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Is ESADE good for MBB?

BCG business school dubai esade Middle East
New answer on Feb 07, 2021
11 Answers
3.5 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Jan 27, 2021

I am halfway to getting admitted to esade's MSc in Finance, my goal is to break into consulting (MBB or otherwise) in the Middle East (i.e Dubai), is it attainable? is there better program I should conisder? I know there's a lot to do to ultimately get a position.
I searched alumni from esade, most of them are staffed at BCG, very few at other firms.

Note: My strong tie to UAE is the reason why I would like to go there.

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Gianmarco
Expert
replied on Feb 07, 2021
Consulting Manager & Interviewer | Consulting in Dubai & Middle East | GMAT 99th Percentile Coach

Hello there!

I did my MSc in International Management at ESADE and landed a consulting job in Dubai. Just from my MIM class (120 people), around 10 people did the same, effectively making consulting in Dubai one of the most popular choices among ESADE MSc graduates (UK and Germany being the other top ones).
BCG heavily recruits from ESADE and has (or at least had at the time I attended the Master) dedicated events for Middle East recruitment, and several other companies do the same (I remember attending Kearney's events among the others). Just for the fact that BCG has one of the largest offices here in Dubai, you will find most of the alumni employed there, but I can assure you that ESADE offers a good level of placement all across the Tier 1-3 consulting firms in Dubai.

Someone here mentioned Bocconi (which I attended for my Bachelors): in my opinion, Bocconi's careers team is less effective than ESADE's, especially due to the fact that ESADE has a much smaller MSc intake each year. On top of that, I personally consider the ESADE experience more enjoyable than the Bocconi one, both from a personal and from an academic perspective - but this is just a subjective view.

Hope this helps, please feel free to shoot me a message if you want to know more about consulting in the Middle East! Good luck with your MSc application!

Cheers,

Gianmarco

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Anonymous updated the answer on Jan 27, 2021

Hi A,

ESADE is definitely ranked among the top schools and is a target university for MBB. During my time at McK, many colleagues came from ESADE.

I would always refer to the FT Ranking for Master programs - if you get into one of the Top 10, you are 100% sure to tick that box. Then comes the rest:

  • Grades
  • Extracurriculars
  • Internships

Finally, from a personal point of view, I would encourage you to also decide for a uni where you really feel comfortable being.

ADDITION because of UAE. I know that BCG Dubai was having extremely strong ties with Bocconi and did direct recruiting there. You could contact the career service to see if ESADE has similar cooperations going on.

Hope this helps! Cheers

Jonas

(edited)

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Anonymous A on Jan 27, 2021

Thanks for the answer! ESADE is currently out of FT top 10 unfortunately. But I was incredibly impressed by the responsiveness of their admission team which made my intuition incline to esade. I will keep Bocconi as a contender though.

Florian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 28, 2021
Highest-rated McKinsey coach (ratings, offers, sessions) | 500+ offers | Author of The 1% & Consulting Career Secrets

Hey there,

ESADE is definitely a good choice for MBB in Europe and the Middle East. I have met many people at McK who either came from ESADE or did their MBA after 2 years in the film.

Before deciding on your Masters

  • check Linkedin to see where alumni are working
  • connect to the career office of the university and let them provide you with employment statistics (good universities usually track that 3 months / 1 year after graduation)

Cheers,

Florian

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Udayan
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 27, 2021
Top rated Case & PEI coach/Multiple real offers/McKinsey EM in New York /12 years recruiting experience

ESADE is a good school but why not consider an MBA ?

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Anonymous A on Jan 28, 2021

I am still studying for bachelor, and I'm looking for pre-experience master

Antonello
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 28, 2021
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi,

ESADE is a target school for MBB and it will help you with your application to MBB. I would make deeper research on alumni to better understand their ties with the ME offices.

Good luck!

Antonello

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Francesco
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 28, 2021
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ interviewoffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi there,

I helped a few people from ESADE to land at BCG Dubai so moving to MBB is possible as you mentioned. In terms of Spain, I also helped quite a few people from IE to do the same (MBB in Dubai - not only BCG).

There is an easy way to check which school is best for you:

  1. Go on LinkedIn and filter by recent consultants who studied at universities in your target countries and work in MBB Dubai
  2. Track the number of graduates for each university
  3. Divide by the yearly number of people graduating from that university to get a success rate percentage estimate

Best,
Francesco

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Anonymous A on Jan 28, 2021

thank you, very helpful and creative

Denis
Expert
replied on Jan 27, 2021
Goldman Sachs Investment Banker NYC | Ex-Bain 5 yrs| MBA Chicago Booth | Passed > 13 MBB > 20 IB interviews

Hi,

in short: YES (for European offices).

Are there always better schools? Yes. However you not only have ESADE but also a MSc in Finance. I dont see any red flags. Many (!) of my friends did the ESADE masters after doing undergrad somewhere in Europe, many went into Investment Banking or MBB.

Things to consider: go on linkedin and perform a specific search on ESADE grads in your targeted office. This will give you a more nuanced view.

Best,
Denis

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Anonymous A on Jan 27, 2021

Thanks for the answer!

Ken
Expert
replied on Jan 28, 2021
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

It's definitely attainable although your choice to study Finance over Business/Management is a little surprising if you are set on consulting. I'm not sure if better but to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket, any of the top European business schools will give you as likely of an opportunity (e.g., LBS, HEC, ESSEC). Good luck!

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Anonymous A on Jan 28, 2021

I chose Finance over management because I can tell that they are taking more care of Finance over Management (eg study trips, double degree program) and also to broaden my exit opportunities. Anyway Thank you for the answer

(edited)

Clara
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Feb 01, 2021
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Yes, for sure.

When joining McK in Madrid as a BA, many people indeed came from ESADE.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

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Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 28, 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

I agree with the other coaches here. That is, this is absolutely attainable coming from ESADE MsC in Finance.

That said, if you're maximizing your odds 1) MBA increases your chances and 2) In general, rankings are directly correlated with your odds of success...if you can go to a higher ranked school (and your #1 objective is to maximize odds of MBB), then you should

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Gaurav
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 28, 2021
#1 MBB Coach(Placed 750+ in MBBs & 1250+ in Tier2)| The Only 360 coach(Ex-McKinsey + Certified Coach + Active recruiter)

Hi there,

Yes it's a target school for MBB in Europe and in ME.

Cheers,

GB

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Gianmarco gave the best answer

Gianmarco

Consulting Manager & Interviewer | Consulting in Dubai & Middle East | GMAT 99th Percentile Coach
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