guys, I could use some advice. I am from the east coast US and I am thinking about going to Europe for my MBA. Ideally I would study for a year and then work there for a while. I just am trying to decide, which programs to apply to. These are my thought so far:

HEC Paris. Good international mobility. I speak decent (B1) French so this could be an asset for me in terms of employment.

LBS. Good school in a country where I am fluent with the language BUT I don't know if my GMAT score will be good enough. I am scoring 680 on the practice exams.

IE Business School. If I did my MBA here I would try to use it as a platform to launch a start-up in Madrid. Problem is I don't speak Spanish, literally none at all.

Essec. Good location again. I'm not so interested in luxury management though, and it seems like this school focuses in this area.

Imperial. A back up assuming I cannot get into LBS. But I am worried about immigration issues in England.

I have some time, but if anybody could help me at this stage refine my choices that would be great.

Yes, LBS is a stretch unless you want to work on your GMAT more. 680 in the practise tests maybe means 640 in the real test, and you'd need to be superb to get in to LBS with under 700. HEC seems like the strong choice because, as a career changer, you'll benefit from the longer format, specialisations and internships.

I don't think ESSEC is focussed on luxury. Just look at the French-language website. It's a general management school, with a huge range of specialist masters.

With a top MBA from the UK (LBS, Oxbridge, Manchester, Imperial, Cass, Warwick and Cranfield) I don't think immigration issue are a real issue. They won't accept you if they don't think you can be placed.In your shoes,

That said, remember that French students will arrive at HEC with strong analytical skills, so the French schools excel at leadership, soft skills, networking and advanced electives. If you want to really build the core MBA skills, then London, Cranfield or IESE are perhaps better options.

Very helpful, thank you. Just one more questions: you say that ESSEC isn't really focused on luxury, so what do you think of how its general MBA fares against HEC's?

IESE is an interesting choice, I hadn't really considered schools in Spain (other than IE) but this is definitely a possibility.

[Edited by princesspam on Jun 02, 2015]

Obviously ESSEC is very good for luxury, and also for lots of other things. It's taken a different emphasis with its degrees, very much a niche strategy with many specialised masters and a very intimate cohort for the Global MBA. I think the generic issues are at work with long versus short MBAs. The short program is better for people with less of a career change in mind, and the longer program is better for people with a bigger set of challenges.

Thanks for the advice.

Guys: is IE or IESE a good MBA choice if I don't speak Spanish?

What are your goals? These are grea schools, but working in Spain will require Spanish.

See:

Do you need to speak the local language? www.find-mba.com/board/34713

Best schools for international students' placement http://www.find-mba.com/board/41143

My goals are to live and work in either Barcelona or Madrid after I graduate. I would look for international jobs in management consulting, which I would assume would require good English skills. I am starting to learn Spanish now, though.

Are there international management consulting firms in Barcelona and Madrid with English as a working language, and which are large enough to hire MBAs? That would surprise me. Surely MC firms in Spain would serve a domestic market, and thus work in Spanish.

Yes, I'm skeptical as well.

From McKinsey's Spain site, on its analyst career specs (which is a route into associate positions):

We welcome applications for fellow positions from people fluent in Spanish and English who have a bachelor’s or a master’s degree, and less than two years of professional experience.

As mentioned, ESSEC doesn't only specialize in luxury. They also specialize in hospitality and many other things, depending on the course. The ESSEC Global MBA is a non-specialized MBA which is flexible so you can make it what you need it to be. You don't have to speak French to do this program but it is recommended if you want to find a job in France.

anialuna, are you involved with the school? Perhaps it would help applicants here if you could post some job stats: i.e., how many Global MBA grads landed jobs in Europe/France/elsewhere.

Yes, I would appreciate career statistics as well. I've looked all over the website but can't find them anywhere!