Scribbles

Luckily for me, one of the other September admits invited me to an event tonight, organized by someone from the INSEAD alumni association.  After work, I was off for drinks and chats at Fanny & Alexander’s in Palo Alto.  Also invited was a bunch of current students taking an entrepreneurship course that came to Silicon Valley for a series of classes and seminars.  From both the Singapore and the Wharton exchange, they shared their experiences.  The Wharton exchange students described the differences between classroom styles.  According to them, the class discussions at INSEAD is more free flowing and interactive, whereas Wharton students pick a strong point of view, voice it (in an almost rehearsed manner), and then defend it.  I believe I read somewhere that Harvard does the same.  Another thing that stood out was how US-centric the class discussions are at Wharton, understandably so.

In terms of campus comparisons, the asian students commented on how boring the Singapore campus was, while the europeans loved it.  Apparently the scenery change makes a huge difference.  But for those who found Singapore boring, it’s a mere hop and jump away from tons of great locations for cheap.  I can settle with trips to Bali…

Although I didn’t speak to that many alumni, I can say that I got a nice glimpse of the student diversity in ethnicity, backgrounds, and areas of interest… the whole spectrum.  They also talked about the possibilities of working in different continents given one’s citizenship, as well as interviewing strategies.  They confirmed what I thought – it’s generally difficult to work in the EU if you’re not a citizen (and same for other countries), but if you really have the talent, the companies will make it happen.  Also confirmed is INSEAD’s status as a consulting powerhouse.

Afterwards, I joined a group of Chinese students for dinner (at a Chinese restaurant of course).  Even this group comprised eclectic students.  There was a Shanghainese girl from the media industry, two incredibly funny guys from Hong Kong, a guy from Taiwan, and his girlfriend who’s looking to come to the US for grad school.  They told me about student life, sleeping in class, not paying traffic or parking tickets in France, making grades, the whole shebang.  Great fun all around, can’t wait until the real thing begins.