INSEAD Blog by Zanat0s the INSEAD(er) @ Tokyo ! The Biggest among INSEAD MBA blogs. Insead is over, blogging not.

Young MBA students start a blog and Zanat0s comments

I am sorry but i will not post any posts for a week. For applicants feel free to contact me via my email, preferably the one I have on my profile. I will try to reply but probably not before I return from my business trip. This will be my last post for about 7 days. I was planning to air some thoughts of mine about Japan and my lie here, I changed my mind and I will try to address some of the concerns I received the last week.
Before I start i would like to announce a partnership with youngmba a blog from young guys who want to do an MBA. Their blog provides a lot of interesting articles and they can be quite helpful some time. My only issue is that their blog is too American focused and not international enough, but this is just my personal viewpoint, nothing more.
I will post some of the articles here and I will comment on them from time to time. Jimmy from Purdue posted an entry which is ok but a bit too general. According to him there are 3 big questions
(1) Why now, why not later? Shouldn’t you have work experience before pursuing your MBA? (2) Why this program? (3) Why am I a good fit for Program X or what unique characteristics do I bring to this program? Answering these well requires knowing yourself.
I would like to disagree. Do not try to answer these questions or your own, or try to do a soul search to find the answers. On Monday I was an applicant having dinner. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to sound convincing about her reasons for an MBA and why she chose INSEAD. I changed the tipic and was probing here with questions about what she knew about INSEAD, what she had done before that, how she learn about the school and her feeling about it. In the end without her realizing it she had answered her own questions without realizing. My advice to you is to have a nice relaxed discussion with a person who can hold a good conversation and try to explore all the issues you do not feel confident. I cannot give you the answers but I can illuminate the path to knowledge :P
In another post Jason from Wharton says some very interesting stuff, which I will paste here:
1) I’m not sure about you, but I was scared stiff when I first started rehearsing for my interviews. I tried to act very serious and professional, and ended up coming across as all boring and uptight. After a few more practices I learned to relax, to smile, to joke, and most importantly, to treat the guy interviewing you, who may be 10-20 years older, as a friend just like you would any normal classmate. Some interviewers are current MBA students, hence they’d want to consider things like “Do I want to hang out with this guy?”, which might be an issue for an applicant straight out of college. In the end, hardly anybody at business school wants to hang out with an immature college student who could do with a few more years of “growing up”. Show them you’re not that guy!
I agree completely 100%! One thing all interviewers see even if they do not want to admit is if there is any chemistry going on. Remember you have to like your classmates since you will spend the next 2 (one if you go to INSEAD) with them! Before my own interview I thought I should go there with my business 105% professional. Greece is hot right, especially during the time I applied. I went to my interviewer’s office( a banker) and although I was expecting to be grilled we had a great conversation. We even talked about chess , my passion. We were contemplating whether we should try a game, but for a banker time is of the essence. I will post my insead interview experience in another post. Back to the subject!
I will dwell a bit on another issue people have been mailing about. LBS versus INSEAD! This is a very interesting topic which I will try to discuss and post our script online with a current LBS student. There are people who may think LBS is better for work in London afterwards. True but INSEAD network in London is growing with crazy rates. LBS may be better in Finance, while INSEAD holds the scepter when it comes to consulting related jobs. Yes it is true in Europe these 2 schools are battling for the top spot. One good advice I can give is to compare career reports from these 2 schools and find out which school will make your path to the dream job easier. I guess due to LBS brand name a job for an offshore fund in Bahamas would be easier to get through LBS. On the other hand a job at Nestle’s Elite Operational team( a job I coveted) will more probably be offered to an INSEAD alumni.

Flirting @ INSEAD, Can it be done?

