Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Internship
A few months ago, I thought that I would apply for internship once I start my MBA at INSEAD, maybe towards the end of P1 (period 1 or between Jan and March for the Dec class). Buuuut, no. Earlier this week, I, along with future fellow INSEADers who may be interested in a career in finance, have received an e-mail informing us that applications to i-banking in Asia are due in Nov and early Dec. So it looks like I will be sending off a few applications for summer internship before schools even begin. Crazy right? To help us prepare for our career transformation, INSEAD career services will be hosting a chat for us to ask any questions. Additionally, before school begins, we are encouraged to think deep about our strengths, career aspirations and personal motivations. These questions are not foreign to me. After all, I've successfully answered why MBA, why INSEAD and why now in my application. But now, I must get real and really look deep into myself. It looks like I wouldn't be able to take that much of a break in Nov either. Maybe I will finally have some free time in December for some very needed R&R.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Solo or Duo?
At the time that I applied to INSEAD, I was 100% certain that if admitted, I will attend INSEAD alone. He will stay behind. My reason was based on logic. I didn't want to take on a HUGE amount of debt to support my tuition and living expense for two for an entire year. Moreover, it seemed risky for both of us to be jobless while taking on debt like there is no tomorrow. But as time is moving closer to the start date of the program, I ask myself whether this decision is sound.
For the sake of argument, let's assume that he comes with me to INSEAD, he will have to quit his job, which shouldn't be an issue because he hates it. But he will have to leave all his music toys, friends and family behind. That will be hard for him. Also because he doesn't speak French, it will be tough for him to communicate with non-English speakers. This will restrict his interactions to mostly with other INSEAD partners. Judging from mbaconnect, most of the partners are women in their mid to late 20s and early 30s, so he may or may not have a hard time connecting with other partners- it's hard to tell. But to be cautious, I fear that he will not be happy living in France and may resent me for being the reason for his move. His resentment can sour our relationship, making my life at INSEAD a living hell. So if he remains in the US, we can avoid this situation altogether. Another benefit, if he remains in the US, is that I will be living alone and I will not have to clean up after his mess or worry about leaving my own mess around. A third benefit is that I can focus on myself next year.
There are many negatives as well. First and foremost, next year will be a very tough year on both of us if he doesn't come with me. Our relationship will be tested. Will we want the same thing after I come out of the MBA? Does he really want to live outside of the US or was it just something that he thinks may be fun? Can he pack up his life and live out of a suitcase for a few years in Asia or Europe? While I am worried about how he and I will deal with this pressure, I believe it is a good thing for our relationship. I want us to be tested and I want us to make it through with the fights and reconciliations as our honor badge. I want us to really think about what each of us want out of life. By being apart, we can focus on what each of us wants instead of what the couple want. I have faith in us. I know we will not completely enjoy the experience of living apart but we will be a stronger couple because of it. I will have a hard time dealing with the stress that comes with surviving an intense 10 month MBA program without him. After all, he is my best friend and knows how to make me giggle after a long stressful day. It will really suck to go through an entire year without him....
So in the end, I think we will still begin next year living on separate continents. But I hope he can join me in Singapore in the fall of 2011. So the time that we will spend apart will be 6 months. That's not so bad. And we will break that 6 months up by having him visit in March for a mini-European vacation.
Yes, our plan will work. I am sure of it.
For the sake of argument, let's assume that he comes with me to INSEAD, he will have to quit his job, which shouldn't be an issue because he hates it. But he will have to leave all his music toys, friends and family behind. That will be hard for him. Also because he doesn't speak French, it will be tough for him to communicate with non-English speakers. This will restrict his interactions to mostly with other INSEAD partners. Judging from mbaconnect, most of the partners are women in their mid to late 20s and early 30s, so he may or may not have a hard time connecting with other partners- it's hard to tell. But to be cautious, I fear that he will not be happy living in France and may resent me for being the reason for his move. His resentment can sour our relationship, making my life at INSEAD a living hell. So if he remains in the US, we can avoid this situation altogether. Another benefit, if he remains in the US, is that I will be living alone and I will not have to clean up after his mess or worry about leaving my own mess around. A third benefit is that I can focus on myself next year.
