEC Grads really making better salaries than Insead and LBS grads ? What is the reality after a program like HEC ?

b. Career Centre Facilitated Internships and Jobs : I understand that this is a week point for MBA programs across Europe, but from talking to HEC Grads from 2015 and before, I understand that most jobs are obtained via the Alumni network and on campus recruitment does not exist. The reason I mention this is I see the MBA as a time to develop soft skills and hard skills to be ready when companies come on campus, however, I see that it is more likely at HEC that I would spend that time on sending cold emails and reaching out to people on Linkedin, leaving me lesser time to actually work on self improvement and bonding with classmates. Has the situation now improved in 2020 ? That Career centre has become much more active in facilitating face time with recruiters and opportunities in consulting and Technology ? (My industries of interest). I understand that INSEAD and LBS have dedicated recruitment into these sectors and schools like IMD are feeders for leadership roles.

c. Getting "a" job vs Getting "the" Job : Having already been part of the EU job market from a decent masters program, my impression from my job search and observing other internationals is that getting a job is easy if you are non demanding with respect to what and where you work. Getting "the" Job is however hard. Meaning getting into consulting with a reputable firm, or in a strategy function in the industry, especially when it comes to making a Pivot to a different industry or function. An MBA of HEC's calibre should in the ideal world be able to make this happen for students who work for it, at least the high rankings suggest so. Is this a reasonable expectation ? I do not want to spend 100K to do an MBA to get "a" job again.


d. Grande Ecole vs MBA - Are HEC Mba grads considered to be a by product offering of the Grande Ecole program for which HEC is really known for ? The high rankings (3rd in Economist, 9th in Ft, 7th in QS) suggest the MBA from HEC has come of age and into its own identity but it does matter if the alumni think you are a byproduct of their school and not a real HEC grad as it would affect future networking and circles. I have already worked with French Grande Ecole grads and my impression of them is that they are already quite snooty to other grads from lower ranked schools. Dont know it translates to grads of non grande Ecole departments of same schools.

Your input would be very much appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance.

You have asked the same question on another forum, so I suggest people reply to you at https://gmatclub.com/forum/hec-paris-mba-career-outcomes-questions-330332.html 

[Edited by Duncan on Jul 29, 2020]