Sunday, March 28, 2004

Comments on the Wharton comments

International: true. Entrepreneurship is also a big thing in Singapore. No scoop there but glad that it is noticeable.
Remember that an MBA is a lot about what you learn from your peers, so this is an important aspect when you choose your program!

Geographical Flexibility: apart from the fact that I bedazzled to read that I am considered an international misfit, I agree. Most people will speak to you with a perfect New York accent, but as soon as you enquire about their origin, you learn that the person is Turkish, has a French mother, lived in Hong Kong before joining INSEAD and hope to find a job in Rio de Janeiro.

Women: sadly true...the most active INSEAD bloggers are female but there is a small proportion of women. To some extent, this can be explained by the fact that INSEAD recruits from countries where education is not as widely available to the female portion of the population. This might explain a 10% gap maybe? Not that much (although I am not sure about this number, I thougt it was a little higher). INSEAD is aware of it and making efforts to increase visibility of the school among female applicants, generate more events that would cater for their needs, is thinking about launching a mentoring program, etc...The advantage of the small size, is that the school can react fast.

Political Correctness: read my Heard and Class and Faithfully Reported post to receive confirmation. I find this very refreshing.

Student Life: INSEAD is, well, smaller than Wharton - a lot smaller. One must be careful here. The Singapore campus is a lot smaller than the Fonty one. Elective classes there go more often to bidding, classes can be bigger, etc...Amphis were more crammed with people during the core courses and some students have been found sleeping...Fontainebleau also has a lot more going on (and there is a newspaper!). There are more clubs in Fontainebleau because less swapping and switching of core team members. A lot more sports related clubs and the school hosts a fair amount of outside lecturers, at least once per week in relation to the National Week. There is a National Week a week in Fontaienbleau and the experience is very different. However, there is not much else to do in Fontainebleau and the outside life is very different.
I would find it difficult to talk about a low-frill school in Fontainebleau but there is certainly little to do in town beside class. Here, you get a lot more informal and cooperative environment and INSEAD is associated with a lot of outside events. So this comment should not be generalized to INSEAD as a whole in my humble opinion.

It is true that access to other subjects would be so much nicer - I'd love to get perspective from lawyers, doctors, etc...besides the ones studying in the program! I agree that this is missing, we are very much Intra-INSEADers.
On the other hand, any new course, new initiative, new partnership, etc...can more easily be accommodated since the school can move fast and make its independent decision. The program is also a lot more intense which might be necessary given that most of your schoolmate will be remote misfits, thousands of miles away from you after the program.

Socializing: agree. Fontainebleau and Singapore are very different on this point again.

Weekend Jaunts: agree. Weekends in Fonty are different too.

Way of Life: agree. You already got my opinion about that.

Views on Wharton: agree although cannot comment on Wharton side.

Interest in Wharton from Insead side: true

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