MIM Vs MBA: Which is the Go-to Masters’ Degree for Undergraduates?

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1. What is an MIM degree?

   Popularly abbreviated as MIM, MIM stands as Master in/of Management/ MSc Management/ Master of Science in International Management/ MA in Strategy International Management in the USA, Europe, & Asia and PGP Young Leaders (YL) in India.

   An MIM is a Masters degree designed to help students coming from various bachelor degrees and willing to step into the business & management field. The MIM curriculum encapsulates knowledge of various business domains and equips students to resolve complex business problems by enhancing their leadership, management, and teamwork skills.

   MIM curriculum is usually a mix of core foundation courses including Strategy, Marketing, Finance, Economics, Organization Behavior, and Accounting followed by choice of ~100/plus electives in the latter half of the curriculum. The MIM curriculum also sums up as the curriculum of MBA in Year 1.

2. MIM in the US Vs Europe

   2.1 Master of Management Studies (MMS) in the USA:

   • MIM/Master of Management Studies (MMS)/Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in the US is a recent phenomenon initiated mostly in the last 5-6 years. The MIM programs in the US are shorter in length for about 10 months or so and mostly designed for 4-year undergraduate degree students who want to study business and management education to diversify careers. Being shorter in length, they can be intense and relatively difficult to cope up. Capable and self-driven students with strong academics, 1-2 years relevant work experience with better goal clarity can be better suited for it.
   • While Kellogg, MIT, Duke Fuqua, have been offering MIM/MMS programs for quite a few years and are STEM designated. Chicago Booth, Michigan Ross, Indiana Kelley are the recent additions to the bunch. Relative to Europe, there are a few US colleges offering MIM.
   • Tuition costs range from $30,000 to $70,000 per year with University of Chicago Booth, Kellogg School MIM cost $65,000 (for 3 quarters) and $66,918 (10 months), respectively for 2024-25.
   • 6-8 weeks Internship (usually in Summers) may or may not be part of the school’s curriculum. One should confirm if the internship is being offered or not by the school. Mostly all colleges offer capstone (hands on consulting or industry based) projects.

   2.2 MSc Management in Europe:

   1. MIM / MSc Management/ Master of Science in Management is more pervasive in Europe than in the USA. Nearly 80-85% colleges in Europe offer the course.

   2. MIM is typically run for 1 year or so (1.5-2 years at a few colleges) in European colleges. The UK & Irish colleges usually offer MIM for a year, French colleges offer it for usually for 1.5-2 years, and pish colleges offer MIM for a little more than a year/so.

   3. Tuition costs range from €10,000 – €50,000 per year ($11,200 to $105,288.75 per year) in Europe for MIM with HEC Paris & INSEAD costing the highest € 55,800 & €55,500 per year (2025-26), respectively. Average starting salary ranges from $60,000 – $80,000 for (2024).

   4. Depending upon the country in Europe and program structure & length, internship/apprenticeship can vary from 6-8 weeks to 6-8 months. Colleges such as HEC Paris offer a GAP year option after Year 1 of Masters to pursue professional and/or personal project while others such as ESCP, ESSEC offer opportunity for apprenticeships. Fresh graduates with zero or lesser experience, seeking more hands-on experience and more time to settle in a new country and curriculum can look at MIM in European colleges.

