Why I chose INSEAD (from BusinessBecause.com)

Hi Everyone!

I've recently come across a great new online business magazine: BusinessBecause.com. With daily content on all things B-School, they really do cover everything: admissions, developments in the post-MBA job market, faculty and research, even insights into the MBA lifestyle at different schools.

Even though it’s new and still in the process of development, BusinessBecause has quickly become one of my favourite daily reads. I like it because the content is well-written, insightful, and - most importantly - independent. Their articles aren't slanted by school or corporate 'sponsors', and they are not in the 'rankings game' (a topic for a whole other post). In fact, I didn't even know they were covering INSEAD until I actually saw the articles online. Because of this, I think they could be a great resource for all of you out there looking for unbiased information about and insights into the MBA programmes you're considering. (And, I promise the independence works both ways: no they haven't paid me to plug their site!)

Here's an example of what I mean: they have a great series called, 'Why I Chose', where they interview current participants and alumni from various schools and ask them not only about what made them choose their MBA programme over others, but also about their experiences on the programme and if their expectations were met. I know there is a lot of information out there on various MBA Programmes (heck, I write a lot of it!) but, there really is nothing like getting the first hand perspective from people who were weighing up many of the same options you're probably weighing up now.

Early this month, they interviewed Lara Gilman, an American who just graduated from INSEAD this past June and is now working in London. Here's what she has to say about why she chose INSEAD and her year on campus: Why I Chose INSEAD: Recent grad Lara Gilman wanted to meet the world, and chose Europe over the US

Greetings from Bangkok!

I am sitting in a Starbucks in the Ari neighborhood reflecting on the joys of living in Asia and contemplating a move to Thailand. I’m a big city girl having relocated to Singapore from Manhattan and Bangkok does not disappoint. I love the food, the hospitality of the people, the varied nightlife and rich culture that stays with you long after you leave. In observing the backpackers and others foreigners who call Bangkok home, I am also reminded of how international Thailand has become. Sure, tourism has long been the main draw but Bangkok is a hub for global NGOs and MNCs, there is a lot of intellectual activity happening here. Similar to INSEAD, people from all over the world choose to be a part of this community and seem very happy with their choice! However, since it is unlikely that INSEAD would be so accommodating and relocate me a second time, I’ll be staying put in Singapore.

Today marks the end of the first trip of a busy season ahead. Earlier this month I traveled to Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei and Bangkok. In Tokyo I enjoyed too much Manju, in Seoul the BBQ. In Shanghai hunted for art on Tai Kang Lu and in Taipei participated in karaoke at Holiday KTV. I have come to realize that karaoke is not my forte. Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be an issue in Asia as actually being good at karaoke is not required!

While traveling I met several hundred prospective MBA students all whom have the potential to be admitted to an MBA programme. The curious nature of their questions, variety of their experiences and overall familiarity with INSEAD and other schools reminded me of the ever present burgeoning talent in the market. Of course, the attentive prospects on the road are indicative of a competitive year ahead but what I hope to see from prospective students this year is a confident approach to the application process.

A word of advice: stop thinking about how you measure up by a certain set of data points (i.e. GMAT, years works experience, age) and start thinking about your individual goals and what is important to you. Simply put, spend time on your essays and tell us your story, you are all unique individuals so make sure that schools know what you have to offer.

For those of you in Asia, I will be traveling for the next several months. I am more than happy to answer your questions and share with you my knowledge of the INSEAD MBA programme. Please come see me this November on the QS World MBA Tour – www.topmba.com. Other events will be continuously updated and posted here: http://www.insead.edu/mba/meet_us/form/Offcampusevents.cfm

2009 - 2010 Recruiting Season Has Begun!

It's hard to believe that our summer break is already over, but it's true. And that can mean only one thing: we're already back on the road! I've spent the last three weeks in South America (where, of course, they're still looking forward to summer), and my colleagues in Asia and Europe have been just as busy. We've already confirmed more than 50 events for our fall recruiting season, and we're launching more every week. Take a look and register for an event near you at:
www.insead.edu/mba/offevents.

Hope to see you soon!

Investing in Your Future, and Yourself (Financing Your MBA)

I’ve just returned to the cold New York City winter, after two weeks of hosting INSEAD events in the lovely South American sunshine. I don’t spend as much time as I would like in our neighbouring continent to the South, so I was especially happy to have such a long visit and to cover so much ground – four cities in three countries in just 10 days – wow! As you may already know, our third application round for the class beginning in September 2009 has just passed. That means one more round for the September class, and we look forward to January. (For more information on our dates and deadlines visit our website at: http://www.insead.edu/mba/admissions/dates.cfm). As is common this late in the application cycle, many of the people I met at our recent events had either already applied, or were about to hit the send button. So, I found myself answering fewer questions about our admissions criteria and more on financing options. And on my flight back, it occurred to me that if the people I met in Argentina, and Brazil and Chile had financing on their minds, then probably, so did many of you. So, I’ve decided to devote this entry to Financing your MBA, or perhaps more accurately, to Investing in Your Future, and Yourself….

