ChaseDream

标题: Current INSEAD students taking questions [打印本页]

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-5 02:58
标题: Current INSEAD students taking questions

I've been thinking of initiating this column to CD europe for some time. The purpose is simple: help more applicants get to know about the school, students life here and of course very important to all of us, the job placement for Chinese students. The Qs can be as diverse as the student group is, ranging from student life to vacation in Europe.

As everybody knows, INSEAD has 2 campuses: Europe and Asia campus. I'm now at Fontainebleau Europe campus and nnm is now in Asia Singapore campus, so if you have any specific questions related to different campuses, one of us will be able to reply.

nnm, I and many other INSEADers will try to answer your Qs about the school regularly. However, please do bear in mind that we are facing a very tough and tight curriculum and extra-curriculum schedule now, therefore, please allow us maximum 2-3 days to update your Qs.

Let me try to wrap up some rough impression about the study life here first before immersing myself into the pre-readings again. The past week was extremely hectic. On the registration day, we each received some introduction materials and a pile of readings that was almost 0.5m high. We started clubbing, career search and networking immediately after day 1. Each INSEAD student was allocated into a study group, which is typically composed of 5-6 people (all men or 2 girls) from different country and different background. My group is perfect. Each worked in different industry (Mck, Merrill&Lynch, J&J, Economist and General management) before joining the program. All of them are cooperative, open-minded and willing to share, which I believe will be important factors to ensure a productive study group. The company On-Campus-Recruitment start from this week. Quite some big names will be here to give speeches. Obviously, no time to take a break but as I said, every day is a new start and the fun of INSEAD is to push yourself to the extreme and still enjoy. Besides all the serious job hunting and classes, INSEAD is mostly well-known for its students' creativity and party skills. Last Sat we had a big party in a fancy Chateau sponsored by Bain&Company. Talking to the peers was fun, but the funnier part was seeing those students who were serious in class turned out to be a party king/queen.

I have to stop here. Again, any question about the school is mostly welcomed. Wish all of you a success in your application.

作者: nnm 时间: 2007-9-5 22:46
Here I come

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-5 22:55

Thanks a lot!!! Inseadsh and nnm.

You are so nice!

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-5 22:56

I know the curriculum is quite tough. Five semesters, 24 courses. A condensed one year MBA.

Could you handles all of these ?

作者: nnm 时间: 2007-9-5 23:03

There are nearly 20K graduate so far. So it's doable.

trust me, you'll survive eventually.

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-5 23:10

Thanks,NNM.

Could you share some of the pic of views of Insead?

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-6 1:36:36编辑过]

作者: sinocheetah 时间: 2007-9-6 00:51

Applaud for your kind deeds! My two bros.

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-6 04:40

I just got home. It's almost 22:30pm here. As usual, it was a long day but still full of excitement. The class started from 9am with Ethics. To us Chinese people, Ethics will always be kind of tricky topic but I do agree with one thing the professor highlighted: Ethics may not pay but defintely matters. Typical class in INSEAD usually varies from 1.5 hrs to 3 hrs, so we finished the Ethics around 12:30.Thinking about lunch? Nope, because I had to take a look at the club fair. I ended up signing up for consulting, IB, bridge and media club without knowing a pc of what the hell bridge is. After a very quick lunch and a light chat with other students, I had to hurry to 2 core courses: Uncertainty, Data & Judgement and Prices & Markets. There were a lot of pre-readings and exercises before the class but fortunately, I did my homework last night. 17:30 sharp, we sat in an alumni meeting, in which we were told that 2 of our alumni each donated 5MM euros and there are supposed to be more donations coming in soon. Good news to the future applicants! More scholarship available! Ok, I was starving but no time for a decent dinner. Merrill Lynch and Bain's presentation would start from 19:15. I joined the Merrill Lynch one because this would be the only choice for Jul intake to land a full time job in IB. Their presentation was kind of dry but the latter cocktail chat was fun. I talked with different people from the firm and got a general idea of how ML differentiated itself from GS and MS.

This is basically a typical day in INSEAD. You will be challenged, both intellectually and physically, but you are still happy and completely turned on. I think this is the charm of INSEAD, and may be universal for any top school in the world.

作者: simbasl 时间: 2007-9-6 10:42
Hey, inseadsh, just curious: what differentiate ML from GS and MS?

作者: woritege 时间: 2007-9-6 11:02

Hi, my dream is to be an entrepreneur. My short-term post-MBA goal is to start up my software enterprise in 5 years and my long-term goal is to make my company outstanding in the global IT field in terms of creativity and innovation. Is it ok? or Any suggestion?

Thanks ah~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

作者: nnm 时间: 2007-9-6 16:16

以下是引用woritege在2007-9-6 11:02:00的发言：

Thanks ah~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i think short term means what you want right after MBA

作者: pkuxing 时间: 2007-9-7 00:00

Hello there. I'm one of the 08J students, and I can also help if needed.

My background: sience major, MS degree, switched to internet industry right after graduation. 2 yrs of science research exp and nearly 2 yrs of internet industry exp. Currently in Fontainebleau.

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-7 00:41

以下是引用simbasl在2007-9-6 10:42:00的发言：
Hey, inseadsh, just curious: what differentiate ML from GS and MS?

According to what they say, the key differentiating points for ML vs. GS and MS are:

1) ML can be your long term ambitions.

2) ML really has the initiatives of helping people achieve work-life balance, which I dont really understand how they can make it.

Hope it helps

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-7 00:49

Folks, I'm also one of the 2008July class member in Fontainbleau now... All kinds of questions are warmly welcomed.

Background: Working as strategy consultant for serveral years and also have some entrepreneurial experience before that.

As some of you might know, there'll be the MBA world tour Sept 13 in Shanghai, and Sept. 11 in Beijing. INSEAD will participate this event and you can find a good chance to talk to alumni in person there.

Also, I think we can help introduce you to some alumni / future students in Shanghai or Beijing if you are really interested in INSEAD. :-)

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-7 01:17

以下是引用stringscn在2007-9-7 0:49:00的发言：

Folks, I'm also one of the 2008July class member in Fontainbleau now... All kinds of questions are warmly welcomed.

