Is there anybody can give me a feedback about the Rotterdam MBA? is it a valid school? and moreover which are the opportunities coming after?

I would be happy to give you feedback on RSM. I did an MBA up at RSM and was extremely disappointed with RSM. Avoid RSM at all cost. It is a very badly managed program, a quarter of the students can't speak English, the career centre doesn't function, hardly any recruiters come to campus, the alumni database doesn't work properly, and you won't get a good job out of RSM unless you are extremely lucky. Many students from the class that graduated one year ago are still unemployed and RSM is no help in the job search. Don't make the worst mistake of your life and attend the RSM MBA program.

Thanks a lot for your feedback.
I have been visiting the school and the MBA presentation, and I had a bad feeling concerning the Career Service. Actually it doesn't exist. They cancelled the summer internship which is one of the most valuable opportunity to get in the job you like.

I would be happy to talk with you a little more about your experience nevertheless (skype: lelefu)

I am a current MBA student at RSM and I definitely do not agree with the graduates opinion posted above... in fact I am very puzzled about the content of his/her post because it is very inconsistent with my experience.

The program is top-ranked and consistently climbing in ranks for many reasons, but I won't go into that. I will share with you my experience so far with the program now that Term 3 has just ended so you can get an understanding of 'The REAL truth about RSM' which is a far prettier picture than my disgruntled alumni friend has shared.

Since arriving at RSM I have felt like I am part of a very special group, - a diverse group from 40 some odd countries of nearly unparalleled diversity with respect to work experience, career background, life experience, languages, beliefs etc. This group has become my family and we have grown together, learned together and yes, partied together for the last 8 months and I will be sad to part ways with them come end of the program.

The content has been excellent; very enlightening, very relevant and very well-taught by exceptional professors who come from different corners of the globe to bring us knowledge with an international flavor, sharing experiences and key developments from their countries of origin. For example, in BSM (Business Society Management) the teacher comes from Costa Rica where he also teaches at INCAE and has tons of relevant insights and first hand knowledge from the workings of large fruit/vegetable producers (ie. Dole) on their quest to become Carbon Neutral in alignment with the governments impending regulations for a C-neutral country by 2020. This kind of local insight was very enlightening and something that can only be obtained in an international program like RSM's where teachers, not just students, embody the internationalism of the course.

Regarding the Career Office (we refer to it as CDC)... to say it is non-existent is absolutely false. They do exist, and they are an irreplaceable asset in the program. They have undergone some restructuring this year in order to ensure that they are working in alignment with MBA Participants needs and desires, and this has all been carried out in the most transparent of ways as they have consulted and worked with students to make this happen. They have coached me through my first interview of the year (also my first application) and I have no doubt that this was extremely valuable and allowed me to shine in ways I know I otherwise would have missed or overlooked. The CDC is continuously getting companies on campus for workshops and presentations based on a 'wish list' of companies the MBA class compiled and this has been excellent. They have also begun organizing visits to company offices and operations for groups of students interested which has been very valuable at building external relationships and learning first-hand, on-site, how many of these companies operate.

I am currently on holidays in another country so I will cut my reply a little shorter than my passion for the program wants, but I felt compelled to reply after seeing the 'opinion' you posted because I truly value the RSM's MBA program and I don't want anyone else to miss this opportunity because of one or two not-so-positive posts.. Just keep in mind, angry people always shout the loudest, so don't be deterred by what you read. If you want, you can visit the RSM website and in the MBA section you will find a list of grads and current students that you are free to contact for first hand experience.

I hope this has been helpful for you. Oh, and regarding internships, this is still an option for students if they are interested. The CDC office will help students to land something of interest for either the August break or for directly after the program ends in January so if an internship is important to you, fear not my friend. The internship has simply been taken out of the 'official' structure of the program because it has gone from a 15 month to 12 month program, with the major change being the removal of the 3 month internship period. Many students don't want to do internships and thus giving them a 3 month break costs a lot in terms of lost income, housing etc. so the program is basically now a 12 month program with optional internship if desired. In fact, many of my peers are doing 1 month internships now in different parts of the globe.

