Pulling Together at ESADE

More American students are applying to ESADE Business School in Barcelona, says Núria Guilera, director of Marketing & Admissions for Graduate Programs. The school is making a name for itself in Europe and snagged the No. 4 spot in the International Top 10 of BusinessWeek's 2004 B-school rankings.

Guilera and American ESADE student Todd McKain recently fielded questions from BW Online's Jack Dierdoff and Francesca Di Meglio, as well as a pool of potential applicants. Here's an edited version of the transcript:

Who is the ideal ESADE applicant? (See BW Online, 11/11/05, "Boning Up on Admissions Strategies.")
Guilera: We want people who contribute to the class, are willing to learn from people from other cultures, are open-minded, and want to work in teams. We're looking for those who already have international experience and want to have an international career after getting their MBA.

What are the primary differences between the 12- and 18-month MBA programs offered at ESADE?
Guilera: The 12-month MBA is for people who have a business background. They might have an undergraduate degree in business, for example. Or they're engineers and others with quantitative backgrounds and management experience.

This program is more focused, so we can get right to the point. We ask that applicants to the one-year program have a minimum of five years of work experience, but the average work experience of students in the one-year MBA is eight years. The program is mainly for those who don't want a big career change, just a chance to accelerate their careers.

For the 18-month program, we just request that applicants...

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