If I could write like this I would be well chuffed ;-)

The more I read articles of such quality as this (which is rare), the more I think there might be a future for the Web. Keep it up, as it were.

I guess the level of ESADE graduate’s satisfaction with their MBA experience is distributed, like many things, similar to a bell curve. What we see on this blog are usually comments from the either very dissatisfied 5% complainers or the 5% fan boy population.

Hopefully prospective students realize that neither picture necessarily expresses the majority of the student body’s perception of the status quo.

My point of view: while both sides have good arguments, I think it ultimately comes down to the question of whether the school provides me with the best possible MBA experience (based on the given constraints like tuition, location etc), and in that respect I have to side with a “No”. Too often have I heared that due to the ongoing program changes, things will be improved, modified, adjusted for the next year. This might be great for future students, but I don’t feel like beta testing.

However as I haven’t done an MBA at IESE, INSEAD and LBS in parallel, I can’t tell whether thats an ESADE specific issue or true for all European MBA programs!

What I like about this discussion is that it shows how diverse our classes really are, with less conformity as, I guess/stereotype, a class of IESE students. Indeed beyond the noise, that fact may be of help for you, prospective student, in your decisions where to start our journey!

Best,
Andi

Dear UnhappyStudent,

You should maybe create a “unhappy student club”, some kind of focus group / consulting club that could interview students, discuss the concerns and potential solutions, and develop recommendations for the program. That way your voice will be heard and your KPIs could be implemented and possibly monitored by the club itself…just a suggestion…but this would be a good change management experience and a better time spent then writing on this blog… you do have the passion…
All-in-all I still believe 5 years down the road you will be very grateful for your experience at ESADE and maybe you will be the one replying (vehemently) to the complaining MBA students and you will be the one to tell them to find better channels to emit their concerns.

I thank you for your constructive comment (the one point out of the 8) and I do like your KPI suggestions. I did acknowledge last time that you made 1 constructive comment out of the 6 but again on your last post, only point 8 was worth reading… You fail to talk about any positive points. May I remind you for instance about the consulting trip in London organized in December (which actually few students attended). Or have you mentioned anything positive about the career week ? Looking at the survey results, I was really wondering why all of the questions consistently received the lowest grade by 10 or so individuals… even on the networking coffee, which I think should not deserve less then a passing grade in all objectivity (it got 5/6 average score). I was wondering also about results such as “I felt well-informed about Hosting Opportunities during WCW” which got a bad score from 18 people….I received way too many emails and reminders for that…how can one ever be dissatisfied about this ? My hypothesis is that some people are just unable to let their anxiety not affect their judgement…

I tend to agree with you in the idea of having transparency out on the net. It is fine to write what you like what you don’t like but you have to mention the good points as well and some political correctness would be appreciated. The problem, as I mentioned before, is the fact that some rotten apples (like the DissappointedStudent) tend to just complain and fail to stay objective (due to job anxiety, no emotional intelligence etc..). Also, as others have suggested, changes and suggestions should be kept on the internal channels (class representative, survey, meeting request, “unhappy student club” etc…). Asking questions to the career services on a blog (I am referring to the gazillion question marks of your post) is definitely useless.

I am glad that you are positive on your MBA experience and I thank you for mentioning this positive feedback. I honestly appreciate your passion and your will on this subject and I like your KPI suggestion. I wonder though if students should be measured as well:
- number of applications sent
- number professional contacts met
- number of networking events attended
- number of networking events created for the school
- number of general professional events created for the school
- track record of the list of companies investigated
- number of initiatives undertaken to pursue one’s dream job
- number of checks made by others on resume and cover letters
- number of spelling mistakes in your resume or cover letters ?
etc..
This does not seem very practical….but it’s an idea

Instead of complaining about the career services, you should be proactive and follow the example of the 1st years who are doing an amazing job at creating events and ramping up the business clubs’ activities (insert clapclap!). Or you should get inspired by the 2 students who went to NYC last year for one week with the single objective of meeting as many professionals as they could. This led them to their dream job. In fact, you are just ruining everybody’s efforts, motivations and positiveness with your useless blog postings.