Best regards! If you have any doubts, visit the school and sit in on a class or two.. You will then be pleased to see 'the REAL truth about RSM'.. - that it is a top-ranked school for a reason.

I agree with you. I heard RSM has 2 weak points generally.
1. No star "profs"
2. weak function of career service; but it is similar to other
mba schools. % of job hit via the service is among 40-50% but RSM's is close to 40%.

3. Internship mentioned above: look at the employement result in 2009 at Insead. only 3% got a job from internship.
It looks needless.

Dear "Smart",

Could you explain to me what you mean when you say that RSM has no "star profs"? So far I have been very impressed by many of the professors teaching in the programme. Many of them were visiting faculty and even though they were not called Phil Kotler or Michael Porter, they did a pretty good job. The point is that many of the "star profs" who publish on HBR do not actually teach MBAs, because it is more profitable for them to travel around giving speeches at congresses.

As far as the careers service is concerned, I think that "CurrentRSM" explained the situation very well, and I invite you to read my post on the "Truth about RSM" where I also discuss the subject.

Cheers,

pwllo

Dear pwllo,
I read many comments here and got feedback from current/post RSMers.
their 2 main similar and general comments were profs and
career service.

Maybe great profs don't teach at MBA but there are still
star Profs in MBA market.

For example, NYU, the rich MBA buys Profs from Colombia
MBA so it now has higher ranking.
(Poor Colombia hates NYU: people say....)

Some people loves profs who taught something at HVD,
Warton, stanford...etc...

I guess they pointed out this.

Regarding CDS: I am happy to hear that change.

I expect RSM to buy profs from world top MBAs though I know the most important facor at MBA is quality of student.

As a joke, if somebody hire all profs from HVD, he/she will
become HVD. People think like that....

At least, star profs can gather good students.

Dear "smart",

I have actually had this discussion about profs with my classmates and I guess much of it is down to what kind of a person you as a student are. I personally feel that I had some very good professors over the year, who have really transferred something to me. Before studying at RSM I did my undergraduate studies at Warwick University, so I think I have a pretty good standard to compare with. I can tell you for example that my Organizational Behaviour, Management Accounting and Strategy professors were in my opinion outstanding. If you want to check out their profiles, they are called Bill Collins, Randy Kudar, Martin Mocker and Nick Bindell. I also really enjoyed the finance classes with Marc Schouten and Wouter De Maseneire.

I agree with you that the quality of the students is important, but how do you measure that? One of the things you learn on the MBA is that what you measure is what you will get. Many of the top programmes you mentioned decide to measure quality numerically using the GMAT or university GPA. However, these figures don't tell you anything about whether these people will be good managers in the future, or whether they will be fun to work with. I would say that some of the best people I have met on the MBA actually had pretty low GMAT scores, but they had great interpersonal skills and were good team workers. The problems usually arise when you are dealing with somebody with a 700+ GMAT who thinks he is smarter than everybody else and pisses the whole team off.

Ultimately it all boils down to what you want to get out of the MBA. Some people in my class signed up to the MBA because they thought that the profs and CDC would serve them a job in finance or consulting on a silver plate. It will not come as a surprise that they are the most disgruntled. But the majority of people doing MBAs are pretty ordinary people who want to build their knowledge and apply critical thinking (which is systematically supressed in many companies). For me personally that is a great thing because in life you will not be meeting that many true geniuses, and it will be your task as a manager to help ordinary people achieve great results.

Dear current student.
I haven't experienced RSM and just watched out how it is.
After gathering information about RSM, I found 2 most & similar opinion about her: Prof/CDC.

I don't want to lead this conversation into checking out "reality" and/or "truth".

Because, I just am interested in this school and recognized
it is great but there are some "other view point".