Time for another post! Finished work now and it is time to help accepted students, current ones and applicants. I understand your frustration and how anxious it can get. Waiting to hear information about when and with whom your interview will take place.
I have been there and I can do nothing else than to advise you and answer your questions!
Here is one I got today which I find funny, basically two! The first one is from a new admit “I am there for the MBA experience but I will also like to know if anything happens at INSEAD”. The second one, spicier, which I am not going to do, has to do with whether specific rumors are true. The third was received some days ago and will get answered today by bundling all the questions together: “I heard that all the married couples go to fonty and that there is no chance to meet others outside INSEAD. Do you think Singapore will be more lively?”
Start the operation! INSEAD Singapore and INSEAD Fonty when it comes to “this” subject are 2 completely campuses. Fonty hosts 300 + 300 people per promotion on average so I guess 600 people are a good sum of people. Get to live with it because there are no other choices in Fonty. Lets say fonty is the place one goes to enjoy life, nature and Chateau parties. Chateau parties are awesome but you see mostly the same people non stop. Another factor that has to be considered is economics.
Law of supply and demand: When supply doesn’t meet demand the high demand products can ask for a higher price. Example: I have 20 red cards which are desired by 10 different people and each one has 2 white cards. If I throw away 2 of my red cards then my 18 cards can get more value just because probably one person will get nothing in the end. It is the same in Fonty. Women in fonty are like 20% to 25%! So if you subtract married and engaged ones the number dwindles down to 1 available woman per 7 to 8 guys. Bad analogy, but women can choose and make decisions easier since they are the kingmakers. That means in parties you can see 5 guys dancing alone and another group of 7 circling probably an attractive woman. We call this the “Princess Syndrome” a woman gets so much attention that she thinks she is a princess. Enjoy as long as it lasts.
On the other hand in Singapore students have more choices and can travel to Thailand or bali or Jakarta for the weekend. Lets just say that some women feel left behind in Singapore. Then there are clubs and other events so flirting in Singapore campus happens but not in campus. It is all about economics.
Unfortunately I will neither confirm nor deny any rumors. It is true! I wish I could have known better what happens in the campus. I was too busy studying so I never heard or saw any of the things most of you ask me. I guess you should ask the party people.
Some stats: At the time of graduation if I am not mistaken our class had 15 couple, while the previous one had 20. I guess relationships form during INSEAD. It is completely normal. You will spend 10 intense months with a group of people. After some time some will start having feeling for the opposite sex( I hope at least). There will always be break-ups for the non strong relationships or new relationships happening. That’s life and that’s great about it. INSEAD can also be the place where one can find their Prince or Princess.
One thing I have to quote is an INSEAD alumni, “Chateau Parties after a while becoming like the worst place to go as a single guy, all the faces you know and a ratio that would all the women would crave” That’s the INSEAD effect. I have never been to a chateau party, but come on! MBA students in the forest? I would be surprised if there are no new connections made. That’s a Brutal Fact!

Zanat0s out

INSEAD Interviews and the MBA market in General - WHy people get rejected!

I didn’t keep my promise last night. I didn’t post any new information or advice. I do not have enough time now since something has come up but I will try to add more to this blog’s knowledge database about INSEAD.

It is high time for some candidates to get admitted in R2 in INSEAD while other will get the ding (rejection in MBA talk). I have read some articles form people who get rejected from INSEAD or other MBAs and they are asking me if they are not good enough, or they ask the question which honestly I cannot answer in any way: “Why did I get rejected?”.

I am sorry I cannot give you this answer. I can though help candidates understand what is happening. There are 10 top ten schools in the world and a lot of many many different MBAs.

This chart may help explain some issues. It is too simplified since I do not have all the data available. After the boom of 2000 the economy was booming, yes they were young entrepreneurs who were considering dropping out of school and work for a startup or that business school wasn’t a necessary qualification since the money lost getting a year out of employment would be a bad financial decision.

In 2001 when the small recession came, a lot of people who lost their jobs turned to business schools(that explains the short increase). The market though for MBAs was quite bad, according to talks with alumni until the end of 2003. When the economy went into overdrive due to the increase of global trade and the crazy return in the stock exchange, more people wanted to get an MBA and improve their status. The demand for an MBA has been steadily increasing but what has changed the last years is the inclusion of a lot more people now in the professional market. Now with financing or with more money in their pockets, a lot of professionals can take a year off so they can invest in their future. Now MBA programs are receiving a swarm of applications form countries like India( come to insead and you think that it is in Mumbai), China (mostly USA schools, come on! Nobody is perfect), Russia (petrodollars), Brazil and others.

On the other hand few new MBA programs have sprung out. The tops schools remain the same. It is natural for people to want to join those programs, the top of the crème. Therefore great programs have the choice of choosing their candidates and creating the kind of class they would prefer.

One may argue why then the TOP MBAs do not increase their numbers so they can earn more. For those who know marketing they know that the harder it is to enter a club and the more exclusive( less brand dilution) it is, the higher the premium it can charge. HBS knows that if it accepts more than the number of applicants it does then it will destroy value. Remember the rarer a commodity the higher the price it can command.

