Hey guys! I’m a IB major who is considering the IBCE cohort program. But have heard some bad reviews about it, and am wondering if learning Mandarin in Hong kong is viable. I would like the opinion of someone who has done it recently, seeing as the only reviews I’ve seen are from 5 years ago when the program was only starting. Also if people could talk about the job/internship/grad school opportunities from doing it. Lastly are jobs/grad shools impressed by it?
I can’t speak to the program now or the Mandarin courses (though all my friends who did it speak Mandarin now), but I thought I would share some of my friends profiles to address the recruiting piece:
- IB/Finance/Insurance; other USC M.Acc.; Credit Suisse I-Banking Internship, Big 4 Consulting (LA)
- IB/Management/Finance; Wells Fargo I-Banking Internship, HSBC I-Banking (Hong Kong)
- IB/GSCOM; Maersk Shipping (Shanghai)
- IB/Finance; Top 5 Strategy Consulting (Stockholm)
- IB/Finance; UBS I-Banking (New York)
- IB/Finance; Wake Forest Law, M&A Law Firm (DC)
- IB/GSCOM, Tech Startup (San Jose)
I think the grad school question is somewhat difficult to answer because the program is still so young. Students who graduated in the first cohort are probably only now considering business school. Anecdotally, I’ve heard that CUHK’s ranking in the global Top 50 really helps students get a foot into some of the more challenging doors. The structure of IBCE makes the time spent there seem more legitimate than a simple study abroad.