Hello everyone,

I have 5 years work experience, 2 years at Ernst & Young assurance and 3 years of FP&A at a large holding company at TURKEY. I want to switch my career to consulting or IB in Europe.
I already have a BA in economics and MSc in Finance degree in my country's reputable universities.

RSM MBA atracts me with affordable price,diversity and ING bank loan options w/o co-signer. But I read a lot of bad comments here. I made a little bit research and I read about prodigy finance loan options for Cass. What would you recommend me for a consulting career. ? Is Dutch language mandatory for job offers in Netherlands ?

Thank you

I think this might depend on what sort of consulting you want to do, but generally consultants work with clients and need to use the language of the national market. That's not specific to The Netherlands, and I'm it's true also in Turkey, where most consultants have studied at Turkish universities and even those who have studied abroad (Insead, Columbia, London Business School notably) are also Turks. It's not the fault of RSM that MBA applicants fail to understand the implications of studying in countries where they don't speak the language and, indeed, it gets good outcomes for graduates.

If you want to work in IB, or don't want to learn Dutch, then Cass is a better option than RSM.

If you did want to work in consulting in The Netherlands, then *of course* you would need to speak Dutch, because clients want to speak their own language. Luckily it's a pretty easy language to learn if you speak English or German. Nyenrode could actually be a better choice for consultancy in the Netherlands, and it has a much stronger alumni network in that sector.

PS The UvA has an excellent programme which takes people to fluency over four sessions, each of four weeks: http://intt.uva.nl/dutch-for-foreigners/dutch-for-foreigners.html

Thank you for your reply Duncan. I have never heard about Nyenrode. According to financial times european mba rankings they are far below of RSM. Actually I want to work in management consultancy but I know it's really hard and competitive.. Big4 consulting jobs may be better choice for me. Because I have 2 years of experince in EY. Mergers & Acquisition depts. of big4 and IBanks will be my target.

Outside of career goal the most important thing is funding the MBA. Because of my country's weak currency 1 ? = 2,3 TRY it's really hard to save for MBA even my salary is far above the average when you convert it euro it means nothing..

I connected with the admission office of RSM and I learned that I'm eligible for ING bank loans. Do you know any other top schools which have loan options like RSM ??

Is getting loan from prodigy finance easy like RSM's loans. Or do you know any other loan funding options.

Thank you in advance

The FT rankings are great, but they are global.

The market for consulting is profoundly national (Take a look at http://www.find-mba.com/board/33571). Imagine if I want to work in Turkey for a consulting firm, I should probably do my MBA at METU, Boğaziçi, Bilkent or Koç rather than Harvard, Wharton or Stanford. Nyenrode is a really posh, plummy, elite private university and it very different from Erasmus, which is young, open, public... they both have good networks but, while Nyenrode is rather unknown outside The Netherlands, Nyenrode has a better network in the country's consulting businesses.

Almost all top schools have great loan options, but they vary. You'll need to do your own research.

Do you know any other top schools which have loan options like RSM ??

Is getting loan from prodigy finance easy like RSM's loans.

I think this might depend on what sort of consulting you want to do, but generally consultants work with clients and need to use the language of the national market. That's not specific to The Netherlands, and I'm it's true also in Turkey, where most consultants have studied at Turkish universities and even those who have studied abroad (Insead, Columbia, London Business School notably) are also Turks. It's not the fault of RSM that MBA applicants fail to understand the implications of studying in countries where they don't speak the language and, indeed, it gets good outcomes for graduates.

If you want to work in IB, or don't want to learn Dutch, then Cass is a better option than RSM.

If you did want to work in consulting in The Netherlands, then *of course* you would need to speak Dutch, because clients want to speak their own language. Luckily it's a pretty easy language to learn if you speak English or German. Nyenrode could actually be a better choice for consultancy in the Netherlands, and it has a much stronger alumni network in that sector.

PS The UvA has an excellent programme which takes people to fluency over four sessions, each of four weeks: http://intt.uva.nl/dutch-for-foreigners/dutch-for-foreigners.html

I don't think that's true. In an investment bank, then English is the working language. But look at the top ten MBA recruiters - how can you work in a retail bank like ING, a manufacturing firm like Philips, a telco like KPN, an insurance retailer like Achmea etc without Dutch?

Thank you for your valuable comments. I have reviewed my future career expectations and with a little bit search on internet. For consulting career Insead will be best choice. I have searched financing options and prodigy finance sounds good. I can afford it with this type of student loan. But the question is what qualifications I need for offer?

My Bsc in economics GPA is average 2,5 over 4
My Msc in finance GPA is 3,2 over 4
5 years work experience 2 years Ernst & young assurance
3 years Financial controller in a top holding company

If I get over 700 from Gmat, am I eligible for insead offer?

Where did you study? What are your goals? My gut feeling is that you might not be the sort of students INSEAD is targetting.

I have graduated from Istanbul University

and masters from Istanbul Bilgi University

I don't think that's true. In an investment bank, then English is the working language. But look at the top ten MBA recruiters - how can you work in a retail bank like ING, a manufacturing firm like Philips, a telco like KPN, an insurance retailer like Achmea etc without Dutch?

At somewhere like Shell or (the IB part of) ABN AMRO, then I guess that would be fine. But some of the biggest MBA recruiters around The Hague are strongly-domestic consumer brands like Nationale-Nederlanden and Heineken, where it's really hard to progress without Dutch. In a business like retail financial services, management consulting... Dutch client want to speak Dutch. I certainly see this in my own work in The Netherlands: it's much easier to progress now I've learnt Dutch.

So, Cass or RSM (assuming readiness to learn Dutch with 6 months available till program start)? :)

I'm not sure that even 6 months of intensive pre-program Dutch would be enough to gain fluency by the end of the program.

i had the same feeling and decided to accept offer from Cass.