IESE - Great school and people

Experience during the program

Was previously a student in IESE and I have to say, the student diversity and body is very friendly and open. Like most MBA classes, they love to party and are a smart bunch. Classes are intense, but quite balanced (though there is a huge advantage to those who have done commerce/business as a undergrad), and a fair number of opportunities to get involved in things outside of just studying.

Although I did not like the location at first (i dont speak spanish) especially with the different culture to what I am used to (Spain, is not the most efficient nation I must say...), it has grown on me, and is a beautiful city to be in. It has its own character in local places, and the laid back nature means its a very good place to put your feet up when you want to unwind - and 'working' is not the first thing on your mind.

In terms of what I think is the specialisation, I would have to say its in general management/industry roles. Europe Business schools can be bucketed into 3 or 4 areas: Finance - LBS, Consulting - INSEAD, Industry - IESE/IMD/HEC, A bit of everything - IE/Cambridge/Oxford.

In Industry, where I see IESE as being its strongest, it wont be as competitive and strong as IMD (where they live and breath industry), but theyre a good sure second with HEC. Theyre inferior to INSEAD to consulting, and LBS in banking, but do a decent job at them. There is significant banking and consulting support - and great work/connections from career services in banking has grown their presence in that area.

Things they need to work on: With the recent drop in rankings due mainly to pay and career development, there has been a need to look into developing their career service departments. As a student there, with exception to the banking career development/services, the other career service departments are underdeveloped. Also the brandname is deceptive compared to the average ranking on FT (7th the last 3 years except in 2016), as not many places outside of the MBA circle know about it. I was struggling to find anyone outside of Spain to know of IESE - other than companies that specifically recruit MBAs.

Interesting things to note: A lot of the success in obtaining internships seem to be in spanish speaking countries. I found that international students outside of Latam/spain/UAE struggled to secure the internships they want. First thing is the school may need to work on career mentorship and interview/application training over the rigorous first year curriculum. The exams punish the 10%-15% of the class, as they get a C (read: fail) mark no matter how high you score, as the marks are based on a bell curve. This places a slight emphasis on study for core courses (especially for those who want to exchange in second year) and less time on recruitment.

Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)

Strengths of the program:

Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Student body, diversity
Culture & Student Support

Best fit at this program:

Marketing
Management
General Industry

Can be improved:

Career opportunities provided by school
Brand/Ranking