Background: Working as strategy consultant for serveral years and also have some entrepreneurial experience before that.

Also, I think we can help introduce you to some alumni / future students in Shanghai or Beijing if you are really interested in INSEAD. :-)

stringscn

Thanks for your warm heart.

Do you think it is critical to attend such fair?(World tour) We really run a tight schedule, the time of one night matters here.

If attending cuch evernt, any suggestions to exploit the event fully.

Thank you !!!

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-7 01:24

Inseadsh:

Do you think it is critical to master french to be able to communicate freely in Insead France?

Also, language adantage(at least basic knowledge in french) could help in application?

For me, I know nothing about Frence. A big disadvantage?both in application and adaptation?

作者: 西单蝈蝈 时间: 2007-9-8 00:00

hi I am also in Fontainleau now. I will answer the question on language requirement.

Inseadsh:

Do you think it is critical to master french to be able to communicate freely in Insead France?

Also, language adantage(at least basic knowledge in french) could help in application?

For me, I know nothing about Frence. A big disadvantage?both in application and adaptation?

It definitely will be a advantage for you in your daily life as you now live in France and many people you will encounter in day to day life do not speak French. But having no knowledge about French will not put you at a disadvantageiou position in your application. i myself listed spanish as my second-foreign language in application and i am in Fonty now. So don't let the language thing bother you. However it is important for you to grasp another language besides chinese and english to meet the exit language requirement. its better that you start prepation for the language exit exam once you get admitted by INSEAD. we can talk more on that language policy at later stage.

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-8 01:08

以下是引用西单蝈蝈在2007-9-8的发言：

hi I am also in Fontainleau now. I will answer the question on language requirement.

Inseadsh:

Do you think it is critical to master french to be able to communicate freely in Insead France?

Also, language adantage(at least basic knowledge in french) could help in application?

For me, I know nothing about Frence. A big disadvantage?both in application and adaptation?

Thanks a lot!

Got it!

It seems like I really need prepare for Frence after I am admitted into the program in the future.

It is a headache as I did not learn french before.

Could you share with us some of your studies and life there, it will be better if you could post some pic on campus to let us know more abou it.

Cheers!!

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-8 06:29

以下是引用redwavezheng在2007-9-7 1:24:00的发言：

Inseadsh:

Do you think it is critical to master french to be able to communicate freely in Insead France?

Also, language adantage(at least basic knowledge in french) could help in application?

For me, I know nothing about Frence. A big disadvantage?both in application and adaptation?

Well, to be honest with you. I dont think mastering a third language such as French will equip you with any application advantage except that your life will be relatively easier here in France. In big cities like Paris, you can always find people who speak English and are very willing to give you a hand when you need help.

To your question about adaptation, my point is to succeed in business world as a Chinese, it is a must for you to be able to embrace different culture and build up an international mind-set. I really do not think you will have a problem on that if you get accepted by INSEAD.

As for the photos, I took some but still not enough. Please wait for a while at this moment. Thanks for your patience.

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-8 6:31:41编辑过]

作者: invisible 时间: 2007-9-8 07:08
I am a PhD at INSEAD. If you guys have any question regarding the faculty, teaching quality, or anything else academic, please feel free to shoot your questions. I will try my best to address them.

a short note on faculty caliber:
INSEAD has the elitest group of professors. Most have taught in Wharton, Harvard, Stanford,etc., before joining INSEAD. Almost all of them have been engaged in cutting-edge research that are VERY well-regarded around the world. If you are interested in learning more about your future professors, please check out http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/faculty/academic_areas.cfm . A great many of them are the BIGGEST NAMEs in academia.

作者: jxustc 时间: 2007-9-8 10:11

How many Mainland Chinese are in current INSEAD class now. What is the percentage?

Thanks.

作者: jxustc 时间: 2007-9-8 10:16
I would like to apply during the Feb 2008 round due to time for preparation. Would that round have less admission chance than the first two (Oct and Dec 2007)?

作者: sinocheetah 时间: 2007-9-8 18:28

Normally the first two rounds have equal chance of admission, and less in the third.So start up early will be better.

As far as I know every intake we have around 15 mainland passport holders (some have experience of NA).For pure mainland bg, about 10.

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-9 01:31

以下是引用redwavezheng在2007-9-7 1:17:00的发言：

stringscn

Thanks for your warm heart.

Do you think it is critical to attend such fair?(World tour) We really run a tight schedule, the time of one night matters here.

If attending cuch evernt, any suggestions to exploit the event fully.

Thank you !!!

Well... depends on your time schedule! It won't hurt if you spend time networking with people from the school... But if you really have a very tight calenda, that's also ok. rioritize your things, and time management are also critical no matter where you are!

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-9 01:35

以下是引用redwavezheng在2007-9-8 1:08:00的发言：

Thanks a lot!

Got it!

It seems like I really need prepare for Frence after I am admitted into the program in the future.

It is a headache as I did not learn french before.

Could you share with us some of your studies and life there, it will be better if you could post some pic on campus to let us know more abou it.

Cheers!!

Learn a little bit French will make your life much easy when dealing with your daily errands... Once you've got the offer, take some french courses as early as possible...

And I'll try to take some photos next week... :-)

作者: sinocheetah 时间: 2007-9-9 19:13
Sure. Kelly, u should share some pics with us

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-10 01:19

以下是引用stringscn在2007-9-9 1:35:00的发言：

Learn a little bit French will make your life much easy when dealing with your daily errands... Once you've got the offer, take some french courses as early as possible...

And I'll try to take some photos next week... :-)

Thanks, stringscn!

Got it! Waiting for your pics as well as some instruction of application!

