I am considering the option of an MBA in 2 years to jump to M&A or RX at a BB or EB. I am looking for MBA in top European Schools (LBS, INSEAD, HEC Paris) as they are cheaper and some of them are just 1 year long.
I always saw INSEAD as a very prestigious Business School, probably the best after HBS, Wharton, Stanford and MIT Sloan), I rate INSEAD above good schools such as Yale, NY Stern, Columbia, Kellogg or Chicago Booth.
But when I take a look into their employability statistics, they are terrible in finance.
I have been searching on LinkedIn, and there are very few Associates /VPs at BB from INSEAD.
Does anyone know why?
First off, INSEAD is not on par with top US business schools, so I wouldn’t rate it as high as Booth/CBS/Yale/Tuck/Stern. Then, INSEAD is known for inflating its ranking and job placement. The school isn’t that hard to get into and its MBB numbers are inflated by the amount of people sponsored by their firm to go there. INSEAD is essentially a quick and dirty way for MBB to get a MBA stamp on its consultants so that they can bill their hours higher.
Then, the caliber of INSEAD students is not better than US T15 schools. Some may even argue it’s worse. The consequence is that INSEAD talent is not as “hot” as talent from top US business schools. Add to that the fact that INSEAD's focus is consulting rather than finance and this leads to weak finance/IB recruiting.
Finally, MBA IB recruiting is limited in Europe and only LBS places well in IB among European schools. For the limited MBA Associates spots in London, banks prefer to stick to LBS and top US schools (CBS and Stern in particular have programs to place their European students in London).
TL; DR: INSEAD is an overrated school. The only European MBA that I would say is worth the money is LBS, otherwise go look at the US top 15. If you really want to study in Europe, Masters (MiM, MiF) are the way to go (i.e. HEC has great MiM/MiF programs, but a mediocre MBA, and it's one of the better European MBAs)
Does INSEAD focus more on IFRS instead of GAAP? Maybe that has something to do with it?
Maybe although I imagine other schools like LBS also emphasize the IFRS, so there's probably more to it. Since my comment got some heat from other users below, I'll also clarify that I don't think INSEAD is a bad school at all - it's just not "elite tier" in the way that the US Top 7-10 (+LBS) is. But it's still a highly recognized MBA and a global brand, so by no means a bad choice
INSEAD is not on par as M7 / LBS. Period. Anyone whose gone to a top school knows this, but will be polite enough to not say it to your face. As a personal data point, all the folks I know who went to INSEAD (~5) were rejected from the M7s...
I have heard from a friend that went there that not many INSEAD students target IB. I would look at other schools if this is your objective.
Also keep in mind that INSEAD requires students to speak English plus have practical knowledge of a second language to enter and add practical knowledge of a third language while there. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but might be a detractor for some people. Even if you are already speak two languages, you might not want to add a third during your MBA.
I think frankly that the program structure is to blame more than anything. A one-year program is not good for career switchers, even if you do the Jan. intake (the sept. intake should be reserved for sponsored students). The schedule for banking recruiting along with the heavy networking expected during the fall first year really puts INSEAD students at a disadvantage and that gets reflected into banking placement. Knowing this, students obviously self-select and you therefore see much fewer interest in finance as a results. If you do decide to go back to school and get your MBA, I would strongly recommend a 2-year program.
INSEAD...Harvard..Booth? Lost you there haha
The statistics are heavily influenced by the fact that everything is so skewed towards consulting, so INSEAD is not that terrible in placing grads in finance as you say. Certainly there are a few technical problems though. One of the two intakes that they offer doesn't allow a summer internship due to time and even the other one has a pretty tight timeline (i.e. you start working on the applications before you start classes). As you may imagine, if you join INSEAD and you don't know what you want to do with your life, you will have likely missed the boat of IB recruitment already. As a consequence of all the above, less people in finance, less alumni, less informal networking opportunities. However, there are also far less people fighting for IB. If IB is your objective from the start you will be okay as it still places well. Regarding quality, I agree with the above comments, US top programmes are another league.
Not sure if you're asking this question from a European/Asian or a US context, since the US region is tagged in your post.
Short answer is, if you're dead set on using the MBA to transition to a BB associate role in the US, you should do a top MBA in the US (doesn't need to be M7 to get BB interviews).
Longer answer on the placement. For that, you need to pretty much ignore what the Intern in IB above said (as INSEAD has actually one of the most detailed employment reports of any school and the MBA there is seen on par in Europe and Asia with LBS and M7 schools). As mtnmmnn and the VPs above said the following lead to a seemingly poor placement in finance. I went to INSEAD myself, so fell free to consider my answer either biased or insightful (although I hope the latter comes across).
