IESE BUSINESS SCHOOL · MBA GUIDE
IESE’s full-time MBA is based in Barcelona, starts in September, and takes 15 or 19 months. Start here to understand the program and prepare each part of your application.
September 2027 intake
GET TO KNOW THE PROGRAM
Everyone starts with the same core, and IESE teaches through the case method: you prepare each case on your own, discuss it in a team of eight or nine, then debate it in class. By mid-March of your first year, you choose your track, and tuition is the same on both.
TRADITIONAL · 19 MONTHS
IESE advises this track if you’re making a substantial career change. Internships aren’t guaranteed.
FLEXIBLE · 15 OR 19 MONTHS
On this track, you can finish in 15 months or stay for 19.
You take eight courses in the first term, seven in the second, and five in the third, from accounting and markets to strategy, finance, and entrepreneurship.
Concentrations: There are six: International Business; Finance; AI, Tech & Data; Sustainability & Responsible Business; Family Business; and Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Four credits of relevant courses earn one, and you may be able to earn two.
The summer: Options include a company or nonprofit internship and the Summer Entrepreneurship Experience, where you work on your own venture or a selected outside one. Selection for it happens in the third term of your first year.
Simulations and modules: EXSIM is a week-long executive simulation. International modules last one or two weeks, at IESE or allied schools, in cities such as New York, Mexico City, São Paulo, Shenzhen, and Nairobi.
Exchanges: IESE has roughly 30 partner schools, including Yale, Wharton, London Business School, and HEC Paris, and around 85 students go on exchange each year. Places are competitive and depend on your first-year results.
Clubs: IESE has professional, geographic, social, and special-interest clubs, with events such as Women in Business and Doing Good Doing Well.
Partners and families: IESE’s Families and Partners initiative includes academic and onboarding activities for partners.
Housing: You arrange your own. IESE’s pages name neighborhoods such as Pedralbes, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Eixample, and Gràcia, and its public MBA pages don’t promise a university room or family housing.
Health cover: IESE’s public pages don’t describe an MBA health plan, so ask Admissions what cover you’ll need.
Your visa: Unless you’re a citizen of the EU, the European Economic Area, or Switzerland, you need Spain’s permission to study for a stay of more than 90 days. You request it from abroad, at the Spanish consulate that serves the area where you live, and Spain asks for the application at least two months before classes begin. If you’re an adult staying over six months, you’ll also need a criminal-record certificate.
Funds and insurance: Spain sets the money you must show for living costs, apart from tuition, as a share of IPREM, its reference income index: 100% a month for you, 75% for a first family member, and 50% for each one after that. Your health insurance must come from an insurer allowed to operate in Spain, with cover comparable to the public system’s basic services.
Once you arrive: If you’ll stay more than six months, request your TIE, the identity card for foreign residents, within your first month in Spain.
Working while you study: Your permission to study generally lets you take work compatible with your studies, up to 30 hours a week. Ask IESE how a summer internship fits these rules before you accept one.
Staying to look for work: After you graduate, Spain’s job-search stay lets you remain for up to 24 months to look for work or start a business. It requires a completed Spanish degree at bachelor’s level or above, earned while studying with Spain’s permission, and the MBA, as an official master’s, meets that degree condition. Funds, insurance, and other conditions also apply.
Working under that stay: The job-search stay doesn’t let you work by itself, and it can’t be extended. Once you have a job or a business project, you apply for the authorization that goes with it. You apply for the stay during the last 60 days of your study permission, or up to 90 days after it ends, when a fine is possible.
UNDERSTAND WHAT IESE LOOKS FOR
IESE looks at your academic readiness, career achievement, goals, leadership, and communication. Its admissions tips for the 2027 intake add curiosity, resilience, adaptability, and judgment about technology.
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
IESE recommends three to ten years of work experience. Military experience counts, and applicants from outside business are welcome.
Letrado’s adviceIf your work isn’t in business, describe it as decisions a manager would recognize: what you weighed, what it cost, and what changed.
LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION
IESE weighs leadership and communication, and its classes run on debate: you defend your view of each case in your team, then in front of the class.
