IE Business School’s Master in Management is one of Europe’s most international MiMs: a large (~639-student), English-taught, 15-month generalist programme in Madrid with a cohort that is roughly 91% international across 72 nationalities.¹ Its strongest ranking signal is #7 in the QS Business Masters (Management) 2026 table; it also sits at #27 in the Financial Times Masters in Management 2025.² ³
IE’s admissions process has a few features that set it apart from its peers — its own admission test, a two-stage interview, and two intakes a year on rolling admissions. This guide lays out what IE actually requires, what each stage is testing, and how to play the rolling calendar. It is built from IE’s own admissions pages and our full IE Business School MiM profile; where a detail lives inside the live application, we say so rather than invent a figure.
Who is eligible
IE asks for a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university — and is explicit that it welcomes candidates “from a variety of nationalities, disciplines and educational backgrounds.”¹ You do not need a business degree, and you do not need significant work experience: the MiM is a pre-experience programme built for recent graduates and final-year students (the typical admitted student is around 24, with internship-level experience). That breadth of accepted backgrounds is part of why the cohort is so internationally and academically diverse.
The admission test — including IE’s own ieGAT
IE requires one admission test, and gives you **three options: the ieGAT (IE Global Admission Test), the GMAT, or the GRE.**¹ The ieGAT is IE’s own test, administered as part of its process — it assesses managerial aptitude and reasoning much as the GMAT does, but without a separate booking at an external test centre, which is why many IE applicants choose it.
IE publishes no minimum on any of the three.¹ But “no minimum” is not “no signal”: admitted IE MiM students cluster around a 660 average GMAT, in roughly a 605–755 range, so a competitive applicant should treat the test as a real differentiator rather than a formality.¹ The test is most valuable as a standardiser — the line on which an applicant from a less globally-known university can stand beside one from a famous school — and as quantitative reassurance if your degree was light on maths. For the trade-offs, see what GMAT score you need for a European MiM.
English proficiency
The MiM is taught entirely in English, so non-native speakers prove English with one of IE’s accepted certificates: **TOEFL iBT 100 (105 recommended), IELTS 7.0 (7.5 recommended), the Duolingo English Test 130, or Cambridge C1 Advanced.**¹ IE will exempt you if you are a native speaker, completed your undergraduate degree in English, or have lived or worked two-plus years in an English-speaking environment. Certificates are valid for two years. These thresholds move between cycles, so confirm the current requirement before booking a test.
The application file
Beyond the test and any English certificate, IE’s application is built from a compact set of documents:¹
- An online application form with your supporting documents and transcripts.
- A one-page CV/résumé — foreground internships, international exposure, leadership and analytical work.
- A personal statement — your motivation for the MiM, for IE specifically, and for what you want next.
- Two references, academic or professional — choose recommenders who genuinely know your work and brief them well.
The two-stage interview: Kira, then a personal interview
This is where IE differs most from peer schools — there are two evaluative conversation stages:¹
- The Kira online assessment — three questions, two answered on video and one in writing, recorded on your own time within a window. It is designed to see how you communicate and think spontaneously, with little time to over-rehearse. Authentic, structured, specific answers beat polished scripts. Our guide to the Kira video interview for European MiMs covers the format in depth.
- A personal interview — held face-to-face or online with an admissions officer once your file is shortlisted. It tests motivation, fit and clarity in a fuller conversation. See our IE MiM interview guide for what to expect, and the IE MiM essays guide for the written components.
IE keeps the exact Kira and interview questions inside its process and varies them, so we will not pretend to publish a fixed list — prepare around the shape, not a leaked script.
Fees, intakes and timing
The application fee is €150 (non-refundable).¹ Tuition is about €50,000, plus a one-time €1,200 IE Foundation contribution — roughly €51,200 all-in for the 15-month programme.¹ Madrid’s living costs are moderate by European-capital standards (materially lower than London or Paris), which improves IE’s total cost of attendance relative to its headline fee. IE runs a large portfolio of merit-based scholarships and is known for assessing them early.
IE offers two intakes a year — September and January — on rolling admissions, assessing applications as they arrive rather than against a single hard deadline.¹ IE does publish indicative rounds (an early-consideration date and later rounds), and because seats and scholarships are awarded as a cycle fills, applying early in your target intake is a genuine advantage — for admission odds, scholarship headroom, and visa processing time. Map your dates against the other schools on your list with our deadline tracker.
How to read your odds
IE admits a large cohort (~639) from a global pool and does not publish an explicit acceptance rate, so treat round numbers cautiously. The honest read of what gets a competitive file across the line:
- A test score around or above the ~660 average — on whichever of the ieGAT, GMAT or GRE you choose — with a solid quantitative showing if your degree was non-quantitative.
- Strong, specific communication in the Kira assessment. Because IE weights this stage that most peers don’t have, treating the video answers as a real, prepared-but-authentic performance (not an afterthought) is a genuine edge.
- A coherent, specific case for IE — the international cohort, the Madrid setting, the specialism you want — backed by a tight one-page CV and two references who know your work.
A solid academic record is the entry ticket; it is the coherence of the story — test, statement, Kira, interview all pointing the same way — that does the heavy lifting.
Confirm before you apply
IE keeps the live application steps, exact fees, accepted-test details and intake dates inside its own admissions pages and updates them each cycle, so use this guide for the structure and the strategy and verify every hard number against the source before you submit. Weigh IE against the wider field on our best MiM in Spain guide and the composite rankings; see how it stacks up head-to-head in IE vs IESE, Esade vs IE and HEC Paris vs IE; and if you are still deciding whether the degree itself is worth it, start with is a MiM worth it in 2026, how to build a MiM profile and MiM vs MBA.
Sources (retrieved June 2026): IE Business School’s official Master in Management and Admissions & Fees pages for eligibility (a bachelor’s in any discipline), the ieGAT / GMAT / GRE test options with no published minimum, the English certificates and exemptions, the application components (online form, one-page CV, personal statement, two references), the Kira online assessment (three questions — two video, one written) and the personal interview, the €150 application fee, the ~€50,000 tuition plus the €1,200 IE Foundation contribution, and the September & January intakes on rolling admissions; the Financial Times Masters in Management 2025 and QS Business Masters: Management 2026 tables for the rankings; and our own IE Business School MiM profile for the ~660 average GMAT (605–755 range), the 15-month length and the class profile. IE revises the live application each cycle — confirm the current requirements in the application form. No Kira or interview questions, sample answers or figures are invented; where a detail lives only inside IE’s process, this guide describes the recurring structure rather than quoting a fixed value.
¹ IE Business School — Master in Management & Admissions/Fees pages. ² Financial Times — Masters in Management 2025. ³ QS Business Masters Rankings: Management 2026.