International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is a private business school located in Lausanne, Switzerland. It offers IMD Business School MBA Program & Executive MBA Program. IMD, being a private business school, is not a part of any university. Founded in 1990, the IMD business school MBA program has been consecutively ranked first in open programs worldwide by the Financial Times since 2012. The school has been ranked #22 by the Financial Times in its Global MBA Ranking 2019. It was also ranked #1 in the International one-year MBA program by Forbes in 2019.
The school has a smaller yet diverse alumni network of international dignitaries including, Paul Bulcke (Former CEO, Nestlé), Harsh Goenka (Indian Billionaire & Chairman, RPG Enterprises), Tarang Jain (Indian Billionaire & CEO, Varroc), Carla De Geyseleer (CFO, Volvo Cars), & Mark Rutte (Prime Minister, Netherland). The batch of 2020 consists of a class size of 89 students, one of the smallest class sizes among the leading MBA schools. The class compromises over 95% of international students from more than 40 countries. The typical average age of students is 28-32 years. If you are interested in IMD Business School MBA Program, this article is for you. Go ahead.
At IMD, there are no academic departments, but just one integrated multidisciplinary faculty. The intense one-year IMD business school MBA program focuses on training and personal development, general management, & leadership skills. The program begins with business fundamentals, where students gain in-depth knowledge from various MBA courses. It may include Finance courses, Business Analysis courses, Marketing courses, Strategy Leadership, Business Development, Operations Management, etc.
Some of the subjects chose by the majority of the students include Financial Management, International Business, Human Resource Management, Marketing Research, & Customer Relationship Management. Other than the business fundamentals, the school provides leadership development courses. Some of the critical modules for leadership development include Leadership Coaching, Stakeholder Engagement, Strategy Management, People Management, International Consultancy, etc. It helps the candidates to revamp their leadership skills and form a personal leadership style.
The school provides various international trips to provide students with global experience. Some of it includes Discovery Expedition (one week in a developed country & one week in a developing country), a Europe trip, and a trip to reflect on a dilemma. The term ends with International Consulting Project, where students participate in team and work as a consultant on a real-world project designed by various largest corporations in Europe.
Eligibility
The school looks for candidates who understand the magnitude of change and opportunity the business world is facing. The interested applicants must have a vision of what lies ahead, and how are they planning to be a part of shaping the future of the world?
Academic Requirement:
Applicants are required to have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited school. There is no minimum graduate GPA necessary to apply for the IMD business school MBA program.
Professional Experience:
The candidate must have a minimum of 3 years of full-time work experience. The typical range of the class is 4-9 years of experience. The school looks for career progression and a strong demonstrated leadership skill in the applicants.
Standardized Tests:
A valid GMAT or GRE score is required to apply for the IMD business school MBA program. The school has no minimum score requirement. However, it recommends that you aim for above 630 in GMAT & around 160 in GRE in both quants and verbal. Applicants are also required to submit the English proficiency test scores like TOEFL & IELTS. There is no minimum requirement, but the school recommends a score of 105+ for TOEFL & 7.5 for IELTS.
English Language Test can be waived off for applicants who have English as their native language or who have completed their previous study entirely in English. Along with this, the school looks for knowledge of a second language as a part of the international outlook. It can also be your native language.
IMD Business School MBA Program is a significant investment that generates the highest ROI in the coming years. Forbes has consistently ranked the IMD MBA program #1 based on the highest average salary five years after graduation among leading business schools. The tuition fee for a one-year full-time IMD Business School MBA Program is CHF 90,000 (that is 73.6 Lakh INR). It includes a mandatory fee of CHF 30,000 and covers all your programs & project-related expenses for the year. Along with the tuition fee, the average housing & living expenses for a single person is estimated to be CHF 36,000 a year. The living expenses vary according to the student’s lifestyle.
The school provides both merit-based and need-based scholarships & grants to the admitted class. In the current batch, 43% of the students were awarded scholarships within a range of CHF 10,000-85,000. The total scholarship award provided by the school in 2019 was 1 million CHF.
Some of the scholarships include,
IMD Alumni Club of Lausanne Merit Scholarship:
It is a merit-based scholarship and provides the assistance of CHF 50,000 to students with demonstrated leadership skills and a vision to make an impact in the world.
Forté Fellowship:
A sum of CHF 20,000 is awarded to two exceptional female candidates with an excellent academic, professional experience, & demonstrated leadership skills.
Stewart Hamilton Scholarship:
A sum of CHF 50,000 is awarded to students based on the demonstrated corporate governance & ethics value in a 750-word essay question provided by the school. Along with the above, there are various other scholarship options available for the students, including Diversity merit scholarship, Financial need scholarship, & IMD MBA class of 1976 merit scholarship. The school also provides private loan options to national & international students. Some of the IMD’s recommended financial institutions include Prodigy Finance, Splendit, & Sallie Mae.
The average annual salary received by the class of 2019 was $122,694. Also, 68% of the students received an average signing bonus of $28,123. Students were placed in more than 20 countries around the world. 75% of the class got a job in Europe, followed by Asia with 14%.
The top three recruiting industries of the placement session 2019 were:
Consulting 27%
Manufacturing 21%
Pharmaceutical/Healthcare 15%
Top hiring companies include
McKinsey & Company
ZS Associates
Amazon
AT Kearney
Deloitte
Hilti
Novartis
Danaher
Online Application checklist for the IMD business school MBA program include
Academic Transcripts
Resume
GMAT/GRE score
English Language Test
2 Letter of Recommendations
2 Essays
Application Fee of CHF 200
Interview:
Once the applications are reviewed by the admissions committee, successful students are invited for an interview and further assessments. The majority of the interviews and assessment takes place in IMD Switzerland or Singapore campus. However, the school also organizes International Assessment days. The IMD business school follows a unique selection process. The first stage includes a personal interview with the admissions committee members. It lasts for 30-45 minutes and consists of general MBA interview questions.
The second stage includes an impromptu presentation where you will be given a topic and a 30 minute preparation time. You will have to make a few slides to give a 5-minute presentation to the admissions committee members. The last and final stage includes a pre-read case study group discussion that lasts for 60-90 minutes. Following this, you will attend an actual class with current IMD MBA students and learn from the faculties to gain experience of the environment at IMD. The students are judged based on their communication skills, analytical abilities, & leadership potential. Selected students will be informed about their acceptance via E-mail.
To apply for the IMD business school MBA program, applicants will have to answer two mandatory Essays. They are:
- What other programs are you applying to? Of the programs you are applying to, what can IMD bring to you as a differentiator? (Word limit 100)
- Describe a situation in which you failed as a leader. What did you learn from it? (Word limit 300)
(Optional Essay)
Is there any additional information that is critical for the Admissions Committee which has not been covered elsewhere in this application? (i.e. re-application, health, grades, etc.) (Word limit 50)
For the first question, it is evident that you must have applied for other business schools, so naming them won’t become an obstacle for you. But you must remain focused on why the IMD business school MBA program is best for you.
For the second question, we would recommend you to focus more on what you’ve learned from failure. Given the tight word limit of 300 words, you must construct the essay that looks both appealing & clear.
For the third optional essay, answer it only if you have any clarity to make. We would recommend you to use short bullet points.
IMD business school MBA program is one of the most sought out business programs in the world. So if you are thinking of starting your MBA journey from this institution, go for it without any worries.
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