Alvarez had been working as a purchaser for an international consumer goods firm in his native Mexico: “Whilst this had been great experience for me, I knew that in order to make a change into a different line of business, I would need to some formal training. So, I then had to look at the options and figure out which schools would be best,” he recalls.
On his shortlist were European powerhouses such as Instituto de Empresa and IESE in Spain and IMD in Switzerland.
“All of these schools had their advantages. Obviously IE, INSEAD and IMD are huge international schools with very strong reputations,” says the 27-year-old.
The other school to feature on Alvarez’s list was ESMT in Berlin, Germany. “ESMT is a relatively new school – only founded in 2002 – but with the advantage of being founded by a 25-strong group of Germany’s leading international businesses. So I had to decide where my priorities lay,” says Alvarez.
“In the end I decided that the corporate links, the fact that I could speak German and the positive feeling I had when I visited the campus meant that, despite being offered a place at IE, I went with ESMT.”
Luckily for him, his hunch paid off.
“One of the things that makes ESMT different that, because they have a relatively small MBA cohort, you get a huge amount of interaction and time with the professors,” he says.
“Because of the corporate links, you get to spend good time with some of the most high-profile businessmen in Europe. This is something that I think was invaluable.”
Upon graduation in December 2009, Alvarez accepted a job with Efficio, a procurement consultancy in Berlin, as a management consultant.
“I am really happy with the way that it all turned out. Going to ESMT allowed me to change direction in my career and relocate to Europe – something I had always wanted to do,” enthuses Alvarez.
Read more Why MBA stories
Student Reviews
ESMT Berlin
RECAPTHA :
34
69
3b
7a
