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

The Mallies Guide joins the Zanatos force

First things first, thank you Zanatos. It’s an honour to be a guest writer on your blog. Your blog has been a source of inspiration and knowledge for me as I pursue the exhilarating journey to a B School. I join you in the middle of my journey - the GMAT, the applications, the admit (hopefully) and the in school experience – classes, recruitment, star professors and parties.

Zanatos, take a bow :)

M

malliesguide@gmail.com

Rat race for MBA......

www.inseadblogger.com I started this blog during my MBA @ INSEAD in 2006 and i thought i was a good idea to keep everybody uptodate. 1.5 years later it still goes on but with a different twist. i have met many people through y blog who are interested in an MBA one way in another. The mails i receive are more alike the same: Name, age, profession, nationality, years of experience and function. The questions pertain whether they are good enough for an MBA. They ask for interview advices and sometimes essay help. Well last week while in Vietnam a surprise email was waiting for me. It was a quite long email written in a structured way with clear eludicity. The author though startled me. He/She was 17 years old and wanted to know what they should do while in undergrad in order to get an MBA at the age of 24. 18-22 undergraduate at financial engineering, 22 to 23 master in hedge funds( or something similar) 23 to 24 a year abroad working in a bank or a fund and then an MBA. At the same asked if a CFA was doable after 21 and last but not least what languages to learn. you can understand now my beddazlement. A high school student, who will enroll at Princetopn this fall, had already a life plan. Is life a rat race? I mean i read an article about undergraduates creating investment clubs un order to improve their cvs and chances to get hired. whoah how have times changed. Even some years ago being an undergraduate was the first brush with freedom and independence, a different look at life. Yes it was about furthering and increasing one's mental capabilities and critical way of thinking, but fun was an integral part of the package. Will we stop hearing the phrase : *my student years were the best of my life*. life is a rat race, yes i agree. For every person who succeeds there are at least 99 who don't. But the rat race in most western countries was confined to the workplace and one' s contribution there. Academic places were based on socratic principle that they should foster knowledge creation and knowledge creators. if you bring competition in the sanctuary of knowledge it will infest every part of the chain. even the kindergartens. Look at singapore, people lives and choices are determined on how they do at exams in high school and in the university. a B instead of an A can be a completely different life. on top of that there is not a strong correlation between academics successes and business ones. look at S.Korea now. The sponsor of the rat race. children there face extreme pressure in regards to academics. The exams in Korea destroy families sometimes. Many koreans to shield their children from the ultra-unhealthy environment, send their families to the philippines. south Korea is the world's second country when it comes to suicides( the first is Japan). but if you look at age brackets, Korea dominates the youth league... Well as for me i decided to do an MBA when i was 21, not 17. once we start lowering the bar there will be no stopping. am i overreacting? time will tell.

New Blog by Zanatos & New author ! Going live Tomorrow!

Changes coming to Brutal Facts(read original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com)

After my last post I have gotten phone calls regarding this blog. I couldn't believe it that this blog had so many avid readers.. My skype messages were fool asking me why I decided to stop writing, my brother even asked(he who never reads), my classmates were disappointed to see the last blogger of their class going down, applicants sent emails asking for particular advices...

Noble Zanat0s cannot disregard the calls for support. As i walk through the valley of death I take a look at my blog and realize it is messed up. I will fear no censorship for my friends are with me.

The blog will be split into 2 entities under one Umbrella : Brutal Facts by Zanat0s. THe first blog will be run entirely by me and other possible insead alumni/applicants/students with the name INSEAD MBA BLOG by Zanat0s the Insead(er). It will be updated at least 2 times per week(and that is a promise) with articles about life @ insead, application procedures, updates, ideas and reunions, job interviews and different careers.

The other blog will be Called the Ashigarus and will have 2 authors : Tako-Yaki and Yaki-tori(zanat0s). It will be about Tokyo, life and work in the city of a starless sky.

Just to get an idea of what Ashigarus are look at this picture... The expendable!

fun Fact / Dubious Honors by Google... Tokyo nightlife Single Man

Dubious Honors by Google! Rank 1 @ Tokyo Nightlife Single Man

Read original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com

This morning when I returned to the office I had a nasty surprise waiting for me… I learned through a colleague that for no obvious reason I topped a string of keywords.

