These are all pretty personal questions. Bottom line for me would be: Are you in a hurry to get an MBA? If not, wait one more year until you have a some more money saved and get accepted to a school you're really excited about. Nyenrode is a good option, but as you imply, RSM is a little better recognized on the international scene. Clearly, by getting into those two good Dutch schools, you have a good shot at those Spanish ones, too.

Good luck to you.

To respond to your question about the RSM MBA, I have gone through the program, and have found out that:

1) It was nothing that the marketing materials from the school promised it would be. The progam is poorly run, the RSM staff is rude and not helpful, and they chase you for as along as they want your money. Once you have paid your bill, you get no help afterward, neither from the Program Managers (who are nothing but arrogant and lazy) not from the Career Services staff, which is lazy and incompetent. You start to wonder whether they even deserve the "top" ranking they used to have at some point.

2) It is not worth the money. Even in the Netherlands, few of the 2008-2009 RSM graduates could find any decent jobs after graduation (as the school brings no recruiters to campus, other than a few small local no-name companies. Shell or Unilever do not recruit at RSM. And, outside of Holland, noone even knows what RSM is all about. So, at the end of the day, it is not worth the effort or the money. The RSM brand does not exist outside of the RSM website, which clearly would invite you to apply and enroll in the program. They just fail to tell you that once they have gotten your check, you will not be getting any further assistance.

Hello,

I'm quite interested about your comments about rsm mba , since i'm wondering if to apply for the 2011 mba. Which are your sources? did you apply? did you enroll into the program?

Thanks

I am an RSM graduate from 2009. I am employed in the US (which was something I was able to accomplish through my personal connections and could have done without even going through the RSM MBA program. I just followed the RSM Career Services advice, which was 'we cannot help you, so you better help yourself, as networking is the best way'. Since RSM has no networking opportunities, nor a functional database of all RSM alumni, I had to rely on my own network and resources (somehow records between 1999 and 2006 are completely missing, and current alumni are reluctant to deal with the school as most of us graduated from there with major disappointment and disillusions). So, basically, do not believe whatever you see in marketing promotional materials that come out of RSM, and unless you can afford the program and won't go into a loan/debt situation to enroll, look for something else.

RSM does not give scholarships (they give out few, but VERY few, much less than what their website claims), and they do not exceed 10,000 Euros. You living expenses would be enormous, because Holland is a very overpriced place, and you get very little for you money........

RSMMBA, your comment is shocking to me...
I though a well-known school RSM would treat their students better since you're paying much more tuition fee for their MBA program.

Maybe this is personal question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway:
-could it be that you're not EU nationality so that you were not given much attention?

I know some facts that EU schools would give better service to EU students but not to international students.

Have any of you receive such treatment while studying at any of the EU Universities (excluding INSEAD)?

Why ppld go to holland and pay for the MBA i dont know.

But to be very honest with you guys, except from United Kingdom which is different, the remaining continental europe system is very much inline.

The bologna process brings the system and standard as ever closer. Now in some countries, they dont have a MBA title for the degrees but the course content and delivery method is almost the same. And you pay penny to study like France or Germany the 2 most important economies in Europe.

Bottom line is unless you get into top programmes and that i mean HEC paris INSEAD then pay for the fees else dont bother.

I would not go to IMD for the same reason. Why paying a fortune instead of going to a state university which is as good or even better and pay so little.

Of course, the education you get from HEC Paris or IMS or IESE worth the money you pay for. But hang on a minute, why paying so much when you can get a similar deal just across the road

RSMMBA, your comment is shocking to me...
I though a well-known school RSM would treat their students better since you're paying much more tuition fee for their MBA program.

Maybe this is personal question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway:
-could it be that you're not EU nationality so that you were not given much attention?

I know some facts that EU schools would give better service to EU students but not to international students.

Have any of you receive such treatment while studying at any of the EU Universities (excluding INSEAD)?

It is surely discrimination and nothing else. No i have not experience anything as such and i have studied at top institutions as well as less than prestigous colleges in europe.

