Hi All,

I am currently planning to study GMAT as well as German language this year, and would like to have your input on which school to apply for and whether the direction/goal I have is reasonable, and of course other advice will be appreciated.

My background:
- Indonesian born Chinese living in China for 9 years, speak fluent English, Mandarin, and of course Native Indonesian.
- 4 years working experience in professional consulting firm, mainly recruitment industry.
- Have less than a year management experience.
- Zero German, but plan to get at least A1 by this year and apply for residence (as I am married to a German as well)

Career target:
- Ideally to switch function to Marketing – global strategy area, or in HR function with more Business insight role.
- Will be living in Germany after MBA, find opportunity in Germany as well.
- Work in a multinational company but global coverage role function.

I have done some research on B-schools in Germany (I believe this is the only country that I will take my higher education as I am intending to speak good German with a sufficient environment).
- Mannheim BS
- WHU
- HHL
My priority will be Mannheim BS as they do have the programs I am very keen to study, however my concern will be GMAT score as they do have quite high average. According to your experience, IF my GMAT does not hit their average score, would I still be their “type of candidate” with background I have?

Please let me know if you have other advice, and whether my career target will be somehow reasonable.

Thank you.

The GMAT and the academic transcript will be important. Right now, it sounds like you are not a candidate they would find easy to place. Why not aim for one of the January intake schools so you can get to a higher level of German on the way in?

Considering your career goal, I think a better plan could be to learn German to fluency, and then take an specialist MSc programme taught in German. Given your background, I am not sure that it's realistic to plan for an typical MBA role in Germany, since these require German. An MSc taught in German would also improve your business vocabulary more than a German course aimed at students could do.

The MBA can be taught in any language. If you want to work in Germany, employers will be more concerned about your knowledge of the German language and business culture than your ability to complete an MBA in English. The MBA is a rather new qualification in German, and it's less well understood by many German employers.

It's not the case that you can learn German to the level of professional fluency during a one year MBA (that is a full-time study year, with typically taking 40 weeks for the DSH 2 exam, though you can shave off 4 or 5 weeks if you get to A1 before then). Remember, you need not only academic German skills, which are focussed on reading and writing, but also the ability to negotiate and persuade orally. See Do you need to speak the local language? www.find-mba.com/board/34713

[Edited by Duncan on Jan 07, 2015]

In that case, perhaps you could consider a part-time MBA or EMBA alongside an intensive German course. I think language skills and cross-cultural capacity will be more important for you than a degree.