ESADE Business School (reviews)

The unfortunate truth is that there are a lot of negative points that, as prospective students, you simply do not hear about from ESADE. The short review is as follows: ESADE is a good school on paper if you want to fast track into spanish consultancy or investment banking. However if you want to do anything else please consider going somewhere else and save your time and money.

the negatives:

– No emphasis what so ever put on critical thinking or intellectual development. In all fairness business is a dry subject to study but often it can be made more interesting by looking at what the cultural/societal impacts are and how we can use the tools we are learning to actually do something for society. ESADE expects you to memorize everything, this is reflected in the way that students are assessed in the courses. The vast majority of time 50%+ of the end grade comes from a final exam in which often students are asked to either calculate something or fill in multiple choice questions. You will never be asked to write a long answer question (longer than one page) or develop an idea passed the surface level.

– Unempathetical rules. It is unfortunately common for students who experience some sort of medical emergency or other life crisis to simply receive no support from the university. I don’t mean any form of emotional/psychological help but help towards the end grade. In a lot of classes the end grade is partially determined by the attendance, therefore, making it mandatory. If you do have a medical emergency/crisis you should hope that it doesn’t happen during exams because ESADE will simply let you fail the exams even if you are in the hospital. This behavior extends into other, non-emergency situations as well. Regularly students fail to graduate, not because they don’t pass all the mandatory classes, but because ESADE’s elective system (which is mandatory as well by the way) is so unusable and difficult to get right, that students simply don’t have the necessary credits. In this case you have to pay tuition FOR A WHOLE YEAR just to retake elective courses.

– No student life. Essentially there is no reason to remain on campus after class because, although there are associations, these are all serious ones like junior investment bankers, or consultancy associations. If you are coming from the UK be ready to be disappointed.

– Location is NOT in Barcelona. This is another point where ESADE likes to trick students. You are not going to be studying in Barcelona but in a small town ~45mins from Barcelona called Sant Cugat. It is a very boring town and you should absolutely not live there.

– Languages. I remember one of the reasons why ESADE was interesting for me was the prospect of learning foreign languages. They advertised Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, and a plethora of European languages. This was not the case in the BBA. We have the option between french and german. This was a major disappointment for me. The master’s program, however, offers a larger selection of languages.

– Conservative school system. Most other business universities have to some degree modernized, usually offering a PDF textbook to accompany the course, some even filming the lectures for students to watch if they could not attend. None of this is the case for ESADE. Although it looks very modern, this is nothing but a facade. The reality is that most teachers will not allow you to use your laptops to take notes, there is also no textbooks PDF or physical so your entire knowledge of the class comes from the notes you make and, if the professors are tech savvy enough, the slides they may upload.

– 19,000 euros a year tuition

The pros:

– Great name recognition within Spain, mediocre recognition internationally. People in Spain have heard nonstop about how great ESADE is so there is a heavy bias towards ESADE students in spain.

– Strong focus on consultancy or investment banking: If this is the field you want to get into, perfect ESADE may be for you. They offer a lot of interview preparation, career fairs, and classes often revolve around these careers (typical exam question might be: you are a consultant for XYZ and your client wants to know if they are operating under the optimal capital structure.). There is pretty much no focus on other career paths.

– Small class sizes means its possible to develop closer relationships with your peers and with your professors.

ESADE Business School has successfully created an environment where engaged, open-minded, passionate and problem-solving individuals can proliferate both academically and professionally as they establish friendships with students/professionals from all over the world.

According to my experience, this university is a great place to study as it offers an excellent learning with very interesting subjects and really good and experienced teachers.

Likewise, it allows its students to find a job with ease due to its excellent reputation.

So definitely I would recommend going to ESADE as I think it brings you great opportunities.

I have really good memories from my University degree in ESADE.
I think it really prepares you to perform in several different roles in company. It allows you to have strategic thinking and think on your own. Besides, it promotes making a positive impact in the society.
Furthermore, companies do value the degree in ESADE and you get opportunities to demonstrate your value in interviews.
I got my first job in one of the worst moments in Spanish Economy in the last decades, I guess the degree help for it.

