School vs school · figures from each school’s own report
IESE or IE Business School
IESE charges €117,000 for a two-year program in Barcelona, IE €89,900 plus €1,200 of fees for 11 months in Madrid.
Highest ten-year value for you
not computable
These schools do not publish the salary or the budget the model needs.
| IESE | IE | |
|---|---|---|
| Program length | 21 months | 11 months |
| Tuition and fees | $130,900 | $101,923 |
| Living budget | not published | not published |
| Total cost for you | n/a | n/a |
| Hired within three months | 80% | n/a |
| Salary reported | not published | not published |
| Kind of figure | salary | salary |
| Payback after graduation | n/a | n/a |
| 10-year NPV | n/a | n/a |
* school-wide salary: no figure published for this goal. US dollars at the ECB rate of the last update. Method.
Built by Radif Partners · figures checked · Method · Editorial policy
IESE and IE, the two Spanish schools most applicants shortlist, differ on length before anything else. IESE runs two academic years, which we count as 21 months, for €117,000 of tuition; IE runs 11 months for €89,900 and €1,200 of fees. For a person earning $90,000 today, the salary given up is $157,500 at IESE and $82,500 at IE, so tuition, fees and lost pay come to $288,400 and $184,423 before any living cost. Neither school publishes a student living budget we could use, and neither publishes a graduate salary on its open pages: IESE keeps its full report behind a sign-up form, IE gives industry shares without pay. No payback can therefore be computed for either without inventing a figure, and we do not. What can be compared is where graduates go: 41% of IESE's class went into consulting, against 18.3% at IE.
Two years in Barcelona or 11 months in Madrid
The calendar decides most of the money here. IESE sets its fee as a commitment deposit plus two annual installments, €117,000 in all for the September 2027 intake (Class of 2029). IE charges €89,900 plus €1,200 of fees for an 11-month program, with the fee reviewed every year. Converted at the ECB rate of October 13, 2026, that is $130,900 against $101,923. The months you do not work add $157,500 at IESE and $82,500 at IE for a $90,000 earner, which widens the gap between the two schools from $28,977 to $103,977.
A two-year program buys a summer internship and a second recruiting season. For someone changing industry or country, that time is often what makes the change possible. A program of 11 months asks you to know where you are going on arrival, and it puts you back on a salary 10 months sooner.
A fee or a salary in US dollars
In US dollars
$111,880
| 1 EUR | $1.119 |
ECB reference rate of October 13, 2026. Prices on the ground do not follow exchange rates one for one.
What neither school publishes
This is the comparison with the most blanks on the site, and we leave them blank. IESE publishes no living budget on its fees or loans pages, only a remark that Barcelona costs less than other large European cities. IE's student services list monthly price ranges for a room, groceries, transport and insurance, with no total and nothing specific to the MBA. A list of ranges is not a budget, so we do not add one up.
Salaries are missing too. IESE's open pages give shares by industry and region but put the full report, with pay, behind a lead form. IE's pages give industry and function shares and an employer list, without pay and without a hiring rate within three months. Third-party figures exist in rankings; we do not reuse them, because they are not the school's own document and cannot be checked against one. The calculator above accepts a salary and a living budget you type yourself, from the schools' admissions offices.
Where the classes go
IESE sends 41% of its class into consulting, with the large strategy firms in the employer list it publishes. It also reports 80% of graduates employed within three months. Geography is where IESE stands out: 27% of its graduates work in Latin America, number 1 of 9 in our ranking for that region, and 11% in the Middle East, number 2 of 7.
IE spreads its class more evenly. Technology leads with 21.8%, ahead of finance at 21.4% and consulting at 18.3%. By job, its largest groups are sales roles (18.4%), consulting roles (18.0%) and finance roles (17.1%). Its class is 92% international, from 57 countries, against 89% at IESE.
IESE: where the class went
Share of the class
41%
| Salary reported | not published |
| Graduates, about | 152 |
| Payback with that salary | n/a |
Reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA.
Who should pick which
Pick IESE for strategy consulting, for a career in Latin America or for the time a two-year program gives to change direction. Pick IE for a shorter, cheaper year, a class that leans toward technology and sales roles, and a faster return to a salary. Before deciding, ask both schools for the salary pages of their reports and a realistic budget for the city; with those two figures, the comparison tool gives the payback that this page cannot.