1. Programme structure for any 1 year MBA is not ideal for banking, as you need to do an internship. So, in INSEADs case, if you start in either September or January, you need to intern in summer and start full time either in March or Sept the year after. Especially for the July class, it's a long time to wait more than a year to start your full time role. This has lead to multiple students doing their internships at a BB in London, and then going for a different role because they don't want to wait a year (happened to about 5 people I know).
2. The structure, which is hopefully well known to prospective students before joining, leads to less interest in banking from the class, which in time leads to less recruitment from banking (comparable to more finance focused schools, such as LBS).
3. The MBA associate recruitment process is not as universally prevalent in Europe and Asia as it is in the US. In fact, when I did my MBA, several BBs did not even run any type of MBA recruitment in Europe, vs US where they all had large classes. Going from INSEAD to the US is very hard if you don't have a green card/citizenship, which only about 10% of the class at INSEAD will have.
So, to sum up, there is recruitment for BB IB at INSEAD, just not in the same numbers as at M7 or LBS. Most people that wanted IB from my class got an internship, but almost none are still in banking now. When I asked them about the MBA summer associate class at their BB, it tended to be a third INSEAD, a third LBS and a third other schools. Not sure if that's still the case, as it was a few years ago.
Spot on answer right here +SB. No idea what that first poster is talking about (clearly an overzealous intern who needs knocking down a peg or two).
Also IESE is a solid third after LBS / INSEAD. Other than those three representation is pretty thin on the ground (though HEC and Judge have sent a few here and there).
Can’t believe this is not well known but here goes. THERE IS NO REAL MBA ASSOCIATE RECRUITMENT IN EUROPE. Not meant to come across aggressively, but honestly you need to realise that if you have NOT DONE IB PRE-MBA and you are looking for London offices, you only have 4-5 places (BB) that take MBAs. EBs, MMs, etc do not take MBA Associates. The senior/lateral market for IB Associates in UK is not from MBA career chamgers. It is actually from Big4 Auditors turned senior analysts/junior associates.
Just because there are fewer banks recruiting post-MBA doesn't mean there is "NO RECRUITING" as you so gracefully exclaimed. Plenty of spots for someone committed enough to get banking and plenty of firms willing to do ad-hoc hires outside of a formal MBA Associate intake.
Sure, I mean practically no recruiting in comparison to structured in takes like US. The thing about “ad-hoc” hires is that 1) they are once in a blue moon/luck dependent, 2) if you have not done IB before (even if in another continent) etc it is hard to even get interviews, 3) I wouldn’t want to throw c. €100k down the INSEAD drain HOPING that when it comes to recruit some “ad-hoc” positions may be there. My point is simple. It is not a structured path into IB in London, and I don’t believe that (less than c. 30 summer (i.e. not even associate) MBA associate vacancies) merit doling out cash to pursue this career trajectory. I am not saying this out of spite or whatever dude, I am saying this because having worked and interviewed at most BBs and MMs as a lateral, I categorically asked the question to HR & Bankers and in 90% of the cases was told a flat ‘No!’.
To add, CBS (and I assume Booth/Wharton) send a few to BB London offices every year - there are alumni over there who help facilitate the process, as there isn't a formalized one. If you want to switch into finance, you need to go to a US-based program, especially one with a finance legacy like W/B/C.
Hardly anyone recruits for IB and for few who are interested, the vast majority get a spot - C, GS, MS do OCR and will typically interview those interested. Other BBs and EBs are more ad hoc (and this is across all schools)......a lot of misleading posts here.
general rule of thumb - if you want a US job, go to a US school; if you want a consulting job, go to INSEAD, if you want an IB job, go to LBS; if you want PE, go to INSEAD; if you want corporate; either works and if you want an Asia or EMEA jobs, go to INSEAD.
Insead is all sponsored consultants, def not taken very seriously. Plus, you need an internship to switch into banking if you don't have prior experience. The Non-LBS Euro schools really just do not compare at all to M7. Why do you think it's "easier" to get in? Because so many fewer apply.
From Europe
I know that a lot of F100-type firms will send their management, or management-track employees to schools like INSEAD for a compan-sponsored MBA.
If you plan on working IN Europe, it could very well be worth the time and money, as you're going to meet / network with people that end up in very high places over here.
Tbh, comparing American and European business schools is like comparing apples and oranges. The educational bit is going to be good wherever you go, but the things that count - placement and networking, will be very different.
Look at this example: You want to work in Spain (or Italy, or wherever), and it turns out that 80% of the industry has their MBA from a school like INSEAD, and maybe 5% have their MBA from top US schools. Where does it make sense to get your MBA from? The former, of course - it's going to carry a much stronger local brand, as well as networking / alumni opportunities.
On the flip-side, if you're going to work in the US, where the majority of people have MBAs from T15 US schools, and very, very few have from abroad schools - then it makes sense to go for the T15 school. It all boils down to where you want to work, and what schools are popular in that area.
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