Pre-MBA reading

Today I got the four pre-MBA reading books: Finance for Executives, Corp Fin, Microeconomics and Fundamentals of Accounting. I flipped through the Fundamentals of Accounting and it was fairly basic. To anyone who has had experience working with financial statements, I would highly recommend not getting this text. I would highly recommend getting both the Fin for Ex and Corp Fin because the first gives you a good introduction to how senior managers should manage an organization financially in order to achieve the optimal performance and the latter talks about valuation techniques. Knowledge in both areas will be essential to surviving the 1 yr at INSEAD.

Since knowing that I will be attending INSEAD next year, I have not felt motivated to push myself at or outside of work. I think this is a natural reaction for most people. After all, by now those who have successfully survived the MBA application process are physically and mentally drained. From now to the beginning of the program is a little window of free time that we can enjoy spending with friends and family. But, I feel anxious because I know I will have to make a lot of tough decisions next year in terms of the geographic location and industry I will be working in. I think that's why I am contend to take it easy and go with the flow right now. I want to enjoy the stability and simplicity of my life for another 4 months before everything gets thrown up in the air. So if you are in the same shoes, I'd suggest you kick back, relax and try not to do too much. Next year will be a tough year mentally, emotionally and maybe even physically. To survive the sprinty marathon that is INSEAD, I need all the rest I can get now.

Campus France

So if you want to get a long stay student visa to France, you will need to work with an agency called Campus France. To date, I still am unsure about what exactly Campus France does for students-to-be like myself other than collecting a $140 fee and giving me a receipt for my payment so that I can get the visa myself.

So anyway, off goes the letter that contains my money order to Campus France and my attestation letter that I've been accepted to INSEAD. In three weeks time, I should be able to schedule my visa interview at the French embassy.

I've heard some horror stories from current INSEAD students who said that they had to attend multiple interviews in order to get their visas. Well, hopefully that wouldn't happen to me since I live in Seattle but have to get my visa from the French consulate in San Francisco. But more on this to come...

GMAT

So today I want to talk about the GMAT. As many of you now know, the GMAT is a required standardized adaptive computer test. If you plan to apply to business school in the US, Europe or Asia, chances are you will need to take the GMAT. Now there are many many myths surrounding the GMAT such as 1)if you want to get into a top program, you will need a 700+ score to get in or 2) you should not take the GMAT more than three times. Now in my personal experiences, I find both of the above assumptions to be false. Because I was admitted to INSEAD with a high 600 GMAT score and I took the GMAT four times.

I am sharing this information with you so that you wouldn't prematurely disqualify yourself from applying to your dream program. INSEAD has always been my no. 1 goal and I knew that its average GMAT score is typically 700+. I was really discouraged and felt that I shouldn't apply to INSEAD since my GMAT score was below its average. But I am glad that in the end, I decided to give it shot. And guess what? I got in. So if you are in my situation, I believe you should give it a try.

And as far as preparing for the GMAT, you just need to practice like crazy and remember to be calm on the actual test. I did really well on all of the diagnostic test but just could not perform on the actual test. Maybe I was too determined to get that 700+ score. So remember to relax before you go into the test center and I hope you will get the score you want.

Whirlwind

Oh, where do I begin? The past four months have flown by so quickly. In May, I was devastated to find out that I was wait-listed by INSEAD, my no. 1 business school. Fortunately or unfortunately, I also suffered some health issues that kept me distracted. Then in July, I found out that I was accepted by INSEAD to start in Jan 2011. Wow! I didn't even have time to celebrate because I had to begin working on my scholarships essays and arranging for finances. Now that scholarship essays are done, I finally feel like I have some time to breath and really plan for next year. So far, I've done a lot already in preparation for next year: I've found a place to live, purchased an quad band cell phone and almost finalized my finances for next year. It's one thing to think about taking on USD100K+ in debt but it's quite the other to have to commit to that kind of debt. Although I know that an INSEAD MBA is one of the best investments at this point, I'm still feeling uneasy to pile on the debt. I hope it will all pay off in the end.

So what's on my to do list? I need to get ready for my exit language test. I've scheduled it in the middle of December. Hopefully I will pass on my first attempt. Then I will focus on doing some pre-MBA reading. It's really weird for me to say this since I've never been a very dedicated student, but I am actually excited to read about finance, accounting and microeconomics. Who would have thought that I would admit to this?

In my next posts, I'll share some of my experiences with the admission process and hopefully I can help others survive the grueling process.