Formed in 1990 through the mergers of two prominent management education centers, namely IMI and IMEDE, the International Institute for Management and Development (IMD) is an independent business school – not affiliated with any university – with an industrial heritage that is atypical for most business schools. IMD focuses solely on executive education; it has no academic departments, just one integrated multidisciplinary faculty. IMD’s differentiator is its strong focus on personal development, leadership, and general management instead of functional expertise.
If IMD is one of your target business schools, this article will help you research its class profile and employment reports and more.
Here is a brief outline of the article:
- Trivia about IMD Business School
- General Information about IMD Business School
- IMD MBA Program – Class Profile, Cost of Attendance, Median Salary
- Pre-MBA Industries of IMD’s Class of 2022
- IMD MBA Program: Application Deadlines 2023/2024
- IMD Business School: IMD MBA Program Employment and Salaries
- Major Employers hiring IMD MBA Graduates
- IMD Business School – Notable Alumni
- Other programs you may consider
Trivia about IMD Business School
- IMD boasts a 1:2 professor-to-student ratio – the lowest for the top MBA programs. The constant, personal engagement with the faculty means that the professors are personally invested in the development of the students.
- IMD employs a unique application process where successful applicants are invited to either its Switzerland or the Singapore campus for the post-written-application phase of their application – The Assessment Day – when personal interviews, a brief presentation by applicants, case-solving sessions, and MBA class observations are held.
- Each year, IMD hosts events that have over 9,000 senior executive participants with whom the MBA class can connect and network.
- IMD is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, a European hub for corporations with over 350 MNCs.
- Bloomberg Business Week ranked IMD Business School #1 in Europe
- The IMD MBA is the only non-US program ranked in the Global top 10
General Information about IMD Business School
Dean: Sean Meehan
Admissions Office:
Phone: +41 21 618 0111
Social Media:
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube: Instagram
IMD MBA Program – Class Profile, Cost of Attendance, Median Salary
The IMD MBA is an intense one-year program that immerses its participants in business fundamentals and leadership development, flawlessly transitioning from theory to experiential learning. Participants are encouraged to take several trips to expand their knowledge and build their network: one discovery expedition (one week in a developed country and one week in a developing country), a Europe trip, and a trip to reflect on a dilemma. Finally, each participant participates in the International Consulting Project, where he or she will be a part of a team and work as a consultant on a real-world project designed by some of the largest corporations in Europe.
Engaged and Responsive Alumni Network
While the school boasts of an alumni network of over 100,000 alumni worldwide, the small class size and the youth of the program means that there are fewer than 5000 MBAs in the network. While this is substantially smaller than that of similar top-ranked MBA programs, it is widely agreed that the quality of engagement and the responsiveness of this tightly-knit community make up for its size.
Small and Diverse Class Size
Having one of the smallest classes among the Top MBA programs, IMD carefully selects the best group of 104 applicants who they hope will display a high degree of collaboration and networking and will form lifelong bonds with one another. The class comprises candidates older than those in the typical MBA program, with 75% of this class between 26 and 32 years old and, on average, having 7 years of work experience. IMD also boasts the most diverse class among the top MBA programs, with many of its participants being international citizens and representing 40 countries.
| Sr. No. | IMD Business School | Stats |
| 1 | Median GMAT | 680 |
| 2 | Class Size | 104 |
| 3 | Work Experience (Average) | 7 |
| 4 | Tuition Cost (per year) | CHF 80,000 |
| 5 | Age Range | 25 – 32 |
| 6 | Mean Base Salary | $ 126,236 |
| 7 | Mean Bonus | $ 25,162 |
| 8 | % of women in the class | 35% |
| 9 | Nationalities Represented | 40 |
Getting into the IMD MBA program requires an envious 700+ GMAT score. We can help you with a personalized study plan and give you access to quality online content to prepare. Write to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on GMAT Club with more than 2500 reviews. Why don’t you take a free trial and judge it for yourself?
