I am an Indian IT professional, 11 year of experience (4.5 yrs India, 5.5 Singapore, 6 months each in USA and Sweden). Got my GMAT 690 (37 V/ 47 Q).I am working as Sr. IT busines analyst, Present salary(8000 S$ a month, can easily get 10-12K S$/month, if I switch keep getting offers)
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Got offers from below schools:-
Trinity college Dublin(with € 8500 scholarship),
EDHEC (40% Scholarship)
FUDAN-MIT - IMBA (min 50,000 CNY initial scholarship)
CBS, copenhagen, Denmark (No scholarship but admitted)
The Amsterdam MBA (No Scholarship)

Now,what would you do if you are in my situation. I know its all about what I want and all, but right now even I am not sure what I want. Guess i want to take some break from my career, and reflect upon myself. But dont want this time to go waste/ or showing break in my career.. or else after that the only thing possible might be to go and become a monk.
So what I want from a school is, Good experience, Good learning, which should open doors for research, startups culture, or a decent job paying at least the salary I am being offered now (post tax), make friends travel and enjoy my life.

I don't want to be in a crisis mode after my MBA and struggling to get a decent paying job, in case I decide to go back in the job market(because I realize, that a cushy job is best for me).

Further, How is Fudan's reputation in moving people in SEA. Frankly, I love SEA, my friends have told me that European education is more regarded in SEA region, and after graduation from CBS/EDHEC/Amsterdam I can come back easily. What about Fudan? I get to explore dragon country, and it should be well regarded in HK/SG or other asian countries at least? at global level?

Trinity college Dublin? Is it really that reputed in corporates as they are claiming, except in eduniversal rankings, I don't find them anywhere, and college is not replying my questions about employment statistitcs etc.

Why not take an executive or part-time MBA? That will give you a better cohort and more time to focus on personal strategy and identifying opportunities. Quit your job as one of my EMBA classmates at LBS did, or go half time. Use the free time to start networking your way towards a new job. You are more experienced than the average full-time MBA candidate, and these schools are offering you scholarships because you are the sort of candidate who would go to much better schools. The mention of Asia makes me think of the IE-SMU part-time MBA degree, or the many EMBA options in the region. If you are in tech, the Nanyang-Waseda MBA looks good (although I think they are not recruiting this year) or S3 Asia MBA some to mind. They, like Fudan, are world class universities. Amsterdam is a backwater by comparison.

Surely a top school in Asia like the Fudan-MIT programme (in the top 50 worldwide) or Nanyang Fellows degree will give you a much better education than these European schools that are focussed on national or regional markets? I am an EDHEC alum, and a big fan of that schools, but you can do better.

Trinity College is the Oxbridge of Ireland. It's very respected and their business school is going through a big expansion over the next few years. As a business school, it's not so well known.

Also see: The sad facts about scholarships http://www.find-mba.com/board/37055

You are quite right about scholarships. However, cost of a Premium MBA is prohibitive. Its much like reserved for only millionaires or almost millionaires. Frankly, if I had that kind of money, I wouldn't have gone for an MBA and rather learnt by doing mistakes than learning at school. European schools, all except LBS/Judge/Said.. don't justify the price tag attached, for that fact that being part of Cambridge or Oxford is way beyond MBA, and LBS off course in no less than Wharton or Harvard. But paying 70-80 K Euros in others is insane. They might be good in education, but I am not comfortable about brand value outside Europe. So I am not going to exceed my budget o 30K Euros, unless it is MIT/Wharton/Yale/Stern, where off course I didn't apply due to lack of time and deadlines, i needed time to improve my score as well. Part time/EMBA isn't option for me, as I can't see myself balancing easily between both, and living 2-3 years at one location, due to Visa limitations.
I will tell you guys about my takes for your Inputs :-
Trinity College :- Big Plus: Well reputed college, well within budget, English speaking country, Fastest growing European Economy, Big IT companies there
Cons: Nowhere in Rankings, No data available about employment, College is not responding most queries.
My take: Personally, this was my first choice, given the potential ROI. However, I am not sure whether the business school is eating onto Trinity reputation, or contributing to it. Even though its English school, there is very little information available. If I just want to stay back in Ireland, will I have 90% chance to a decent enough job after the college paying 80K Euros given my profile.?