Letrado’s adviceChoose an example where you persuaded people to back a decision, or changed your own mind when someone made a better argument, and say what happened next.
JUDGMENT ABOUT AI
For the 2027 intake, one of the four video questions is new and asks about your judgment on AI. IESE says it isn’t about coding expertise.
Letrado’s adviceThink of a real decision at work where an AI tool or automated analysis played a part: what you trusted it with, and what you checked yourself.
WHAT IESE DESCRIBES
In person at IESE
Online
With admissions directors when they travel
Interviews are by invitation and in English, with the Admissions Committee or with alumni.
IESE may also invite you to an Assessment Day of group discussions and exercises. It isn’t mandatory, even if you’re invited, but IESE strongly recommends it.
Each round has its own date for interview decisions, shown with the deadlines below.
STARTED SEPTEMBER 2026 · CLASS OF 2028
Another 24% came from Asia, 10% from North America, and 6% from the Middle East and Africa.
IESE’s class profile, which doesn’t name a class, lists 45% from corporate backgrounds, 30% from the financial sector, and 25% from consulting, with an average of 5.4 years of work experience.
There’s no minimum GMAT or GRE score. IESE’s profile gives a GMAT acceptance range of 545 to 715 on the current Focus Edition, which is scored from 205 to 805. On the previous edition, the range is 580 to 750. For the GRE, IESE’s acceptance range is 143 to 170 in both Verbal and Quantitative, with medians of 156 Verbal and 161 Quantitative.
CLASS OF 2025
IESE’s Annual Report 2025 also lists North America and Africa, at 3% each. By job function, IESE’s careers page gives 48% in consulting roles, 17% in sales and marketing, 16% in finance, and 8% in general management. Employers named for the class include Amazon, Bain, BCG, Google, McKinsey, and Fever.
Before you compare the 80% with other schools’ rates, ask IESE how many graduates were looking for work. These are one class’s results, and yours may differ.
WHAT IESE SAYS
In its tips for the 2027 intake, IESE’s admissions team says AI can help you communicate your story more clearly, but “it shouldn’t tell your story for you.”
You also need one recommendation.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
IESE has four rounds for the September 2027 intake, which it calls the Class of 2029. The Round 1 deadline was September 23, 2026. IESE’s advice to non-EU applicants is about leaving enough time for the visa.
Round 1
Sep 23, 2026Round 2
Jan 7, 2027Round 3
Mar 9, 2027Round 4
May 6, 2027IESE calls this schedule expected. It doesn’t say what time the deadlines close, so don’t leave your submission until deadline day.
The online application with your essays and CV, plus a passport copy and a passport-size digital photo of up to 2 MB. The fee is €200, nonrefundable.
A bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Upload scans of your transcripts in English.
Required from everyone, with no waiver. Scores must be under five years old and sent officially by the test provider.
Recorded after you submit and pay, within 48 hours of getting the link.
Required. Ask your recommender early.
You’ll need a score unless English is your first language or another exemption below applies. IESE’s recommended scores are there too.
Which tests: The GMAT (the current Focus Edition or the one before it) or the GRE. IESE accepts tests taken online or at a test center.
Sending scores: Scores must be no more than five years old. Have the testing company send your official report, because IESE doesn’t accept photocopies.
No other tests: IESE’s full-time MBA pages don’t list the Executive Assessment (a shorter, 90-minute test) or a test of IESE’s own. Its general FAQ ties those to the Executive MBA.
English: IESE recommends TOEFL 100, IELTS 7.5, or PTE Academic 68. For Cambridge’s Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE), its minimum is a grade B.
Who’s exempt: Applicants whose first language is English, whose degree was taught in English, or who have lived in an English-speaking country for two consecutive years.
TOEFL’s new scale: Since January 21, 2026, TOEFL has reported scores from 1 to 6, with a comparable 0 to 120 total for a two-year transition. IESE still uses the 0 to 120 total.
Who it’s for: Final-year students and recent graduates with no more than two years of full-time work, not counting internships, before the Assessment Boot Camp on July 7–9, 2027. IESE gives priority to recent graduates who have a job offer or are already working.
