Elitism in IB Recruiting? - Spain & France
Would like to know what you think about recruiting for IB at these countries, do you find it too elitist or do you think that opportunities are given to the right people? Both countries seem to me similar in IB where there are opportunities for those who chase them, as opposite to Italy where not being from Bocconi is a red flag (no idea for Consulting), in any case would like to see your opinion about the topic.
IB in Spain is extremely elitist. If you look at the profiles of BB guys, all of them come from ICADE/ESADE/IE/CUNEF, being ICADE the most dominant by far. ICADE is theuniversity of the "sons of" os Spain. (ie the son of the former president, the sons of the biggest businessmen...). It is not that well known outside of Spain, biven that their graduate programmes are really weak and they don't place well ouside of Spain, but in Spain, it's the absolute #1.
If you are not from one of those universities, you have close to no chance. Spanish IB market is really small, so there are few spots and networking/pedigree plays an enormous role. Go to ICADE, pay the bills, and you will have a spot. If it is not in a BB, it will be in the company of the father of your classmate.
Regarding France, I don't really know, but France in general is known to be really elitist when it comes to education. The thing is that there are more prestigious institutions to attend and that place well.
Prospect above is correct. If you’re Spanish and want to stay in Spain then ICADE (I don’t know CUNEF) is more of a safe bet than BOCCONI in Milan. Someone will have a better idea but I’ve heard of nephews/cousins etc etc of the Spanish royal family being at ICADE so yes, I would say it’s a highly elitist institution. I don’t think it places as well in London as IE and ESADE but I think that’s also a function of the latter two being much more international and having English speaking programs. Couldn’t tell you if the quality of teaching is any good though.
I think France is a bit different but still elitist. HEC/ESCP/ESSEC are better overall programs than those in Spain I’d say. But it’s gotten less elitist because of how well those three programs have done over the years that they’ve started to attract more international candidates. This is happening at Bocconi too to a lesser extent but I’m not sure the foreign kids place too well yet if I’m honest.
Lol Europe sucks pretty bad based off of these comments. Essentially if you're not rich you don't even have a shot? Chalk another one up for America.
Your parents had basic jobs (not finance/law/anything that requires university) -> you didn't go to a good primary/secondary/high school -> you have lower chance of getting into world class university for bsc degree (even when you find out what you want to do and how to do it - because nobody told you what oxford and IB is then its already too late because your rich peers have been following a plan set out by their parents since day one) -> you have no chance at IB -> you have no chance at PE
This is Europe in a nutshell, not sure about US/Asia but take a look at profiles of GS SAs - many of them have linkedin profiles with world class high schools where you need to pay big bucks per annum
If you don't know what you want to do from your early days then you are screwed