IE master's degrees: €50,000 and a network that doesn't always open doors
A master's degree at Spain's IE business school costs between €30,000 and €50,000. Rankings place it near the top, but graduates warn: without prior connections, the return on investment is uncertain.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
IE master's degrees: €50,000 and a network that doesn't always open doors
A master's degree at IE costs between €30,000 and €50,000. The question that opens the debate is not whether the school is good — it is, and rankings place it among the world's best for its online programs — but whether that outlay pays off. The answer that emerges from accumulated experiences is uncomfortable: it depends less on the degree than on who you were before enrolling.
Anyone working in banking and considering the investment receives two opposing messages from the start. One holds that IE is an institution of international prestige and the money is well spent. The other, more cynical, warns that outside Spain the brand does not open doors on its own and that the real return goes to those who already had contacts or an employer willing to foot the bill.
How much a master's at IE costs and what it promises
The range runs from €30,000 to €50,000, depending on the program. The commercial promise is clear: visibility among interested companies through the school's job board and career fairs. Nobody guarantees the dream job, but they do promise that some interesting company will get to know you.
The problem is that this promise is fulfilled very unevenly. An IE MBA graduate sums it up like this: the school is good and serious, better than 90% of business schools in Spain, but the degree by itself neither opens nor closes any door. If the student is capable, the title is an addition to the CV and a network that must keep being cultivated. If they don't measure up — which is not the same as passing — the money is gone with no return.
IE's international prestige, under scrutiny
This is where the toughest battle is fought. Rankings play in IE's favor: The Economist places it 16th in the world and the Financial Times 12th, even ahead of MIT's Sloan School in the Economist ranking. The school also boasts that its online MBA has topped that classification for the third time.
On the other side, distrust is total. Some claim those rankings are paid for, that the online MBA news is disguised advertising, and that in top-tier professional circles no Spanish school is known. The alternative proposed is to look abroad: INSEAD, London Business School, Harvard, Stanford or Chicago. The argument is that a B- or C-level MBA pays off far worse than a top one, and if you have to go into debt, better to do it for the one that multiplies the return.
What those who sat in the classrooms say
Personal experiences are the most valuable material. A graduate of a legal advisory master's admits it served mainly to mingle with children of wealthy families and tour the terraces of Madrid's Castellana boulevard. In none of her three subsequent jobs was she hired because of that degree.
Another describes extreme pressure, being taught to compete ruthlessly, and a stint at a consulting firm with endless hours and a law firm with a toxic atmosphere and twelve-hour workdays, before landing at a normal practice where she is happy. She spent €30,000. She says that if she could go back, she wouldn't do it again.
The opposite case comes from a graduate who did make it pay off: her brother has spent nine years abroad in high positions with high salaries, all expenses paid, though she can't be sure the promotion was due to the master's. And an MBA holder who now holds a political position admits he did it with a scholarship and sponsorship: without that help, he probably wouldn't have paid for it.
Professor salaries and the fine print
One of the examples given is a political science graduate, among the top five of his class and a La Caixa scholar, who after completing a master's in International Relations ended up teaching at IE itself, earning €6,000 to €7,000 a month. For some, that proves the school's value; for others, it shows you can become a professor without ever having practiced, and that the level is low.
The discussion then shifts to the student profile. The argument goes that the master's pays off for the sharp ones who use the course to land a quick job at a major firm, or for those with a patron. For an ordinary person without contacts, the repeated conclusion is that it's a waste of money.
The prediction with reservations: IE will keep selling prestige and rankings, and there will keep being people who pay €50,000 for a network they may never use. The deciding variable isn't in the brochure. It's in the family's bank account and the student's contact list before enrolling.
A master's degree at IE costs between €30,000 and €50,000. The question that opens the debate is not whether the school is good — it is, and rankings place it among the world's best for its online programs — but whether that outlay pays off. The answer that emerges from accumulated experiences is uncomfortable: it depends less on the degree than on who you were before enrolling.
Anyone working in banking and considering the investment receives two opposing messages from the start. One holds that IE is an institution of international prestige and the money is well spent. The other, more cynical, warns that outside Spain the brand does not open doors on its own and that the real return goes to those who already had contacts or an employer willing to foot the bill.
How much a master's at IE costs and what it promises
The range runs from €30,000 to €50,000, depending on the program. The commercial promise is clear: visibility among interested companies through the school's job board and career fairs. Nobody guarantees the dream job, but they do promise that some interesting company will get to know you.
The problem is that this promise is fulfilled very unevenly. An IE MBA graduate sums it up like this: the school is good and serious, better than 90% of business schools in Spain, but the degree by itself neither opens nor closes any door. If the student is capable, the title is an addition to the CV and a network that must keep being cultivated. If they don't measure up — which is not the same as passing — the money is gone with no return.
IE's international prestige, under scrutiny
This is where the toughest battle is fought. Rankings play in IE's favor: The Economist places it 16th in the world and the Financial Times 12th, even ahead of MIT's Sloan School in the Economist ranking. The school also boasts that its online MBA has topped that classification for the third time.
On the other side, distrust is total. Some claim those rankings are paid for, that the online MBA news is disguised advertising, and that in top-tier professional circles no Spanish school is known. The alternative proposed is to look abroad: INSEAD, London Business School, Harvard, Stanford or Chicago. The argument is that a B- or C-level MBA pays off far worse than a top one, and if you have to go into debt, better to do it for the one that multiplies the return.
What those who sat in the classrooms say
Personal experiences are the most valuable material. A graduate of a legal advisory master's admits it served mainly to mingle with children of wealthy families and tour the terraces of Madrid's Castellana boulevard. In none of her three subsequent jobs was she hired because of that degree.
Another describes extreme pressure, being taught to compete ruthlessly, and a stint at a consulting firm with endless hours and a law firm with a toxic atmosphere and twelve-hour workdays, before landing at a normal practice where she is happy. She spent €30,000. She says that if she could go back, she wouldn't do it again.
The opposite case comes from a graduate who did make it pay off: her brother has spent nine years abroad in high positions with high salaries, all expenses paid, though she can't be sure the promotion was due to the master's. And an MBA holder who now holds a political position admits he did it with a scholarship and sponsorship: without that help, he probably wouldn't have paid for it.
Professor salaries and the fine print
One of the examples given is a political science graduate, among the top five of his class and a La Caixa scholar, who after completing a master's in International Relations ended up teaching at IE itself, earning €6,000 to €7,000 a month. For some, that proves the school's value; for others, it shows you can become a professor without ever having practiced, and that the level is low.
The discussion then shifts to the student profile. The argument goes that the master's pays off for the sharp ones who use the course to land a quick job at a major firm, or for those with a patron. For an ordinary person without contacts, the repeated conclusion is that it's a waste of money.
The prediction with reservations: IE will keep selling prestige and rankings, and there will keep being people who pay €50,000 for a network they may never use. The deciding variable isn't in the brochure. It's in the family's bank account and the student's contact list before enrolling.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (40 replies).
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