There are many negatives as well. First and foremost, next year will be a very tough year on both of us if he doesn't come with me. Our relationship will be tested. Will we want the same thing after I come out of the MBA? Does he really want to live outside of the US or was it just something that he thinks may be fun? Can he pack up his life and live out of a suitcase for a few years in Asia or Europe? While I am worried about how he and I will deal with this pressure, I believe it is a good thing for our relationship. I want us to be tested and I want us to make it through with the fights and reconciliations as our honor badge. I want us to really think about what each of us want out of life. By being apart, we can focus on what each of us wants instead of what the couple want. I have faith in us. I know we will not completely enjoy the experience of living apart but we will be a stronger couple because of it. I will have a hard time dealing with the stress that comes with surviving an intense 10 month MBA program without him. After all, he is my best friend and knows how to make me giggle after a long stressful day. It will really suck to go through an entire year without him....
So in the end, I think we will still begin next year living on separate continents. But I hope he can join me in Singapore in the fall of 2011. So the time that we will spend apart will be 6 months. That's not so bad. And we will break that 6 months up by having him visit in March for a mini-European vacation.
Yes, our plan will work. I am sure of it.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Followers
I've shared with you, my dear readers, that I am not a techie person. Now I need your help. You see, when I was messing around with the design of my blog, I accidentally followed myself. How is that even possible??!! Now I know I look pretty silly following my own blog so can someone please tell me how I can stop myself from following my own blog?
Pre-Reading Texts Part II
I've been getting some inquiries about the pre-reading texts. So for all of your information, I've posted links to them on my blog. Once admitted to INSEAD, you will get the log in information to MBA Connect - an intranet web connection for all INSEAD students and staff. It also contains important information such as the academic calender for next year, information on getting visa and housing and the pre-reading material. You can either choose to purchase the reading materials from the INSEAD bookstore and have them shipped to you or choose to order through amazon since I live in the US. For your convenience, I've provided you with the links that I used to get my books.
ps here is our academic calendar for next year:
Orientation:
Jan 10 -Jan 15, 2011
Period 1
Jan 17 - March 09, 2011
Break 1
March 10- March 13, 2011
Period 2
March 14 - May 3, 2011
Break 2
May 4- May 9, 2011
Period 3
May 10 - July 1, 2011
Break 3
July 2- August 28, 2011
Period 4
August 29 - October 19, 2011
Break 4
October 20 - October 25, 2011
Period 5
October 26 - December 14, 2011
Break 5
December 15- December 19, 2011
Graduation
Singapore: Dec 20, 2011
Fontainebleau: Dec 21, 2011
ps here is our academic calendar for next year:
Orientation:
Jan 10 -Jan 15, 2011
Period 1
Jan 17 - March 09, 2011
Break 1
March 10- March 13, 2011
Period 2
March 14 - May 3, 2011
Break 2
May 4- May 9, 2011
Period 3
May 10 - July 1, 2011
Break 3
July 2- August 28, 2011
Period 4
August 29 - October 19, 2011
Break 4
October 20 - October 25, 2011
Period 5
October 26 - December 14, 2011
Break 5
December 15- December 19, 2011
Graduation
Singapore: Dec 20, 2011
Fontainebleau: Dec 21, 2011
Friday, October 15, 2010
Financing- Part II
I can see that most of my readers are most interested in my post about financing. So I thought that I can add to that post. Since I am American, the choices available to me may not apply to you, if you are not a US citizen or permanent resident.
To finance my MBA, I've decided to liquidate my Roth IRA savings over the years and use the cash to pay for my MBA. If you decide to pursue this option, bear in mind that you can only take out the principle portion of your contribution tax free and penalty free. If you accidentally take out any profits that were made off of the principle contribution, you may have to pay additional penalty fees.
