Hi all,
I am extremely ecstatic to have secured a seat at ESSEC business school for MBA in international luxury brand management program. Well, I have a few questions running through my mind before joining ESSEC and I would be extremely grateful if you could help me in making this life changing decision of my life of joining MBA.

For a fair idea of my background and work experience before MBA. I have been working in IT Consulting in India and running an online boutique and also a playback singer in India along side my full time job. Currently,as a short term project event manager, I am exposed to brand management and media management while organizing the "skylantern fest" wherein I am resposible to promote the brand and gather one million youth to break the Guiness Record. The objective of the releasing these skylanterns is to financially empower poor woman folk and provide alternate self employment to women working in tobbaco industry.


Further, I have also gained an admission with merit scholarship for MBA at Syracuse and university of buffalo which are two years courses and have an option of general marketing which even after scholarship come upto a cost similar to that of Essec which is why there is a terrific dillema. My heart craves for this beautiful ESSEC course and am passionate about luxury brands but, am apprehensive about the job opportunities etc post MBA. Here are my questions:

1. Could you please give me an idea of the job opportunities and roles post this MBA in Europe and other places (eg : dubai, honkong , India and other european countries) for a person with 3 years of work experience like me (resume attached) considering I dont know french and I have got still 5 months to study french in India before i join ?

2. What are the pay scales and return on investment I can expect post MBA-Luxury brand management at Europe, dubai , Honkong , India and other places if any for a person with 3 years prior experience which is not in Luxury industry. In my IT job, I currently earn around 4.8 lakh per annum in India

3. How do the recruiters view the MBA luxe program in Europe and elsewhere, say USA etc? Do they just see that it is a good MBA or look at it only as a specialised MBA? Do they know about this course. I am just contemplating my other options. Is there a possibility to atleast land in general marketing or strategy or others areas of management, if i am unable to get into luxury industry in Europe immediately post MBA?

4. How much do the living expenses and other expenses during study trips come upto? Where do we stay during our Essec program and have we to choose accomodation ourselves?

5. When do we have to apply for Visa etc and whats the process to secure a french Visa? When are we expected to reach there at ESSEC ? and How much time do we have in hand to find a job before we move away from Europe after the program?

6. Do we get to learn spoken french as a part of the MBA program? Is that sufficient to find jobs or should we try taking an outside course during weekends at Paris, say at Alliance Francaise etc?

7.Considering Europe is a beautiful place. Do we get time to travel to different parts of europe, are there any off-days? Are there any extracurriculars in my case,like music and events? How about part time jobs? Do we have any university or outside jobs available?

8. Last but not the least, Could you please tell me the Do's and Dont's during my stay at Europe and Essec in particular? What are the essentials I need to carry as an Indian student while joining the program and entering Europe? Although I know we are supposed to dress formally, but still, I just want to reconfirm if there's a particular dress code they look for ? What are the weather specific precautions I need to know?

Thanks a ton for reading through this !! I would be glad if you could give me an insight.

[Edited by invincible6 on Mar 16, 2015]

I am not sure where you have cut and pasted this from, but I think the best thing is for you to ask ESSEC to put you in touch with an alumnus or alumna with a similar background to yours. But many of these questions can be researched easily, and you should focus on asking the questions that you cannot find an answer to. It's pretty easy to see where the alumni are now (See How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571 and also their website). You should not expect to use a European MBA in the Americas or vice-versa unless it is a top 12 global school. You will not have enough time to learn French to a professional standard during the MBA, on or off campus. ESSEC's partner university as an intensive course (http://www.u-cergy.fr/fr/international/centre-international-de-langue-francaise--cilfac.html) and I would recommend a semester there in advance. You can work out the dress code from youtube videos: smart casual.

[Edited by Duncan on Mar 16, 2015]

Hi Duncan , thank you for your inputs. Haha.I actually wrote all of this in word and copied it here. As per the internet, Essec is the best for luxury brand management course and hence, does it hold good value in US too as you mentioned? I presumed that some Essec alumni would look at this and reply..I will look at LinkedIn as you mentioned ..and if there are any Essec alumni here.. Please respond to my post. It would be a great help.

Hi Duncan , thank you for your inputs. Haha.I actually wrote all of this in word and copied it here. As per the internet, Essec is the best for luxury brand management course and hence, does it hold good value in US too as you mentioned? I presumed that some Essec alumni would look at this and reply..I will look at LinkedIn as you mentioned ..and if there are any Essec alumni here.. Please respond to my post. It would be a great help.

Since you said that your resume was attached, your post looks like something that you're reused.

ESSEC is in Europe. Of course it holds less value in the US than in Europe. Other than a French firm, who would go to paris to recruit people for the US? Would they not go to a US school, where more people would already have the right to work?

This is a site for people who want to find an MBA. There are few alumni there.

There are a lot of good programs for luxury if you are looking to go to the US:

http://find-mba.com/lists/top-business-school-by-speciality/top-business-schools-for-a-career-in-luxury-brand-management

Either NYU or Columbia would not be a bad choice. :)

Thank you for the inputs Duncan and maury . My family may move to USA in two years. My question is : Is Essec a known bschool in the USA? Will I be able to find a job there with an MBA in luxury brand management from ESSEC? The school claims that it is world known. What about places other than Europe such as Dubai , Honkong etc is the school well known for its luxury mba ?

[Edited by invincible6 on Mar 19, 2015]

No, I think that many European schools are very well known globally. Go to http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2015 and add in the column called 'Recommends'. For truly global portability (rather than international mobility into that country) I think you'd need to look at the most-recommended 20 or 30 schools.

The exception would be if you found a role in Paris with a firm which then exported you outside Europe, but that would really limit you to L'Oreal (the top recruiter from the ESSEC Lux MBA) or hotel brands like ICH or Sofitel.