INSEAD – A Home Away From Home
They say, “Wherever you go, it becomes a part of you somehow”.
And it couldn’t be truer for INSEAD, the business school for the world.
INSEAD is a Team Sport
What a start! Period 1: the balancing act!
Whooiii what a first period it has been! Even though I have been at other learning institutions, this is the first time I feel as if my horizons have truly been opened. There are different clubs for almost everything, recruiting events, and industry introductions, on a weekly basis. But my peers are the true horizon openers, which is exactly why I applied to INSEAD in the first place.
So many things are happening, everyone talks about FOMO in reference to trips and parties, but my FOMO is not getting to know my peers…
The Struggle Is Real!
Partying on a Friday night is always a good idea. You have fun, decompress, some good music and drinks. Meeting new people is always exciting. Then you wake up the next day with a headache and you swear to watch your drinking habits next time. You decide that one party per week is just enough for you but then it happens again.. FOMO!
Relatable Biases and the MBA Decision
‘Why would you want to leave the stability of your well-paying job, the proximity to your family and the comfort of the city where you’ve lived for the past few years to do an MBA in France?’ - the classic, pervasive pull of the ‘status quo bias’ often made me re-assess my decision to do an MBA. A year later, I’ve started my MBA at INSEAD and it feels fabulous to break out of the rut and dive into a new challenge.
Here I’ve addressed a few relatable biases that prospective MBA candidates might be prone to - as I was, during my application process:
To Do or Not To Do: The Intensive Language Programme - That is the Question
I believe a lot of people wonder about this. In fact, I owe a 19D a thorough review of the intensive language programme.
First Impressions @ INSEAD
Hey everyone, it’s been a few weeks since my last post and since then activities started at INSEAD and I started to meet some of my fellow classmates.
A Thrilling Start
Why Does a Doctor Need an MBA?
For the past ten years, I have been working as a physician, and I feel that this duration is long enough to remain in my comfort zone. The past year has been really interesting and pivotal for me, due to the intensive preparation for GMAT, followed by the vigorous application process to INSEAD. I would say the journey to the MBA itself has allowed me to gain greater insight regarding myself and offered a reflective process that most of us don’t have the time to experience in our busy lives with work, family, and friends.
Behind the Enemy Lines
When I told people that I’d soon be attending an MBA programme in Singapore and France, their first question would be, “Why?”. Leaving my software engineer career in San Francisco, the hottest job in the hottest sector, seemed very unorthodox. After several years of experience as a programmer, however, attending INSEAD could not have been a simpler choice. Let me explain.
But first, a bit about me.
Starting INSEAD the Intensive Way…
Coming from jobs that got us to INSEAD - M&A investment banking for me -, I wanted to spend time travelling, meeting family and friends, or just relaxing before all the excitement started.
But the exit language is a strict graduation requirement!
Options were to study French (my choice of exit language) in London while I worked either at Alliance Française or on my own, take classes at INSEAD in P1-P3 or attend the intensive language programme prior to the start of P1 in either campus.
A Foundation in More Ways Than One
From the decision of doing an MBA, to sitting for the GMAT, and staring longingly at your mobile phone to see if I would get the admissions call, it has been quite a journey to get here. With the official opening of school for 19J, the whirlwind has been slowly picking up speed.
