25 Pieces of Advice for Your 25J MBA Year

Letter to myself 1(ish) year ago

Hello Simmy, pre-INSEAD! This is Simmy post-INSEAD :)

 You are embarking on arguably your best year to date! It will be jam-packed, wonderfully extreme, and, at times, totally overwhelming.  

You will experience the most diverse teams of your American-centric career. In Startup Bootcamp, for example, your four team members hail from a different continent: Europe (Germany), Oceania (Australia), Asia (India) and, of course, North America (USA). In “Leadership in Action” / orientation, you will be the only American of the 10 students in the room. Their backgrounds are special, but it's their combination of drive and humility that impresses you most.

And you get married! … in Cape Town nonetheless! The party of a lifetime: delicious multi-cultural meals, your favourite people in the world, breathtaking views, and, of course, unforgettable dancing. You and Diana killed it … so jealous of you!

Getting back to the "totally overwhelming” bit - you will be drinking from the fire hose via every dimension of life: academics, career, culture and social. Let me offer you some advice to make your experience as special - and manageable - as possible.

Here are 25 pieces of advice for your 25J year <3

Academics & career

• Take elective courses in finance and statistics - the closest to your training as an engineer.
• Go to Abu Dhabi in P3. It’s more intimate than Singapore in P3 (40 INSEADers compared to 500).
• Don’t hesitate to take electives even if you’ll miss a session or two. Just notify the professor in advance.
• Be hungry, ambitious - work towards the goals that you set, regardless of the box that CDC or others draw around you and your capacity. (Take this with a grain of salt, as your-post-INSEAD-self has not landed a job yet!)
• Buy a tablet before P1 - preferably a Microsoft Surface on Back Market.
• Don’t work after drinking!… I accidentally deleted my WhatsApp history once after a long night in P5

Housekeeping: Life in France

• Live with a local in Fontainebleau (they call themselves Bellifontains). Find a place via Sylvie from fontyhousing.com
• Set up a “Carte Vitale” early via the French State’s Assurance Maladie, even if you have INSEAD-sponsored student insurance. You benefit from getting plugged into the French State system and discounted prescription drugs.
• A note on transportation: subscribe to the Île-de-France metro pass, “Navigo Liberté+”, which discounts and streamlines access to public transportation. Also, subscribe to Vélib’: 4€ / month for Paris’s subsidised bike share system. And don’t forget your helmet!
• Buy and store a French press and coffee grounds in your locker on campus. The drip coffee is not good and the café allongée bills add up!
• Declare Fontainebleau as your residence when asking for your visa, “recherche d'emploi/création d'entreprise” i.e. job search visa post-INSEAD.
• Learn French before arriving in France - at least to the B2 level. The better your French, the more frequently you will speak French with locals, enriching your time and solidifying your knowledge.

Relationships & self-care

• Plug in Diana to the partner community, especially during orientation week. Partners are welcomed with access to programming and facilities - take advantage of it.
• Represent your origins - even when being American gets difficult. Support a table at Culture Week.
• Practice and exercise your craft / your sport (squash and salsa for us).
• Take time and effort to plan out your trips. They’ll be some of the best of your life. And travel with natives of the destination.
• Spend time with friends and family back home via FaceTime.
• Prioritise your future wife! She is your best friend - and she will ground you and be a voice of reason.

When life gets hard, go to INSEAD’s therapy services. When life is easy, go to therapy.  Your mental health is the foundation of your life.  

• Exercise your “no” muscle. It’s a year of exploration, but there’s only so much time in a day, and you have only so much energy.
• Befriend those outside of your programme: other students (MIMs to PhDs), faculty and staff are fascinating people.
• Beyond that, make friends outside of the INSEAD bubble.

General advice

• Express your perspectives and ask your questions, especially the controversial ones. This will stimulate learning in the most diverse environment you will experience. Also, make time to read the news!
• Follow your fears and hesitations. You already know that that’s where growth, impact, and your success lie.
• Lead, don’t just follow. You’re at INSEAD for a reason, and you have something to contribute - make INSEAD a little more like you, just as INSEAD makes you a little more like it.

Don’t blink.

Your year to come is nothing short of magical: personal growth, learning, trips, and new status (my married man!). And ~500 batchmates from 73 countries that you now call friends. Now enjoy it - all of it. And come back to these pieces of advice.

Bon courage!