The VOC(Voice of Customer) is not harmful. Let me guess.
RSM is within EU top 10? it can become EU top 5 or 3 after
fixing disadvantages.

You don't need to try out saying "RSM is gorgious, everything is outstanding".(Your answer is not good depending on personal feeling jusk like the complaints did so..)

I just mentioned NYU example because you said, Poter doesn't want to be a teacher due to money.
"Due to Money" Many Colombia MBA teachers became NYU
teacher! Why not buying Colomiba MBA teacher to be more
famous? Am I too much sophisticated? OK..whatever...

Remember, NYU is not stupid and not wasting money.
Students like it. I don't mean current RSM has poor profs.

Student quality: I don't mention GPA, GMAT.
I love to meet people with "deep intuition" based on their
work experience...success things, bad things..their companies' solution, startegy and result and their personal
ideal image of future answer in terms of strategy, organization, process..and so forth.
That is how I measure the student. do you content?

Please do not say like that: I want "brand" because I want to
meet not only "local talents" but also "global talents" from
not only "ordinary" industry but also "IB, consulting".
-> this is all MBA students want to.

local people admire no.2 or 3 in a region but people far from
local don't know no.2 and don't apply. That's why we cannot
overlook the brand easily.
Your remark looks that if you are in IB,consulting, don't come to RSM. IB, consul are also an important part of "DIVERSITY". Do not limit your student composition.
As an ordinary industry guy, I also want to talk with them!!

please also do not expand our conversation scope.
I know Insead (consul>ind>fin), imd(ind>con>fin), oxford
(fin), cam(governmental)...etc...

You don't know one thing. Even Insead, wharton..more than
half of them cannot meet short term ROI with their post MBA job. It is not the matter of RSM only.
In terms of that, all MBA are highway rubbery

Please do not release other "looks like weakpoint".
I like RSM.
I heard RSM's new dean also want to raise its reputation.
That's what I want: pleaes be global top 10 when I apply.
IF YOU DON"T MIND...

childish young baby will say:
I am superior with my 700. (Most asians are over 700.
it is not the news! I think the tongue made in UK, US shoul
have 700. It is written by ENG.^^)
At the same time, I admire higher GMAT, GPA though they
cannot show somebody at all.
(it is really needless to say like amateur.)
Maybe, global applicants looks similar in their resume and
essay. then...MBAs need to utilize "score" to line up student.
anyway, there's limited seat.

By the way, how do u know each gmat score?
Are you guys say "hello, my name is blabla with 750 gmat"??

If you look around at some B-school rankings, pay attention to the average GMAT score quoted for RSM. The reality is that it is way lower than that.

Now i will leave it up to you to decide whether a GMAT score is a good predictor of anything at all, i am just pointing this fact out. In any way, if you see alarmingly low GMAT score, this does raise concerns in my world.

As for the quality of the profs, I have to agree that although there are quite a few very good ones, there isn't any star prof, and noone who comes even close to being a star prof. At the same time, there are quite a few ones who are terrible and not deserving to teach even undergraduate level. This is the truth.

I guess it all depends where you come from, and like is said in one of my other posts, what your reasons are for pursuing an MBA degree. If your career post MBA is of a great importance to you, espeically one outside the NL, you can really do better at other schools. Else, RSM is awesome

The GMAT average at RSM is as stated, and not below that. How could a business school get away with reporting anything other? If you 'noonesense' are so certain of what you claim to be a fact, please do share your evidence.

Who needs star profs? If a star prof is Porter or someone else who published management theories 50 years ago then others can have them. I suppose since some students at RSM have different concentrations and different electives we're not all exposed to the same teachers, but I assure you RSM has some very brilliant professors, worthy of being considered stars. Here's a short list of the one's that really had an impact on me:

Kurt April
Rodger George
Bill Collins
Martin Mocker
Randy Kudar
Mauricio Jenkins
and several others...

I can only recall one professor that I was really disappointed with, but I still took away from that class what was necessary, and shared my displeasure with administration.

