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(3.5) |
When I came to ESMT I wasn't sure what to expect. The program hasn't been around as long as many big name schools. But, the school did a great job keeping the program diverse. They brought in 28 nationalities out of 50 students. The age average was also a bit higher than many US programs which was another factor in coming here. I came in at 34 years old which at many other schools would have made me seem like the old guy on campus. Here I was not out of place.
Yes the program is smaller and that might not be for everyone. You will get to know your classmates well. You also don't pick your own groups through most of the year so you may even work with people you don't want to, but that is part of the growing experience.
For someone who wants a lot of chances to take leadership roles, this is a good place. Because there are less people to compete with in taking leadership in clubs, etc, you will have plenty of chances to gain additional leadership experience. I was vp of the entrepreneurship club, created a few events, and did a consulting project with a startup.
The school is also very central and has everything you need right around it. With the new tram line coming in soon you can also subway right to school with a short walk.
Many courses were good, but they can be quite intense. The day is 9 am to 5 pm and you often have group work after. But, you do get a 2 hour lunch and breaks in the middle of sessions to cool down and play some fussball / kicker which seems to be the number one activity during breaks.
The school did manage to bring quite a few companies in. But you also need to do some effort on your own as well. If you are expecting the school to just do everything for you, that won't be the case, as it won't be anywhere else. Keep in mind that not just the MBA is going to get you where you want to go, your prior background does have some impact as well. Many jobs do not require German. But, I the school did pay for me to have German every week for the entire year, which I did take advantage of. My German is far better now than when I started.
Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Student body, diversity
Career opportunities provided by school
Consulting
Tech
Entrepreneurship
Management
Brand/Ranking
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Best teachers I could have asked for and they help you in every way possible. But the school does not have good career support. Please do not fall for the __founded by 25 companies__ line. The 25 companies do not hire from here. This was the first line we were taught in class.
In one of our first days itself, I got the feeling that the Career Services does not care at all. The students were told to “suck it up” when some students raised questions and were already nervous about career prospects in Germany. I put a hand on my head and asked myself, 'Oh no……what did I do? I have a loan for this'. How can someone be so insensitive to the students who want to start a new life here in Germany. Some of them have struggled a lot to get here. Better not say anything than say 'suck it up' to nervous students.
One of my classmates had also pointed out the founding companies of ESMT going to another school in the city and not coming to our school at all. That was weird. I did not believe it but it was right. Just google ‘linking talents berlin’
Fluent German is needed because you cannot learn here and companies need it, and this is the easiest excuse given by the career team. And I hear that there is another now that they have extended the program so that the students have more time to find a job. I was sooooooo tensed about finding a job but I laughed very hard on this, so thank you to the school for making me laugh in bad times. An alumnus from 2017 is still searching for a job and no one from career services has bothered to contact or offer to help with even contacts. No one cares. How will extended time help when the companies do not even know the school exist. Try to apply to some company here and see how many times are you able to find the school in the dropdown for the education section in the application. No one from CS bothered to tell the companies. No one cares.
The school’s ranking is going down every year and for good reason. The career resources are the weak link.
The alumni of the school are at very good places which is very nice and they can help, but not many do and it is not their fault. The school does not care about alumni at all so why should alumni care about the graduating students. Only 3-4 alumni actively speak with students and that is awesome. The school does not care about alumni at all except when the alumni are invited to the annual alumni reunion and the school has to ask for donations. That day the alumni are so very important but then again unimportant the next day. A good school always keeps its alumni close and connected. I was speaking to some friends and they said that when they visited the school, the management behaved as if they do not know them at all. Not even a smile forget speaking. When a student sent some emails to the MBA office, there was no reply from them. When another student was visiting the school with the CEO of a startup to show the school, they were not allowed to go inside and insulted at the reception. Will the CEO want to bring his company to the school now for recruitment? Don’t think so. These are just some of the examples and who knows how many others are there
If the alumni are soooooo important, provide them ID cards so that they can visit the common areas of the school to tell about their school to people capable of providing jobs. But no the school will not do this but yes, but you should still give them donations once a year so that they can keep insulting you again for another year. The schools has literally so many doors locked that you need key cards for every place even for visiting the offices. They do not want you to come to the office so they locked down everything and took away your key cards after graduation.