What you get: A place in the MBA, reserved for up to four years, and a €25,000 scholarship if you meet IESE’s GMAT or GRE criteria. IESE may consider a further scholarship case by case.
How you apply: Between December 2026 and March 15, 2027, with three video answers, a short career essay, and one recent reference from an employer or professor. The fee is €40, waived for reapplicants. You don’t need the GMAT or GRE to apply, but you’ll need one later for the MBA.
The Boot Camp: Invited applicants spend July 7–9, 2027 in Barcelona, in person, and pay their own travel and housing.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
Essays in the application, plus four videosIESE shows its essay questions and word limits only inside the application. The four video questions come after you submit.
Within 24 hours of submitting your application and paying the fee, you get a link to the videos on Kira, the video platform IESE uses. The link expires 48 hours after you receive it, and you must finish by your round’s deadline.
Letrado’s adviceSubmit a few days before your deadline, so the video link arrives with time to spare. Before then, practice answering questions about your work out loud, without notes.
IESE changed its video questions for 2027, so older lists of its essays may be out of date too. Open the application early to see the current questions and their limits.
It’s new for the 2027 intake. Have a real example of AI in your work ready before the link arrives.
IESE’s general scholarship essay goes in with your MBA application, and its question and length are in the application. IESE assesses it once you’re admitted.
Selected women admitted to the MBA are invited to apply, with financial documents, extra short essays, and possibly an interview.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
That’s for the September 2027 intake, whether you finish in 15 or 19 months, and it includes a €10,000 commitment payment you can’t get back. It was €114,000 for the 2026 intake. IESE’s monthly living budgets are 2025 estimates, so check them against current prices in Barcelona.
ONE ESSAY
You apply for IESE’s scholarships with an essay in your MBA application, and IESE assesses it after admission. Typical awards cover 10% to 50% of tuition, not living costs.
TIMING
IESE says it gives 70% of its awards in the first two rounds, and that your best chances are in the first three.
LAIDLAW · FULL TUITION
There are 13 full-tuition awards per intake, for women who need financial support. IESE looks for strong academic performance, leadership potential, and a commitment to ethical leadership and a positive impact on business and society. It invites selected women to apply after admission.
If you have exceptional financial circumstances, explain them in your scholarship cover letter, and IESE may ask for evidence. IESE discourages applicants whose company pays in full from applying for scholarships.
IESE scholarships and loans (opens in a new tab)PUBLISHED TUITION · SEPTEMBER 2027 INTAKE
€117,000The same on either track, paid as a commitment payment and then one payment for each year. Living costs are extra.
The living budgets are IESE’s 2025 estimates, and they show no insurance cost unless you bring dependents, so price your own cover. If you take a loan, your due dates may differ. Ask IESE what tuition includes before you accept.
IESE fees and payment calendar (opens in a new tab)Letrado’s adviceLine up a loan or other funding for whatever a scholarship won’t cover.
IESE keeps its salary and bonus figures in its full employment report, which you request through a form on its site.
Request IESE’s employment report (opens in a new tab)ADMITTED TO IESE · F.N.
He was an Egyptian engineer on Gulf energy projects, eight years into his career, and his goal was a commercial role in the energy transition. His early drafts treated the MBA as a way out of engineering, which made his experience look irrelevant.
He connected his project work to four commercial questions: project economics, negotiation with stakeholders, regulatory uncertainty, and how new technology gets adopted.
In a contractor dispute, he first argued for the quickest technical fix, then rethought it once he understood the limits of the client’s financing.
He compared a full-time MBA with keeping his job, moving within his company, or a shorter program. The MBA meant leaving work while his family was planning its finances.
IESE welcomes applicants from outside business (opens in a new tab) and weighs career achievement. F.N.’s application showed what his engineering could already offer a commercial team, and which business responsibilities were still new to him.
AI illustrationHIS IESE OUTCOME
Offered a place in the IESE MBA
HIS CHOICE: IESEIESE Business School, Barcelona · Photo: IESE-Edu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped.
Today the MBA takes 15 or 19 months. For a career change as big as his, IESE advises the 19-month Traditional track, which has room for a summer internship.
ALSO ADMITTED TO
WHEN YOU’D LIKE A HAND
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