got admitted for both mba programs. which has the better and more valuable name by employers in europe and elsewhere like asia and north america? st galeln is young and not ranked yet by Financial Times. how marketable are they outside of german speaking europe?

Congratulations! You really have a problem that is nice to have. :-)

In my opinion, both schools are the top choices for a full-time MBA program in the German speaking world. I would prefer Mannheim as they are ranked in many international rankings (Economist, America Economia, Expansion), they are triple accredited and they have a large corporate network in Germany. On the other hand, St. Gallen is known for its practical-oriented approach in the German speaking countries.

thx johnny. can u or anyone else on this board speak 2 living conditions and quality of life in mannheim and sankt gallen? I have heard mixed reviews on mannheim. how enjoyable is it to live in either cities for a year? social/dating life?

Hi there, congrats on the admit. I was interested in both these schools and researched/visited both before deciding on a school.

The first difference I noticed was that Mannheim's building is a lot more impressive! Looks can be deceptive but it is a nice first impression.

I looked in to the rankings and what I found was that basically that Mannheim has the Economist ranking and St.Gallen has WSJ and BusinessWeek. Both are missing from the FT MBA ranking but are in the EMBA etc rankings.

Sorry JohnnyL,the other two rankings mentioned above are a joke though!

Big advantage for St.Gallen is that it has a really nice city, good safe atmosphoere, and a huge plus is that it is in Switzerland (so long as you don't mind a higher cost!).

Both are good schools, you will do well with either. not sure about the dating opportunities though... depends how good looking you are ;-)

thx for sharing. what is mannheim like outside of its castle?

bob, in regards to your last bit, i can hold my own and turn heads on occasions for positive reasons I think :)

More like a stately home than a castle... but impressive anyway. Ideal would be to put Mannheims castle in St. Gallen!

Mannheim is a nice enough German city, you can get a lot better though. Two things I didn't like were the fact that you have the main rail lines going directly behind the school followed by the river and then the BASF chemical facilities (or something like that). Second was that I couldn't figure out the city grid system but then that is probably just me.

Didn't get the feeling that the local talent was better in one of the schools. Both are good though since they are University towns.

I think it really depends on your preferences. St. Gallen is a beautiful place to be, very close to the alps and the financial hub Zurich. On the other hand, Mannheim is located very close to Frankfurt, the Stuttgart area and companies like BASF and SAP. When you drive a few miles outside Mannheim, you will find a lot of lovely forests, wineyards and restaurants.

you guys make excellent points. sankt gallen is indeed beautiful and picturesque. mannheim is very much industrial and not the most appealing of cities. curriculum, however, seems really strong and already highly ranked.

however, if one is not interested in moving into banking (yet open to living / working in switzerland), does that lessen st. gallen's relevance/appeal from a curriculum perspective?

Hi there,

I wouldn't say that St. Gallen is focused on banking. As far as I am informed, may of their graduates start their careers in consulting. Mannheim seems to be focused on industry/B2B (automotive, manufacturing, chemical, pharmaceutical) and consulting.

Best,
JL