Do this go @ google and search Tokyo Nightlife single man! Most probably you will get these results

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=tokyo+nightlife+single+man&btnG=Search

if you click on the first result or if you consider youself lucky you will end up here

Zanat0s the INSEAD(er) @ Tokyo: A post INSEAD MBA Blog about an ...

Another top rank(although one I better not have :O)!

If one google Tokyo Nightlife single at least I came Nr11! Not even close.. So now I have become a google phenomenon for Tokyo too :P

Problem with my personal email address, unable to reply! NIT

To all interested parties. I had a problem with my mailbox( Blame the greek company hosting my personal email address).

Due to my business trip and that issue I received this morning a whopping 300 messages, most of them relating to INSEAD. I guess most of you wanted information about interviews. I will try to get back to you.

Maybe some of you have had the interview already. In any case I promise I will reply to each one of you on the 14th of February. Once again I have to go on a business trip. Due to the Greek email I use, which is no web based I can only check it from my secure laptop. I ugess the way I have configured my personal email defeats the meaning of having a mobile email..

At the meantime the group I have created, NIT is becoming alive and a lot of people send their support! Do check it out, especially if you are in Tokyo!

http://insead.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7318986530

The INSEADer is back and he has a lot to say

I am back from my business trip and i will post at least 5 entries regarding INSEAD.

You see how i care about you? i do not post about me but only for you guys

Stefanos

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.

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

Google rankings

Yes, it is true. My blog is one of the most concentrated on INSEAD. Readers can browse through a plethora of articles and dig out any information they may find useful. Student life, recruiting, socializing, networking, interesting stories, opinions, waitlist, essays, events, rankings! Anything one might be searching for INSEAD my blog is relevant. One ingredient through is aloof: Your writer is not anymore a student. His insights may be becoming outdated.
As a remedy one should read current applicants and student blogs. They offer the fresh information in the market. Here are some recommendations

Necromonger's is a really organized blog with menus and incredible GMAT archive. If I wanted to apply now that is what I would be reading

Strawberry tint is another blog which is worth checking out but not so many frequent updates.

The bloggerhog is another prolific blogger with a knack for poetry. Do check out his SEX and MBA article. I applaud

Wim de Byrne A more media friendly blog with quite interesting descriptions. No link to me though.

Form my class a must read is DomoDomo and Hallonman. Links can be found on the right menu. Just for fun let me show you some google results. At google.com my blog gets the following number

Rank 37 keywords : Insead

Rank 5 keywords: Insead MBA

Rank 20 keywords: Insead Singapore

Rank 2 Keywords: Insead blog

Rank 4 keywords: blog insead

Why bloggers blog?

Last night I was too tired to continue and I accidentally posted a semi-entry. I will try to stitch the last 2 articles together. Here I will explain and give honors to INSEAD bloggers. Insead bloggers invest their own(precious) time. They do not get anything out of the experience, material items I mean. They are not paid or get any kind of material reward.
On the contrary they do a great service to the school, students, alumni and of course recruiters. All of these stakeholders need some inside information to form opinion for their own specific purposes. There is not best place to get a better scoop and unfiltered than by students themselves. Every relationship though needs to be balanced. Bloggers get nothing in return, but that is the point. Blogging is a hobby not a job(at least for us: INSEAD MBA bloggers).
A biggest reward for a blogger(except money) is to have stable(and increasing) visitors to his blog. Believe it or not we derive pleasure from your comments and encouragement. Just the time spend on composing this entry and formatting it is considerable, on the other had comments from one random reader will provide me with the burning fuel to go on. I implore al the readers not only to read my blog and other current insead bloggers, but also to contact us.

Some blogs I do recommend. My blog is really informative about INSEAD but for better or for worse(don’t know which is better). I cannot be a student forever. I will compile the list in my next post with the blogs to read and some reviews about them.

Respect the bloggers effort and cheer them up. Wouldn’t you like people to do the same? One good word can add many miles of fuel. Keep up!