(I had posted this on 11th August. I realised that many who had received admits from INSEAD were trying to make up their mind. I did not want to influence their decision making in any way so had withdrawn it…)
Two weeks into spending hours researching INSEAD: its, alumni, philosophy, mission, etc, I can solemnly say “INSEAD is the business school for the world.”
To all future MBAs let me tell you what you will miss out on if you don’t go to INSEAD:
1) Making Friends from Everywhere in the world. My batch has almost equal representation from 70+ countries.
2) The most diverse professional backgrounds. Every time I go thru the “selected students” message board, I come across amazing profiles. For example there is a guy who was a team member of the US 2004 Olympics team. There is also a top model in my class. (I am already sharpening my math skills to be able to help her out)
3) An MBA in a year! It is strange why the “Ivy League” schools are still stuck with 2 year MBAs. Things have picked up since the easy paced days of the Victorian Era. You should he enterprising enough to get it done with your MBA in a year.
4) Have I mentioned the fact that though it is considered to be the best “general management” school in the world, if has the best finance professors too.
5) INSEAD’s December batches have had comparable placements with the US top 5 – Wharton, Hrvard, Stanford, Kelloggs and Chicago.
6) You can stop having nightmares about loan sharks following you for the $110,000 that you need for the US top 10. INSEAD will get you a World Class MBA for about $70,000 inclusive of everything. And then you start making $$$ one year early (US Top 10 are all 2 year courses).
7) Your job is not dependent on any economy. If you graduate in a year when US economy is slowing down, you’ve had it unless you are an INSEADer – because companies from all over the world come here.
And companies that visit US Top 10 also visit INSEAD and pick an almost equal number of dudes and duddettes.
9) Female ratio is the lowest in INSEAD. Is this something good? Well, INSEAD selects people on basis of merit rather than to maintain a healthy sex ratio. Then there are 2 schools of thought. One, if you are a guy, you will be less distracted in your studies. Two, if you are a guy then you will make efforts to impress the one female in your group and study harder! If you are a girl, you will be oblivious to what’s going on and you will study harder to catch up with rest of the group.
10) Since I want to make this a “10 reasons why” list, I will combine 2 points to make one. INSEAD gives you a fair chance to go to Wharton for 2 months. Second, you have a choice of going to Asia for a part of your course – it has a campus in Singapore too.
My ever esteemed readers, the negative part of your thought machinery is saying “How did genius-at-large get through to INSEAD in the first place?”
But then I implore you to listen to the fast diminishing positive vibe in your machinery saying “genius-at-large has again lived up to his name; INSEAD must be the best business school in the world but then would if add any value to this already well established consultant of consultants?” (Ok, I admit no one is thinking that)
And to that, my ever humble answer is “Yes, my friend, yes.”