There is no doubt that having a world-class MBA can change the trajectory of your career, and your life. Doors previously locked will open. Once narrow horizons will broaden. The unlikeliest of friendships will be made. This is why we call your INSEAD MBA an ‘investment’. The returns are vast, and last a lifetime. But, like all investments, an initial outlay must be made.

INSEAD’s fees and living expenses are particularly competitive largely because of our accelerated format. With only one year out of the job market, you forgo less income than on longer programmes and have fewer living expenses to cover while you are not working. In fact, most INSEAD graduates pay back their MBA loans in less than three years.

Still, we know that €51,000 for tuition and €2000 per month we advise you to budget for your living expenses is no small sum. And for many – particularly those from developing countries or who work in the non-profit sector – the prospect of funding the entire amount on their own can seem overwhelming at best, impossible at worst. The good is, we are here to help.

Once admitted, our MBA Financing Office will work with you to plan how you can meet your financing needs. But, because its best to begin your financial planning early, here are some steps you can begin taking now to identify the opportunities which may be available to you:

1: Consider INSEAD Scholarships:

Each year, INSEAD gives nearly €2.5 million in scholarships to our MBA participants. Awards vary in size and criteria, but you can see a comprehensive list of all of them at http://www.insead.edu/mba/schlmgmt/index.cfm?fuseaction=dsp_list_schl. All of our scholarships have an additional application process, and some of them have early deadlines, so it’s best to review the portfolio as soon as possible. Identify the scholarships for which you are eligible and then begin thinking about the essay question. Like admission, competition for each award is tough, so the more prepared you are the better.

2. Research local sources of funding

Many applicants have attractive scholarship and loan opportunities in their resident country or countries. You may be one of them! Often deadlines for local scholarships will be even earlier than those of INSEAD scholarships, so again, the earlier you get started, the better. We have compiled a list of scholarship and loan opportunities known to us, which we have compiled by country (http://www.insead.edu/mba/financing/financing_funding.cfm). Our list is a good place to start, but it is by no means exhaustive. Make sure you research all funding sources that may be available to you – exhaust your options!

3. Save

Depending in where you live, and in which industry you work, saving money can be difficult, and very un-fun. (Trust me – I know). But having your own savings to put towards your MBA is likely to assist you in more ways than one. Not only will you have to take out less money in loans, depending on where you live, you may also find that putting some of your own capital towards your MBA can make it easier for you to obtain a loan, and could assist in securing a lower interest rate.

4. Take a note from those who have already done it

If you’re struggling to understand how you might be able to meet your financial needs, know that you are not the first, and you are not alone. For inspiration (and ideas!) read first hand testimonials from our MBA participants on how they financed their INSEAD MBA at: http://www.insead.edu/mba/admissions/Financingquotations.cfm

Dean Frank Brown on Business Schools and the Financial Crisis

In one way or another, all of my latest posts have been related to the financial crisis. Frank Brown, Dean of INSEAD, recently wrote a piece of his own on the topic, which I thought you might find interesting. So, I've posted his article here, and you can also view a view of him being interviewed about his thoughts on Business Schools and the Financial Crisis on the INSEAD Knowledge website.