3. Key Differences between MIM Vs MBA

   Parameter	MIM/ MSc Management/ MMS	MBA
   Suitable For	College students in the 1. Final year of under-graduation/graduation 2. Recent college students with 1-2 years of work experience	Professionals looking to 1. Switch career domain 2. Want to fast track current growth to higher/ managerial roles/levels
   Minimum Work Exp	Early career professionals with a maximum of 2 years of work-ex by the year of enrolment in the Masters’ program 1. Some colleges count internships/part time experience in this 1-2 years work-ex while some don’t 2. Most top colleges in the US, Europe, Asia limit work exp upto 2 years by the year of enrollment	Typically, should have 3 -5 years relevant corporate experience in the career domain they wish to grow 1. US B-Schools: Min 2 years work-ex needed for most of the US colleges 2. European/UK B-Schools: Min 2 OR 3-years work-ex needed for most of the European ones 3. Asian B-schools: Min 4-5 years work-ex is needed for IIMs. For ISB, NUS, etc., minimum work experience is usually 2 years.
   Tests & Scores	ACCEPT 1. GMAT (Focus Edition) 2. GRE 3. A few schools conduct their own Admissions Tests +/ accept CFA Level 1, 2, 3 and CAT scores too! DID YOU KNOW? IE Spain, EADA, SMU, etc. run their own Admission Tests EADA accepts CFA levels score too ESSEC accepts CAT for Indian students!!	ACCEPT 1. GMAT (Focus Edition), 2. GRE 3. Executive Assessment (EA) DID YOU KNOW? A good bunch of B-schools accept Executive Assessment (EA) Scores in lieu of GMAT, & GRE for MBA. It is great option for professionals in high work pressure jobs & those with typically >8-10 years or even larger work-ex applying to 2-year MBA E.G.: CMU Tepper, Columbia, Virginia Darden, Duke Fuqua, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, MIT Sloan Fellows MBA (not for 2-year MBA), ESSEC, etc. accept EA scores
   Target Roles & Positions	Fresh graduates can initiate a career path in any business domain & target these roles post MIM – Marketing Research Analyst, Financial Analyst, PE Analyst, Equity Research Analyst Associate /Senior Associate, Business Analyst, Sr. Operations Analyst Technology Analyst Strategy Analyst Data Analyst	To target & scale up to Mid-level to Senior level/Managerial roles in the same career domain OR pivot to a new career domain Management Consultant Brand Manager Product / Senior Product Marketing Manager Project Manager / Systems Manager Portfolio Manager, Senior Investment Manager VP, Sr. VP, Director
   TOPSchools	HEC Paris St Gallen INSEAD EDHEC ESCP LBS	Wharton MIT Sloan INSEAD LBS Columbia Cornell
   Salary Range	AVERAGE SALARIES POST MIM: USA $60,000 to over $100,000 Europe €50,000 – €70,000 UK £42,500 – £100,000	AVERAGE SALARIES POST MBA USA $89,224-$204,008 Europe €94,000 – €113,000 UK £78,895- £122,363

   Find out whether an MBA or MIM is better for you.

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4. TOP MIM PROGRAMS WITH TUITION COSTS:

   TOP MiM	Location	Duration	Tuition Fees (USD/ EUROS / POUNDS/ INR)	TUITION INR Equivalent
   1. ISB (PGPYL)	India	20 months	₹22,00,700	₹22,00,700
   2 ESADE B-School 3.(MSc in Management)	Spain	12 months	€37,500	₹34,87,500
   4. IE B-School (MiM)	Spain	15 months	€43,300	₹40,26,900
   5. ESSEC B-School (MiM)	France	24 months	€52,000	₹46,31,400
   6. Michigan Ross (MiM)	USA	10 months	$58,615	₹48,65,045
   7. INSEAD (MIM)	France / Singapore	14-16 months	€55,500	₹48,82,500
   8. HEC Paris (MiM)	France	24 months	€55,800	₹51,89,400
   9. London B-School (LBS MiM)	UK	12-16 months	£49,950	₹52,53,000
   10. Chicago Booth (MiM)	USA	10 months	$65,000	₹53,95,000
   11. Duke Fuqua (MMS)	USA	10 months	$67,600	₹54,19,900

5. TOP MBA PROGRAMS WITH TUITION COSTS:

   TOP MiM	Location	Duration	Tuition Fees (USD/ EUROS / POUNDS / INR)	TUITION INR Equivalent
   1. ISB (PGP)	India	1 Year	₹ 41,78,000	₹ 41,78,000
   2. ESADE B-School (MBA)	Spain	12/15/18 months	€ 78,500	₹ 73,57,695
   3. IE B-School (MBA)	Spain	11,15,19 months	€ 82,300	₹ 78,16,031
   4. ESSEC B-School (MBA)	France	1 Year	€ 50,000	₹ 47,46,600
   5. Michigan Ross (BAM)	USA	2 Years	$ 78,030	₹ 68,05,620
   6. INSEAD (MBA)	France / Singapore	10 months	€ 103,500	₹ 98,25,048
   7. HEC Paris (MBA)	France	16 months	€ 99,000	₹ 94,01,535
   8. London B-School (LBS MBA)	UK	15-21 months	£119,950	₹ 1,35,34,438
   9. Chicago Booth (MBA)	USA	21 months	USD168,396	₹ 1,46,86,657
   10. Duke Fuqua (MBA)	USA	22 months	USD 162,000	₹ 58,95,734

