Hi guys,

I am a prospective MBA applicant for FullTime MBA for this fall and I am in the midst of selecting between the b schools that have offered me a seat. I had budgeting constraints and limiting my options to Western Europe excluding UK. I have not written my GMAT as yet but some of the schools did waiver it for me perhaps based on my 5 year experience so far in the field of consulting.

The schools I've gotten so far are MIB (Trieste, Italy), Audencia, Nantes and NEOMA, Paris. I am confused now as to which one I should take from an MBA stand point as I don't want to base my decision only on the school's ranking. Can you advise? I would greatly appreciate your inputs.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
H

What are your goals? Which languages do you speak?

Hi Mr. Duncan,

Thanks for your reply ! I am quite open to the idea actually as I have several interests. To take up a managerial position in an IT consultancy firm or to be completely immersed into business development are some of the ideas that I have in mind at this point in time. Also I believe that can MBA can potentially trigger new interests to someone who is very open to change and learning new things. At this juncture, a general management course which teaches the nuances of business administration and gives enough exposure to the market and world of business is what I have in mind.

I do realize that the course in Audencia is specific to Responsible Management which makes the course niche. I am in the midst of figuring out the pros and the cons of taking up either one of the 2 courses between Audencia and NEOMA. Given Italy's economy currently, MIB can be risky. Am I right to say so?

I've learnt French for a few years in school' but I havent been practising it for a while now. I would have to brush up but then again it was not conversational French. Either way, I believe that my little experience with the French language makes French B-Schools more of an option than the Italian one. Note that the courses are entirely taught in English though. Correct me if I am wrong here.

Regards,
H

On the basis of what you have written, I recommend you take an extra year. Spend the next four months to take the GMAT and get a career goal; then apply early for much better schools.

You don't speak either language fluently. You don't have GMAT score. You have not got a specific career goal. That means that you will not be able to invest your time very effectively; you won't be able to get into a high quality school, and you probably won't be able to find employment in either country.

Read these posts:-

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

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

Why you should take the GMAT http://www.find-mba.com/board/38939

GMAT Tiers - strong schools for your GMAT www.find-mba.com/board/27082

How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571