Dear Forum members,

I am new in that forum and I have searched the forum about this comparison, however, I could not find any w.r.t Mannheim vs St Gallen.

My background ;
700 GMAT, 5 years work experience in multinational companies, 3.00 GPA.

I have got admission from these two schools and I am really confused which one I should accept. I heard that St. Gallen has little more reputation than Mannheim. But the MBA fee is nearly 50% more than Mannheim. I also look forward to learn German but the German in Switzerland is also horrible. My questions are ,

1) Is it worth to pay 50% more to a program which is more or less same in the rankings.
2) Which do you think is better and why ?

Latest rankings
Mannheim #69 acc. to Financial Times Global Mba 2013 Rankings
St.Gallen #82 acc to Financial Times Global Mba 2013 Rankings

St. Gallen's reputation is much higher than Mannheim's in the Germany-speaking region. It's a really elite school, with a reputation going back to the 19th century. Salaries are higher at HSG, and increase more quickly. Needless to say, HSG is also in Switzerland, where both costs and wages are higher.

I think you should choose between Germany and Switzerland, and then choose the schools accordingly.

I'd generally agree that the biggest decision really comes down to Germany vs. Switzerland. Also, it would depend on your career goals to some extent. St. Gallen has good placements in finance and manufacturing, while Mannheim might be a bit better for consulting and tech jobs.

But the salary gap isn't really that big: FT's data show that the difference is around $3,000 USD annually, and that Mannheim grads generally get a bigger salary bump after graduation.

Latest rankings
Mannheim #69 acc. to Financial Times Global Mba 2013 Rankings
St.Gallen #82 acc to Financial Times Global Mba 2013 Rankings

Hi, I have been accepted to several MBA such as Mannheim, st gallen and macguil. Without any doubts if you start to llonking the facts in details and not to folow the ranking the choice will be obviously easy.
- salary st gallen average is arond 120 000 doll without bonus( and not the ones whic is annouced in the financial time, by the way qs ranking is the most accurate ranking you can find)
- employement is better is suiise than in europe, us, germany...
- the only country woth 3 internationnal languages
- the best masters in management of the world, so the quality of teh education is clearly on top.
- living in suiwerland is answome( when we have the good job, in case not is juts terrible)
- the opportunity to visit italy, germany, austria or france just for a week end.

Clearly you see what makes st gallen probably the most promising mba in the next 5 years.

Of course St. Gallen doesn't suit everyone. Diversity is not valued as highly in German-speaking Switzerland as in some other places, so it's a much better choice for a white German-speaking man than for other people.

It's also important to put wages into the context of prices. If we compare MBA hub cities, for example, Zurich is 75% more expensive than Frankfurt (http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Germany&city1=Frankfurt&country2=Switzerland&city2=Zurich). That's why St. Gallen alumni in Switzerland earn 75% more than alumni outside Switzerland (http://www.mba.unisg.ch/files/St.GallenMBAPlacementReport2011.pdf).

I don't think one can ignore the figures from the FT. These are collected from alumni, and the data for HSG was audited in 2013. I think the FT has more resources than QS.

The most promising MBAs remain the top ten international schools.

Guys

I have also got admit and scholarship from the Warwick and the costs of the following programs are as follows with scholarships.


St Gallen> Mannheim > Warwick

What are your ideas and why? I really confused.

These are broadly similar options. Other things being equal, I think St Gallen has the better educational experience and Warwick the weakest. But focus on your career goals. These options are close enough that it's really their fit with your goals that matters.

PS Of course at St Gallen you will be taught high German, not Swiss German, and high German will understood everywhere.

Thanks JK Duncan you are very helpful. Guys any other suggestions ? I am not looking for banking jobs but rather consulting jobs in big 4 or Mc Kinsey. The other option for me is strategy in an industry company.

Thanks Best Regards

This is a good approach: http://www.find-mba.com/board/33571 I looked at MBAs in Germany who work at McKinsey or the Big 4. http://www.linkedin.com/search/fpsearch?keywords=MBA&searchLocationType=I&countryCode=de&keepFacets=keepFacets&page_num=1&facet_CC=1044+1371+2525300+1045+1038+1073&search=&pplSearchOrigin=MDYS&viewCriteria=2&sortCriteria=R&facetsOrder=N%2CI%2CED%2CL%2CFG%2CTE%2CFA%2CSE%2CP%2CCS%2CF%2CDR%2CCC%2CG%2CPC&redir=redir

The top schools are: Insead and WHU, followed by EBS, TU Munich, Mannheim, and HHL.

Looking more broadly at MC in Germany (So adding in BCG, Accenture, Berger, Bain etc) Insead and WHU and still top, followed by Mannheim and EBS. Northwestern and HSG also get into the top ten.