To supplement this, I will also borrow from the US gov't. Luckily, as an INSEAD student, we can borrow from the US gov't. The terms of the federal student loan is ok. You can borrow up to USD20,500 at a fixed rate of 6.8% and origination fee of 0.5%. You can borrow additional amount under the Federal Direct Loans at a fixed rate of 7.9% and origination fee of 4%. I think the term of the loan is 10 years and repayment begins 6 months after graduation. I've actually gotten approved of enough money from the US gov't to fund my tuition and living expenses. So don't worry if you don't have any savings to fall back on. If you have good credit, you can finance the entire thing.
Now being a smart business woman that I am, I approached my family and asked them if they would like to invest in me. I offered them a very attractive interest rate (less than what the US gov't demands from me). So my family will also invest in me and we will keep the same repayment schedule. I think this is a great option for not only you but also your family members. You can save on origination fees and interest expenses and they can make more on interest income. (The current US interest rate is less than 1%).
I hope you like these additional information that I offered. If there are additional areas that you want me to cover, please send me a comment and let me know.
To finance my MBA, I've decided to liquidate my Roth IRA savings over the years and use the cash to pay for my MBA. If you decide to pursue this option, bear in mind that you can only take out the principle portion of your contribution tax free and penalty free. If you accidentally take out any profits that were made off of the principle contribution, you may have to pay additional penalty fees.
To supplement this, I will also borrow from the US gov't. Luckily, as an INSEAD student, we can borrow from the US gov't. The terms of the federal student loan is ok. You can borrow up to USD20,500 at a fixed rate of 6.8% and origination fee of 0.5%. You can borrow additional amount under the Federal Direct Loans at a fixed rate of 7.9% and origination fee of 4%. I think the term of the loan is 10 years and repayment begins 6 months after graduation. I've actually gotten approved of enough money from the US gov't to fund my tuition and living expenses. So don't worry if you don't have any savings to fall back on. If you have good credit, you can finance the entire thing.
Now being a smart business woman that I am, I approached my family and asked them if they would like to invest in me. I offered them a very attractive interest rate (less than what the US gov't demands from me). So my family will also invest in me and we will keep the same repayment schedule. I think this is a great option for not only you but also your family members. You can save on origination fees and interest expenses and they can make more on interest income. (The current US interest rate is less than 1%).
I hope you like these additional information that I offered. If there are additional areas that you want me to cover, please send me a comment and let me know.
Wait List
Being wait-listed by your dream MBA program is hell. If you get dinged by the school, at least you can cry your heart out, curse the school, shred up anything and everything that remind you of the school and move on with your aching heart. But if you've been wait-listed, you can't move on. Instead, you get to spend the coming days or months wondering what you should do. You know logically that you should start making plan Bs but the tiny spark of hope keeps you on the leash...you pray and pray that you get in.
I know the pain first hand because I've been wait-listed myself and I've managed to beat the odds and make it in. Cool huh? :0)
In all honesty, if you've been wait-listed, you should be proud of yourself for how much you've accomplished. I know it's easy to focus on the negatives, on the fact that you didn't get admitted. But don't beat yourself up so much because the fight isn't over yet. Perhaps your profile is weaker compared to others who have been admitted and who have similar profile as you. But remember this, competition for a spot at INSEAD is fierce especially if you fall into a very competitive group, such as Indian IT group. And also, another reason why you may have been wait-listed is because the school needs to maintain certain degree of diversity within its student population. So INSEAD always keeps a small pool of students on its wait-list in order to make sure that it can always maintain the desired diversity.
You may think that there is no hope for you since you've been wait-listed but it is not true at all. In our year, after R1 deadlines, there were at least 5 of us got off the wait-list. And then more movement took place after R3 decisions were made. So there is hope for you.
At this point, you're probably wondering what I did to get admitted. Nothing. That's right. I didn't do anything. Aside from accepting a spot on the wait-list, I didn't do anything else. I didn't send updates on my profile, submit additional recommendation or retake the GMAT. I just patiently waited. Ok, maybe not so patiently but I didn't do anything. Now on the other hand, some of my fellow wait-listers sent additional recommendation letters, additional why-I-love-INSEAD letters and updates on promotions. Here is why I didn't send any updates. Because I had none to send. So my recommendation is that unless you have solid update to send, don't clog up the inbox of your admission coordinator.
