MIT Sloan vs Insead MBA
Hi Everyone!
I've been admitted to MIT Sloan and Insead for their full-time MBA programs starting 2017.
I am in my early 30's+married and have been an entrepreneur in the emerging markets for most of my career-- went to a liberal arts school in the US and have a few years of Blue-Chip consulting early on in my career. My long-term goal is to be in VC in Asia (very ambitious as I don't have any finance experience besides starting and selling a few companies!!). I like working in the emerging markets and can see myself working at a VC in Dubai looking at emerging markets.
So many questions:
What school has a better alumni network in Asia (Dubai or HK)? Do I lean towards Insead because of its Asia presence, cheaper cost, and shorter course (considering that I am no spring chicken)?? Can I even consider saying no to MIT-- seems like its transformative program?? Which school has a better atmosphere for partners-- can't forget about the better half.
The way I see it:
MIT Pros
Prestige factor
Fewer grads in Asia mean more exclusive network
summer internship will make my entrepreneurial CV more palatable to employers (no internship in Insead as admitted for the fall program)
Insead Pros
Faster, Cheaper
Presence in Asia
International Network/Focus
Your thoughts are much appreciated! Cheers
A couple of points:
1) With your background, I think you could easily get a solid VC role without the MBA. Usually VC roles in Asia are not as structured as in the US. 2) Dubai is not the place to do VC work unless you work for some prince investing his own money or the those sovereign funds. 3) On your MBA question, I really don't think you need one. But if I had to go with one, if you are willing to a 2 year program, i would do MIT probably.
Man this is a good question and a tough one.
Age/family: insead, 1year is less pain, and startup immersion probably has been tough on family. i also assume you have about 8yrs work, thus you're more credible and each unpaid MBA year hurts more
Prestige - feels like a tie actually. Insead may lose with hbs/gsb but it's known as the hbs equivalent of European MBA and a huge MBB feeder. At mit you could take hbs classes if that's valuable. MIT's tech root and obviously faster alumni production are also huge competitive advantages too tho.
Location- tricky tie. Insead has a Singapore component either required or available, so you may need to move a few times, MIT has an early partnership called Asian school of Business. I would guess flying from Boston to Asia is just an unavoidable pain either way, unless you're studying abroad with abbreviated career office support onsite...... And at this level, whatever alumni will likely be the most loyal, and no one else in the tier would dare to underestimate you.
Internship/Academics time allocation: MIT vs no internship in insead. But academically is it consuming? do you plan to study like an academic or like a networker? Do alums say the curriculum is pretty hard oe soft? MIT doesn't have grade disclosure, not sure about insead.
Networking: You may find it helpful to ask alumni a bit, and you might find unbiased 3rd party like hbs people or Lbs people to judge the alumni networks a bit
How would you structure your personal needs dimensions for analysis? It'd really depend on how you weight these and/or any other dimensions
Thanks for the comments guys.
Essentially the question is-- is MIT Sloan worth 100k and 1 year extra if the post-MBA goal is Dubai or the Far East.
@whattherock--- it is definitely a tough one!
like MBAApply said, personal stuff is harder to balance. You're a more experienced candidate back to top b-school, your exit potentials is likely par from both programs
best way to find out is to contact others who had similar shoes. I think we're having "admit sell days" now, so you could leverage those to check out both places.
If your spouse is working and/or wants to work, then MIT since your spouse can probably find a great job in Boston across all kinds of industries.
Fountainbleau is to Paris what Evanston is to Chicago -- very close for weekend getaways and access to a major airport, but far enough that you can't just live and commute everyday. Also, there's the issue of work visas in the EU if your spouse isn't an EU passport holder. If you were to go to INSEAD, there's a good chance your spouse won't be working compared to going to MIT, and depending on your spouse's lifestyle, tastes, etc may find living in a city like Boston to be preferable to a suburb like Fountainbleau if not fully employed (and even if your spouse is not working, Boston is a city, Fountainbleau is a suburb, plus the language issue as well if your spouse is looking to have a life while you're in school - yes it's great to learn a new language or brush up on one you're rusty at, but for the very short-term, your spouse may find life in Boston easier and funner than Fountainbleau - again it's all personal circumstances and tastes; maybe your spouse will take the opportunity to ditch you for that year in INSEAD and travel Europe as a 1-year vacation, or not).
As such INSEAD may not be cheaper if you're factoring in your spouse's job (or lack thereof).
Also you never mentioned kids, as that changes the equation. I don't know how health/childcare benefits works for foreigners in France, but if they get the same benefits as citizens, then that certainly makes INSEAD a much more attractive option (1 year of European style health/education/childcare benefits for a family may convince you never to come back to the US again to raise a family).
My point is that in your case as an older candidate with a life and responsibility beyond yourself, it's likely going to come down to personal circumstances rather than which school is better from a career standpoint because you've already weighed those options and could go either way.
Now this is a tough one.
A few random thoughts:
starting and selling a few companies is probably the ideal experience for entering VC - way better than coming out of IB. And if you had blue-chip consulting experience too, then you're in good shape. But you'll have to network a ton, regardless of the school.
VC firms in Dubai - take a look at places like BECO Capital, I recall one of the founding partners is a Sloan grad.
MIT is more prestigious when speaking to engineers. They love any and all things MIT.
Yes, INSEAD has a deeper and more widespread on-the-ground presence in Asia, but probably a draw between the two given the previous point and how many engineers there are in Asia.
You'll find more people who understand your EM entrepreneurship experience at INSEAD. They just "get" that stuff better than most at US schools.
No horse in this race: I got into one of the two (didn't apply to the other), and went to a school that is very much a peer to the other.
The biggest difficulty you're probably going to find, regardless of school, is that the VC scene in Asia or the Middle East is probably a tad small for comfort.
Magnam et velit blanditiis velit quia dicta. Qui voluptatem aut qui nihil laboriosam rerum. Similique quo aperiam quae tenetur ut mollitia. Non dicta praesentium nostrum unde. Esse fuga nobis ratione illo debitis hic. Et ut pariatur esse voluptatibus sequi eveniet.
Deleniti quo velit reiciendis enim id eos nisi. Quam tenetur corrupti voluptatem in. Voluptas ipsum aut et officia quis autem. Sed dolores omnis fugit id velit. Est quidem sed molestias quis deleniti.
Vel praesentium rerum minima facere. Perspiciatis ab omnis doloremque neque non dolores voluptate. Et eaque dolores accusantium labore optio minus unde. Voluptas nam laboriosam enim molestias.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...