Case II

Post date: Apr 20, 2009 9:12:42 AM

Q. Hello everyone,

My name is Henry, the prospective student for MBA class 2010, 27 years old with almost 6 years W/E, GMAT 690 and TOEFL 101. I was a reporter and now I am an assistant marketing manager. My future career path will be focused on corporate general management, not finance, not consulting.

I would love to have your advices on my school choosing. I am admitted by IESE and Georgetown. It is a hard decision for me to choose the right school between IESE Business school (Spain, ranked #11 globally & #5 in Europe by Financial Times.) & Georgetown McDonough Business School (US, ranked #38 globally & #19 in US by Financial Times.)

I took all of my efforts to apply both of them and now I suffer to give up anyone. I love to study in US but I can't ignore the future niche strength if I study in the prestigious Spanish bilingual MBA, on the other hand, I believe the fact of location is everything so that studying in US, in DC, will help me to broaden my life experiences.

If it’s available, I would like to have your and advices from an objective prospective, please kindly share your thoughts and I would be more than happy to have your advices.

Thank you so much and may all the best be with you.

A1.

I would not say most Fortune 1000 companies are US companies. Keep in mind Fortune is also a US publication.

Also would not say that European companies do not operate w/ scale.

And I certainly wouldn't say that European companies are dominant only because they are not competing head-on with US companies.

Anyway, not here to pick a fight, but just want to correct some factual errors.

Here are my comments:

--Ask yourself how relevant US experience will be to your future?

--Where do you see the global economy heading?

--Figure out what you want out of an MBA.

Now my thoughts:

--The world is idecoupling from US

--There are political and economic issues in US that may hurt US in the short & medium term, such as War in Iraq and the credit bust that is happening right now

--Smart money, e.g. Warren Buffett, Jim Rogers, Wall Street investment banks, etc. are looking for opportunities outside of the U.S.

A2.

Location is important, but either way I think DC vs Barcelona, you will get a different experience from Taiwan.

Curriculum: My take on curriculum is that MBA is all bullshit anyway, so I could really care less if it's Harvard or Stanford. Both Gtown or IESE are good enough schools.

Recruitment for Taiwanese students: Based on the results of the last 2 years, I would say IESE is MUCH STRONGER than Georgetown in traditional MBA industries, such as banking & consulting.

Return on Investment: Haven't done the detailed calculation, but assuming no scholarship, I think IESE would have the edge as well.

"Blue Ocean Factor:" I'd go to Barcelona. I rather be unique and "take the road less traveled" than be one of tens of thousands who has Taiwan/US experience only vs probably less than a 100 each yr who has Taiwan/Spanish (European) experience.