In fact as an international student, ppl treat me better, they are afraid that i am not familiar with the culture/language/ etc. so they give me an extra hand. Really appreciate that.

Unless you have some financing concern, how can you really compare the two?
RSM is by far much more recognized both locally and internationally!!!!
According to the last FT rankings, just to cite some evidence, RSM has been among the top 30 MBA in the world in 3 years out of 4, and, in one of the those years also among the TOP 25 MBA in the world!!
In addition, the new dean of RSM is goign to give even more weight to RSM' s international reputation.
Just get a look at his CV.

Cheers

RSM always been famous for its economy degree.
If one has an econometric degree, one can definitely get high-flying trader job.

I don't know much about its MBA program but I am sure like the city of Rotterdam.

Go Dutch!

Hi Mishka,

I only read your question now, and hope that you have made the right decision in the meantime...

I am also an RSM MBA and would like to nuance a little the comments made by my incognito classmate. If I had the choice I would do the RSM program all over again without a doubt. I loved the people, the classes and the multi-cultural atmosphere. Of course there were areas of attention, but which program does not have those? The most important point is that the school acts upon feedback of the students and improves the program wherever possible.

Concerning the Financing and the Career Services, these options do exist at RSM and definitely work well and help the students who most need it. But you should ask yourself the question if those services are the key drivers for your decision to do an MBA? If you want to start your own company, you're also not going to complain that you can't find customers or money. If you're a capable entrepreneur, you'll always find a solution for those challenges and you'll focus instead on your product and the execution. People who still think that companies will recruit them just because they paid a lot of money for an MBA from a well-known school, should think again...

And by the way, I currently work for BCG and have classmates who work at ASML, Roland Berger, Sony, Shell, Philips, etcetera, so again, it's not about the MBA, but about YOU!

Good luck.

T.

I'm a grad student at the moment at RSM Erasmus University.
And to be straight up, I really do not recognise the RSM in the comments made by RSMMBA. If they really treated him/her that way, than I'm pretty sure (s)he deserved it.

I find the staff of the RSm very helpful, the professors are nice and even teach on first name basis. Even though most of them are international ofter quoted and published scientists. Every time when I have a question, the staff of the RSM helps me out and I get a reply within 24 hrs.

And there ARE recruitment days at RSM, with Unilever, Shell, KPMG, BCG, McKinsey and all the other big firms. I've had diners with recruiters of KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCooper, all organized by STAR and RSM.

I'd choose RSM in a split second again, and I pay for my parttime graduate education myself, well worh these ? 30k.

P.S.: I've been an international student in the Netherlands and in Spain and this is my 3rd study, and I find it the most professional one. Plus, everybody knows Erasmus, worldwide...

Do not waste your money in Netherlands MBAs, particularly Nyenrode. It is just defunct school. Career Service is literally fu**ed up and there is very little chance of getting something unless you know local language.

Do not go to RSM. It is a complete waste of money. It is very bad academically. While Erasmus University does have some top faculty, you never see them. 65% of the faculty teaching were flown in from outside of RSM, often from 3rd world countries. This meant they had no time to spend with students and didn't have contacts in Europe nor the desire to share them. You will not get a good education at RSM.

The career centre did not function properly. Generally the career centre would refuse to help people with their CV's or cover letters nor with mock interviews and tells them to ask a fellow student. Hardly any companies came to recruit at the MBA program (even though they would recruit students from other parts of the university) and the companies that came were mainly second rate. The jobs posted to us internally were random jobs that the career staff found on the internet and many weren't even aimed at MBA students. It is the worse career centre I have ever seen.

