I am software team leader working in the automotive industry since 7 years , currently I am looking to make a career shift to consultancy or business development in europe or Dubai.
I have an international experience, I worked in 3 different countries , two in Europe and one in middle east.
I scored 630 in GMAT

I have been in contact with IMD and IESE , they have made a profile assessment and they indicated that there is an initial fit between my profile and the universities. I believe that they are great universities but I am concerned regarding two points:
1) the size of their networks in the middle east?
2) the price and fees specially that I am planning to take a loan (I believe as well that economy now is not in its best position because of covid 19)
for example I found in case of IMD , I will need to pay around 1200 usd monthly for 10 years for prodigy finance
to be honest I would prefer IMD because of the shorter duration.

because of the fees issues, I started to consider another universities.
I got in contact with RSM , Imperial , Cass , Manchster, warwick.
After comparison :I felt that I would be more interested in RSM or Manchster because of their internship options.


I have another option as well , I am currently living in Munich and Iese is providing new EMBA in Munich , I can apply to it and continue working that will decrease the burden of the fees.However I am not sure if the emba at IESE will help me to do the career shift

If you want to stay in the automotive industry then the IESE MBA is a great option. If you want to change role, and industry and country then you will benefit from a longer-format full-time MBA like IESE, LBS or Manchester which have more electives and an internship.

Manchester and LBS seem like the obvious choices. They have campuses in Dubai, the only other place you seem to have a specific focus on, where you can take electives and leverage large and well-rooted alumni networks (used LinkedIn to compare the networks).

PS The difference in price is negligible compared to the difference in lifetime value. It's the best investment most people can ever make, after basic preventative healthcare.

[Edited by Duncan on Apr 12, 2020]

Thanks Duncan so much for your reply, it is really helpful.

Just to confirm, if I want to continue in automotive industry , I should go with the EMBA IESE in Munich?

to be honest I dont think I have a chance with LBS because of my gmat score.

Another point, comparing RSM with MBS?

I thought RSM is better option compared to MBS because it is the best school in Netherlands. I don't see in the FT ranking any other university in Netherlands

Regarding MBS, I believe it comes after LBS , Oxford , and Cambridge in UK. so the competition in the market would be higher than Netherlands. Also I noticed it is employment rate is around 85%

would you advise regarding this point , to be honest I expect that the competition would be higher in UK but I am not sure about the size of market comparing Netherlands and UK specially after Brexit?

Also I feel from your point of view , you dont think that IMD would be a good option for me?

Yes, the auto industry is strong in Germany. IESE is an excellent school. If you want to stay where you are then it's a great choice.

RSM's MBA is not a better option than MBS's if you want to make a big change (two or three out of country, role and industry). MBS has more project opportunities, more electives and internship opportunities. MBS alumni always earn more than RSM's. They are slower to get into the workplace because more of their students are making big changes. Obviously it's slower to find a different role than a similar one.

If competition was higher in the UK, then MBS graduates would not earn more. I think it's rather different at RSM, since their alumni earn less. Also, there is no one labour market for RSM MBAs. There are few MBAs who speak Dutch, and many MBAs who do not speak Dutch. However, Dutch is the language of the Netherlands. Non-Dutch speakers have quite a competitive market, as do non-German speakers in Germany. I guess you have noticed that.

I don't understand why you think Brexit will change the relative size of the British and Dutch markets. UK GDP is forecast to grow more quickly than that of The Netherlands. It's a bigger economy and, in my personal opinion, more open to international talent at the managerial level.

I don't think you are targeting the firms that hire from IMD. If you were, then that's best school to go to.

[Edited by Duncan on Apr 12, 2020]