Business schools and the crisis

---- by Frank Brown, Dean of INSEAD ---- I have heard from a lot of people in the past month. Many of them ask me about the job market for our MBAs, our endowment, our executive education business and about our alumni whose jobs are at risk. But there are some who ask what are you doing about this? What is your role now and in the future as a business school? I don't presume or pretend to have all the answers, but I do have some thoughts. Firstly, I believe a lot of today’s troubles have been driven not just by greed, but by a lack of confidence. I think the average employee, maybe a business school graduate, lacks the confidence to ask the tough questions. We saw it in Enron when fast-talking finance chief Andrew Fastow got his way and no one challenged him. We saw it at WorldCom as well. That past era of trouble is all too recent I might add. Now we have seen it with structured products that most people didn't understand. Where, I ask, were the bright, well-educated and especially confident young employees who should have been challenging the logic of this stuff? They were not confident enough, I say. It is uncomfortable to ask for an explanation of an acronym like CDO. What does it mean? What is its real value? Is it sustainable? These are tough questions because they expose the questioner to the smirk of the all-knowing creator of the product. Someone like Fastow maybe. The other problem I see is one of self-perpetuation of leaders. When we look at the credit crisis, many of the firms now in trouble were led by people who had been in place for many years. They had built great teams perhaps, but were they too cosy to challenge each other -- or challenge the person at the top? I said I don't have all of the answers. The one thing I do know is that as business schools, we need to teach the basics, but we also need to convince our students to be sceptical and to challenge conventional thinking. MBAs need to have the confidence to ask the tough questions and not be satisfied with the answers until they get the facts. We also need to instill a confidence that makes people eager to do new things and not just hang on to a job because it pays well. The confidence to reinvent oneself periodically creates opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, and ensures that teams don't become too entrenched. There are lessons as well here for boards of directors. How many boards accepted valuations and management assurances without really asking the tough questions and understanding the answers? How many boards allowed leaders to remain in place without much of a succession plan? Well, when the dust settles, and I hope it does, there will be lots of blame to go around. I am sure I will continue to get some of the same tough questions. As for me, I intend to focus on the future and make sure our students learn from the past. There is too much to ignore. Frank Brown’s book ‘The Global Business Leader’ is published by Palgrave Macmillan. FB 11/08

Cassandra's Top Three Application Tips for a Tough Admissions Year... (or any year, really)

Hello everyone! Bonjour tout le monde! 大家好!

I know we've been quiet for a while, but we're back from our summer holidays now and have headed full swing into our 2008 - 2009 recruiting season. And what a season it is! I've been on the road for the last month, attending fairs and hosting information sessions. It seems that conversations have picked up right where we left off: we're all still talking about the financial crisis. Before the summer break, I wrote an entry called Surviving Subprime: INSEAD Style. In that entry I discussed the interconnectivity of the world's financial markets and the global economy. Here's an excerpt:

There might be something slightly concerning about the fact that Manhattan bankers can threaten the financial security of teachers in Norway, but the upside is that prosperity and growth in one country can also serve to boast economies on the other side of the globe. If our problems are global, so are our solutions. And it will be leaders who have not only a sound knowledge in business fundamentals and managerial competence, but who have also developed the knowledge and sensitivity to operate anywhere in the world who will achieve them.

Welcome to INSEAD.

Today, I'd like to take the conversation to a more personal level. Over the last month, one of the most common questions I've been asked is, 'How will the state of the economy impact my chances for MBA admission'. So, let's get straight to it:

There's no question that applications are up. Not just at INSEAD, but colleagues I have spoken with at other business schools also report an increase. Put simply, this *is* going to be a more competitive year for MBA admissions. So, what can you do to make your application stand out in this competitive year? Here are my top three tips:

1.) Know Your Audience

Its important for you to know how, and by what criteria your application will be assessed. At INSEAD, we evaluate every application against four central criteria - and four only. But, each one carries equal weight, meaning you must be strong in all four to present a strong application. They are: Academic Capacity, Leadership Potential, International Motivation, and Ability to Contribute to the INSEAD experience. You can learn more about each one by visiting the Admissions Requirements page on our website.

2.) Address Your Weaknesses

We all have strengths and weaknesses. You need to be honest with yourself about what yours are. And then you need to take it to the next level and do what you can to genuinely address your weakness. In this competitive environment, you'll want to avoid being borderline anything if you can, so exhaust all avenues to strengthen your application. If you did more poorly than you would have liked during your undergraduate studies, for example, you'll want to be sure to present your strongest possible score on the GMAT. (Remember, that in order to be competitive at INSEAD, you should aim to achieve a score in the 70 - 75 percentiles in both the quantitative and verbal sections of the test). If you haven't had much experience leading people, teams or projects, you might want to considering engaging in some voluntary work which will give you the opportunity to do so.

3.) Be Authentic

In this competitive environment, you might be tempted to simply tell us what you think we want to hear. RESIST THE TEMPTATION. I can't emphasis this enough. We're looking for people who shine off paper as well as on. Now, more than ever, it is important for you to distinguish yourself from the crowd. Your uniqueness will be your strength, so be yourself, and tell us about who you are, not just the work you want to do.

Do you love yoga? Great. Maybe you'll organise yoga classes after exams. Are you a great salsa dancer? Fantastic. You can help us bring home the Cup in the MBA Olympics. Perhaps you can help us organise the Latin American week too! Are you truly passionate about making a positive impact on the world? Amazing. You could be elected to lead our Student Organisation for Social Impact (INDEVOR) or the Energy Club.