Wow RSMMBAGrad... I don't really know what or how you did that, But I guess you've been in a coma for the MBA period. I've been recruited and or invited by KPMG, PwC, ING AkzoNobel and had a dinner with Ernst&Young. In my first of the two years of my parttime education. There were numerous events where you could just attend to, like the RSM Recruitment Days? Maybe you've heard of it? The entire campus is filled with exec's and recruiters from all the international big companies doing presentations and having diners and lunches with the students that are interested. It's organized by STAR (Study Association Rotterdam School of Management) which has 5,500 members of which 1,000 are international (not inclusing the alumni). STAR has 32 committees and 9 Master Study Clubs and an annual revenue of ?1.5 million. Besides the yearly party another notable event is their annual Academic Conference, where distinguished academic, business, and political leaders discuss current global issues. The STAR Party and the Academic Conference are part of the STAR Management Week. This weeklong event is considered as an interface between students, academia, and their corporate network.
You could've joined STAR for only ? 12,50 a year! And participate in all of that.

MBA-ers need to show some initiative, you don't BUY a network and a way to the top. You GET an education that makes it possible to WORK your ass up that corporate branch.

A friend of me just graduated and she got two letters of recommendation without any problems, so if they didn't want to help you, I guess it's because you we're a very bad student. No offence, but it's an international top B-school, they don't hand out help to every numb job. And for the professors, I've had classes by international big published professors, so maybe you should've attended a bit more classes...

I'm still happy I attended the RSM, best ? 30k I've ever spend!

Niels,

There is no need to insult me. I was not a bad student. I was a student in the full-time MBA program, which is what this site is devoted too. You were obviously not a student in the MBA program since it is a full-time MBA program and you said you went part time. You were probably in the MSc program which is run completely separate from the MBA program.

STAR is for MSc students and the recruiters come there to recruit MSc students for entry-level jobs, not MBA students for mid-level positions, and most of the recruiters only want Dutch speakers. These same recruiters do not cross campus to come to the MBA program since they do not consider the MBA program to be good enough. A few students, including me, did join the STAR thing since the MBA program didn't bring in top consulting firms or banks but we found STAR not to be helpful since the recruiters there only wanted to hear from Dutch-speaking MSc students wanting entry-level positions.

I agree that Erasmus University has top professors. The problem is that very few of them teach on the MBA program. The MBA program instead flies in cheap lecturers, many from South Africa and South America. The MBA program is a scam. Don't go to RSM for the MBA. Doing an MSc at Erasmus University is a different story and I have no comment on this program since I didn't attend the MSc program.

"I just followed the RSM Career Services advice, which was 'we cannot help you, so you better help yourself, as networking is the best way'. Since RSM has no networking opportunities, nor a functional database of all RSM alumni, I had to rely on my own network and resources"

errrr.... what's this...http://www.rsm.nl/home/mba/ft_mba/why_the_rsm_mba/student_clubs_and_events

You need to try harder 123MBA!

My experience at RSM has been very positive. So far this year we have had presentations from top companies like A.T. Kearney, Barclays Capital, Unilever, Philips, J&J and the like. Last year's intake received job offers from many top recuiters like BCG, Roland Berger, J&J, Citigroup, Unilever and many more.

Unilever did not recruit at RSM previously because it had terminated its MBA programme as a result of the crisis. However, they will be coming this year (I've been speaking to them on behalf of the student marketing club), and RSM is now on their shortlist.

The CDC was initially a bit slow but moved into gear once it received from students a clear idea of the kind of companies they wanted to see on campus. The CDC can give you some coaching, but ultimately it is up to you to fight for the job you want, and this is the case not just in any MBA programme but for the job market in general.

While not all program managers are the same, some RSM staff members have been very helpful and open to feedback, which is a thing I admire about Dutch culture.

Hi all, I am a current RSM MBA student. the experience so far has been great and I strongly feel I improved signifincantly both professionally and personally!!! I truly recommend this program especially considering the return on investment.

RSMMBA graduate, are you maybe the famous student who performed very badly, wanted his tuition back and now trying to attack the school in whatever poorway you can?

All of us know your story very well!

What's the story of this person? because he has been polluting all the possible references of RSM. For instance check a site called The Vault: www.vault.com and look for RSM at the schools section and please fill out your comments there too.