If you want an international career, with strong brand mobility in Europe and decent recognition in North America, than RSM is a good candidate for you to explore further. If your looking for 'star' profs, a job on a silver platter and career services that work like your personal secretary, you should probably consider somewhere else. Please let me know if you ever find such a place.

There was one very valid statement in the above comment from 'nonesense'.. "RSM is awesome". To that, I fully agree mate.

I fully agree with CurrentRSM, and would add the following professors to the list:

Nick Binedell (Advaced Strategy)
Patrick Reinmoller (Strategic Design Skills)
Berk Ataman (Brand Management)

I was also displeased with one particular professor, and I've been informed by the administration that this person will be replaced next year following poor student reviews.

I also believe that the amount of flak directed at the CDC is absurd. Its function is to prepare you to manage your career, not do it for you. The sooner you can figure out what it is that you want to do and what are your competitive advantages, the more the CDC will be able to help you.

As I reach the final stages of the programme, I can say that I am really happy with the education that I received here and I look forward to re-entering the world of business. RSM is a great place for broad-minded people who seek an MBA to expand their knowledge and understand the implications of running a business with a long-term perspective. People who don't feel represented by the above description need not apply.

Like I have said above, The RSM experience is indeed a very good one. However, prepare well in advance about what you are getting yourself into, in order to avoid disappointment. In terms of Career Services, very few similarly ranked MBA programs in Europe have poorer one. SDA Boconni for example is miles ahead, and no matter how many posts will appear here stating otherwise, denial will not help CDC, only hard work with visible results will.

To make up one's mind, take all the extremely negative comments about RSM and discount them by a factor of two (on this board), do the same with the extremely rosy, positive ones, and you will get a clearer picture.

I have difficulties believing that 'nonesense' is actually an RSM students or alumni. Much of what he/she says is very inconsistent and leads me to believe it is an outsider (Bocconi?) trying to cast a shadow on RSM's great program. I have friends on exchange at Bocconi and I have heard all about their career services, which are miles behind RSM's.. miles! Couple with the fact that they have it easy placing the majority of students who are native to Italy already.

Furthermore, for a clearer picture of what RSM is all about, take the square root of all the negative comments, keep the positive ones as is (because they come from REAL RSM students feedback) and delete all other 'nonesense' from the equation. That seems more accurate now.

"noonesense" - SDA Bocconi may have better CDC services but it is the ONLY criteria where they excel and it has a lot to do with their name, history, network, location and not necessarily with the quality of the CDC staff (BTW they are very good in Milan and just bout average elsewhere) So we can't really put RSM CDC down on the same terms.

Overall RSM is a better program in terms of students, professors, professionalism and more. I'd say CDC needed a change, they made some change and most likely more change will be made in order to get recognition from students. So future batches should benefit from this turnaround, let's not discourage them.

Anyways - just wanted to clarify the Bocconi thing :)))

RSM has been falling in all of the rankings (e.g., The Financial Times, The Economist) and is no longer, despite what the school advertises, a top 10 European MBA programme. Through mismanagement and bad leadership, it is now fast becoming a 3rd-tier programme. Apart from the dramatic falls in the rankings, the average post-MBA salary has decreased by 33% in the past 5 years from $104k in 2006 to $70k in 2011, and is now less than the salary many people earn pre-MBA. The career centre hardly functions, apart from reporting employment figures for the rankings, and you will not see many of the companies advertised in the marketing brochures actually coming to recruit RSM students -- top consulting firms and banks do not target RSM. And, after graduation, the career centre ceases to do anything for the graduates, nor is there a strong alumni network. I know several people who graduated from there in the past few years who are either unemployed or who had to go back and work for the same company at around the same salary they had before the MBA. In fact, considering the debt and loss of income, the RSM MBA has ruined the lives of some people I know.

Please post your comments only in one place "MBAguru". The discussion is unfolding here: http://www.find-mba.com/board/17257/last/#last