Once schools receive the applications they have to make a selection. They can admit up to a certain amount of candidates. That’s why there are some standards like GMAT performance, TOEFL, GPA. These exist to make preselection easier. If one gets rejected it means that either he wouldn’t fit with the kind of class the adcom was preparing. Some examples of people who get rejected while they have a perfect “file”

l  GMATers people with GMAT over 760. They think that if they get high GMAT that’s entry into the MBA without any problem. Think again. If 10 people with the same GMAT apply and come from the same industry then only one or two will make it. Nobody wants a class where everybody is the same. If you have a “common” background prepare for a difficult time. One common example Indian IT engineer :P

l  Ultra achievers. Most applicants to TOP MBAs are ultra duper super achievers. You know they want to top their class, get the best grades, awards etc. They prefer the highest paying job, try to be on top of everything. When they get rejected they are dumbfounded. It is quite simple, everybody else who applies to these programs is an overachiever, if not they wouldn’t want an MBA.

l  The daters. Interesting name, isn’t it? The daters are those who want to do an MBA for an MBA’s sake. They do not know which school they want to apply, they just know they NEED to apply to an MBA. One common approach is to take a ranking list and apply to the top 10, or just average different lists and apply to all and see what happens. They believe falsely that more applications will lead to more admissions. One girl I talked about this subject(basically she gave me the idea of the name) compared the MBA application procedure like dating. Date all of the guys before you make a decision. Her approach is flawed 100%! Focus first on the dating allegory. It is stupid to ask 10 guys out, then make a decision which one you want to date. The right approach is to gather information about the guys since it is an important decision. Ask to their ex girlfriends, talk to their friends, and think whether they can offer what you want. The second part of her argument is that more applications increase the probability of getting admitted. To where? To which program? On the contrary the more applications one sends the more refusals one will get. I don’t know about most of you but I only needed one admission. What is the point of sending 8 applications and getting 4 admissions and 4 rejections. The 4 rejections will make the person’s confidence to almost disappear, while deciding among the other 4 will prove heart rending. Moreover focus always works. Think about dating you always have more chances when you try one target but try with all you have. Daters’ approach is not the way to go. Even from an economic point of view. The time and money needed to prepare  many applications may become daunting

Once again I hope I was helpful enough. To all the ones who will get rejected please read through what I have written. Keep it up and know what you want. Back to dating, no girl gets their prince if they try to get him all over the place.

Today’s last comment… There is no 70% success during interviews. There are no formulas. The only thing I can say is that people who share the same profile are having a difficult time since not everybody will make it. My last piece of advice: Try to be unique, find you own personal story. This is a brutal Fact!

Brutal Facts, out!

INSEAD blog get blocked in China!

MBA schools, fun in Singapore, criticizing Japan and blogging about INSEAD and the application process must prove too much for the guys in Beijing. While Poor Zanat0s this morning was going through his emails he noticed a message from somebody based in Beijing.
The message wrote: “Hello, My name is XXXX(of course that’s not the person’s name, for privacy reasons it is omitted). I have just applied to INSEAD and a friend of mine told me about your blog. The link he gave me though is broken. Zanat0s.typepad.com ………………………………………….. I would like to send me the URL of your articles on INSEAD”
I got startled. Did typepad have a problem? I go online search for my blog and it was there, reigning like a sun over the mountain. My mind thought that her internet or browse must have a glitch. My day went on and on. During m lunch break I end up reading some other emails and then I got my answer. My blog was blocked. My first reaction was WHAT HAVE I DONE? I had mixed feeling. There are so many people in China who deserve to learn about INSEAD (of course through my blog) and have the chance to improve my life through the knowledge I will dissipate to them (Visions of Grandeur).
On the other hand like a good INSEAD buddy said, “I would be honored” if I got censured by the PRC”. I would appreciate though to learn what on my blog is politically “sensitive”

Zanat0s out

Promise to INSEAD reader

I am sorry for not having kept up. The last week i received around 30 email form INSEAD applicants. i cannot give a reply to everyone.

I will try to answer all your quesitons on my blog but i cannot keep up the balance since work is getting harder, especially prior to my Vietnam trip.

Give me a break :P!

INSEAD Interviews - the results are out! What you need to know

Interview decisions are mostly out. I guess there are people who are still smiling and other who got the Ding. Not everybody can join. There are only 450 places per 6 month period so if 2000++ apply, some will have to get disappointed. Congratulations to the ones who got preselected and my condolences to the ones who didn’t make it. Maybe INSEAD wasn’t the right school for you or you just have to try harder.

