From Road-tripping to Becoming a MIM Student

Arthur Cukier

Coming back from a six-month exchange in Australia and a six-month internship with Clarins in New York as a 2018 Warwick Business school student, I still wasn’t certain about what I would do after graduation. Unsure of the path to take, I decided that applying to a Master’s degree would give me an additional edge as well as more time to make up my mind, gather more information on different opportunities, and become more competitive in a world where most people have Master’s degrees.

So, during the final year of my Bachelor’s degree, I decided to go through the application process and work on my GMAT. My goal was to attain the first-class honour's degree at Warwick and maintain a decent work-life balance, something that wasn't easy! I was overwhelmed by the possibility that I might end up with lower grades than expected, unemployed and without a Masters. In hindsight, if anyone is in my position in the future, my advice would be to always redefine your priorities and adapt your methods as new information comes along.

After scoring a 710 at the GMAT, I received offers from all of my school choices including INSEAD, and two other prestigious business schools.

I was now facing a new dilemma which might seem trivial but would have lifelong repercussions. Just a few months before, I would have given everything just to have one of those offers, and now I was in a position where I got to choose which school I wanted to go to.

So what made me choose INSEAD? I believe it was in my nature.

I've always had an entrepreneurial mind, and the idea that I could be part of the first ever Master In Management cohort at INSEAD was exciting to me.

A couple of other things made me think that INSEAD was the best choice for me:

  • The size of the cohort. I believe that the smaller the cohort is, the easier it is to control the quality of the applicants
  • The school's brand name and strength of the alumni network
  • The diversity of the profiles and cultures within the programme

Today, just a few weeks into the programme, I can say that the MIM has exceeded all my expectations.

The background and cultural diversity of the people is unbelievable, and it really brings a global understanding of the problems we tackle in class.

The quality of the teachers and the resources are so unique that it has made me rediscover subjects I had already seen during my Bachelor's in a very different and innovative way. The INSEAD way of always pushing collaboration and practical training through case studies really creates an added value, and a better understanding of theoretical concepts.

The extensive use of data applied to marketing, coding and data analysis has satiated my quantitative mind, while giving me the tools to understand this previously unknown segment. The MIM is a highly intense experience, the workload and expectations are high, and I believe it is part of the added value of the programme.

Thanks to a psychological analysis of my personality by the career development center, the one-on-one coaching sessions, and the discussions with other INSEAD students and alumni, I have already found the next step I wish to explore in my career. I now intend to work in Private Equity or Venture Capital and what better school to lead me there than the one created by the founder of Venture Capital itself!