I have studied at HHL and am familiar with WHU. These are excellent non-profit schools and, of course, they are not making money. Quite the opposite: These schools benefit from donations and subsidies. If these schools were in East Asia or English-speaking countries, they would be even more costly. Otherwise, they are pretty typical for top-tier European business schools.

The career outcomes from the schools can be easily seen from their employment reports and from researching on LinkedIn. MBA graduates from these schools get excellent outcomes and high salaries, as if the case at most other European schools.

If your friend passed the interview, that's a good thing. She or he should be congratulated.

Yes, these are solid schools, and no, they're not scamming anybody.

One big point though is whether an MBA is right for your friend and her goals. If she wants to work in the country after graduation and can't speak German, that's going to be a difficult situation.

Both are excellent schools and well known within Germany (where I live). Actually Germany is one of the countries where it is easiest to find a job without speaking the language, especially if you work in Internet, Automotive or Chemical.

And these schools, like most German MBAs are under the radar (and relatively new) so still not that hard to get into, but with quality schooling,

Cheers,

Yaron
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Admissionado
Premier Admissions Consulting

I dispute the idea that it's easy to find management level jobs in the auto or chemical industries without speaking German. Although there are many external-facing positions at these kinds of firms, and most of the international business will be done in English, all internal operations, meetings, etc. will be in German.

All other things being equal, are WHU and HHL equal to ESMT in terms of job placements?

You can compare them using data from The Economist and FT. They are all very good, but they place in different firms.

Hi Duncan, I would like to follow the MBA program at the HHL. I have a chilean engineering in mechanical bachelor (I am chilean), a MSc in project management from the University of Manchester that I followed 2 years ago, almost 7 years of experience in the cunstruction industry at the mining sector and I would like to know more about business, marketing, commercial and corporate finance to reach a macro and global understanding about business and companies becasue I have realized I have a gap in this fields in some meetings.

My question is, do you think this MBA in HHL would suit me? Do you think based on your experience this MBA could enhance my career to the top level?. Some people have told me that it could be not good idea because I already have a MSc from a really good ranked Uni globally and that this degree could undermine my CV.

On the other hand, after living for 6 months in Berlin after graduation from UoM, I realized I wanted to work in Germany. I am following a german course at goethe institut in Santiago now and hope to get the B1 here. Do you think my CV could be interesting in Germany? I know they prefer natives and that the market is quite competitive.

Thanks in advance for your help in this.
Best regards.

It's hard to answer this without really getting to know you and your options. I certainly don't think an MBA from a strong school like HHL will weaken your profile, but I wonder what roles will really be open to you without stronger fluency in the German language and culture. HHL's 21-month format is certainly the most suitable programme for your goal, but I invite you think about what realistic career goals could be.

Thanks for you response Duncan. I was thinking about a consultancy company, or a position as a consultant in a project based company, everything related with projects. But yes, to do so I need a good german or get into a company like Airbus. Thanks again for your advice. I will think on this.

Good day Duncan, I am thinking of the Msc in management for engineers the TUM has as well as an option. I realized it has similar courses that those HHL MBA has. Which one would place me better into the German market?. I know TUM has a very good reputation, but, which one would better place me better for a position in Germany? I am thinking on companies like mercedez benz or airbus changing the industry and the working area to something more related to business or finance (some companies need the link between technical and comercial areas) or consultancy. certainly, it must be a 2 years program as you advised me, and of course with a C1 at least in German language. But in terms of investment and mobility which one would be better for me to reach my goals?

The TUM-BWL MSc is a pre-experience course, so the MBA will certainly give you a better position and a higher Net Present Value.

Thanks Duncan!!

Sometimes I wonder how to compare B Schools. There are multiple factors and every school has its unique feature. My question is whether 36,500 Euro for the WHU program is justified or not?
Excellent School with great reputation but considering the low MBA salaries in Germany, I find it costly. HHL, on the other hand, is 29,000. Difficult to choose between them to be really honest. WHU is in good location and places its students in good companies. Duncan you familiar with WHU? How you would compare these two Schools?

Take a look at this screenshot to see what the FT schools' ranking shows:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bu0sdhwuy2s9zso/Screenshot%202016-04-26%2020.29.15.png?dl=0

I would not call these low salaries. The FT doesn't have salary data for the WHU MBA but, since WHU gets higher salaries for the MSc and EMBA it seems reasonable to assume that it will get higher salaries for the MBA. Other things being equal, the lifetime value of any premium will be bigger than the small difference in fees. WHU will be a good investment.

However, the students will be different. WHU's has a 12-month format so it will attract people who are making less of a change in their careers than the people at HHL, who choose a longer format because they are changing industry, country, role or all three. By definition, those students are worth less because they are riskier and less experienced at the job. Slightly lower salaries are not unreasonable if the only way people could make that transition is with the added time of HHL, and the great opportunities for language training, internships, projects and advanced electives.

So if you are already working in Germany and want to accelerate the pace of your current career then WHU seems like a better investment given the small premium. However, if you will benefit from the longer HHL format then would be worth paying more for HHL. For either school, the fees are great value. For the same price in the UK, the options would be Surrey or Royal Holloway which don't even get in the ranking: http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/european-business-school-rankings-2015

There is an MBA ranking from Mexican business newspaper Expansion, in which both WHU and HHL are listed.
http://expansion.mx/rankings/2016/03/04/mba-globales-2016

You might use the detailed data listing to compare the schools (you can use an online dictionary to translate the column headings from Spanish to English).
How reliable this source is, I cannot say, but for me the figures do not seem to be totally out of scale.

hi,
Just wanted to add couple of more information about HHL as i am current student here.
I choose HHL because of following options
a. More time to learn german, which is key to getting access to german market
b.A 6 month consulting project with company
c. Ability to do internship for 3-6 months(excluding consulting project and master thesis)

Because of factors b& c, a candidate will have experience working in "german" market.

Hi everyone,

My name is Vijay.I have secured admission to HHL for the coming fall.
I would really appreciate if anyone could pitch in with their opinions.

1) I have a experience of 3 years in IT field and I am planning on switching my career to finance.How better can HHL provide me the platform for such a transition?

2) I would like to know from the current student or the previous students about the class diversity.

3) Though I might come across as thinking too ahead,I would like to know the average salary of a full time MBA student with 3 years of experience in IT field.

4) Finally,what is the quality of the faculty?

Thank you!!

I'm also considering WHU and HHL... but ESMT and Mannheim as well. I understand that each school has its own placement strengths, but is there a clear winner for the MBA program that has the best placement stats for fluent German-speakers who need a work visa after graduation?

For most students Mannheim has the better placement.