Picking up Dutch, without any background in the language, while doing a full-time master's program will not be possible.

Just a couple of little stories. I was admitted at RSM, but ended up enrolling at LBS. I visited RSM and was paired up with a British student close to completing the MBA. We went for a coffee on campus, and the guy could not even order coffee in Dutch. Now the Dutch word for coffee is koffie, but it is not unusual to find Anglophone people who live in the sliver of society where you speak English loudly.

Another example: folk who don't speak Dutch get the most expensive housing. I had dinner last night with a colleague whose friend is at Erasmus. They said their friend reported that it's impossible to get a two bed flat for under €1700 a month. If they spoke Dutch, they could rent for half that price: https://www.funda.nl/huur/rotterdam/75+woonopp/2+kamers/sorteer-huurprijs-op/

Thanks for the input and anecdotes. Apart from the language factor, I'm mainly concerned about the quality of education and job prospects following the completion of the degree. Does RSM feed well into industries such as consulting, banking or commodity trading?

Of course: It's the country's only world-class business school. Erasmus is, by far, the university with the most MSc alumni in those roles in the Netherlands. Job prospects are excellent if you speak and write Dutch fluently before starting the programme.

PS Just do a bit of research on LinkedIn to compare outcomes.

I think the main point is is great if you speak Dutch fluently, but if not, perhaps another school in a different country would be a better choice.

Thanks for the replies, point taken as well. Will definitely pick up the language before I apply. I speak English primarily, so universities in the UK would be the default choice, but the cost is much higher as well. I don't have a fantastic profile as well, so I would think that RSM is one of the best universities that I could possibly get accepted into.
I guess Germany would be a good choice as well, but from what I've read, it seems that job opportunities are greater for international students in the NL as compared to in Germany. Not sure how accurate this is, plus I would think that German is one of the hardest languages to pick up.
Would love to get some ideas if there any universities in the EU with a similar ranking to RSM that isn't too costly as well?

Dutch is certainly the easiest language to learn if you speak English. But this notion of 'pick up the language' sounds bizzare to me. You can pick up how to order a coffee. If you want to be able to do finance in Dutch, learn it and then take a degree taught in Dutch so you get the functional vocabulary no language school will teach you. Without Dutch you may find an initial functional role but never progress into management.

It would take at least several years of immersion to 'pick up' a language. That's great advice, by the way, to do a Dutch-language program instead.

Just as a counterpoint, I'm currently a part time student at RSM and have a number of classmates who are living in the Netherlands and speak little to no Dutch, but that hasn't seemed to be a problem in terms of job prospects. Many of these were a little further along in their careers though, which I'm sure helped. Starting out could very well be a different story although I've met a fair number of students who have not had any issues in their job search so far.

Housing is definitely a bigger issue, I was just there at the start of the school year and the hostels were full of new students, some of them that had been looking for housing for weeks already with no luck.

If those people are further along in their careers, then perhaps they were already working in the country before the started their degrees, and maybe would have been in those roles without an RSM degree? In many industries, progression into general management riles will be hard without Dutch. The accounts are in Dutch. The laws are Dutch. Many of the staff will prefer to speak in Dutch, especially manual staff.

[quote]If those people are further along in their careers, then perhaps they were already working in the country before the started their degrees, and maybe would have been in those roles without an RSM degree? In many industries, progression into general management riles will be hard without Dutch. The accounts are in Dutch. The laws are Dutch. Many of the staff will prefer to speak in Dutch, especially manual staff. [/quote]

For the people in my class, yes, all the non-Dutch people were already in the country and working prior to joining RSM - which is why they chose RSM for their MBA. However, I've met a lot of younger students who are from other parts of Europe and don't speak Dutch but have come to Holland for first jobs and internships and the lack of Dutch hasn't been a big issue for them. It's not ideal of course, but doesn't seem to be a deal breaker. What I don't have a lot of examples of are people who started their career in Holland without speaking Dutch, and then continued to move up without speaking any Dutch. But I'm also not in a great position to meet those kind of people, so I can't really say one way or the other. What I can say is that of all the non-English countries I've spent time in, the Netherlands seems like it would be the easiest one for an English speaker to get by in without knowing the native language.

Recent MBA grad from RSM here. I agree with Duncan on the general importance of learning the language of a country. However not knowing Dutch is not a deal breaker. We need to understand who needs Dutch - the consulting companies, more operational focused roles in a mid-sized Dutch company, companies who are in NL to cater solely to Benelux customers.

Majority of MBAs don't necessarily go to these profiles. They are in MNCs with general management direction or are in numbers side of the business. Few did get the consulting role in big 4 and they don't speak Dutch. Again the scope is more international or focussed on underlying business optimization roles.

Majority MScs I believe go to big 4 and lots in consumer goods. Again the organization hiring at MSc level are more forgiving to Erasmus students I believe. Cause lot of rotational programs for them comes to campus and I have seen a pretty international mix in participation and no stressing on language req from the companies.

Overall RSM/Erasmus students get a serious leg up in the Netherlands and to some extent, in traditionally RSM dominated companies globally.

It's a bit of a circular reality: of course, most RSM MBAs don't go into roles that require Dutch, since they don't speak Dutch well enough to work. So there's a triple limit without Dutch: fewer initial roles; even less opportunity to progress; and very few pathways to permanent residency. The NPV of learning Dutch will be extremely positive, and it's sad that the openness of people in the Benelux and Nordic regions means that few MBAs are able to make the contribution they could in those countries.