Dear All,

Could you help me answer which MBA program would be the best for me?

Background in short: 3 years work experience in finance with a local retail company, age: 27 year old, languages: English, French, no GMAT score yet, sitting for CFA level 3 this June, goal: to move to Western Europe in investment banking.

My choices so far: Insead, IE, ESADE 12month?, HEC 16 months?, Oxford Said, Cambridge Judge. As I don't speak Spanish I'm afraid of Spanish schools even if they have good rankings. I know that basically in Europe I should choose a school based on my decision where I want to work later on. In my case this comes down to either UK or France where I speak the languages. Do you think it still worthwhile to apply to IE for example, even if it is in Spain and I don't speak Spanish and don't want to work there? (It has a much better ranking than HEC or Oxford.) Or should I apply only to French / English schools? Basically I'm looking for max 2 additions to my top choice: Insead to have let's say 3 schools to which I could apply...

Sorry for the lengthy post, and thank you for your remarks!

Why dont you add LBS in your wish list? London is an amazing place man.

why are you not taking admissions in america university like harward, standford

If your experience is in retail finance then you'll need an MBA or masters degrees in finance with serious investment banking coursework. That excludes Oxford's MBA.

Really you have only two options that will work across the main countries: LBS and Insead. If your focus is the UK then additionally look at Cass and Imperial. In France then the top grande ecoles, ESSEC and HEC, should be on your list.

PS I can't see any reason to study in Spain unless your focus is Latin America or joining your family business in Spain.

Come to London and join LBS, Cass or Imperial and I promise you will not regret your decision. London is an amazing place to live, study and work and also for night life.

I'd throw Prague into the ring... University of New York in Prague has a great MBA with a Finance and Banking concentration taught by some amazing profs.

http://www.unyp.cz/academic-programs/mba-programs

I have my CFA charter, so I can certainly appreciate your accomplishment in sitting for level 3. Congrats!

That is not a very good choice for this candidate. For the best probability of getting into IB, they should look for a school in the best known MBA rankings and with accreditation from the respected MBA accreditation bodies.

Thank you all for your advice. To JK Duncan, do u think I need a masters in finance if i completed the 3 CFA exams?
I forgot to mention this before in my initial post.

LBS is a very good choice, I will be certainly be adding it to my wish list. But do you think an MBA in France grandes ecoles would allow me to work for bulge brackets in UK?

The CFA is a great qualification. Most charter holders working Financial Services or Investment Management rather than Investment Banking so it depends on the role you want and the sort of firm you want. CFAs working in UK IB are overwhelmingly graduates of the top UK universities. Insead is the only French school with a real sizeable based of MBAs in UK IB. HEC and ESCP are stronger than EDHEC and ESSEC, which are also strong finance schools. EDHEC and ESCP both have an campus in London.

I'd throw Prague into the ring... University of New York in Prague has a great MBA with a Finance and Banking concentration taught by some amazing profs.

Very fair point; we're a somewhat newer program, and accreditations are still in process. We have finished our IACBE accreditation process, and that final decision will be coming in June; our fall intake of MBA students will be our first with both a European and American accreditation. We're a small program; a couple cohorts of about 20 each year, so we don't hit the rankings too easily. But I would invite you to check out the professors that run through here. It's really an impressive group! [email protected] for questions anytime. Best of luck in your search!

Sadly, the IACBE accredits schools like the Swiss School of Management. I'm not sure it helps UNYP to be on the same list.

There's a loads of programmes with great professors, but that's not the key to an IB role. I think UNYP will have to prioritise the ICT and business consulting multinationals for its MBA. IB is really small in the Czech Republic.