Ever wondered what actually happens inside a top European MBA beyond rankings and brochures? This is a first-hand account from Shruthi Srinivasan, an MBA student at IESE Business School, sharing what life is really like on campus in Barcelona.
Earlier, we published her IESE MBA admissions journey where she explains how she got in with scholarship.
From case-based learning and intense team projects to navigating internships and career exploration, she breaks down how the experience shapes both skills and mindset.
If you’re considering an MBA abroad, this gives a grounded look at what the journey feels like once you’re inside the classroom.
Life as an international student at IESE
Student Life, Case Learning, Internship Recruitment Process
Shruthi Srinivasan
I’ve spent about one year at IESE and I have one more to go. I’m still in Barcelona, currently doing an internship in the summer.
I came into IESE with a certain post-MBA goal in mind and within a year, it has changed. So that’s what exposure to so many industries and courses does to you.
And secondly, there’s also the people aspect. I have never seen so many people from so many different countries and backgrounds sitting in one room together every day.
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And IESE is very case-based. So for every case, it’s not a professor giving a lecture, but each of us offering our perspective – from a Japanese perspective, or from a VC lens versus an investment banking lens or a consulting lens.
It’s really nice to see that diversity in the room, and it just opens doors to thinking what other possibilities could exist outside of IESE.
What made the experience memorable
So two things. First, IESE puts you in a team of 9-10 people and throughout the first year, you work with that team on all your projects and assignments. Even your peer feedback is sometimes considered in your evaluation in the end.
That teamwork really helped a lot in getting to know people you wouldn’t normally interact with. Even though the first year is over, we are all still in touch; we’re now like a group of friends who wouldn’t have been a group unless it wasn’t for IESE?
The second was a course in the first term called Analysis of Business Problems. It’s exactly what it sounds like, you’re given a business problem, like a business burning cash or losing money or has come to a standstill or they’re not able to launch a new product or pivot. You read the case in advance, discuss it withing the study groups, run some numbers and then discuss in class what the issue could be.
Sometimes the discussion takes this logical turn, maybe there’s too much spending in an area that’s not giving them the right responses etc.
But sometimes it gets so interesting to see that certain people will come with a perspective that one employee in this company is stealing money or you start looking at a problem from a non-regular or rather a suspicious angle which may not be the right thing to do all the time.
But at least you remember to look at a problem from every angle possible which only happens because you have 70 people from so many countries and backgrounds.
So that was our first introduction to discussing business problems and how to solve them with this case mindset and this diverse profile that we have in the class. It was a great introduction to what the rest of the MBA is going to have for us.
Inside IESE internship process: What goes on behind the scenes
The internship process is quite long and tedious.
It starts the day you join IESE.
Your orientation week has the internship recruitment calendars there for all students to see. So, it happens in cycles. It depends on where you want to intern. If it’s consulting, it starts at a certain time; investment banking at a certain time.
But other unstructured recruitment, as we call it here, also happens, where a role pops up if it’s available within a firm or you do it through networking and not a formal interview and application process. All that happens later on and closer to the summer, as and when a need arises in a company.
So for consulting and financial sectors, it’s more structured. You have your CV reviewed by the career center here. They give you mock interviews and you have mandatory mocks to do here at IESE.
So your skills are polished before you start going out there. You do mocks with your peers. You have professional clubs including the tech club, finance club, fintech club, consulting club.
All these clubs are run by second years in collaboration with the career development center. They prepare you to do CV reviews and mocks with each other, specifically in consulting where you have to practice casing so often. You’re also given resources for those people.
I got into one of the consulting companies’ first and second round interviews. So whoever gets into round one gets access to certain interview packs from the companies themselves to do some basic quizzing and casing, etc. So it depends on what sector you’re looking at.
The way I approached it is I wanted to try out consulting first and see if that is for me and if I get through there. That did not work out for me so well. But also, I was more focused on the tech side of things so I went through the career treks with the tech club.
There’s a much bigger process on making warm introductions to different companies where you want to work, creating a whole list of how you want to approach and structure your internship.
Also, there’s a lot of handholding by the second years who volunteer their time and take us through this because they have just finished that process.
So it depends on where you want to reach; there’s a process and there are people to help you out with each of that. IESE has a great alumni network.
So anytime you reach out on LinkedIn to a company where you want to work, there is an alumnus who will reply to you. Maybe they’ll take a week or so, but you’ll get a response, feedback and handholding.
At MBA Crystal Ball, we’ve helped many applicants get into the elite business schools, often with scholarships. Reach out to us at info@mbacrystalball.com if you’re looking for professional help with your applications. Good luck!
