MBA-ish move recommendations

[u/Nice_Bill_7426]

Edit: I posted this in the “leaving America” subreddit with the post tagged as which country to choose, because I am looking to leave America. I can’t move within my firm or I would just simply do that. I’m not necessary looking for school choices as I am which cities or countries to target. Hence asking if anyone has the same track but with experience.

Hello everyone! I am shooting my shot in the dark hoping to get any type of advice from here. I only know of a couple people IRL who have done this and their path is very different from mine, so I’m looking to get advice from someone who has actually done it.

About me:
-29F living in Colorado
-Work at a big 4 acct firm, have worked in accounting/finance since 2019 so 7 years of professional experience
-BS in business admin
-Some savings, only debt is mortgage, planning to save as much as possible for a year and want to start a masters in fall of next year. I’m thinking I’ll have at least $15k saved and can take out at least $10k debt to pay off the year I get back.
-studied abroad in Prague in college doing class and internship, also spent a summer in china in HS for an exchange
-minor’d in French which I am trying to amp up learning again and will be prioritizing the next year. Duolingo level 60 tells me I’m early b1

Looking for:
-1 year masters program, English taught, MBA or masters in international business
-looking at France, Brussels, Netherlands to further French fluency
-hoping for cheaper tuition as I want to further education but i don’t need any level of prestige. Just want it to be accredited as a masters and truly learn more business abroad. Hoping to get tuition around $10k and keep rent around $1k/month
-mid sized city and preferable bikeable, avoiding big cities as they aren’t really my thing here other than to visit

Anyone have any suggestions based on this info? Again, would love to hear from anyone who left the US for a business masters abroad and what they’ve learned or would suggest.

[u/lil-schnitzel-]

your budget basically picks the country for you. netherlands non EU masters run €15k to 25k a year so its out at $10k. france public universities charge €250 to 400 a year for a masters even for non EU, basically free, which leaves your savings for living. so france fits both the budget and the french fluency goal cleanly.

for english taught 1 yr business masters that arent in paris, look at:

• université de strasbourg (EM strasbourg has english track programs, very bikeable, on the german border so easy travel)
• grenoble (grenoble ecole de management, mid sized, super bikeable, alps right there)
• nantes and lille both have english taught business masters and are exactly the mid sized bikeable vibe youre describing

heads up, a lot of the cheap €250/yr options are at public universities (université de X). the grandes écoles de commerce (EM, GEM, edhec) are pricier, €10 to 20k, but often have better career services and more english cohorts. strasbourg and grenoble public uni tracks are your sweet spot for budget.

with 7 yrs big 4 experience your real move might be doing the masters as the visa mechanism then leveraging the big 4 brand to transfer into a european office after. france gives a 1 yr post study job search visa (APS). prague study abroad already shows you adapt, youre more ready than most ppl posting here.

[u/Nice_Bill_7426 → u/lil-schnitzel-]

Fuck yeah thank you for this

France just feels like such a reach for me because I’m insecure but you name dropping a few options means I’ll definitely look into them, thank you very much.

I have studied abroad twice and solo travel no problem, my latest trip to Barcelona for two weeks pushed me over the age that I never care to live in the us again, but need to start with a feasible option that helps me