Get the inside scoop on jobs and careers with Vault career guides. The IMD Buzz Book is your complete resource to jobs, careers, interviews and recruiting.
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The IMD Buzz Book Get the inside scoop on jobs and careers with Vault career guides. The IMD Buzz Book is your complete resource to jobs, careers, interviews and recruiting. |
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The IMD Buzz Book Welcome to the first edition of Vault's IMD Buzz Book. In this new and unique guide, we publish extended excerpts and sample admissions essays from surveys of students and alumni from IMD to bring you the inside scoop on its MBA program. The survey comments cover the following areas:
The guide is intended to serve as a complement to other references to business schools currently available that utilize school-reported data. Unlike those guides, Vault's Buzz Books (which also include the INSEAD Buzz Book, Business School Buzz Book , Law School Buzz Book and College Buzz Book) are composed almost entirely of information provided directly to Vault from students and alumni.
We received comments from IMD. We have included comments next to appropriate survey sections, offset with a different font and indented to be easily recognizable as school-provided comments. Corrections within the body of the comments are enclosed in brackets. In the cases where a school provided separate narratives, we have included them at the end of each chapter, under the heading "The School Says."
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Status: Current student, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 1/2007-Submit Date
Survey Submitted: April 2007
The admissions process is extremely thorough and includes the traditional application forms, requires three recommendation letters, and ends with a whole day interview consisting of three stages: an impromptu presentation, a case study discussion and a personal interview. The process is designed to test the applicants under stressful conditions and to introduce them in IMD's learning methodology.
Academics: Students Speak
Status: Current student, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 1/2007-Submit Date
Survey Submitted: March 2007
Course is 10 months in duration (i.e., intensive MBA). Courses take form of building blocks--e.g., accounting, finance, marketing, operations management and innovation, strategy, economics, leadership, leading people in organizations, entrepreneurship, cross cultural studies and a number of electives later in the year. Grading is on traditional five-point scale, with three average required to pass. Professors are uniformly excellent--with its industry focus coupled with the age profile of the class there's a real focus on real life learning--backed up by the case study method which is the universal format here.
The school says: "Core courses run from January to May and include six to eight hours of classroom work daily from Monday morning until Saturday noon (10 class sessions per week). After class, participants work on case studies, project work and individual papers. In March and June, participants are tested on their nine building blocks subjects and must pass all courses. During the second half of the program, the focus shifts to project work in teams, and the schedules are therefore much more flexible."
Employment Prospects: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 1/2005-11/2005
Survey Submitted: March 2007
Employment prospects are quite strong from IMD, especially for European assignments. Example companies that recruit at IMD include Nestle, Google, GE, Citi, Goodyear, Johnson & Johnson, McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Samsung, and DuPont. The IMD alumni reach is extensive, considering the number of executive programs that run throughout the year. In fact, some (like me) made contacts and created career opportunities from these introductions. Regardless, employment prospects are quite strong, as evidenced by the 95+ percent placement rate within three months of graduation.
Employment Prospects: The School Says
Our alumni network includes both MBA graduates and executives who have participated in IMD's in-company and public programs. We currently have more than 55,000 alumni based in over 140 countries and more than 44 alumni clubs worldwide. The close-knit and highly supportive network covers virtually every sector of service and manufacturing industries and ranges from young managers with a few years' experience to board members from major world-class corporations. Network members know the challenges our MBAs have faced and take the time to help them to identify opportunities for their next career move.
Our goal for the MBA program is to enhance the capacity and courage of our graduates to make a difference in an increasingly challenging world.
Quality of Life: Students Speak
Status: Current student, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 1/2007-Submit Date
Survey Submitted: April 2007
Lausanne is a beautiful city to be living in. IMD is located directly at the Lake of Geneva, which allows for lovely jogs along the lake during lunch breaks or after work. There are various facilities to pursue sports. The legendary lunch buffet of IMD provides you with a wide variety of healthy (and amazingly tasty!) fresh food. Housing for IMD students is facilitated through a housing web site before the start of the program. Most apartments are in good shape and within walking distance of IMD. The contractual work is administered by an external consultant, so there is little paper work left to do for the students. The campus is beautiful and modern. The MBA building is currently being expanded. There is almost no crime in Lausanne and the neighborhood around IMD is one of the most prestigious in the city.
Social Life: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 1/2005-11/2005
Survey Submitted: March 2007
IMD leaves little time for a very active social life, but there is quite a bit of bonding that goes on with the class. Participants hold many parties throughout the year that highlight their home cultures; in my year, we had parties showcasing Germany, France, Japan, China, Brazil & Argentina, Netherlands, India, Switzerland, Australia, Slovenia, and the U.S. Lausanne also has a bit of nightlife--although not as much as Geneva or Zurich--and participants frequent very well-known pubs and bars like the White Horse and Louis. The dating scene is sparse, although this has more to do with the fact that many participants are a little older and either married or in serious relationships. That being said, there is not a lack of good times during the course of the year, with the after-hours activities of the leadership expedition trip as well as the annual MBA Olympics event that is held at HEC south of Paris with all of the top European business schools. Participants looking for fun will find it in full stock, as long as they are willing to extend an extra effort after a long day of coursework.
