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Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC

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HEC Paris,    IESE,    LBS,    
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Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC [#permalink] Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC   Updated on: 10 Apr 2024, 02:15
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Hello! help needed in selecting the schools :)

My Profile: South East Asian Female

Post-MBA Goal: Transition into MBB Consulting (bit worry about my undergrad study background and GMAT score whether it will impact my application - understand the complication/difficulties to get in), or Strategy role in Amsterdam/London/Zurich/Munich respectively and open for Middle East. After some years, I plan to go back to my home country in South East Asia. 

Situation: I am looking for the advice on which school I would choose: LBS (scholarship pending), HEC (30K euro), and IESE (20K euro). Other than the mentioned scholarship, I will take full loans to finance my MBA and possibly the cost of living. MBA is sure is a big investment, so i'm a bit concerned on how the financial plan will work out given the current economy.

My thoughts on each school:
  • LBS: It's a dream! It was the only school that I want go to. But I am aware that living in London is so expensive now and I don't feel comfortable with my financial situation. So, the only thing that keeps me thinking is how can i possible finance my 2 years.
  • IESE: The culture in IESE truly seems to be lovely and the students are very happy about it. And the case method seems to be helpful with preparing for consulting job. However, I'm a bit worry about being excluded given I don't speak Spanish, which I felt on the assesment day. It's true that the class helds several nationalities, but the majority are from Spanish speaking countries. 
  • HEC: It's prestigous and well-known in Europe, but the current employement report shows that very less students get into consulting, and current students mentioned that the career service could be improved. 
Any advices/ experiences are welcome :)­

Originally posted by ilCanbDosIt on 09 Apr 2024, 03:17.
Last edited by ilCanbDosIt on 10 Apr 2024, 02:15, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC [#permalink] Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC   09 Apr 2024, 15:30
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Hi. Congratulations on your admits💪

I hope you get a nice offer from LBS so that you can make a happy decision.

I would say however is that no business course is perfect. Keep in mind that even at Harvard you’ll have bad professors and seemingly stupid classmates and bureaucracy and stupidity. These are all caused by humans and where have humans, these things are present. So don’t expectations slightly down for LBS and you will be a much happier person. 😇

Assuming that you don’t get a scholarship or assuming that LBS is still significantly more expensive, not clear winner, I feel both of the other choices are equally competitive yet different.

Going to program with case method, you will be better prepared for interviews even though it makes you work harder during the MBA.

I’m not sure if you speak French but if you think you need Spanish in Barcelona, I can’t imagine being better in Paris so choosing between HEC and IESE , from cultural standpoint, if you don’t speak French, Barcelona will be easier.

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Re: Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC [#permalink] Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC   09 Apr 2024, 16:04
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I would say your GME score should not impact your consulting chances too much. I don’t think consulting companies ask for scores anymore now that people get in without scores and they get with GRE and so and so forth.

If you have a background as a teacher, you probably have a really strong speaking skills and awareness and engagement of your audience and that helps tremendously for consulting interviews. It doesn’t mean you’ll make it but you should make it to the second interview at least. And consulting companies done so much care about your background nobody’s gonna be asking you where you worked before unless you are being brought in as a subject matter expert. The second convenient recruiting path could be Ed tech. Tech is going through some growing pains but segment is always looking for good people.

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Re: Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC [#permalink] Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC   09 Apr 2024, 20:26
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sleepingbonita wrote:
Hello! help needed in selecting the schools :)

My Profile: South East Asian Female, Education background in Language studies, Worked in IT for both Asia and Europe.

Post-MBA Goal: Transition into MBB Consulting (bit worry about my undergrad study background and GMAT score whether it will impact my application - understand the complication/difficulties to get in), or Strategy role in Amsterdam/London/Zurich/Munich respectively and open for Middle East. After some years, I plan to go back to my home country in South East Asia. 

Situation: I am looking for the advice on which school I would choose: LBS (scholarship pending), HEC (30K euro), and IESE (20K euro). Other than the mentioned scholarship, I will take full loans to finance my MBA and possibly the cost of living. MBA is sure is a big investment, so i'm a bit concerned on how the financial plan will work out given the current economy.

My thoughts on each school:



  • LBS: It's a dream! It was the only school that I want go to. But I am aware that living in London is so expensive now and I don't feel comfortable with my financial situation. Besides, I heard from the students that MBB hiring in London does not look great these recent years.
  • IESE: The culture in IESE truly seems to be lovely and the students are very happy about it. And the case method seems to be helpful with preparing for consulting job. However, I'm a bit worry about being excluded given I don't speak Spanish, which I felt on the assesment day. It's true that the class helds several nationalities, but the majority are from Spanish speaking countries. 
  • HEC: It's prestigous and well-known in Europe, but the current employement report shows that very less students get into consulting, and current students mentioned that the career service could be improved. 
Any advices/ experiences are welcome :)­

­sleepingbonita congratulations on the fantastic admits. 