Being wait-listed is no fun. There is no recipe for what you can do to move off the wait list. Admissions staff knows what types of people they need in order to round off a class. But unfortunately, we don't know what admins are looking for. So my best advice to those who have been wait listed is to 1) arrange for financing as if you've been admitted (but don't sign any loan docs until you are admitted), 2) ask yourself what would you do if you got rejected and 3) force yourself to think of something other than being wait-listed. Hopefully these three things can help you manage your stress levels and at the same time prepare you for the future.
Good luck and hang in there.
I know the pain first hand because I've been wait-listed myself and I've managed to beat the odds and make it in. Cool huh? :0)
In all honesty, if you've been wait-listed, you should be proud of yourself for how much you've accomplished. I know it's easy to focus on the negatives, on the fact that you didn't get admitted. But don't beat yourself up so much because the fight isn't over yet. Perhaps your profile is weaker compared to others who have been admitted and who have similar profile as you. But remember this, competition for a spot at INSEAD is fierce especially if you fall into a very competitive group, such as Indian IT group. And also, another reason why you may have been wait-listed is because the school needs to maintain certain degree of diversity within its student population. So INSEAD always keeps a small pool of students on its wait-list in order to make sure that it can always maintain the desired diversity.
You may think that there is no hope for you since you've been wait-listed but it is not true at all. In our year, after R1 deadlines, there were at least 5 of us got off the wait-list. And then more movement took place after R3 decisions were made. So there is hope for you.
At this point, you're probably wondering what I did to get admitted. Nothing. That's right. I didn't do anything. Aside from accepting a spot on the wait-list, I didn't do anything else. I didn't send updates on my profile, submit additional recommendation or retake the GMAT. I just patiently waited. Ok, maybe not so patiently but I didn't do anything. Now on the other hand, some of my fellow wait-listers sent additional recommendation letters, additional why-I-love-INSEAD letters and updates on promotions. Here is why I didn't send any updates. Because I had none to send. So my recommendation is that unless you have solid update to send, don't clog up the inbox of your admission coordinator.
Being wait-listed is no fun. There is no recipe for what you can do to move off the wait list. Admissions staff knows what types of people they need in order to round off a class. But unfortunately, we don't know what admins are looking for. So my best advice to those who have been wait listed is to 1) arrange for financing as if you've been admitted (but don't sign any loan docs until you are admitted), 2) ask yourself what would you do if you got rejected and 3) force yourself to think of something other than being wait-listed. Hopefully these three things can help you manage your stress levels and at the same time prepare you for the future.
Good luck and hang in there.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Hello World Part II
I should probably let you know that I am not a techie. In fact, it took me a few hours of searching online to figure out how to put in one of those tracker thinggie that records where my readers are from. And the sadder part is that it took me even longer to figure out where on my own blog to find such information. And the ah-ha moment occurred about 10 minutes ago.
So I want to personally greet my dear readers in the US, Finland, Spain, India, France, Canada, UK, Romania, Singapore and the Netherlands. Thank you for reading my blog. :0)
So I want to personally greet my dear readers in the US, Finland, Spain, India, France, Canada, UK, Romania, Singapore and the Netherlands. Thank you for reading my blog. :0)
Preparation for Paris - Part A - plane tickets
Going to INSEAD is becoming more of a reality. I am finally beginning to research and price my plane ticket. Normally this should be a very simple task since I already know where I am flying from and where I will be flying to. But the fact that I have NO idea where I will end up after the first 2 periods makes this planning very challenging. Let me explain.
INSEAD differs from other leading MBA programs in that it offers the same curriculum to its students on two campuses, one in France and the other in Singapore. When you apply to INSEAD, you select which campus you wish to begin your studies at. In my case, I selected France. INSEAD requires that you spend the first two periods (out of a total of 5 periods) at your home campus, in my case in Fonty. Then after the second period, I can choose to exchange to Singapore. In addition to this, INSEAD also has exchange agreement with Wharton and Kellogg. So yes, I could potentially end up spending two periods in Fonty, two periods in Singapore and one period at either Wharton or Kellogg. Now you understand why I am having such a tough time deciding the return date on my itinerary. I am not complaining though because the opportunity to study on three continents next year is one of the main reasons why I choose INSEAD.