There were around 10 emails today in my mailbox trying to get my attention. Most of the titles read like “INSEAD- Interview- Help Zanat0s”, or “Interview Tips”. A guy who probably is based in Tokyo( I presume) send an email saying: “Can you be my interviewer?”.

Let me make one thing clearer. I will write about INSEAD interview process but I won’t give you a cheat sheet because there are no cheat sheets. This is not a test where there are correct or false answers. GMAT is over. So seems necromonger liked my previous entry about alumni in order not to disappoint the Jul 08 ultra star blogger I will be consistent by using the same format.

An INSEAD interview is NOT:

1.      A test. You may study for the GMAT or other academic tests or even for job interviews. Study yourself not cliché questions

2.      Filled with cliché questions. Yes there are common questions or questions you may expect but the answers depend on the applicant’s character.

3.      Conducted by robots or stupid people. Remember they are alumnis. They went through the same phase like you. You are not the first or the last person they will interview. If you try to give ready answers which you prepared in advance then they will sniff you out. Do not shoot yourself for no obvious reason.

4.      Predetermined. I need to stress this point a lot. Avoid in any case to learn your answers by heart. No win situation.

5.      Unimportant. Maybe the interview will be the deal breaker. If you try to lower the significance of the interview you are done for

6.      About showing how clever and great you are. Nobody likes a smartass or somebody who brags about themselves nonstop. Keep in mind if you show how “great” and successful you are the interviewer may “suggest” that you do not need an MBA anymore

7.      About bribing. Gifts and unnecessary actions and compliments are best to be avoided.

8.      About saying how much you love money or business or making it to the top. Your sincere interest to apply for the MBA is a strong signal in itself. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading these lines now

9.      About showing how good you look in a suit. Just do not overdo it. Remember the Greeks used to say nothing in excess( ΠΑΝ ΜΕΤΡΟ ΑΡΙΣΤΟ)

What the INSEAD interview IS:

1.      Conducted by alumni. The alumni will try to understand whether he/she would like to have you as a classmate

2.      Understanding your motivations. Only the interviewee knows these answers, nobody else so try to now thyself first.

3.      About YOU! You are the star here. Yes be friendly(or adjust your behavior and tone) to the interviewer ask questions but remember you are the one who has to do most of the answering

4.      About free flow. There are specific questions which have no specific answer. Better to answer these questions on the fly so it is more spontaneous

5.      About pressuring. You have to persuade the interviewer to write a positive review about you. Insead is a difficult MBA. Try to show your skills or how you can add value to your class

6.      About Unique people. INSEAD classes are amazingly unique in their composition(unlike American based MBAS!, oh gosh I love taking snipes at “INTERNATIONAL” based MBAs with 65% Americans). You need to do a good job of proving that you have something unique about yourself. A good example was my friend Indiana Tony. I do not know a lot of people drilling for oil in Darfur and putting their life on the line every day(maybe that’s a reason he left to do an MBA)

7.      Lengthy. It will take at least 1 to 2 hours so be prepared

8.      Depending on the alumni. Some alumnis will be friendly others will be more direct. There is not single recipe for everybody.

9.      Serious. Do not go into shorts or slackers.

10.   Random. Brace yourself for some irrelevant questions(at least it happened to me)

11.   Open ended. Long conversations will ensue about your past career. Prepare a CV that won’t leave any questions answered. Remember you KNOW your past, the interviewer doesn’t. Your CV has to address all the possible question.

I believe this will address a lot of concerns. My advice ot you have a test-interview with your friends who finished INSEAD or with yourself so you can find your answers. Remember it is about you, you won’t find the answers on the web or on a cheat sheet.

Everybody take it easy. If you get anxious about it, the anxiety will get to you in the end.

Zanat0s Out!

An email i received, example of what NOT to DO

Hi XXXX,

I am DDDDD BBBBBB, a Sr. HR Management professional with 17 years of experience in human resource management. Curently I am a Sr. Management consultant focused on Japanese market. I came across your profile on linkedin and found it very impressive and interesting. I am actively expanding my network and I seek to get connected with seasoned professionals like you.

I would be very happy to get connected to you and I hereby invite you to my network. I look forward for your response. Please see my profile on linkedin in detail.

Regards

Isn’t it funny? I received this email on LinkedIn Please read my previous entry before going further. What is wrong with this email? Even a rookie can understand it belongs to the Ctrl+ C, Ctrl+ V category (copy and paste). This guy hasn’t even read my profile, that’s my assumption.

