What general tips do you offer Instituto de Empresa wannabes?
Instituto de Empresa seeks to turn all of its students into entrepreneurs, equip them with wide-ranging vision, and train them in the most cutting edge management techniques. We recommend candidates to communicate their innovative mind-set and demonstrate they are not afraid of challenges. And be prepared! Organise all the documentation you need (English certificate, GMAT score and academic file) and focus on how you can contribute to the team you want to become a part of. This attitude will give us fairly good reasons to consider your application a winning one.
When is the best time to apply?
IE Business School admission process operates on a rolling basis. Hence, there is no explicit deadline for applications for a particular intake. However, given the limited number of places in the programme and the diverse student body, we recommend that candidates initiate the application process as far in advance as possible, roughly one year in advance of the desired programme intake.
What kind of applicants (what sort of profiles) have you seen this year?
For this year’s International MBA program we have had a wide range of international students from 58 different countries and with very different academic profiles. The average length of work experience is between 4 and 10 years and 36% of them are women.
The central role of students in IE Business School's learning model is one of the reasons why classroom diversity is not merely a preference for us - it's a necessity. The broader the range of academic, professional, and cultural backgrounds, the more stimulating and insightful the experience is for everyone
How competitive will MBA admissions be this year?
Competitiveness among candidates for our MBA programmes increases each year. IE Business School looks at the person and sees the application form as a source of significant complimentary information. IE seeks candidates who are dynamic, motivated, creative, and who present not only an excellent academic and professional background, but also offer the kind of interpersonal skills that will permit them to obtain maximum benefit from the programme.
What factors do you weigh most in admitting a potential candidate: college GPA, GMAT, professional experience, or personal essays?
When considering candidates for IE's MBA Program we evaluate the candidate's accomplishments, their future professional perspective, how they can contribute to the IE community, and how the MBA will help them achieve their goals.
We are looking for proven leadership, remarkable career potential, academic excellence and superlative grades but all these are parts of a whole that play a larger or smaller role in the admission process. We are evaluating people, and that’s why we are interested in persons that have clear professional and personal objectives, whose maturity can bring mutual enrichment.
The result is an environment that makes for fruitful long-term relationships with classmates, professors, alumni, and IE Business School as an institution.
How will your student recruiting efforts change in this coming year?
Our recruiting efforts will be focused on maintaining if not increasing the quality of the admitted profiles. We have a strong commitment to diversity in terms of nationality and gender and the future professional potential of candidates.
Are there countries from which you'd like to see more applications?
Yes. We would like to see more applicants from Asia, Africa and Middle East countries, due to our commitment to diversity.
Do most applicants get financial assistance?
Many of our candidates have the possibility to get some kind of financial assistance. We offer different kind of scholarships and also IE has signed agreements with various banks and lending institutions that offer special loans to accommodate our students´ needs.
Do you offer a new graduate program next year?
IE is constantly trying to identify new market trends and redesigning our programme portfolio to attend the market needs. Next year IE is launching a group of new master programmes in different areas.
How is the placement going for the class that is graduating this year? Have the recruiters been active on-campus?
IE Business School Careers Management Centre strives continuously to bring students and companies together. Each year IE organizes the International Career Fair (attended by over 100 companies on average), corporate presentations, the job bank, the distribution of a CV book to IE network companies and other activities such as the Consulting Day, the I-Banking Day and the Marketing Day.
What's your response to current applicants who ask you what their job opportunities will be like in 2007/8 when they graduate?
IE Business School's graduates are in great demand by some of the world's strongest multinationals, cutting edge start-ups, consulting firms and financial institutions as well as many NGOs and not-for-profit organisations, which means that 85% of our graduates are placed within 3 months of graduation.
Over the last three decades, many of IE Business School's graduates have gone on to assume top positions in some of the world's most important corporations while others have set up new businesses, opened new markets and generated collective wealth in their communities. Around 10% of our MBA graduates lead their own entrepreneurial projects at the end of the programme.
What do you tell candidates who ask how IE is different from other schools?
There are 3 main reasons why IE is different from other schools. IE is an independent organization, we do not belong to any political or religious organization. Secondly, we were created by Spanish entrepreneurs 30 years ago, and ever since then entrepreneurship has been shaping everything we do. In third place, the IE Business School experience is truly intense. From day one, participants work in teams, discuss real cases, distribute tasks and functions, analyse data and take decisions as if they were working in a real environment.
Unlike the standard two-year MBA format of most other business schools, the IE Business School format (one year) minimises time away from direct contact with business realities. Hence, on completion of the programme, IE Business School graduates are equipped to play a valuable role in work teams and take key decisions from the moment they rejoin the corporate world
IE was one of the first European business schools to create a Department of Entrepreneurial Studies, long before it became fashionable. Our three-part entrepreneurship course - which kicks off in the program's first week – is the cornerstone of the MBA curriculum. All MBA students write their own business plans and many take the opportunity to develop their idea into a feasible business during the elective period, when they receive help from more than 150 alumni tutors.
What perks do Graduate students enjoy?
The Alumni Association has come to provide a major platform for networking among all students that have done IE programmes. It's a meeting point, a space for sharing knowledge, training activities, information and for exchanging professional experiences with friends and alumni from other intakes and programmes.
The alumni clubs are designed to respond to the need to strengthen this network, made up of all those who share a link with IE. It is this spirit that underlies the academic, leisure and special and general interest activities organised periodically by alumni clubs, which also help IE graduates keep in contact with the school while enhancing their professional development.
Membership of the Alumni Association brings big advantages for alumni who wish to take advanced programmes or a master's degree at IE or one of its associated colleges, with discounts of 25% on master programmes and 30% on seminars and conferences. The Association has also achieved big discounts for its members on a broad range of products and services offered by leading companies from many sectors.
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