Brandeis International Business School

Expensive, limited name recognition, very difficult for many students to find jobs/internships because this new school has an incompetent administration and very few partnerships with major employers. For instance, this year's career expo had about 15 local employers, what seemed like 500 students (incl undergrads which they admitted for some reason), and NO big names in i-banking, c-banking, or consulting. Some of the profs are absolutely first rate with lots of job exp. and practical advice. The diversity of the student body has its pros and cons - if you like diversity its good, but the students have very diverse academic backgrounds which makes it difficult for the faculty to find the lowest common denominator from which to teach - this results in mind-numbingly slow course work for students with any background in econ from a reputable US undergrad. Just when things would get technical and I'd actually start to learn something, a very loud group of students would complain up and... Read more

IBS is an excellent school with great international student body, excellent courses in finance and economics, and is close to the great city of Boston. I would everyone recommend to look into this business school.

IBS may not be HBS, but it is a great, and unique place. Do your homework, and make sure it's for you. If you have a finance/econ background, you may find the academics will hold you back. If you don't, you may find it too advanced. That may sound paradoxical, but since the school has grown so much, I hope the admin will take our advice and segment the finance and technical courses by levels, and career tracks/interests. As an MBA student with significant work experience, the international exposure is exactly what I was looking for. Students are from all over the world so it's a great place to learn how to work with different cultures - if anything, that's the distinction of the program today: it is highly global. In time, as the reputation builds, my hope is that the academic structure, and student services will adapt and improve, creating a virtuous cycle that will attract more of the right students, who will be challenged in a way that appeals to them, who will spread the word and a... Read more

After spending 2 years at this business school, I had 2 professors who were really good. Most others took either a very 'global' approach to teaching (ie. they talked about ideas but didn't teach you the details of finance) or had a 'reverse teaching' methodology. First their assign the homework that you need to hand in before class, and then they teach you the material. (maybe a good for marketing but definately doesn't work for finance) The CFA prep course is useless. Overall, I learned a decent amount because I put in a great deal of time and effort. It was definately not the result of the teaching I received. This is a young business school with limited name recognition. The school tries to compare itself to other leading business schools but it has a long way to go. Years down the road, it may become a recognized academic institution but for now I would recommend looking at other options before deciding to study here. Overall, it was an expensive and frustrating experienc... Read more

We kind of had too much latitude when it came to choosing classes. Obviously some were for experienced professionals, MSF students-with prior knowledge of the material and others for MBA/MA with little or none of such knowledge. Such latitude made it somewhat frustrating for MBA/MAs when one had work on cases prior to being taught the basics! Although the approach worked in half the number of cases, depending on the classes one took and how much risk one wanted to handle. For me, it worked out fine as I loved the risk and managed it quite well plus some nice cross registratyion with other colleges such as BC, BU,Bentley etc. Overall. I think Brandeis-IBS will become a very strong brand within 15-18 months due to the rate of evolution and expansion of its programs(to include ops mgt and other business and non-finance/econ staples), facilities and new faculty.

This school challenges you where it matters and makes the rest of your experience a happy and wholesome one. Unlike other business schools, my classmates didn't just disappear after classes or show up to group meetings at the last minute. Having a warm, welcoming, and enormous common area certainly helped. The staff were also extremely attentive; they even provided apples, muffins, and orange juice during exam periods! My only gripe would be that the courses offered were not very diverse - there is a focus on finance; but students have the option to cross register at other Boston institutions. Overall, a good school with a paradigm for business education that other schools could learn from.

I believe that there is no other business school in the US with as much diversity as Brandeis IBS. At any given time, if you listen, you will hear about 8 different languages being spoken around you. As the world becomes increasingly more globalized, I believe my two years spent here at Brandeis IBS will also become more valuable. I believe this is an excellent school for those who want to develop a stong career on the international business, economics, and finance areas. I for one will be going abroad to Germany, where I have never been before (originally from NY), to work for a major investment bank. starting in July.

As someone who went to Brandeis University as an undergrad as well as a grad student, I can wholeheartedly say that the education at IBS closely matched that of the more prestigious undergraduate college. The courses, which are broken down by finance, economics, and business, allowed students to either concentrate on one specific area or be more of a generalist. Furthermore, the emphasis on all things international is extremely important in our increasingly globablized society.

IBS is great! You learn a lot of the financial details of international cash flow management, international finance, econ, and business. You can tailor courses in the area you want to learn the most about.

Very good school, with main focus in finance. If finance is your field, you may want to come here, but not for logistics or marketing.