Friday, October 17, 2003

Everybody looks really stressed out. There are two types of stressed out people as one of my colleagues was pointing out.

Type I Stress: little experience in the subjects that we were taught in P1, and often with no or little math background. Given the amount of information that we had to process in this period, it is very human to feel a little lost at times...
To these people, I'd like to say that I am quite confident that most of them are understimating their capabilities.
Type II Stress: people with a lot of experience in the subjects that we were taught in P2, extremely strong backgrounds in numerical applications, most of them extremely strong GMAT scores and for whom grades are important (apparently investment banks and consulting firms asked for grades in the past). The Dean's List is a symbol of high academic achievement at INSEAD and only top students will see their names there. To these people, I hope that you'll make it.

Both types are caused by the fact that we have no idea of where we stand relatively to everyone else in the promotion.

On the planet that I live on (Planet of the Apes), grades do not matter so much. I have already emphasized the fact that I attach more important to learning what I came here to learn, to meeting so many great people and to have a fantastic time. I study a lot (I don't stay up until 2am just to watch the moon pass by), and I am preparing hard for these exams, just like I prepared hard to come to INSEAD and just like I always prepare hard for anything I do, want to do or need to do. When I know what I want and I know what it takes, I just do it.

As I have neither too little nor too much experience in the subjects taught, I feel neither over-competent, nor totally lost. Bottom line: I feel that I do not belong to either category which might explain why I feel so detached from all this stress.

Now, it could also be ignorance bliss of course...

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