And to those of you who remain undecided about when and where to go on exchanges next year, I have one simple solution - buy a one way ticket.
INSEAD differs from other leading MBA programs in that it offers the same curriculum to its students on two campuses, one in France and the other in Singapore. When you apply to INSEAD, you select which campus you wish to begin your studies at. In my case, I selected France. INSEAD requires that you spend the first two periods (out of a total of 5 periods) at your home campus, in my case in Fonty. Then after the second period, I can choose to exchange to Singapore. In addition to this, INSEAD also has exchange agreement with Wharton and Kellogg. So yes, I could potentially end up spending two periods in Fonty, two periods in Singapore and one period at either Wharton or Kellogg. Now you understand why I am having such a tough time deciding the return date on my itinerary. I am not complaining though because the opportunity to study on three continents next year is one of the main reasons why I choose INSEAD.
And to those of you who remain undecided about when and where to go on exchanges next year, I have one simple solution - buy a one way ticket.
Friday, October 8, 2010
INSEAD- trilingual requirement
One of the things that stand out about INSEAD students is that most of them speak at least 3 languages. A quick glance of my future classmates' online profile confirms this. Most of them can speak 3+ languages. If you are serious about INSEAD, I recommend that you at least be fluent in one language in addition to English. And you should think about which language you want to pick up as the third language. When you apply to INSEAD, you must demonstrate your ability to speak two languages fluently. And in order to receive your diploma upon graduation, you need to pass a beginner's level in a third language. This makes the trilingual language requirement at INSEAD much easier to handle. I am currently working on my exit language and I plan to pass it before starting the school year. After all, I've read plenty how at INSEAD one never seems to have enough time for studying, group projects and partying. So it's in your interest to lessen your load if you can help it.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Alas, back to blogging
It's amazing that I've taken almost an entire month off from blogging. I've been super busy with arranging for loans to pay for next year's tuition and living expenses. I am very glad that I have many choices to choose from but too many choices can be make the decision very hard to make.
As an admitted INSEAD student, you get access to Prodigy Finance (http://www.prodigyfinance.com/web/). You can borrow up to the total tuition cost (EUR52,000), but the average loan is about EUR30,000. The downside with Prodigy is that the rate is floating and it is higher than other loans that I was offered. Another route that an INSEAD student can pursue is the EUR50,000 loan from BNP Paribus. But you will need to have a bank guarantee from an international bank in your country. Now to get that bank guarantee, you will probably need most of the funds in cash to be held at your local bank in order to secure that guarantee. But if you've already got the cash in your account, why borrow it from a bank? So that option was out as well. In the end, I settled on using money from savings and supplementing it with some government loans. My goal is to borrow as little as I need to so that I am under less financial burden when I graduate.
A note to prospective students, please start thinking about your financing once you submit your applications to the school. I actually did not carefully think the financing through until much later. But thankfully my sister gave me some very good financing pointers. (THANK YOU, sis!)
As an admitted INSEAD student, you get access to Prodigy Finance (http://www.prodigyfinance.com/web/). You can borrow up to the total tuition cost (EUR52,000), but the average loan is about EUR30,000. The downside with Prodigy is that the rate is floating and it is higher than other loans that I was offered. Another route that an INSEAD student can pursue is the EUR50,000 loan from BNP Paribus. But you will need to have a bank guarantee from an international bank in your country. Now to get that bank guarantee, you will probably need most of the funds in cash to be held at your local bank in order to secure that guarantee. But if you've already got the cash in your account, why borrow it from a bank? So that option was out as well. In the end, I settled on using money from savings and supplementing it with some government loans. My goal is to borrow as little as I need to so that I am under less financial burden when I graduate.
A note to prospective students, please start thinking about your financing once you submit your applications to the school. I actually did not carefully think the financing through until much later. But thankfully my sister gave me some very good financing pointers. (THANK YOU, sis!)
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