Hey guys,

I never expected to graduate college, but since i received a full tuition scholarship at my home university, I went anyways, studied a million different things, got tired of all the theoretical social sciences, and ended up majoring in French.

I'm in France now studying abroad for my third year and final year, and will finish my degree in may. I still have one more year of scholarship though, which I may or may not use to study abroad somewhere else with the intention of picking up another language (chinese or spanish)

Anyways I kind of had the vague notion of getting an MBA somewhere down the line, but I'm not so sure I can secure any kind of consistent work track record for multiple years in a row leading up to it. (given that I like seasonal jobs/traveling/studying at zen monasteries, etc) And especially given that my only qualifications will be the ability to speak french.

So I was looking at Msc in business/finance which has two huge benefits for me at the moment:
1. There seems to be numerous universities in europe that offer Msc for free
2. They seem to be geared for people without significant (or any) work experience, like me.

The only problem I'm running into is that, unlike MBA programs, every program I'm finding seems to require significant previous coursework in relevant fields as an undergrad. As a french major, having nearly minored in: psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy, I have none of the finance/economics/business credits that seem to be necessary for these programs.

I'm not even sure I could take the required amount of credits needed if I spent my entire 4th year taking relevant coursework instead of studying a third language. Nor would I want to spend my entire fourth year + 2 additional years to get a masters, when so many MBA programs are 1 year only, and don't require previous relevant coursework.

it would be super cool to find a free Msc in europe somewhere where i can take a lot of the same business/management/finance classes that are part of an MBA program, and would let me enter the job market with something other than a french major, but it seems its a catch 22, since something other than a french major is required to be able to get into the programs in the first place...

I'm not sure I'm going to find anyone here in a similar situation, but maybe you have other thoughts or viewpoints that I hadn't considered, if you've made it this far!

thanks!

Take a look at the FT MSc ranking. Add in the column called Relevant Degree: look for courses that don't require one.

cool resource! unfortunately of the few "no"s that are also inexpensive:

mannheim seems to require a business degree
aalto requires an "appropriate bachelor's"
another german one i got lost in a wormhole on their website and couldnt find anything useful at all
warsaw doesnt seem to have or say anything about requirements
and prague's website is just abominable

If you think every door is locked, then you will never try to open one. Mannheim does not require a business degree, but you might need to take some additional courses over a summer or a preparatory semester. Aalto, Aix, Cologne and Warsaw all have phone numbers.

It looks like you're on the right track, but just a few suggestions:

1. If you plan on working in the country where you're studying, you may want to start now on the language, since this will be important.

2. I don't know what your situation is, but it may be worth it to take out loans to get into a program with more upward-mobility potential: the LBS program, for instance, is top-notch and is in an English-speaking country, etc.

3. The MSc at the Corvinus University of Budapest, which is ranked at the bottom of the ranking, seems like a really good value.