The school brings senior management from companies for speaking sessions but only 1 or 2 companies of the senior management come for recruitment. The CEO or the board member of a company can easily send the HR team for a day of recruitment if the CS team asks but no, why care when our own job is secure.
The overall rating of 2 stars is only for the teachers, the associate dean of the school who is also very nice and members of the admissions office at the school who are awesome otherwise the school gets zero stars.
Please do not take a student loan burden for this. As much as you feel you belong to the school the school does not care and will throw you out the moment the program is finished.
The professors are awesome. We have Per Olssen and Francis who are legendary among students. There are others also who are awesome. The course on Data Analytics was awesome and classes on Digital Marketing and Sales Management. I learned Tableau because of this class and two of our classmates taught us R.
The career services do not care if you exist or not and they insult you by completely ignoring you even when they see you when you visit campus. But they have been looking at our LinkedIn profiles now to see if we found jobs or not so that it can be updated in the 80% employed within 3 months of graduation figure in the brochure without doing anything to contribute to it. Use the alumni where you want and don't give anything back. The 80% number also accounts for fellowships so you still have to find a job after the fellowship. It has been more than 3 months since graduation and no one from CS bothered to send an email to say that please reach out we will try to help you. They have these career cafes every Tuesday and Thursday which is just a lame attempt to distract students from the main problem which is no major companies on campus. They also had career coaches for us who were more like psychotherapy mental sessions about feelings and all. If I needed counselling, I would go to a doctor not spend so much money to come here.
The school was founded by companies but they do not come here for recruitment. And since you do not know the German language fluently so the CS team cannot help you find a job. You are just a bad number in their 3-month statistic.
Overall BSchool experience (2.0)
Schools contribution (1.0)
Classmates rating (4.0)
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Admissions Team
Finance
Entrepreneurship
Career opportunities provided by school
Brand/Ranking
Culture & Student Support
Wow this is really helpful, thanks, I really liked the program that they offer, so it is not recommended at all? I'm looking for possibilities to work there after the Master, so it is really difficult to find a job? Thank you for the post!
As a current 2019 student, I am not sure if 2018 wasn't a good year or if you weren't able to take advantage of the career services to their full extent. The school was able to bring in big companies, McKinsey, SAP, Wayfair, to recruit directly which did lead directly to several positions students got before even graduating. Career services as well scheduled one on one conversions as well as twice a week sessions to meet directly and work on whatever you want. Also everyone got a personal coach which was very helpful in thinking about career options.
Not sure why the BSchool experience was ranked so low. We had a really good year of bonding, with a lot of weekend events together, and overall a very collaborative environment. Even my wife has been more than welcome at plenty of school events. Anyone who put in a little effort to go out had a great time.
Overall finding a job has been easy for most. The career services as mentioned brought good companies and a majority of the people that I have talked to either had several interviews or already locked down a pretty good job in Berlin. Keep in mind the pay is a little less than some cities as this is still Eastern Europe. You will of course make more in Munich. Many have even scored high positions back in their home countries before graduation. I'm pretty sure we're going to post strong numbers for the 2019 batch.
If you are looking for a close knit community where you have more one on one attention, this is a good choice. They are constantly looking at feedback to improve and it shows with the initiatives ESMT is taking.
Thanks. This opinion correlates with information that I have received from another graduate (MBA full time, class of 2016 as far as I remember, country of originate - Russia). She was struggling to find a job for a half a year and finally get one but it was just a key account position with minimum wage. Yes, this school is founded by the big companies but all communication with these companies is separated from MBA full time class. Therefore, there is not any support from school in job search. Hence, I have discounted this school from my short list.
Hello, thanks for the feedback. What is your take on WHU and HHL MBA, in comparison with ESMT?