Dears,



I have 14y of business experience, 10 of management in executive positions, sector industrial manufacturing; currently MD of multiple companies in a French group.



About a year ago I decided it was time to pursue an executive MBA, main task to broaden my knowledge to other sectors, on second place to move to a more global position (where I have been in my first 7-year business experience, now I am feeling the perimeter too narrow).

Well, I spoke with the company explaining story and motivations, I got a positive feedback and they declared to sponsor me in full, suggesting to look at HEC (which I didn’t target because of budget).



Few months later, after the selections and I have been admitted, once informed the company and asked for the payments steps, they stepped back (indeed, giving their reasons) even from partial support.

However, when asked what if I was going on my own, they confirmed they would give to me the time to attend.



So, now another task came into the game: change company.....



All the above said, I share some other considerations, before asking for your opinions.



- After some sleepless nights, I withdrew HEC: this is a top school -maybe no.1 for FT, but maybe not for everyone's tasks-, but most network is French and I am not sure about the perception among Anglo-Saxons, I am not business-fluent French speaker and not interested in moving there.

- I found ESCP one of the most interesting because of 6 campuses (I would attend Berlin to strengthen the DACH connections, and London to revive/set the UK ones) and the highest level of flexibility in building up your program (I need to improve on finance and operation management), but I am not sure about how valuably it is seen by UK and US Companies, and from a recent call with them I am not sure about the strengths of alumni network. Ranked also 5th worldwide.

- I am strongly evaluating WU, as I am living in Vienna now, it is GEMBA with many interesting concentrations (APAC, LATAM, NY and Minnesota), it gives a double grad with Carlson business school (Minnesota), but it is strongly linked to German-speaking countries and the class is not as international as I would like.

- I am evaluating Cambridge and Imperial college, and I was recently called from HULT (UK).



I am truly in deep waters, as I have mixed conclusions and almost comparable pro and cons for all of them; question to you:

- Better a top school highly ranked or a lower one among 30/40 but with US degree, when it comes to willing to work with US companies?

- Better a top French school even if not really French in culture, or one of the best UK ones?

- Better a top school with unclear network or an average one with strong alumni network, and undoubted history?



Thanks for any contribution you would like to bring.

Marc

[Edited by MMsandy on Dec 23, 2022]

I would go to HEC or the British ones :)

Clarify your goals, put them in sequence and then prioritise. Any of these programmes (maybe not Hult) will broaden your perspectives easily. The brand equity of each school is where the alumni are. These are all schools with a heavy focus on their domestic markets. Where is the critical region for the next five or ten years? Answer that question and then identify a new set of better options. 

Thanks for the hint, hope you had also good Christmas time.

@andy, despite prominence and -to me- well-structured admission, including a nice set of essays, I exchanged with alumni and got confirmation about the French network.



Based on my experience, France is one of the most nationalistic countries (mere consideration, not critique), I believe accordingly that vast majority of employers will unlikely pick you when there is a native/local profile among the options.

Alongside, before withdrawing, I considered few other important things: time commitment (I have children and complicated agenda), financial effort (94k + another at least 20k for travelling), payback (I have an “important” package that probably would make me attractive only to groups of the same sector and segment).




That’s why I moved to British schools:



- US is unfeasible while working



- I’m Italian, no interest in additional Italian education



- I’m not fluent in german (despite I had studied it, back in the years), I think hard to get a top management position there (deficient interaction with stakeholders and staff, at least in the short range)




- UK schools are globally recognised of a high standard, plus it is a country I love, where I lived and had amazing business experiences and my family would be happy to move to in case of business opportunity.
Sorry, I do not want to make out of it a sociology dissertation, but this is for the sake of sharing thoughts.

@duncan, I have currently considered more the next career step, rather than geography (if it makes sense), this is my view:




- to remain in the industry where I am quite knowledgeable, but with a more global scope, in this respect, potential companies would be US-, UK- or German-based.




- to move to a finance/strategy position, as in the last 6 years I worked on M&A targeting, deal conclusions, post-merger integrations, plus I have roughly 10y of crisis management and restructuring, and this is what I love doing; but being realistic? I am not sure a big consulting firm -not necessarily the Big Three- would go for me (industrial specialist), compared to eihter a young profile to be shaped or someone coming from the industry, at least recognising a sort of seniority.
After your comment, I took the time to check other schools and relevant alumni networks, and to be honest I was not able to make the picture clearer.




I ran into IESE (global) but, like for other schools and GEMBAs, I cannot still identify the real added value compared to tuition differences.




One practical example: IE GEMBA €80k VS its dual degree with Brown at $142k.





Any suggestion based on your experience of which business schools I should prefer?





Does ESCP really look localised to you?
Do you see any value in the double-program Vienna University/Carson BS? I mean, in terms of attractiveness to US employers because, as I said, classmates would be really concentrated on CEE.
“Brutal” comments welcomed.


Cheers,



Marc

[Edited by MMsandy on Dec 26, 2022]