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-10 23:24
just joined this forum because some friend told me about it. am sure that some of you will know me. it is not that hard to figure out.

insead alumni. working in shanghai right now. there are about 300 alumni within china.

let me clear up some questions, so as to prevent misunderstanding

1) french is not needed to be admitted into INSEAD. it will be good especially if you have it if you are going to be studying at the Fontainebleau campus
2) the suggestion is to get the third language EXIT requirement over and done with asap upon being admitted to INSEAD
3) pics. you can go to youtube.com and search for INSEAD. i am sure that you will find tons of videos about life at INSEAD. the students currently are very tight with their schedules. please understand. i have been there before...
4) INSEAD is one heck of an experience that you will not find anywhere else. thats my personal opinion

INSEAD is beyond just education. i sincerely believe that an MBA education is not just about education. it is about something else. talk to INSEAD alumni to understand more about INSEAD and why they chose it, why they liked it etc.

at the moment, for INSEAD's marketing purposes in China, INSEAD only does two things, participate in world MBA tour and holding information sessions. go to INSEAD's website http://www.insead.edu and search for information sessions where you can sign up. my suggestion for the world MBA tour is this...go there to meet the people, get the information booklet, get the contact information of the alumni that will be helping out with the booth and then arrange for separate meetings with them. that will be the best use of your time. obviously, there will be other schools there that you may want to check out. ;)

作者: nnm 时间: 2007-9-10 23:47

Welcome bolei, although i have no idea which senior you are

btw, are you in Shanghai? I'm organizing a trip to Shanghai around Christmas time.

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-10 23:47:27编辑过]

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-11 05:57

以下是引用bolei在2007-9-10 23:24:00的发言：
just joined this forum because some friend told me about it. am sure that some of you will know me. it is not that hard to figure out.

insead alumni. working in shanghai right now. there are about 300 alumni within china.

let me clear up some questions, so as to prevent misunderstanding

1) french is not needed to be admitted into INSEAD. it will be good especially if you have it if you are going to be studying at the Fontainebleau campus
2) the suggestion is to get the third language EXIT requirement over and done with asap upon being admitted to INSEAD
3) pics. you can go to youtube.com and search for INSEAD. i am sure that you will find tons of videos about life at INSEAD. the students currently are very tight with their schedules. please understand. i have been there before...
4) INSEAD is one heck of an experience that you will not find anywhere else. thats my personal opinion

INSEAD is beyond just education. i sincerely believe that an MBA education is not just about education. it is about something else. talk to INSEAD alumni to understand more about INSEAD and why they chose it, why they liked it etc.

at the moment, for INSEAD's marketing purposes in China, INSEAD only does two things, participate in world MBA tour and holding information sessions. go to INSEAD's website http://www.insead.edu and search for information sessions where you can sign up. my suggestion for the world MBA tour is this...go there to meet the people, get the information booklet, get the contact information of the alumni that will be helping out with the booth and then arrange for separate meetings with them. that will be the best use of your time. obviously, there will be other schools there that you may want to check out. ;)

Welcome!!!!!! :-)

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-11 05:59

以下是引用nnm在2007-9-10 23:47:00的发言：

Welcome bolei, although i have no idea which senior you are

btw, are you in Shanghai? I'm organizing a trip to Shanghai around Christmas time.

Hahaha...

nnm, as I could tell...bolei is the most influential and warm-hearted alumni in Shanghai...

Enjoy your trip to Shanghai there! Tell me if I could help on your trip planning! :-)

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-11 06:04

Thanks, Bolei. You're most welcomed.

How's your business going on in Shanghai? Hope everything is doing well. Havent seen you on msn for a while...

作者: sinocheetah 时间: 2007-9-11 21:31

前辈学长,幸会!

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-12 02:59
nnm, if you do not know who i am, it probably means that you have never met me before. because my nick is my name. however you cannot find the name under the alumni directory as i was using my other version of the name in INSEAD. let me know when your schedule has firmed up for shanghai. i may or may not be around

stringscn, influential i am not. i'm just a small little fry. warm hearted, maybe. i try my best to help other people.

inseadsh, been busy with work. flying to tianjin for 2 days and then hangzhou for 1 day and then beijing next week. packed.

sinocheetah, glad to meet you.

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-12 07:25

...I happened to hear a story about your "other version" of passport days ago...

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-12 7:26:15编辑过]

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-13 01:18
hmmm...
i wonder who you heard it from...?

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-14 06:38

These several days are not easy for all of us. Classes, case studies, pre-readings, career counsellings, clubs, company presentations all bump into each other. I'm not sure about others but I feel tired, though still energetic.

Basically INSEAD separated its one year programme into 5 periods. We're now in P1, which covers 5 core courses, including Prices & Markets, Uncertainty Data & Judgement, Financial Market Valuation, Financial Accouting and Leading People & Groups. All the professors are very different in terms of style and accent. I'm sure one year later our listening comprehension will be significantly improved. In P1 and P2, all the students will be assigned a class (section) and a study group. To help students mingle with different culture and different background, the school usually group people with consideration of where they are from and what they did before. Today my group got together to talk about an NPV project. It was not difficult but I was very impressed with the banker and consultant's excel skills. The banker, when working on the excel sheet to calculate present value, did not use mouse at all. What i saw was that his dexterous fingers flew around keypad and couple of mins later, we got the IRR result.

I made a decision on my way home: practice, practice and practice...

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-14 7:02:16编辑过]

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-15 01:15

以下是引用inseadsh在2007-9-14 6:38:00的发言：

I made a decision on my way home: practice, practice and practice...

Thank you for sharing your experiences in Insead. I know the courses are quite demanding and all the stuents are under great pressure.

But I think the ability will be improved by taking such courses and experiencing the process

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-15 06:05

I also need a nice and relaxed weekend to recharge and refresh...

... and life after school won't be easy too. The more success you are, the more busy you will be.

This is only a prelude. Fortunately, most of the INSEADers are challenger seekers :-)

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-15 16:25
If you think P1 is bad, wait till you get to P2. All hell breaks loose...

And yes, the consultants are usually good with the slides. The bankers with the excel.

I have to disagree with stringscn. Success does not equate with busyness. Just need to be smart about it. People measure success differently.

