I found myself thinking about the previous posts...

Interesting that some participants have found some cumbersome administrative weight. The people that I mainly had to deal with on the administrative front:
- Campus Switch, Exam Procedures, various certificates, Pascale, etc.. have always presented a smiley face, asked no questions and delivered more than adequate swift service. so experiences vary greatly from one participant to the next.

- number-loaded courses: it is important to note that diversity is key in an MBA. People with no math background are as much needed to the course as number crunchers. It is true in general that P1 and P2, with the highest percentage of core courses are m ore difficult than the rest of the year. The workload is still big but since people have selected their courses, it seems easier. Courses are pitched in such a way that people can develop the intuition for the subject, then practice with problems and tutorials. Students also help each other greatly. Whether marketing should be in P1 or in P2 is not a subject that I can answer. It is also probably hard to say whether the fact taht one is thrown into a new enviromnent, must learn to manage his or her time in a different way, must put up with all sorts of new people AND learn all these new aspects does not alter the psychological reaction of most students. Even the engineers and the bankers have loads of work to do in P1. There is plenty of learning for everyone, INSEAD sure keeps you busy. Then, there are so many other factors which can affect someone's learning experience: do you live 5 min or 45 min away from campus? Are you involved in one club or in three? How fast do you read in English? Do you have a family with you or not? It sounds much more complicated than what the students in that class made it sound.

In a well-balanced group (and INSEAD does balance working groups), and from my own experience, it sounds like a balance INSEAD MBA participant can certainly enjoy the experience. P1 and P2 are certainly the periods which are more difficult to get through. They are also the periods of innocence...when one does not think yet too hard about the harsh realities of the life to come, feels comfortable about all this time of fun, learning and sharing with other INSEADers for three more periods!