I was at esade for one semester and the expirience was great. The class with a few students permit you to have a direct approach with the professors and a lot of practical activities such as reading sentences and moot court. I absolutely recommend it

ESADE is a business school characterized by the diversity of its students (professionally and culturally) and faculty. In addition, the collaborative spirit announced by the admissions team is present in every school activity. In addition, the focus on innovation and creativity has led the school to be recognized as one of the best at it (the organization of renowned case competitions in these fields is an appropriate example). Furthermore, although the case study method is widely used, the school also uses some other methodologies which could be more effective in certain classes which deal with more technical knowledge.

The career team organization could improve. I have the feeling that they tend to improvise a lot and given the ranking of the university and the price of the programs, this is not expected.

ESADE is competing to be the best business school in Spain. Their rival is IE located in Madrid. Both schools are ranked in top 10 among all business schools. Even prices are quite expensive, it is worth to pay this amount for priceless education and experience. Students should both be wealthy and hardworking. Another option is to gain a scholarship from school or associations. After graduation, the employment rate is around 95% in 6 months with high salary start in the most reputational companies of worlds. School provides perfect network and education for lucky students who have a chance to be a part of ESADE.

Esade is a great Business and Law School. It appears in many rankings, such as in the Financial Times, where it appears as the first one worldwide in Graduate Career Progress, or in The Economist, where it appears as the second in Europe in Salary Increase. Esade is very well-known for its level of demand to its students, who after working hard, see their efforts rewarded with (almost always)a good job in a leading Business Company or Law Firm.
I am at the fourth year (of five years and a half) of the Double Dregree in Business Administration and Law. What I can say up to now is that you have to be a very hard-working, well-organised, determined person if you want to get into this double degree at Esade. It is the program at Esade (for graduates) that has a higher workload, therefore you have to be a person who can handdle the pressure, and who does not let nerves interfere its actions.
This Double Degree at Esade gives you a wild perpective, as you learn a lot from different subjects both in Business and Law. If your desire is to become a very competent person in your field, being able to work effectively, this is th right place for you. Esade is known for the level of competence it requires to its students. Personally, this is an aspect that I found very appealing when I chose to study here. In other words, knowing that Esade students are well-prepared when they leave the School is something that gives you security, in case you are the kind of “future- concerned” teenager.
And it is undeniable, that when you are in, you start to understand the sense of its reputation and the reason why Esade students are offered a (wide) range of jobs when they get out. You start to see that the focus is to study and study, and get the highest posible scores. At first sight, this is a positive aspect of Esade institution, as it really encourages its students to study hard and be the best ones. However, for the students that start to repeat certain subjects, it is a battle that never ends. The reason? Suspended subjects must be taken in the same examinations as the new subjects. So if you start to fail subjects, you are trapped in a vicious circle: while the others can study harder to improve their marks, you have to take all the new subjects and the repeated ones at the same dates, so schedules are terrible, and time is scarce. Notwithstanding, with a lot of effort and with Little time for your family, your friends and for you, you can recover and Little by Little catch up.
I would strongly recommend this double degree if you meet the characteristics mentioned above. However, always bearing in mind that in order to take it you may have to give up some things, as there are very heavy seasons in wich you must focus exclusively on studying.
Finally, the people of this double degree are very competent, and they sometimes can turn into very “competitive” students. I consider it can be a positive thing to a point, but sometimes the limits are overpassed. Nevertheless, the atmosphere of the university is very good in general. All sorts of sportive, cultural, political, educational events and activities take place in Esade, and there are associations of all kinds (which you can join after passing a selection process which is supervised by the veteran students)
Studying is really what has most value in this Esade Business and Law School, however, it has many other activities, and the overall atmosphere is very good.

I would highlight the good level of teachers and classmates. The latter is never valued enough but it is what makes the difference in the end. I would also highlight the opportunities offered at the exchange level. There are options on all continents and mainly in very good universities. The day to day is intense but it is worth the effort as the training you get is very good.

I was fortunate to attend a training on B2B Sales and I found it very enriching. There I found a personalized and oriented to what the market needs. The trainers are first class and very focused on the action.