Life after INSEAD is never going to be the same. It is THE experience of a lifetime. Hop on it and enjoy the ride as much as you can. The only time in life that you can explore those that you have never tried before, in a friendly, nice and relaxed environment, The only time in life that you can choose to forget about that job and its responsibilites waiting for you when you graduate.

People in general, like to taught to have a vision, to look far ahead. I agree, but remember to cherish the present, especially in the case of INSEAD. If you have looked beyond INSEAD, then you will miss what INSEAD is all about. There's a reason why majority of INSEAD alumni are friendly and can gather together every year post graduation. My year just had it in September over in London. Too bad that I was not able to attend...

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-16 03:44

Oooops, sorry for bolei that you could not make the journey to London.

As opposed to your bad luck, we, all the P1 and P4 greater China students went to picnic in the fantastic Chateau besides Rue Grande this noon. We picked up a spot besides the branch of Seine river (we guessed so)and had so much fun together. Each of us brought food, drinks and even dessert. Karen (Jiang) brought her home-made sandwich that tasted so good that I could not eat polite any more. Obviously she knows more than financial valuation now. Lol. One thing I particularly like about INSEAD is the people. Everybody has dazzling academic record or work experience (except me) but nobody brags about it. Most of them are open-minded, highly mobile and adventurous. Of course the Chinese students I saw today are very much the same, or even more approachable. That's part of our gene.

We discovered a kinda romantic story during the picnic. We found one Taiwanese student met his wife when they were both only 2 and the moment they held hands together got permanently recorded by a photo the student's mother took over 30 years ago. They did not know that they had such a sweet memory together until one day they went to see the guy's mother and his mother took out the magic photo. Now the romance is well preserved in the wife's perse and they bring it wherever they go.

作者: pkuxing 时间: 2007-9-16 06:21

hehe, it's a thread of current/noncurrent INSEAD students talking more-than-questions

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-16 20:39

Right, continously challenge the potential and enhance one's ability!

But relax sometimes.

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-16 23:55
well, i'm always open to questions...

whoever likes to ask about insead...go ahead. i cannot guarantee that you will get the most politically correct answer...and yet at the same time, i cannot give too much away given who i'm working for right now.

haha

作者: simbasl 时间: 2007-9-17 01:54

bolei, just curious, what's your occupation and who you are working for? It sounds so mysterious.

BTW, which yr did you graduate from Insead?

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-17 05:32

He graduated from INSEAD in 2006 and is now working for a non-profit. Bolei, can I say it's non-profit? lol.

Check out the photos we took in the picnic.

P.S: All copyrights reserved.

[attachimg]60840[/attachimg]
[attachimg]60841[/attachimg]

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-17 5:40:34编辑过]

作者: cojazzh 时间: 2007-9-18 16:40
thanks for sharing, inseadsh. Seemed that lots of MM there

And bolei, did we meet on the World MBA Tour last week at Shanghai?

On the INSEAD booth, I talked with Ms Karla (pretty girl as well)
from the admissions group, and an alumni graduated from the Fonty
one year ago. Both very very nice people.

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-18 16:57

以下是引用bolei在2007-9-15 16:25:00的发言：
If you think P1 is bad, wait till you get to P2. All hell breaks loose...

And yes, the consultants are usually good with the slides. The bankers with the excel.

I have to disagree with stringscn. Success does not equate with busyness. Just need to be smart about it. People measure success differently.

Life after INSEAD is never going to be the same. It is THE experience of a lifetime. Hop on it and enjoy the ride as much as you can. The only time in life that you can explore those that you have never tried before, in a friendly, nice and relaxed environment, The only time in life that you can choose to forget about that job and its responsibilites waiting for you when you graduate.

People in general, like to taught to have a vision, to look far ahead. I agree, but remember to cherish the present, especially in the case of INSEAD. If you have looked beyond INSEAD, then you will miss what INSEAD is all about. There's a reason why majority of INSEAD alumni are friendly and can gather together every year post graduation. My year just had it in September over in London. Too bad that I was not able to attend...

I second your every point here... what I want to say is that you have to learn to cherish the present by yourself -- never wait and expect the external environment to change, enabling you to relax and enjoy...

and after 3 weeks, we are all kind of finding out our ways to prioritize and balance our time. Went to my buddy's house with several P1s last night and I agree that our seniors here all enjoy the ride very much! :-)

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-18 17:01

I regret missing the picnic this Sat. But my trip to Belgium is also fantastic!

Let me initiate another gathering this weekend or next (It's autumn moon festival next Tue.!)

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-19 04:08

以下是引用cojazzh在2007-9-18 16:40:00的发言：
thanks for sharing, inseadsh. Seemed that lots of MM there

Yes, one thing funny is most of the Chinese guys here are married whereas most of the girls are still available. If you are single and willing to explore other opportunities in your program, come here.

作者: cojazzh 时间: 2007-9-20 10:34
lol. Seriously, will take this into consideration.

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-20 15:18
Happy moon festival, guys!

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-21 04:40
Thanks, man. We dont have moon cake here, but anyway, the Chinese students will have dinner together.

作者: garonne 时间: 2007-9-21 17:17

Thanks a lot, guys. You've done a great job for all CDer.

nnm and sino,

How has been the begining of MBA life? Which campus did you choose to start? Fonty or Singapore? Please come more often to CD and share with us your campus life.

inseadsh,

Thank you for you first hand information of academics and networking activities in INSEAD. Since we all know that INSEAD MBA is a very tough one year program and job fair start very early each year. could you please bring us more information related to job searching?

Bon appetit for your moon festival dinner!

作者: sinocheetah 时间: 2007-9-21 21:55

aha. I am Jan 08 intake, nnm is on Singapore campus

I will share more when coming to fonty.

作者: sinocheetah 时间: 2007-9-21 22:03
INSEADSH, the girl in the last pic looks smart

u may still have chance.

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-21 22:27

Garonne, to answer your question, i think you know INSEAD has 2 intakes every year: Dec intake and Jul intake.

