Hi,

I received offers for the above programs for Spring 2016 entry. I am pretty confused as IE is one of the top business schools in Europe/World while HHL seems pretty obscure and not known outside Germany.

Germany seems to have higher salaries and better roles..

I have a GMAT of 690. 1 year exp in IT.
I have B1 level in German. Will get to B2 soon.

I want to be able to get into leadership development programs in firms like GE, Siemens etc or top tier strategy consulting.

Can someone advise me in detail which of the two will be best fit for my career goals?

Thanks

Hi Duncan.

Do you have any advice? I some how find the curriculum at HHL more rigorous..and threfore good in the long term even though it does not have the brand of IE?

These are similarly ranked programmes in the FT (HHL is #9 and IE is #11) at schools which are similarly strong for entrepreneurship. Since you speak intermediate German and HHL has a higher salary, it seems like a good choice, since you'd get two years and two internships for a lower price than IE. It is a much better school for consulting than IE.

The difference is really international mobility: HHL is a great school for moving to Germany, since 2 in 3 MSc students are Germans and great employers go there for excellent talent. IE is perhaps a better school for people wanting to work outside Spain.

I don't think either of these is a weak choice, but I think HHL is a better investment.

Thanks Duncan.

Do you think I should give a try to WHU Msc too. Only draw back is it starts in Fall. I want to start as soon as possible..

WHU seems much more prestigious and more selective than HHL? And WHU has much more research productivity eg: top 10 in world for SCM . Does this translate into teaching quality? Do you think the teaching quality and experience will be almost same?

Am I correct in thinking that though there might be differences in ranking, HHL is still viewed as one of top 5 business schools in germany speaking region along with St.Gallen, WHU, Mannheim, VU and thus will have top prospects as along as I become business level fluent in German by the time I graduate?

Keeping the prestige and rankings aside, the companies I want to work for regularly recruit at HHL. Is this sufficient reason to just go for it?

Should I plan to pursue a 1 year MBA at a top brand school like LBS or INSEAD few years down the line? Will I be repeating most courses there? My career goal is to work for a few years in strategy consulting and then move into top management of a manufacturing company in Germany.

Hi tarunindia,
you state that you want to start as soon as possible. This can also mean that you also have a preference to finish the master's programm rather sooner than later.

If this is the case, you may want to have a further look at WHU Master's programme: The exchange semester (which is mandatory at HHL) is actually facultatory/voluntary at WHU (under certain conditions!, e.g. you have >= 300 ECTS with your Bachelor and Master degree combined). You would then do the 90-credits track (compared to the 120-credits track)
www.whu.edu/en/programs/master-of-science-programs/master-in-management/program/
This means that if you start in September 2016, you are finished with your Master's degree in January 2018. Theoretically, you could start working already full-time in June 2017 as classes and exames are ending before that. However, you would need to write your Master's thesis in parallel to working full-time which can be really tough (my opinion: possible for a regular 9-to-5 job, but over-difficult while doing something like investmentbanking/consulting).

While I would generally recommend to do an exchange term, in case you already have had international exposure, it is of less importance from my pont of view.

For client-facing job profiles (e.g. consulting) I would like to emphasize the importance of the local language (i.e. German in German-speaking countries). When it comes to applying, it is advisable to beat a certain GPA-threshold (which varies from employer to employer), but lack of language ability can be a killer.

[Edited by eduaudax on Aug 31, 2015]

Considering your goals, this comment about WHU is very helpful.

In terms of an MBA, you will find that a top MBA will take a different approach to an taught MSc. The MBA will be more focused on team-work and case study approaches to build leadership and soft skills. But when selecting an MBA it would make sense to look for a school that has more time given over to electives and less time on core courses. Two great examples are the Cornell MBAs: the two-year program allows you to cover most of the core in one semester, and their one year MBA is aimed at people with masters degrees, who cover the course courses in a summer term, and then join the second year.

Unfortunately WHU 90 ects program desnot apply to me as I hold a 3 yr 180 ects degree..

Thank you Duncan for your advise on MBA. Its helpful. So, few years down the line I wil do a MBA with more electives.

Even HHL has an option of a 21 month program with 1 internship and 1 exchange. So, if I start in March 2016, I will finish by November 2017 itself.

Pretty confused, I believe with my gmat score, i can get into WHU also.

All I am looking for is the best foot into consulting in the German market. Am I wrong in thinking that HHL will help me to do this exactly or WHU will be a better option and worth the wait.

And can you please tell me after my masters will I be starting as a Business Analyst / Junior consultant role or Associate role? I see that in Germany many students especially from programs like WHU Bachelors directly become junior consultants. So a masters should get me into at least Associate level roles.

MBAs will be hired into associate roles, so from a MiM it's more realistic to aim for an analyst role unless you have prior work experience in a top-tier consulting practice. I think that WHU and HHL are both great schools but the FT data suggest that WHU does give better placement and accelleration.

regarindg consultant positions:
Generally speaking, position titles before project manager (or engagmenet manager) are:
- Junior Consultant / Consultant
- Consultant / Senior Consultant
- Associate
(then as next step project manager/engagement manager)
It is a little bit confusing as every consultancy uses its own wording.
Therefore typically, Bachelor applicants start as (Junior) Consultants, Masters at (Senior) Consultant, PhDs/MBAs are evaluated based on their prior work experience and assessed accordingly (typically ranging from Senior Consultant to Associate, but more depending on what they did before the MBA, than because of the MBA).

Again, I would like to emphasize the issue of language: To my knowledge, there is only one consultancy operating in Germany, at which it is possible to join within Germany without business-level of German: Simon-Kucher. (of course I may have missed some, but I know several firms). Besides them, typically interviews are conducted partly in English, partly in German.

[Edited by eduaudax on Aug 31, 2015]