My Eight-Steps to Choosing the Right Business School

To a degree, going to business school is always something of a gamble. And the risks simply keep getting higher the later one starts an MBA – or any further studies for that matter. Important things like a stable job, family commitments and financial liabilities need to be considered.

However, it can be very rewarding if enough attention is paid to choosing the right school, the right program and the right place. With well over a decade of experience under my belt, I went through a very extensive process myself to finally decide upon which business school and which program I was going to take.

For those in a similar position, let me share my experience and take you through the eight-step guide that helped me decide CEU Business School was the right place for me. This reflects my individual situation, but should help serve as a starting point by highlighting the various considerations that must be taken on board.

1. Only part-time or executive MBAs

I have a full-time job that I love, but I was willing to interrupt it in order to study. For me, the right program needed to offer enough flexibility so it could be managed alongside work.

2. MBAs that offer classroom learning. No distance MBAs

In my opinion, an MBA is not only about reading books; one learns as much from a case study and class interactions as from the professors or books. Unless you’re actually put through the rigor of an intense environment, competition, collaboration, team learning from case studies and real-life problem solving you would be ill0prepared for challenges in your post-MBA life.

3. The program must be offered in English.

I speak foreign languages but it would be extremely hard for me to learn business concepts in any language other than my own or English. Moreover, English is arguably accepted as the global language of doing business.

4. The program must offer case-study based learning.

Next in my list was the teaching method, specifically teaching case studies. We’ve seen discussions and arguments about primary school teaching methods and how Scandinavian kids excel at everything due how they’re taught. Business Schools aspire to prepare the next generation of business leaders and must keep experimenting and adapting their teaching methods to offer the most effective learning experiences, which for me was teaching by case study. Everyone should discover their learning styles, for me it is learning by doing or by solving real-life problems. The case study based approach followed at all leading business schools is the closest it gets.

5. International MBA Accreditation

Not all schools or students give importance to MBA accreditation but in my point of view it does speak of how committed the school is and how it is conforming to the standards set by international bodies.

6. The school must be at least a decade old

In general, business schools are relatively new concept in Germany, where I live, and I couldn’t find any German business school in top-10 lists published by different institutions. Even in top-20 lists I could only find one or two German schools. I wanted to study at a school that has operated at least for a decade, has a good track record of providing quality education and has an established alumni base.

7. International, top-class faculty

As with any good company, how good a school will be hinges on its people. At top business schools worldwide, faculty members engage in consultancy, invest time and energy in research and feedback the learnings into their classes, thereby enriching the overall learning experience at schools.

8. MBA Tuition  

And last but definitely not least is MBA tuition. This is where most of the sorting happened for me. In the end it’s about ROI. MBA graduates can’t demand a premium salary based just on their degrees Consider how long it takes to recover MBA investment in Europe versus in the US. I wanted to find a balance between all the above criteria and the total cost of MBA.

This basically sums-up my eight-step process. I live in Munich, so obviously the first choice would have been a school in Munich. However, I quickly ran out of options after the third or fourth step. Even after including nearby cities in my search there were very few options left after step 6.

Then I looked further east. The Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region is considered an emerging market and already regarded as the next frontier for global businesses after Brazil, Russian, India, China, and South Africa. A number of large multinationals have started setting up their offices in this region and the trend looks positive for next few years. Considering options in Hungary, I realized CEU Business School in Budapest was the one that met most of my above criteria.

I visited CEU before making my decision, met many students and professors and attended an alumni event. The enthusiasm, the positive spirit, experience and open-minded attitude of everyone appealed to me. CEU Business School is now 25 years old, has a big alumni network, is highly reputed in the CEE region and offers excellent quality of education at a reasonable cost. And finally, Budapest is a beautiful city, often voted as one of the most beautiful in the world, and has numerous natural thermal baths, parks, exceptional architecture, festivals and great wine to offer. It’s fairly cosmopolitan and I always felt welcomed as a foreigner.

You may not come to the same decision as I did, but I hope my eight-step process will help you come up with your own process to you decide on the right school and program for you.

About Sameer Saran

Sameer Saran is an electrical engineering graduate from India, currently pursuing his MBA at CEU Business School in Budapest, Hungary. Even after almost 14 years of association with the semiconductor industry, he is still fascinated by the tremendous amount of learning and growth opportunities this field offers. He has lived and worked in India, France and Germany and is currently working with Intel in Munich, in its mobile communication division. His professional interests lie in operational excellence, new venture development and the use of technology to uplift under-developed sectors of society. In his free time he enjoys playing tennis, reading, cooking and would one day love to see vegetarian cuisine go mainstream in Europe!