As a july intake (like most of us here), we started job hunting from day 1. The most critical part is to prepare for finance interview immediately after the program starts. So it is kind of tough to study all the courses but at the same time you need to spend tremendous amount of time building up your network in the finance area, talking to insiders and devouring Vaultguide interview skills. Based on my personal experience, INSEAD career service was helpful here in a sense that they leveraged quite some outside resources such as alumni to help us demysfying the investment banking. They also organized workshops such as CV workshop, mock interview, M&A case study...etc to help you get prepared for the tough selection process. But my feeling is that what they did is far from enough. To cut-through the clustter, we really need to dedicate to the preparation and sacrifice a lot (such as traveling around in the weekend, parties...etc) because we will not only be competing with the peers and P4s, but also top MBAs from other schools. It's pretty much a personal choice if you want to have fun or do your homework at this stage.

As a Dec intake, what you need to do from day 1 is to secure an intern. Career service will organize on campus recruitment presentations and open house events to bridge companies and students. However, in terms of the time you spend on preparation, it's quite the same as Jul intake. The good thing is that when you get an intern from a top IB, there's a huge chance for you to get a full-time job there afterwards (70-80%). As for consulting, I feel INSEAD students embrace a strong competitive edge because basically all the top 10 consulting firms are quite active recruiters here. For example, Bain will organize the first big party in a Chateau as a welcome party for every batch of new students; McKinsey gives students a lounge music CD as a small gift and organizes one-one coffee chats to whomever interested in them. Furthermore, they grant every INSEAD participant priviledge to get access to their premium Quarterly report so we can collect data and research report when we need.

Please excuse me if my answer appears to be a bit wordy here. I would like to share more upon your interest.

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-22 02:59
sorry, was travelling around in China. so missed a lot of the questions.

inseadsh, nice pictures by the way.

cojazzh, you did not meet me at the world mba tour. i was out of town and was not able to be back in time for it. that's also probably the last time that you will see karla in shanghai. a new guy will take over marketing in china. she will be covering the rest of asia.

i graduated in jul 2006. for insead alumni, if you are in based in china and are on the mailing list, you should have seen the email from me a while ago, introducing myself. i'm working for a non-profit entity of insead based in china.

inseadsh has basically covered a lot of stuff about job search and career services.
jul intake - unless you intend to do IB, you have time to prepare yourself for the job search in march/april. it is slighly harder in that sense because you are being recruited out of cycle for most of the companies especially if you are intending to work in america.
dec intake - you are thrown right into the job search for an internship...and then after that internship, you are going for the fulltime position

the key word is networking. and that is essentially what you need to do. mine the insead alumni directory. ping the alumni in the companies that you are interested to work for. if all the above conversations among the insead alumni has not convinced you, well, let me say it out loud, insead alumni do not bite. we are friendly and helpful people. insead has a knack of bringing helpful friendly people to the mba program, unlike some other american schools. i do not want to name names, but yeah, i have interacted with alumni from those schools...lets just say that you can easily tell the difference.

作者: valeriejia 时间: 2007-9-23 11:14

Hello, glad to meet all of you here! This is the first time I come up to this forum recommended by my friend... I have been working for 2 years + and plan to study for an MBA program soon..

Quite interested in INSEAD, but not sure whether my working experience is too little...

Possible to share with me about the career prospect of the graduates from INSEAD? Is it easy to find a job in Europe or US? And what kind of firms are normally targeted? Thanks..

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-23 20:57

以下是引用valeriejia在2007-9-23 11:14:00的发言：

Hello, glad to meet all of you here! This is the first time I come up to this forum recommended by my friend... I have been working for 2 years + and plan to study for an MBA program soon..

Quite interested in INSEAD, but not sure whether my working experience is too little...

Possible to share with me about the career prospect of the graduates from INSEAD? Is it easy to find a job in Europe or US? And what kind of firms are normally targeted? Thanks..

Hi, Valerie, i suggest you to download the career report of INSEAD so you can have a general idea of what INSEADers are doing after MBA. The link is as follows: http://www.insead.edu/mba/careers/statistics.htm

If you compare the career report for different years, you will see that less INSEADers land jobs in consulting these years whereas more getting offers from finance companies. (20%-30%) For the future applicants, this is a promising transition because INSEAD is turning to be a more well-rounded school than before.

Basically, if you want a job in the U.S, please apply to the U.S schools. I'm not saying that there's no chance, but most of the companies have different recruitment groups for different regions. You'd better have an answer why you want to work in the U.S but not study there before application.

作者: cojazzh 时间: 2007-9-24 12:05
bolei, appreciated for ur reply. The guy who I met should be your classmate then? Mr Jia?
Any access to learn much about the non-profit entity in SH?

inseadsh and all other current chinse insiders,

here link the DIY mooncake html,
http://bbs.susthome.com/viewthread.php?tid=39188

Happy Moon Festival!

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-25 00:09

Thanks Cojazzh! And have a nice day there!

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-26 01:18
cojazzh, he is not from my intake because i don't remember such a person. probably a person from another intake, later or earlier.
http://www.insead.edu/entrepreneurship/3i_venturelab.cfm

this is an outdated link. so it should give you a brief understanding of the non-profit entity.

to all others potential students/applicants,

job search has three dimensions to it, job location, job industry, job responsibility.

if anyone tries to change all three dimensions with the next job, it is close to impossible. the success rate is very low. say for example, you are a software engineer in a software development company based in America. you want to go for a marketing job in a consumer goods industry based in india. that's close to impossible.

changing one is easy, changing two dimensions are a bit harder, but still possible.

having job experience as consultant/investment banker, basically those jobs that give you experience across various industries help a lot in your next career job search.

insead tries its best but if you are asking for the impossible, most schools cannot even achieve that.

another thing with years of experience. insead welcomes people from various years of experience, young and old. however, there's also a rationale as to why the median is around 5 years of working experience. it guarantees that you are sufficiently exposed in the business environment to know what your next step is. insead will be the launchpad for that. in addition, having a certain number of years of working experience will help you in contributing to the classroom discussions. if you are just fresh out of school, a brilliant student nevertheless, can you contribute a lot if a professor asks you about doing an analysis of the marketing strategy of this luxury goods company?

as i have said to a lot of potential applicants, you learn the most from talking to other people...and not from textbooks. knowledge from books can always be learned by buying those books and reading them. knowledge from other people cannot be gained once the opportunity is lost. how many times would you get to meet say warren buffett? between him and a finance textbook, which would you choose? the answer seems simple. now, just imagine that the people in your insead class are going to be the future steve jobs, warren buffett, jack welch etc...now between them and a finance textbook, which would you choose again?