What is impressive about me? What is interesting? Why would he be happy to join my network? Why would he be very(like he said) happy to connect with a seasoned (where does he base that on) professional like me? He is actively expanding his network? No, what he is doing is completely different, he is contacting everybody he can find and sending emails(the same to everybody in detail). His approach won’t work with me though.

So what happened? He searched for people based in Japan, my name along others came up and he bombarded everybody with his very detailed introductions. As for my readers I hope you realize exactly what you should avoid when you introduce yourself to somebody and you are asking something in return.

Zanat0s

how to contact MBA alumni(INSEAD and NOn-INSEAD)

Following the previous entry(last night my need to sleep overcame my honest desire to help my readers).

Scenario 2: Now the student finds quite a lot of alumni who work in his target sector. Instead of writing a long email to everybody he makes the assumption that by creating a general letter with no specifications he can save time and increase the recipients. He sits down writing an email which can apply to all alumni interested, fills in the names and email addresses and he is done. The email gets sent to around 10 different people. Patiently the student awaits for replies to his emails. Probably he will get some. The case most of the times will be a limited response of 1 to 2 replies. So what’s wrong?

First of all our clever student is not going to be the first or the last one to try this approach of mass-emailing. Previous attempts had the same results. Most alumnis probably used the same approach, a general email written with generalizations and avoiding getting into details and asking for unspecific information. Alumnis can recognize these emails and probably even though they are the right person to provide help since their time is limited and precious.

Alumnis have to work you know! A reply to each MBA candidate would probably cost them their job. Therefore alumnis respond to the right letters by the right person. Otherwise they just disregard the request until they can find some time(most of the times they don’t).

Quite a lot of alumnis(and that is not an INSEAD phenomenon) have indicated that they do not want to receive mashed up emails sent to 10 other people. I was talking with some quite senior graduates from various MBAs and they shared the same frustration. Do not misunderstand; help they want to give but there are some requirements first.

I have compiled a list of Dos and Don’ts which should be adhered by all future MBA(at least in INSEAD)”

Dos:

1.    Do contact alumni. There is nothing wrong with that. Remember everything goes 2-ways. Probably they asked for the same kind of help during their student years and now it is their turn to give back

2.    Do check if you have a common friend or contact. Introductions are always more easy to pull off and get responses. If somebody introduces you then it is like having a stamp of approval.

3.    Do contact alumni who are fresh graduates. Fresh graduates may have the MBA experience fresh in their mind, along with their job searching frustrations. They may be better suited to understand what you might be needing

4.    Do contact people relevant to the industry you want to apply to. Nobody wants to spend each others time. In case one wants to join Finance do not ask advice by somebody doing Marketing

5.    Do be Specific. I cannot make it clearer. Be specific! You may think that your letter gives to the next person a crystal idea of what you want, but it is not you reading the letter, but the alumni. Remember that!

6.    Do ask for feedback. Before and after you send a request for information to alumni do ask your classmates if your letter makes sense to them. Do the same after you send it to the alumni.

7.    Do your research. Sending randomly generated letters doesn’t work. Learn more about the recipient, his background and his responsibilities

8.    Do customize your letter according to your recipient. A letter that has been written with effort and addresses the recipients concerns will receive a prompt reply

9.    Do ask questions that can have an answer. A good question should be for example: “When you were doing your Job search how did people or interviewers treat the fact that you had no prior finance experience? Even better would be “And how did you neutralize that? How did you use it your advantage?

10.  Do try to show to the person that your communication is two-way. Of course as a student you cannot provide anything therefore the alumni has to understand that at least he can be of help.

11.  Do send your CV. It will give the alumni a better idea about your profile.

12.  Do introduce yourself and the reason you are sending this request for information.

13.  Do try to make the alumni understand how he can be of assistance. This can be done if you have followed all the above steps and getting precise about it!

DONTS!!!!!

1.    Do not write the same email for more than 1 person. Remember most people have done that already. They are MBAs, they are not stupid. Do not think you can trick them

2.    Do not be vague. Avoid statements like “I would like to work in the finance industry”

3.    Do not be pushy. Ask for an informational interview or for some time to talk about when the alumni will be available. Nobody likes a student who keeps pushing and pushing

4.    Do not make any mistakes. Typos are to be avoided. Do not ask for a job. Nobody will find you your job. Information and job opportunities are completed unrelated. Just let alumnis know you are exploring opportunities or that you are actively searching but not be direct about job tips.