CBS: my second Choice: Being in Nordics, Good reputation in Denmark
Cons: overbudget and heard that its very difficult for Non Europeans to get job in Denmark on MBA type positions. true?
My take: As an English speaking Indian Candidate, what are my chances.

Fudan: Pros: Reputation in SEA, 2 year means, indepth learning and time to learn chinese, Second degree option from MIT/YALE
Cons: 2 Year opportunity cost, If I cant'get into Second degree program, is it worth it? What are my chances to get into Yale or MIT, if I don't write/Write GMAT again.

EDHEC: Starts in Jan. So i will have more savings by then, recognized in SG, Cheapest MBA in all options.
Should I?

AmsterDam:- True... I don't know why I applied, I guess one year holiday in Amsterdam :)

I think I need to invite you to reassess some self-limiting beliefs. 70,000 euro is not available only to millionaires. There are Prodigy loans available for most top MBAs and the return on the investment makes a top quality MBA one of the most attractive options around. If you think that IESE, ESADE, Bocconi, even Lancaster or HEC are not good investments when they more than double students' salaries then let me know what's better.

I often see students who are able to get into great schools chicken out from making serious applications from those schools because they are tempted by the safe mediocrity of schools that offer them scholarship. It's a double safety because at those schools they will be among the best students, which is great for their ego needs but doesn't really stretch them as much as much as a cohort where they will learn from their classmates as much as they contribute. I don't know you, but I think yuo can and should do better.

Thanks for showing confidence in me. However consider this, I already have 11 years experience,male and indian IT professional. 690 isn't good score for me for top tier in US or UK. From my network few have gone in HEC, ESADE,IESE and IEBS. None of them was satisfied with career options. The feedback i got - European labor market isn't as open to Indians as to Europeans due to language and cultural bias. Two of them doing a job paying them $ 25000 annually. These are from iese and esade. Job offers in europe were in the range of starting salary 5000 euros and not good JD as well. So offcourse big names don't mean big ticket job always and there are other
However this influenced my decision only 10%.I am confident if oppertunity is avaiable, I will get one of the best career option.
My biggest worry is that max I can go for mba is jan 2017. This is hard deadline for me. So i am looking for best options that fit in this timeframe.
90% of weightage on my decision. I looked at queens in Canada by they stopped taking admission for indians for 2017 jan. Same all schools in Germany. RSM tried to push me for Executive, as they consider me too experienced.
So what are my options now?
FUDAN can give me a nice cohort, isn't it? And given my profile can i get into a double degree from MIT or Yale? Or these double degree programs usually prefer taking local candidates from the school.
Copenhagen seems a nice choice too, but again given the premium expenses, will it be worth?

Out of the lots given, what is my best option?

I feel like I have already been too late for MBA and right now I need to go in to extensive damage control mode and go for the best options avaiable to me. Afterall these B-School also do create exceptional leaders and my target is to be best of a good lot if not in the best lot.

Another point, What are and how relaible are eduniversal Rankings? CBS comes even way ahead of harvard in them, and that surprises me, even puts a question on this ranking system.

[Edited by Alok Shukla on Jun 15, 2016]

I have to agree with Duncan. Go for the EMBA route. GMAT 690 and 11 years of work experience can land you somewhere far better than the schools you had listed even if you are placed within a competitive group, since you are already a competitive applicant!

Also about your so called 'deadline' to study MBA, it is worth it to postpone entry so that you can get yourself into the best school you can!

Also about the financial issue. You will realise overtime, money is no longer an issue when you are knowing that you are heading to one of the top business schools in the world. Of course I wouldn't recommend to borrow a lump sum to do that but you should be stretching your budget a bit more.

Don't you think that attending a Full Time MBA is better than an EMBA for a student who is coming from abroad and who quit his job?

It can be difficult and take a long time to find a job in a different country and this could undermine the student confidence and also harm the student contribution to the course.

Other things being equal, the MBA is better. However, what if the candidate can get into a better EMBA than MBA? The same candidate might get a no for the Warwick MBA but a yes for the London EMBA. And the deadlines could be more favourable. Once in the course, the candidate can take advantage of on campus like fully.

For a student who wants to make the transition from one country to another, there's something to be said for being on-campus for a year or more, rather than in just blocks. Most of the residences for EMBAs tend to be during long weekends, which can make it tough to set up meetings with potential employers and network effectively.

Indeed. My suggestion would be to get into the best school, even if as an EMBA, and then be in the city full time to focus full time on study and the job hunt.