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-26 05:53

Very powerful points, bolei. It's another hectic day for me. We had a McKinsey presentation of From Made in China to Sold in China at 20:30. I thought it would end within an hour but people had so many questions about the market, the regulations, the local players...etc so the presentation significantly overran till 22:15. Although it was kind of interesting listening at a foreigner commenting on the Chinese market, the desparate hunger haunting me was no fun at all. I went to Gao Sheng and was quite happy to see they were still open. Zhang Jie even gave me some moon cake as a small dessert after a heavy "Niu He". It really made my day.

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-9-26 07:34

Hey... sorry that I didn't get the chance to go to Ko Sun with you and J tonight... should we establish our norms of Friday night happy hour in the future?

Tonight, the McKinsey guy spent most of his time explaining those demographic and customer behavior data from their surveys in the first part of the presentation. Actually, I was expecting him discussing more about the trends, or critical issues should be taken care of by different players, or initiatives should be considers through those data, or opportunities to us people. "So What?"

However, during the Q& A session, lots of the questions were raised and the converstation became more and more interesting... Doesn't it exemplifies the previous point that we learn more here through interaction? While, your previous training / working experience will help greatly to ask better / more effective questions, and you then can dig deeper or go boarder once you push the button.

One of the major problems faced by lots of Chinese students is our capabilities to articulate our ideas wittily and precisely. At least, it is mine. If you still have free time before school, spend your time on that, and you'll have higher returns here.

作者: nnm 时间: 2007-9-26 16:29

The Pressure of Job Search at INSEAD

http://forum.chasedream.com/dispbbs.asp?boardID=36&ID=277989&page=1

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-26 17:32

以下是引用nnm在2007-9-5 22:46:00的发言：
Here I come

nnm:

How to make online application?

The system is different from other top b schools, which recommended to download a PDF file.

I am a little bit confused about how to apply for it.

作者: ahsunlily 时间: 2007-9-26 18:52

Thank you everyone for your input here! I'm really happy to read so much from 'insiders' about INSEAD!

I'm currently preparing for round 2 INSEAD application. My background: Double bachelors from a top university from China + Master of Engineering from Singapore + 3 years working experience in a foreign bank in Singapore (will be 4 next year). current role: risk manager (but no direct reports due to special structure in my function). Climbing the ladder faster is my purpose of going for a MBA. But i'm not really into consulting or IB. I'd love to stay with commercial banking industry, especially back to China. Asian location is one of important factors that I chose INSEAD. But i'm wondering whether my profile fits into what the school prefers given that I’m not eyeing for IB&consulting and that I don’t really have experience as line a manager.

Would you like to share your advice to me? It is a huge decision for me!! Thanks a million in advance!

作者: nnm 时间: 2007-9-26 19:46

以下是引用redwavezheng在2007-9-26 17:32:00的发言：

nnm:

How to make online application?

The system is different from other top b schools, which recommended to download a PDF file.

I am a little bit confused about how to apply for it.

You need a Acrobat reader version>7.0 to open the pdf file.

fill in the pdf locally (eg. on your computer) and then submit it using the button IN the document.

作者: nnm 时间: 2007-9-26 19:57

以下是引用ahsunlily在2007-9-26 18:52:00的发言：

Thank you everyone for your input here! I'm really happy to read so much from 'insiders' about INSEAD!

Would you like to share your advice to me? It is a huge decision for me!! Thanks a million in advance!

off course.

first, you'll be supprised once you get here that there are so many ppl having so many different goals. When i asked ppl from P1 and P4 what they want to do after INSEAD, neither IB nor Consulting is the most popular answer, instead, the most popular one is "I don't know". Interestingly enough, more P4s said this to me, because there are many options that keep "disturbing" them. you'll see.

For your particular career goal, i would say many INSEADers go to retail banking, most likely in strategy/marketing department. problem is, most of such positions are in europe.

but make sure you come out with a convincing answer to "why MBA?", clearly "Climbing the ladder faster " is not one

hope this helps

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-26 19:59:44编辑过]

作者: garonne 时间: 2007-9-26 23:36

以下是引用bolei在2007-9-22 2:59:00的发言：
sorry, was travelling around in China. so missed a lot of the questions.

inseadsh, nice pictures by the way.

cojazzh, you did not meet me at the world mba tour. i was out of town and was not able to be back in time for it. that's also probably the last time that you will see karla in shanghai. a new guy will take over marketing in china. she will be covering the rest of asia.

i graduated in jul 2006. for insead alumni, if you are in based in china and are on the mailing list, you should have seen the email from me a while ago, introducing myself. i'm working for a non-profit entity of insead based in china.

inseadsh has basically covered a lot of stuff about job search and career services.
jul intake - unless you intend to do IB, you have time to prepare yourself for the job search in march/april. it is slighly harder in that sense because you are being recruited out of cycle for most of the companies especially if you are intending to work in america.
dec intake - you are thrown right into the job search for an internship...and then after that internship, you are going for the fulltime position

the key word is networking. and that is essentially what you need to do. mine the insead alumni directory. ping the alumni in the companies that you are interested to work for. if all the above conversations among the insead alumni has not convinced you, well, let me say it out loud, insead alumni do not bite. we are friendly and helpful people. insead has a knack of bringing helpful friendly people to the mba program, unlike some other american schools. i do not want to name names, but yeah, i have interacted with alumni from those schools...lets just say that you can easily tell the difference.

inseadsh and bolei,

I can't say more than just really thank you guys for bringing us such helpful information. I was totally convinced, once more, that INSEAD is definitly the school that you can find a lot of smart, open-minded and helpful people.

