MBA in Russia

What are you thoughts of doing a MBA in Russia? 

I have some conversational proficiency in Russian despite not being from Russia, so I would do the MBA more to immerse for 2 years in Russia and become business proficient in this language. 

So, my question: Anyone has some insights about finance or studying in Russia? Also, how would a MBA in Russia be viewed for recruitment in Zurich, London or NY? 

My guess is that a career in PWM or covering EM would be the most suitable, but I would want to read a more in depth view by someone with more experience or a similar path. 

Among others, I am fluent in Spanish, French, Italian and English so I would view the MBA as a way to cover also Russia as EM altogether with Latin America and Africa.

My CV: Undergraduate in Romania with studies abroad in Madrid and Milan, MSc in Law and Finance in Netherlands with a semester abroad in Canada or Australia, and a traineeship in Luxembourg in IWM.

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

You have an extremely unique background having studied in multiple countries and fluency in several languages. Why do you want to do an MBA with so much schooling and fluency in several languages under your belt? Financial firms in EU would kill to have a candidate like yourself. I really don't see why you need to incur more debt and waste time doing an MBA. US institutions would also kill to have a guy like you in NA....

To answer your question:

Unless you want to live in Russia it doesn't make sense to do an MBA there. Russian is not an easy language to learn. I highly doubt you will be business proficient in 2 years unless you are really talented at learning languages. Russians are also nationalists, and they like to do business with other Russians who know their culture. You would be fun to talk to at parties but I don't think it would be easy to move up.

I think doing an MBA in Russia will put you at a disadvantage because schools in that region don't have great pedigree. You also won't have great networking opportunities, which is one of the main reasons for attending an MBA. Your background is already impressive, so I don't think you would have trouble getting a role in US/EU. Maybe some firms/departments will toss your application because your competition is attending well-known schools.. However, I think your time and money will best be used on a top tier school in EU or US, and I think you can get in (but you should seriously consider working now and making $$$$$, you are the prime candidate for any FO job in finance..)

 

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