PS Filtering that for strategy, the leaders are again Insead, WHU, Mannheim and EBS. The next layer is Northwestern, TU Munich, HSG and IESE.

Thank you Duncan you are very helpful. It's not easy to select when the tuitions are equal of these two schools. For me they are both great but which one and why I cannot decide. I cannot find an alumni to contact also.

Thanks again.

I am sure that the schools will be happy to connect you with alumni. HSG is a niche product so, Mannheim is a safer choice.

Dear JK Duncan,

Thank you very much for providing invaluable insights about the St. Gallen MBA programme. I am an Indian student and want to study full time MBA at St. Gallen with business sustainability and energy electives . However, I don't have Swiss work permit and limited knowledge of German language.

Would you recommend St. Gallen MBA for Indian students.Can we expect career opportunities in Switzerland after completing MBA. Please also advise whether tier-2 UK MBA is safer choice as compared to St. Gallen MBA.

Warm Regards

I think it depends on the alternative UK school, and your appetite to learn German. If you can get into a UK school thats better or equal, then you have a big advantage that the UK speaks English and that there's a lot of Indian talent here.

Also read http://www.find-mba.com/board/34713

Dear JK Duncan,

Thank you very much for kind advice and providing link to your great board post. I wanted to compare St. Gallen with UK B-Schools like Warwick & Cranfield (I got admit in these tier-2 UK schools). However, I could not get admit into LBS or Judge due to low GMAT score. As you have already advised in earlier posts that education experience is quite good at St. Gallen. However, class size is small. I don't know whether small class is better or disadvantageous in terms of networking opportunities.

I wanted to work for some time in country where I complete my MBA. It will enable me to pay education loans. Can you please throw some light on post MBA job & work permit scenario in UK & Switzerland. Which place can provide better career opportunities post MBA study? I feel that work permits are really difficult due to stricter Govt. regulations. Returning to India with large loans can be quite burdensome.

Kindly advise about career opportunities after completing MBA. It will help me immensely in taking a conscious decision.

Thanks & Kind Regards

In your situation, I would probably take Cranfield. When we take into account the higher cost of living in Switzerland, HSG doesn't have a salary premium over it. However, your lack of business-standard German does restrict your options.

Broadly speaking, larger classes are better: they show that the school has been able to stimulate demand and they give the school scale. However, this is not a major obstacle for HSG, which has been the dominant business school in the DACHs region for a century and has a strong reputation. HSG knows how to pick students that it thinks will do well with its employers and, if they offer you a seat, then I think you should consider that seriously (For context, I was rejected by HSG, even though I was accepted by several business schools, including LBS, ESADE, RSM, EM Lyon, EDHEC and Birmingham). The work permit position is challenging everywhere in Europe, but it's not a major obstacle for graduates from such excellent MBAs.

At the HSG, learning German is mandatory (http://www.mba.unisg.ch/programmes/full-time-mba/language-classes.php). Unless you arrive at HSG with B2 German, it's hard to see how you can find work outside of an English-speaking workplace. Perhaps most Indian MBAs in Switzerland are working for IT firms whose staff are more in India than anywhere else (Cognizant, IBM, Infosys, Tata, Mahindra Satyam...) or in multinational pharma, FMCG or banks (Novartis, Nestle, Credit Suisse). If you have an aptitude for German and have a background than might lead in one of these directions, then I encourage you to go the HSG. It's am amazing place to be, it will be a huge boost for your career and learning another language is a massive like skill.

If this is not the right direction for you, however, then the UK is a less risky choice.

Dear JK Duncan,

Good evening,

Thank you so much for kind help. I am grateful to you for your esteemed & detailed guidance. It's really amazing to know that you got admits to such great B-schools. It's like dream come true. Hats off to you for great achievement. I was not aware that HSG is so selective B-school. I am surprised.

I belong to non-IT field & non-pharma industry. My experience is in energy & petroleum domain, so I wanted to study MBA with special focus on sustainability & energy electives. It's difficult for me to find students with energy or Oil & Gas background in these B-Schools.

I feel if I work hard and learn German, then I have good chance in getting career opportunities in energy/renewable energy and engineering industry in Switzerland after completing my MBA from St. Gallen.

Kindest Regards

Hi Duncan,

just out of interest, why did you shortlist Birmingham as one of your target schools back then when you had decided to do an MBA? It wasn't and still isn't a tier 1 business school.

[Edited by yipkc on Jan 19, 2016]

My partner was doing her PhD here.

Understood. :) What does she think about the MBA in terms of anything?

[Edited by yipkc on Jan 19, 2016]