作者: redwavezheng 时间: 2007-9-27 01:24

以下是引用nnm在2007-9-26 19:46:00的发言：

You need a Acrobat reader version>7.0 to open the pdf file.

fill in the pdf locally (eg. on your computer) and then submit it using the button IN the document.

Thanks, nnm.

Just finished some easy work from download PDF file!

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-27 17:09

redwavezheng, so how many schools are you applying?

I had a mock interview with an MD from Merrill Lynch today. She looks sharp but turned out to be nice lady.

My eyes are swollen today. Anybody knows how to deal with it? Maybe I really need more sleep to pacify my irritated body.

作者: simbasl 时间: 2007-9-27 22:27

mock interview with MD in ML? who organized such event? as part of the career service?

Just curious

作者: powergreatwall 时间: 2007-9-28 01:08
huh........so many people here

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-28 1:19:33编辑过]

作者: iflyagain 时间: 2007-9-28 01:21
hi... nnm, are you attending the INSEAD infor session in Singapore this afternoon? I am going there. Hmm.... Wonder if I can meet some CD friends there...

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-28 12:06
was busy for a while. let me try to answer some more questions

as i have said in previous posts, we learn from our one another. mock interviews are organized by career services and also the student organizations. to be honest, if you want a mock interview with some alumni on campus, just go and ask them. if they are free, they should be willing to do so. i had my friend from mckinsey gave me a mock interview once. this is what insead is all about. obviously, there should be a sharing spirit. there have been people that just leveraged the network but never gave anything back in return. after a while, everyone will be wary of those people and stay away from them.

ahsunlily,

wonderful background information. insead looks for 4 things
1) leadership ability
2) management potential
3) academic ability
4) international outlook

other than that, i dont have a clue as to what type of profile INSEAD looks for, officially. unofficially, INSEAD tends to produce a certain type of people. that i cannot say, because if you try to be who you are not, in order to get into INSEAD, you will be miserable during INSEAD.

there's nothing wrong with using "climbing the corporate ladder with the MBA" as the goal. try to structure it in a better manner. how would you feel if you were the admissions committee that you read an application that stated "the reason that i'm going for my mba is because i think with my mba, i can move into a higher position after that..."???

there's another interseting statistic about INSEAD that career services will not let the outsiders to INSEAD know. i don't think that it is bad to show it. at least about 30% of INSEAD alumni change jobs within the 1st year post INSEAD. now why is that? it is not because we INSEAD alumni are fickle minded and can never make up our mind. rather, i found that a lot of times, the reason was that these people were frustrated in their jobs...and didn't feel like they could make the same impact and influence in their jobs. so instead of rotting away for another 2 years, dealing with the politics and inefficiencies, they left their jobs and looked for something else. that's what an INSEAD mba can do to you, empowering you with the confidence that if you wallk away, you can find something better and more suitable for you.

hope this helps.

作者: nnm 时间: 2007-9-28 13:51

以下是引用iflyagain在2007-9-28 1:21:00的发言：
hi... nnm, are you attending the INSEAD infor session in Singapore this afternoon? I am going there. Hmm.... Wonder if I can meet some CD friends there...

is there one? i don't know it.

but we chinese here are dinning out for friday night. you'll be shamed to stay at INSEAD in friday night.............

作者: iflyagain 时间: 2007-9-28 14:29

以下是引用nnm在2007-9-28 13:51:00的发言：

is there one? i don't know it.

but we chinese here are dinning out for friday night. you'll be shamed to stay at INSEAD in friday night.............

faint.. it is a MBA information session... I am a prospective applicant only... no shame

作者: simbasl 时间: 2007-9-28 15:21

I think the target audience of MBA info session is exactly prospective candidates. As long as you are in, why you still need to care about a presentation aiming to solve "who the B-school want" question?

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-28 22:25

The mock interview i mentioned previously was organized by Career Service. All the interviewers they invited are INSEAD alumni and now working in top banks as senior managers.

Tonight Blackstone is coming to school to make a presentation. I am wondering what they are gonna say.

作者: cojazzh 时间: 2007-9-29 15:29
inseadsh, how's the swollen eyes these days?
my personal solution is eyedrop + black coffee + iced steel spoon

hope it works

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-29 17:37

Thanks man. It's getting better. Now i look like a human being.

It was the 1st time Blackstone came to INSEAD for campus recruitment. To be honest, I still dont fully understand why such a boutique P/E firm bothered to spend time and money on campus recruitment, in which they will probably only look for 2-3 people (maximum)? My analysis is as follows:

(1) Like everybody knows, P/E firm pays the best yet the life style is better than IB, so maybe they decided to spend a weekend in Fontainebleau,take a deep breath in the traditional French town and have fun.

(2) They want to creat a big influence on the current students. Probably they will interview some of the students but I guess nearly all of the students they intervie will be turned down eventually. But the bright side is that they will record the students' personal information in their database and contact them again 2 years later, when they think the student is mature and strong enough, after other top IBs' training.

I remember one Indian student asked a question to the senior MD: We know blackstone is quite strong at M&A. Do you only consider people with salient M&A background or you open your doors to career switchers as well?

The MD quickly answered: Oh, we defintely welcome people with different backgrounds to apply. The fact is we do have career switchers, who are previously lawyers, engineers, industry professionals.

I doubt what he said.

作者: sinocheetah 时间: 2007-9-29 21:44

One question for INSEADSH: is medical insurance mandatory for students? I find the premium is very high, around 1K euros one year.

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-9-30 13:44
inseadsh,

let me try to explain this whole recruitment process to you.

the reason that blackstone is on campus is probably because our alumnus that is working there helped to push for blackstone to recruit from insead. so all this is through the effort of our alumnus and career services.

insead cannot control and state how many people blackstone should hire. there's never such a guarantee.

i'm actually quite proud and appreciative of the fact that blackstone is willing to come to insead campus in the first place. if you do not know otherwise, there are not a lot of PE firms that come to recruit on campus. for that matter, PE and VC are very niche industries where the turnover is LOW due to the nice lifestyle and huge payoff. so to say that they are willing to recruit 2-3 people is already quite a lot of people.

at the end of the day, if you are impressive, they will recruit, regardless of what they say.