We're looking for people who shine off paper as well as on. Whatever they may be, telling us about your passions help you stand out from everyone else with your similar career and academic profiles.

Want more?

The best way to learn more about the programme, what we're looking for, and if INSEAD is the right school for you is to connect with us in person on campus or at one of the hundred + events we host and attend worldwide throughout the year. You can also post your questions on this blog, or email us at mba.info@insead.edu

Surviving Subprime, INSEAD style

I spent the better part of April crossing from one side of North America to the other. In four weeks, we hosted ten events in six cities. It was a busy month. But whether I was talking to prospects, incoming students, recruiters, or just the guy next to me on the airplane, one topic seemed to dominate all conversations: the state of the economy.

If you’re living in the U.S., I guess you’d have to be hiding under a rock to have not engaged in one way or another in the current economic situation. You can’t open a paper or tune into any news programme without noticing mention of that dreaded “R” word. And, while the talk I hear in Europe is slightly less severe, there’s no question that an economic slowdown is on everyone’s mind.

Now, I am neither an economist nor a financial expert, but, I do know this: while it was largely Wall Street decisions makers that got us into this mess, the problem has gone global. In February, the Guardian ran an interesting article on the global effects of the U.S. sub-prime crisis. The opening line read, “Finance chiefs from the G7 group of rich countries have warned that the global economy faces a period of slower growth as a result of the US mortgage crisis and projected the levels of the size of the sub-prime losses could be as high as $400bn (£200bn)."[1]

If ever we needed an example of just how truly interconnected and interdependent we all are, this is it.

From cable news pundits to business journals, the belief that economies are increasingly complex, multi-connected, and inter-reliant is something you can hear a lot about now. Even the great Jack Welsh has weighed in.

“The Jack Welch of the future cannot be me. I spent my entire career in the United States. The next head of General Electric will be somebody who spent time in Bombay, in Hong Kong, in Buenos Aires. We have to send our best and brightest overseas and make sure they have the training that will allow them to be the global leaders who will make GE flourish in the future.”[2]

It seems like business schools are starting to take notice. More and more, top U.S. schools are trying to position themselves as global. Some have added classes with an international spin, others have made more of an effort to recruit international participants, some have even launched, or enhanced, MBA concentrations in international business. I have no doubt that their efforts are genuine, but with their primarily U.S. networks, ties to the business community dominated by those in North America, and largely homogeneous classes (in even your most diverse programmes, U.S. nationals will typically make up around 70%), I do wonder if most will struggle to truly add value to the careers and lives of their MBAs in the aspect.

Of course, long before it was fashionable, INSEAD was ahead of the curve. Our first MBA Class (1960) had 52 participants from 14 different countries – unprecedented in its time. Now, we have more than 900 MBA participants per year from over 70 different countries, with no single nationality constituting a majority. No other top business school even comes close.

More than just the class make up, with our completely unique two-campus structure (France and Singapore), Research and Executive Education Centres in Israel and Abu Dhabi, and office in New York, even the physical presence of INSEAD is international and interconnected. And, of course, there’s the global INSEAD network of more than 37,000 alumni in over 150 different countries, across all continents. Perhaps even more telling is the number of countries in which there is a solid and sizable network of MBA alumni, which we define as at least 100 – currently 37, compared to an average of less than 10 for top U.S. b-schools, and an average of less than 5 for top b-schools in Europe.

Every thing about INSEAD is global. You’ll find our International Outlook embedded in every one of classes and programmes; in our research and our recruiting practices; in our conversations with one another and the people we meet. Its simply part of our DNA.

And, okay, I know that sounds like a plug. What can I say? It’s all true!

But, you don’t have to take it from me. A current MBA participant sent me an email recently, which said this:

“Last night, I witnessed the following event: A Hungarian guy living in France called a Kiwi girl having dinner at a restaurant in Singapore, asking if she knew where to find a mutual friend, an Indian guy, to talk about a trip to Hungary. Of course, he was right next to her. Only at INSEAD.”

There might be something slightly concerning about the fact that Manhattan bankers can threaten the financial security of teachers in Norway, but the upside is that prosperity and growth in one country can also serve to boast economies on the other side of the globe. If our problems are global, so are our solutions. And it will be leaders who have not only a sound knowledge in business fundamentals and managerial competence, but who have also developed the knowledge and sensitivity to operate anywhere in the world who will achieve them.

Welcome to INSEAD.

[1] You can find several articles, videos and podcasts with our faculty weighing in on the current situation on INSEAD Kowledge

[2] Cited in Javidan and House (2001) “Cultural Acumen for the Global Manager: Lessons from Project GLOBE.” Organizational Dynamics, Vol 29:289