6. KEY PROFILE BUILDING ASPECTS MIM Vs MBA

   MIM:

   • A strong CGPA and consistent diligence in bachelor’s degree is welcomed by all B-Schools. All B-schools would like to see a consistent-to-an improved academic performance across semesters in any bachelors’ course/degree. (A strong CGPA can also help take off some pressure of scoring a 705 or above GMAT.)

   • Additional Relevant Qualifications such as CA, CFA Levels, ACCA (UK), Diploma course, etc.

   • A strong GMAT of 705-725+ is also another welcoming factor by all colleges with a balance in both the sections, Quant being the relatively more important one of the two

   • Relevant internships and full-time work experience not only adds necessary weight but can also offset the high CGPA & GMAT score needs. Typically, 1-2 years of work experience with a renowned corporate in a relevant profile is recommended and helps leverage experience post masters.

   • ECAs (Extra-Curricular Activities) – A dash of ECAs show personality outside books & workspace and varied interests in sports, music, drama, literature, organization of events, community service, etc. One can demonstrate it by heading positions of responsibility in school & college, or actively playing a sport, or performance in music /dance, or writing a blog/ articles, short stories, etc. These are the perfect cherries on the cake of aspirations!:)

   • Research Papers/Interest/Publications/ foreign language courses, etc. can also be taken up to boost profile. Mostly needed and preferred for a technical Masters course but depending upon relevance of research interest & scope, it can add to the profile strength.

   • Pre-college / In- college Entrepreneurial experiences or small ventures also having a weight depending upon the stage and business growth witnessed.

   • Students with family business background must showcase good knowledge of their business, products, key financials, and gain atleast 1 year of hands-on business experience if not taking full time jobs in corporate. This will help compensate for corporate experience, provide necessary business skills & exposure, and fill in the gap year well.

   MBA:

   • Strong CGPA/academics, a quantitative degree, and good GMAT/GRE scores remain the favorite parameters for colleges to gauge and infer student’s consistent academic prowess and potential
   • Additional Relevant Qualifications such as CA, FRM, Valuation, Modeling courses, CFA Levels, ACCA (UK), etc.

   • Competitive Work Experience:

     a) An MBA degree gives you more chance to redeem yourself with work experience Vs MIM. While 3-5 years work experience is recommended and is the average at most colleges, focus on a relevant career domain after Masters, quality, and career growth trajectory in your work field is more valuable.

     b) Awards, recognition, laurels gained at workplace are clear indicators of fine execution skills at work and a cut above the rest. Very important to have a few noteworthy accomplishments

   • New Functional & IT Skills: Gaining new functional and technology skills through online certifications, virtual internships, work related training modules/avenues, and any other hands-on learning opportunities are critical and a sure value addition to one’s profile
   • ECAs OR tasks outside of immediate scope of work: Active play of a sport, interest in music, art, design, language learning, or taking up roles of responsibility during college is recommended. For working professionals, it can be even in the form of taking new initiatives at work related to work or of community service or endeavors for personal growth or engaging in some side ventures adding to profile strength

7. Post Graduate Programme in Management for Young Leaders (PGP YL)

   In line with the international format, ISB also introduces PGP YL commencing in mid-2025 for recent graduates and early career professionals. ISB offers a 20 months postgraduate program for highly capable aspirants with upto 2 years of experience. The students can apply via GMAT/GRE/CAT scores. The program costs INR 21.65 lacs + GST for 2025-27 and will offer merit based and merit cum need based scholarships.