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-9-30 16:52

Bolei, fully agree. I think Sandra in career service is a very cool lady and has strong persuasion power to finance employers, so are a lot of alumni.

Sinocheetah, you can buy insurance in China, but you have to make sure the insurance you buy there can be accepted by French government. They require a 360 degree protection so you will be 100% safe when you study in France. They insurance i bought here cost me almost 10K euros.

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-10-4 21:11

Time is really fleeting that we have only 2 weeks left before the end of P1. Today, the dean, Mr.Fatas had a presentation about how INSEAD grades students. One thing good about INSEAD is that the grades are not allowed to be released to employers before you get an offer. The policy started to be effective in 2004 and is still working very well because students spent more time on collaborating instead of competing with each other. Also, without a high pressure on GPA, students are more willing to explore other aspects about MBA in INSEAD such as clubbing and national weeks so they can better embrace the beauty of different cultures. I will be traveling to Barcelona with a bunch of students during the P1 break and it's good to have something that you can hold up to.

作者: garonne 时间: 2007-10-4 22:44

以下是引用inseadsh在2007-10-4 21:11:00的发言：

How about exams? Difficult?

Have a nice trip.

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-10-7 18:58

I havent taken the exams yet, but the quiz I had for economics was not that difficult at all. I guess the last thing INSEAD would do is to intimidate students with the grades.

It was nuit blanche (sleepless night) for Paris last night. We drove there and got caught in the middle of thousands of french people who were sitting in the muinicipal government square to watch the rugby game together. They won the game and the entire city went crazy. We later went to the Pompidou art centre (not sure I made the spelling right) because all the meseums last night were free of charge. We walked around and felt completely lost. The what-they-called modern art is certainly something not easy to appreciate.

Check the photos out!

[attachimg]61297[/attachimg]
[attachimg]61298[/attachimg]

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-10-7 19:16:17编辑过]

作者: mugi 时间: 2007-10-7 21:07

请问被insead录取后是不是也有background check啊？如果是，需要交多少钱啊？

作者: stringscn 时间: 2007-10-8 14:32

以下是引用mugi在2007-10-7 21:07:00的发言：

请问被insead录取后是不是也有background check啊？如果是，需要交多少钱啊？

Hey there, I don't think we have it. And we also stick to the grade non-disclosure policy.

作者: simbasl 时间: 2007-10-8 18:38
stringscn，果然热心，考试在即，还泡在网上，kaka

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-10-9 01:35
How do you know we are having examination soon?

作者: garonne 时间: 2007-10-9 11:47

以下是引用inseadsh在2007-10-9 1:35:00的发言：
How do you know we are having examination soon?

You have said that in you previous post.

"We have just 2 weeks left before the end of P1."

作者: simbasl 时间: 2007-10-9 20:17

以下是引用garonne在2007-10-9 11:47:00的发言：

You have said that in you previous post.

"We have just 2 weeks left before the end of P1."

exactly. Inseadsh, you must be too busy to remember what you have said in the forum. ^_^

作者: 3Flady 时间: 2007-10-9 21:49

Hello there, Nice to see so many warm-hearted insiders from INSEAD here. One question I have: is there decent percentage of gradudates go to luxury industry, say LV each year? Is LV coming for campus recruiting? And if not, what is the best business school in France to access in luxury industry?

To enture luxury industry in France first and finally start luxury business in China is my career dream.

Thx a lot for your help and perspective!

作者: inseadsh 时间: 2007-10-9 22:55

Hi, there. LV recruits from INSEAD every year but due to its unique business characteristics, MBA degree is not something they really emphasize on.

So far I havent heard of any Chinese students joining LV immediately after graduation. I guess language barrier (European language besides English) and pay are the two major obstacles.

作者: cojazzh 时间: 2007-10-9 22:55
3Flady, below link to the INSEAD download centre, some latest stuff there
http://www.insead.edu/mba/quicklinks/download_center.cfm

can't tell which is the best, but the luxury-oriented/biased programs from ESSEC,HEC, EM-LYON, ESCP-EAP are really stand out in france, and worldwide

just visit their websites for more details, see which may fit yourself best

作者: bolei 时间: 2007-10-9 23:55
mugi, what do you mean by background check? why should you be asking about that? if there are any background check, you are not liable for the costs. i find the question a little bit....

3flady, what's your background? i know that you have a dream. but if you were previously working in say IT over in China and now you say that with an INSEAD mba degree, you can enter the luxury industry over in France. i have to say that it is IMPOSSIBLE. regardless of whichever business school that you go to, you will not be able to achieve that. INSEAD is the best known french business school. so if you want to work in france, INSEAD is the school for you.

does LV come and recruit? yes.
what %, i have no idea.
here's how LV actually recruits and this is the TRUTH. they go through the CV book and then pre-selects people for their interviews. nobody else can apply to be interviewed by them. my friend got the interview with LVMH.

作者: 3Flady 时间: 2007-10-10 00:21

Thx all for the quick responses!

Below is my basic info:

Female, 24, two years plus working experience in FMCG Fortune 100.Working specialty in Consumer Insight. Some advantages relevant to luxury, I used to be a part time model in university and has passion and immersed taste to fashion.I have the confidence once I am interviewed, I can get the offer because personally I think I am a fit for this industry and I have a lot of passion for it.

Right now i got the possible access to join LV from China by joining MBA program in China, but I was told there will be "glass ceiling" for local Chinese after the level of store manager. I will strongly appreciate if some one of you can get me to know anyone who joined LV from France after the MBA, I wonder there gonna be different career path from joining in China and France.I mean, one can possibly get more network and chance if join France LV? My current biggest problem is I am not sure which access to take.

Thx all again!

欢迎光临 ChaseDream (https://forum.chasedream.com/)