Having been through the MBA grill myself a few years ago (At INSEAD), I would say that you should pick LBS from all the options. I get this question a lot from all the Asians/ SE Asians who reach out to me- "What are the job prospects from LBS, HEC, INSEAD, IESE etc". I tell them that no matter where you graduate from, as a non native speaker and an international, you would still be competing for the same set of openings and targeting the same geographies- London, Amsterdam, Berlin/Munich, basically markets that are open to hiring English speakers and non natives. Being in London has several advantages over the others as you would otherwise anyway be taking career treks to London in search of opportunities. LBS is the number 1 B school program in the UK and has extended visa that you can take advantage of. The LBS brand is truly global and so is the alumni. If you plan to return to your home region you wont have an issue with the brand recall. And last but, perhaps the most important point here, LBS is a top target school for MBB. So, at any point in your career if you want to recruit into consulting, you will have an upper hand in terms of getting the right referrals. 

IESE is showing great results too, but I would think 20K is too less of an amount to let go of the visa and MBB advantage that LBS has over others.

 Get personalized advice tailored to your unique circumstances in the B School admissions process. Reapplying? Get a free ding analysis

Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alum, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting (former MBA admissions consultant at top global firm)
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com­
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Re: Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC [#permalink] Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC   09 Apr 2024, 22:28
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sleepingbonita wrote:
Hello! help needed in selecting the schools :)

My Profile: South East Asian Female, Education background in Language studies, Worked in IT for both Asia and Europe.

Post-MBA Goal: Transition into MBB Consulting (bit worry about my undergrad study background and GMAT score whether it will impact my application - understand the complication/difficulties to get in), or Strategy role in Amsterdam/London/Zurich/Munich respectively and open for Middle East. After some years, I plan to go back to my home country in South East Asia. 

Situation: I am looking for the advice on which school I would choose: LBS (scholarship pending), HEC (30K euro), and IESE (20K euro). Other than the mentioned scholarship, I will take full loans to finance my MBA and possibly the cost of living. MBA is sure is a big investment, so i'm a bit concerned on how the financial plan will work out given the current economy.

My thoughts on each school:

  • LBS: It's a dream! It was the only school that I want go to. But I am aware that living in London is so expensive now and I don't feel comfortable with my financial situation. Besides, I heard from the students that MBB hiring in London does not look great these recent years.
  • IESE: The culture in IESE truly seems to be lovely and the students are very happy about it. And the case method seems to be helpful with preparing for consulting job. However, I'm a bit worry about being excluded given I don't speak Spanish, which I felt on the assesment day. It's true that the class helds several nationalities, but the majority are from Spanish speaking countries. 
  • HEC: It's prestigous and well-known in Europe, but the current employement report shows that very less students get into consulting, and current students mentioned that the career service could be improved. 
Any advices/ experiences are welcome :)­

@sleepingbonita - congrats on the admits!

All 3 are strong programs and, assuming good efforts from your side, I would say your consulting goals can be achieved at either. While it's true some consulting firms look at GMAT scores while recruiting, if you're able to prepare/ network well and demonstrate "transferable skills" (which I'm assuming you did in your B-school applications), you'd have a fair shot. Having a plan-B helps as well.

Purely from a consulting recruitment standpoint, I wouldn't worry about the Spanish language challenge at IESE, or the French language challenge at HEC. Both schools place a good % of grads in consulting roles in Middle East, LatAm, Amsterdam, London etc. where English works. Having said that, LBS is the stronger brand from a global perspective, and hence would be the "safer" long-term bet in my view.

You'd have probably done this already, but make sure to connect with alum from these schools in your target roles. This would help you get a good sense of the school's culture and employment dynamics, which are key factors to consider as well i.e. where do you feel the most cultural fit.

P.S: We're conducting a Free online webinar on "Consulting Careers post MBA" with an ex-Mckinsey Consultant later this month. If it interests you, details and registrations are here

­Regards,
Arvind
Founder, admitStreet | Schedule a free chat
W: https://admitstreet.com | LinkedIn | E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com­
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Re: Help needed as payment deadline is approaching! LBS vs IESE vs HEC [#permalink]
09 Apr 2024, 22:28
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