5.    Do not be too cocky. Just because you may get soon an MBA you shouldn’t go over the top or getting too extravagant.

6.    Do not assume anything in your letter. Start from zero. You should finish each email by saying that if possible you would like some information

7.    Do not send an email which asks for general information. If it is not relevant enough the alumni may not be able to offer you what exactly you need

8.    Do not write short letters. Letters like this are to be disregarded. 1 Paragraph introducing yourself and then one sentence asking for advice.

9.    Do not contact very senior people. Avoid going for the top ranks in most cases, unless there is a reason

10.  Last but not least never make any mistakes with the names or the company names. Do not send a letter to MCK asking advice how to get into BCG or vice versa.

I hope this list will prove more than useful to current and future students.

How to contact INSEAD alumni - advice

Experience, one of the themes at the US 08 elections. Experience is the sum total of the things that have happened to a person and of his or her past thoughts and feelings. People who do not have it quite often turn to veterans or to the ones who have it.
It is cheaper and safer to get experience by asking others than to have to go through it. INSEAD students follow this advice with blind determination. One of INSEAD greatest advantages ( and of course of all other business schools) is the access to a great professional network. INSEAD graduates have already been through this face and their advice can be really helpful to students.
Everyone comes to INSEAD with some agendas, otherwise there is no reason to spend 45.000 Euros(probably more now). Most students prefer to join banks or Consulting firms when they graduate. They search the internet for valuable information that can be extremely helpful.
It is safe to assume that current students will save time and effort if they shoot an email to an alumni who is now working for the company/industry/country the students are interested in. For example suppose student BAKARILOS is half French half Greek ( people may call him Freek) has no previous finance experience and wants to do IB (investment banking). Probably getting information online is like searching for the lottery ticket in the garbage bin.
What if BAKARILOS takes advantage of the insead alumni network? To make my point I will use two scenarios. Scenarios first: BAKARILOS finds a person who works for the company/industry/country he is searching for and they share the same back ground ( nation, work experience and others)! Perfect isn’t it? BAKARLIOS composes a personal letter to the executive and makes his point clear.
Scenario 2: Now the student finds

INSEAD the Return or the RERun?

It is quite late but duty calls. New year new blogging activities. TO my biggest disappointment work, socializing and blogging don’t mix well together. Anew formula is requested. Any suggestions out there for the lonely blogger?
I have to say though that I am impressed after 6 months of graduating this blog is still considered to be on top of developments regarding INSEAD. It is my duty therefore to shed light on the global phenomenon called INSEAD.
Kudos once again to Necromonger for his illuminating post on INSEAD. http://onwardtomba.blogspot.com/2008/01/queries-that-land-on-my-blog-answers.html for more information refer there. You will get his point of view, although most of these questions have been asked non stop by applicants.
My friends from December Insead 2007 promotion graduated. Their graduation was more different than ours. INSEAD July 2007 class graduated 90% at Fonty, while theirs may be evenly split. Personally I recommend graduating at Fonty since that is the place where INSEAD started. No better place than to graduate at one’s birthplace.
December 2008 Class entered the fray and the July 2009 Insead MBA class admissions are under way, round 2 to be specific. There have been some delays regarding round 2 decisions though. In round 2 I had 3 people I know applying. One of them is already in and I am happy for that person since we started this whole process together and I knew in my heart the result. If you read this now do smile please. My second friend is awaiting confirmation after the 2 interviews. Anxiety is building up though for the 3rd person who hasn’t received interview confirmation.
As for December 2008 class they are having their first week of classes. I wonder how they are feeling. I guess the more promotions come after me the older I get. Time can never be stopped in any way so make peace with him.
Time for some insights: some months ago I wrote on this blog some of my predictions. I argued that the Global MBA market is increasing geometrically with the inclusion of masses of students from Asia and also from S. America. To an economics student this creates a discrepancy, supply can’t keep up with demand and the market gets inefficient. According to one of my sources in 2007 schools received a record number of applications
My second observation was the rise of INSEAD. INSEAD may not be known in the states but that’s not the point. INSEAD is top ranked when it comes to students who know what they want. INSEAD applicants mostly apply to only one MBA, INSEAD! In the case of Harvardites or Whartons the majority apply to the Holy Triad( H/ S / W). On top of that INSEAD galvanizes applicants over its brand. INSEAD is on the rise and that’s the result of long years of trying.

The Brutal facts will never go down!