Pre-MBA Industries of IMD’s Class of 2022
IMD fashions itself as a general management school with a mission to educate the leaders of tomorrow and shows a preference for applicants with strong leadership experience from industries requiring the development of rich interpersonal skills. Rather unconventionally, Manufacturing and Service Industries account for nearly two-thirds of the class profile, whereas quantitatively driven industries such as Technology and Finance contribute only marginally. A detailed breakdown of the composition is shown below:
| Industry | Pre-MBA work experience |
| Manufacturing | 26% |
| Financial Services | 14% |
| Energy | 11% |
| Technology | 11% |
| Consumer goods | 10% |
| Healthcare | 9% |
| Consulting | 8% |
| Other | 11% |
IMD MBA Program: Application Deadlines 2023/2024
IMD follows an unconventional admissions schedule to go with its unconventional program schedule. A typical IMD MBA term starts in January and continues through December. For this reason, the admissions team accepts admissions from January through October every year. Details are displayed below:
| Application deadlines | Final decision by |
| 15 January 2023 (Earlybird application fee waiver) | 01 March 2023 |
| 15 February 2023 | 01 April 2023 |
| 15 April 2023 | 01 June 2023 |
| 15 June 2023 | 01 August 2023 |
| 15 August 2023 | 01 October 2023 |
| 15 September 2023 | 18 October 2023 |
| 15 October 2023 | 10 November 2023 |
IMD Business School: IMD MBA Program Employment and Salaries
IMD’s singular focus on educating global leaders rather than specialized workers lends diversity to the post-MBA employment opportunities for its graduates. 69% of the IMD class changed job function, 76% changed their industry and 68% changed their country of residence.
Employment by Industry
Most IMD graduates pursued Functional (marketing/sales/operations/product development) or Corporate management opportunities in industrial and service companies – usually not part of the talent pipeline for an MBA program. However, keeping in trend with other Business schools, Consulting remained the most popular career choice. IMD’s career services enabled the graduates to make headway into unconventional careers, with one-on-one training, coaching, and mentorship over 6 months guiding graduates through the treacherous job search process. A breakdown of employment by industry is shown below:
| Industry | Percent Share |
| Consulting | 39% |
| Manufacturing | 13% |
| Healthcare | 11% |
| Financial Services | 10% |
| Technology | 8% |
| Consumer Packaged Goods | 4% |
| Non- Profit | 4% |
| Government | 3% |
| Energy | 3% |
| Retail | 1% |
| Other | 4% |
Employment by Region
IMD’s stellar reputation and inroads in the EU job market means most graduates find employment opportunities in and around Switzerland. While the lack of internships is a worrying prospect for most, the complete immersion in a multi-ethnic environment and real-world projects, such as the International Consulting Project, ensure that IMD’s predominantly international class has no problem finding employment in Switzerland. A breakdown for employment by region is displayed below:
| Region | % share |
| Africa and the Middle East | 10% |
| East Asia | 7% |
| Southeast Asia | 5% |
| Americas | 9% |
| Europe | 69% |
Getting into the IMD MBA program requires an envious 700+ GMAT score. We can help you with a personalized study plan and give you access to quality online content to prepare. Write to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on GMAT Club with more than 2500 reviews. Why don’t you take a free trial and judge it for yourself?
Major Employers hiring IMD MBA Graduates
IMD graduates received employment offers from over 100 companies last year – with many receiving several offers at the same time. The largest employers of IMD MBAs were:
- Amazon
- BCG
- Bain and Company
- ZS Associates
- Deloitte
- Lilly
- Arthur D Little
- Credit Suisse
- McKinsey & Company
- Danaher
IMD Business School – Notable Alumni
IMD’s smaller alumni network boasts of international dignitaries and CEOs of several multinational companies. Some of these include:
- Svein Aaser, former CEO of DnB NOR
- Matti Alahuhta, former CEO of Kone Corporation
- Paul Bulcke, former CEO, Nestle
- Jon Fredrik Baksaas, former president and CEO, Telenor
- Bjarni Armannsson, former CEO Glitnir Bank
- Harsh Goenka, Chairman of RPG Enterprises
- Philipp Humm, former CEO of T-Mobile USA
- Oswald Grubel, former CEO of UBS
- Tarang Jain, an Indian billionaire and CEO of Varroc
- Soren Skou, former Group CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk
- Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Netherlands
- Susanne Klatten, board member of BMW
- Michael Patsalos-Fox, chairman of McKinsey & Co, Americas
- Thomas Schmidheiny, chairman of Holcim
- Ian Charles Stewart, founder of Wired Media
- Prince Pieter-Christiaan of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven
- Mark Opzoomer, CEO of Rambler Media
Other programs you may consider
Other top global schools that are a close match to the IMD MBA with regards to competitiveness of selection process, rankings, employability of graduates and brand image are:
Stretch Schools: INSEAD, IESE Business School (University of Navarra), Said Business School (University of Oxford), Cambridge Judge Business School (University of Cambridge)
Match Schools: HEC Paris, ESADE Business School, Nanyang Business School (NTU Singapore)
Safety Schools: Warwick Business School, Imperial College of Business, Durham University Business School