And, with regards to your useless point 4, I still do not understand why you first complained that companies come without the intent to hire MBAs and then you want the whole IBEX-35 to come on campus….???

I hope to never read any of your useless negative comments again on this blog or any other. And I have to admit that I am not being constructive here !

Dear Happy Student,

I almost totally agree with you. The point I would disagree with is that, even if ESADE is not the strongest school on Finance (afterall, Barcelona is not in a major financial city like London, Frankfurt or Paris), we have some outstanding candidates focused on that subject, as well as some outstanding finance classes. Indeed, many people have claimed that their best courses were the entrepreneurial finance class or the strategy class (personally I loved the corporate finance, corporate law and accounting classes). Beside, happy student, you forgot to mention the strong entrepreneurship or CSR focus. Point is, there is a place for everybody.

Omri,

I totally agree with your point. I am ready to help making a survey (on google it should be very easy) for the current 2nd years to fill and to give the results to the next student batch….

P.S: DisappointedStudent, you are just a waste of space in our program. I feel sorry for whoever could have filled your spot more adequately, not just because of your pointless and thoughtless unconstructive negativity, but more so because, with that kind of attitude, you will need a big change of mindset for not being a disgrace to the school. Please get you money back and take your suggested backpack trip far-away where you will not find any internet connection to throw your garbage on us.

Please allow me to make some points:
1. First of all MBA is not about only getting a job and doing a career change, its about varied experiences you get through out.Also Job and career change is an ongoing process which doesn’t happen in a day. You have to constantly pursue through out your MBA. For example- Many of my classmates who wanted to pursue their career in Marketing have participated in many Marketing Contests organised by different MNCs and they have internships/ Jobs now.In the current times, Its difficult to change Careers and Its YOU who need to make effort to prove the employer why they should take you despite not having that background.If you dont make an extra effort besides classes then you will CRY like the disappointed student and ask for money back.
2. When you choose a school, make sure your goal aligns with that School.If you want to change career to finance , Is ESADE a great choice? Better look at other schools who have solid background in finance and are renowned for that. ESADE is more known for marketing and I have enjoyed all the marketing classes. Also make sure you choose the right program 12 months/15 or 18 months. It was surprising to see that few courses in marketing were considered poor by 1 year MBA guys which we 18 month guys considered very good. The difference is that one year is a CRUSHED course and unless you have more than 7-8 years of experience and you are NOT looking for career change, its not advisable to join a short program. OTHERWISE you will CRY like the disappointed student and ask for “Money back”.
3. ESADE is a small school and it gives you a fantastic opportunity to be a BIG fish in the SMALL pond. It provides you many opportunities to take many leadership position and contribute to the school.Believe me, in that process you learn a lot and these experiences add value to your MBA life.But people such as Disappointed Student do not get involved in any activities, they think that they are here just to take lectures and notes, get a job and live happily ever after and if they don’t get it they CRY and ask for “money back.
4. The work load during second year is less than that of first year. Its another opportunity to utilize the time by networking with alumni, attending different networking events, take few professional exams, use those networks to apply for Job. Few of my classmates have taken CFA/ are taking to improve their financial acumen. If you dont do this, you will be like an IDLE man, and you know IDLE mind is a devil’s mind.
5. Barcelona is one of the finest city I have ever visited, people fall in love with this city. But be careful to balance your party life with your MBA life. you are not here only to make friends and party, you have hundreds of responsibilities to take care of. People such as disappointed student spend time in attending only parties instead of networking with alumni/other professionals, they enjoy the night life ( which is fine),make new friends and suddenly wake up in the morning realizing that they have just 40 days to graduate and what should they do now – CRY, CRIB, and ask for money back because they dont have job.
6.That said, I don’t say that all is good here but believe me every school has pros and cons. Please do due diligence before choosing the school. Talk to us.If you dont do that you will choose a school which does not fit your goals and then you will cry like disappointed student and ask for Money back :)

Dear disappointed student- No personal offence at you. My suggestion – Please do a due diligence while applying to companies, may be you are a finance oriented guy and may choose a marketing oriented company and then you will again cry and ask for money back ;)

Good luck!!