As a non-Mandarin speaker, would it be advisable to pursue an MBA at a top MBA school in China?

I'm looking to re-brand and apply to an MBA program this fall. Would it be advisable to apply to a top Chinese school if I'm thinking about doing PE long-term? How are their programs different than from the US programs? Do you still have summer internships?

 
Best Response

I'd suggest that it's not a great idea. While there are some good schools, including HKUST in Hong Kong, as well as the joint program between Tsinghua and MIT in Beijing, etc., if I were not a Mandarin speaker I'd probably try and go to MBA elsewhere. If you're not in finance it could be better, but if you are and if you don't have much finance expereince in Asia yet, you will not be able to get a job in finance after school in China... and most of your network will therefore not be particularly useful. If you're going to go full out balls to the wall and study Chinese 8 hours a day and take a year off beforehand to move to Harbin to do that intensive program and all that shit then that's one thing, but if you're just like "I'm going to go to HKUST and then get a job at Goldman in beijing..." it's not going to work that way. It all depends what you want to do and where you want to be based in the long run.

 
International Pymp:

I'd suggest that it's not a great idea. While there are some good schools, including HKUST in Hong Kong, as well as the joint program between Tsinghua and MIT in Beijing, etc., if I were not a Mandarin speaker I'd probably try and go to MBA elsewhere. If you're not in finance it could be better, but if you are and if you don't have much finance expereince in Asia yet, you will not be able to get a job in finance after school in China... and most of your network will therefore not be particularly useful. If you're going to go full out balls to the wall and study Chinese 8 hours a day and take a year off beforehand to move to Harbin to do that intensive program and all that shit then that's one thing, but if you're just like "I'm going to go to HKUST and then get a job at Goldman in beijing..." it's not going to work that way. It all depends what you want to do and where you want to be based in the long run.

I would agree with all of this. Additionally, I'd would point that out that if you are trying to re-brand, a traditional two year program makes even more sense for you. HKUST has a 12 month or 16 month program. The 16 month one has an optional internship, the other does not. Someone trying to re-brand and presumably switch industries benefits from an internship as part of their MBA even more than most. In HKUST's program, even their curriculum with an internship is still a short program and if you don't lock up a FT offer from the internship, you'll be done after the 2YR Fall semester and not in sync with recruiting timelines.

If you want to spend some time in China/Asia and build up a network there, I'd definitely go the study abroad route sometime during the 2YR of a more traditional program.

Also, half your initial questions could have been answered by simply looking on the websites of the schools you are considering. In any case, I'd say probably don't do it.

 

I'm not referring to a specific program, but there's only a few good ones... HKUST, MIT Sloan/Tsinghua Joint Program, There's an LSE one with PKU I think or something, etc... China European Business School or something like that also a well known one.

 

Stick with a EU/US top mba. Maybe Insead with a 6month exchange in its campus in Singapore. HEC Paris has a double degree with Tsinghua. You spend a year in each mba and get awarded both.

I would do something like to hedge you

 

Well I can tell you if I was of East Asian ethnicity and (k)new some Mandarin, I would definitely look into that

update: I typed fast and skipped the k. We all know finding spelling mistakes on this forum is the epitome of sophisticated banter.

Also I switch my opinion to eric1025's point now that I think about it.

 

It doesn't matter how good the programs of schools like INSEAD and LBS are compared to the US's top 10. INSEAD and LBS may be excellent programs, but people view and always will view American schools as the cream of the crop. Unfair as it may be, INSEAD, LBS, and the like are viewed as "watered down."

When I was in Korea, I noticed that people who studied at decent tier 2 schools (Wash U, UIUC, etc.) are highly respected.

 

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