Hi all,

I hope this finds you well.

I was writing because I have serious doubts between what school to choose, and more importantly how to choose them.

Background info would be the following. I have about 6 years professional experience in business service providers for the life science industry (e.g., corporate strategy, business development and patient engagement) and as a founder of a medical device venture. My objective is to transition outside of the life science sector towards social (including sustainability). Making use of my previous experience I see global health as the area with the higher chances of achieving a higher position. Employers vary, could be international organizations or for profit in impact space (e.g., impact investing VC firms), the role I am looking for is the same either way, create and support new ventures and initiatives for economic development in social impact sector. However, what I am really looking forward is to validate what to do next in my career.

My main doubts are between IMD and Oxford + Cambridge. What I like about IMD is its location (not only Lausanne but Switzerland as a whole), and its focus on one-on-one personal development, the coaching and psicoanalysis sessions, plus its relationship with the COP, the WBCSD, and overall theme of sustainability.
For Oxford, I really believe is a better brand and the overall career options might be bigger because of it, additionnally it has strong or even stronger in social impact, maybe not so much on sustainability site of it but on social impact as a whole. The college system is something I am also deeply attracted to, at least on paper, I am unsure what will be the impact in real-life. For Cambridge the reasoning might be the same as Oxford, but with the balance tending towards the tech ecosystem and the push they are doing now in social innovation, in any case is the 2nd option, being IMD and Oxford the firsts ones in a tie.

Another aspect is location, long-term I would see myself living in Switzerland. At least is a preference over the UK. However, for what I have seen, many people move to Switzerland after an MBA elsewhere, Oxford for example, so I am not sure how much to value this factor or if the Oxford brand should weight more.

Do you have any input? I am really struggling in knowing HOW to make the decision.
How is live in Oxford? Do you think the added value of IMD in terms of coaching can be supplemented externally? For example paying for it myself (psychoanalysis focused on career development).

Thank you very much!
Bests
­Alfons­

Overall, I think you need to think more about career strategy and re-evaluate the assumption that a top MBA is the best path.

Can you find some LinkedIn profiles of people with your background who have made the transition you want to make? I can't exactly put a finger on examples of social impact roles that require a top-tier MBA.

Oxford is lovely but what you describe feels more like Cambridge to me. IMD is highly personalised, and I think it's important that you're coached by someone familiar with people with similar aspirations. Maybe you already have strong coaching or psychological support, but the benefit of IMD is that it really happens.