*Watch the video for more pictures and actual clips :)*

Hi everyone, as promised in my last video, today I am gonna go through my journey in more details at INSEAD MBA , which hopefully will give you more insights about the program. Lets start!

P0 – Preparing

There are 5 periods at INSEAD, 2 months each. So P0 is the time before the program officially starts.

I mentioned that INSEAD has a 3rd language requirement for graduation, and I wanted to get that out of the way before I start, so I did hours of Duolingo to study French and joined the bootcamp at INSEAD’s campus in Singapore. which turned out to be a great idea because the MBA program is quite intense, you really don’t want to be memorising conjugation or the gender of a table when there are tons of other things to juggle already.

The bootcamp was also the official start of my networking journey. I also met some other students who were already working in Singapore to get to know each other and exchange information to plan for the upcoming program.

Some of us also started practicing case interviews (typical interview format for consulting firms). Yeah, did i mention it’s a consulting school?

So that’s P0. In Aug 2021, I farewelled with my laptop full of LinkedIn stickers , and became a full-time student again.

P1/2 – Accommodation

I started my program in Singapore, and I stayed in Keystone, a co-living space founded by our alumni. It’s quite a number of houses on the same street at Holland Village, a neighbourhood very near INSEAD.

I had a great time there because it’s really an INSEAD community. Given the space we had, there were a lot of social events hosted by Keystone residents. And it’s also it’s just very easy to plan and do things together with your neighbours.

Fo example, This is a hike that some of us did. We took a taxi, left together before sunrise, and came back together afterwards. It was really fun.

I do recommend Keystone based on my personal experience, unless you are very sensitive to noise, because it can get noisy sometimes. And this is picture of me and my flatmates.

P1/2 – Study Group

In the first 2 periods, Everyone is assigned to a study group of about 5 people, and you study together literally. This is my amazing study group.

I guess the idea is that they put you into a group of people coming from very different backgrounds, which is likely to trigger misunderstanding, so you learn to work cross cultures and reflect on your biases as well as communication style.

And then we have a personal leadership development program (PLDP), to help you work through these conflicts together as a group.

I think I had a pretty good group because we were very aligned on our objectives, which is a common reason for conflicts, and we really got to know each other. For example, there is one person in my group who I didn’t really like at the beginning, but he became one of my favourite at the end. It’s just one of those a low social optionality environment where you are forced to open yourself up to new perspectives and realise fundamentally, you could be the same.

You also stay with the same class in the first 2 periods, so this is my beautiful class of A2.

P1/2 – Core Courses

This is INSEAD’s curriculum for the first 2 periods. So they are all mandatory courses, which in my opinion it’s the most critical part of my academic development at INSEAD. I personally really enjoyed Prices & Markets. And learned a lot from Financail Accoungitng. But even for classes such as statistics, I remember the professor use data to show us why diversity in your organisation improves the output. which again reflects the school’s culture.

It’s also the most intense period. Though I had some business background, I still pulled a few late nights at the library. It’s not all fun and party! This is a picture of me taking a nap in a quiet room on campus because i was just exhausted that day. I don’t remember why. But i posted this on my instagram and many people liked. And another picture of me dying between classes.

P1/2 – Startup Bootcamp

One extra programme I took is optional, a 2-day startup bootcamp. Again very intense. We went through everything from team forming, ideation, to the final pitch. And there were entrepreneurs in residance to guide us along the way and give fedback. I think it’s great simulation, and helped me understand that I don’t want to have my own company anytime soon. So it’s still a valuable lesson.

P1/2 – Socials

Let me get to socials! In the first two periods, we were all so excited! we want to get to know everyone! we share our life stories, and discuss our future. It was a really great! I met My first Greek friend, my first Spanish friend, first Russian friend. You get the point.

We did a lot of things, like hikes, exercises, tea ceremony, indoor flying, padeeling, etc. And of course, a lot of dinner and drinks.

COVID restrictions were on and off during that time in Singapore, making it really hard to hang out in big groups. But in hindsight, I think it actually created deeper bonding opportunities because you have to hang out in small groups, sometimes just one person and sit there for the whole night.

We also had Dash, a day everyone dresses up in costumes. I am really proud of mine because i already had a psyduck pajama, and a pair of yellow fins for free diving and that was a perfect set. The only person who had a better outfit than me in my opinion is this guy, who was free cash flow.

P1/2 – Campus Exchange

P1-2 was intense and went by really fast, so it soon come to the decision of exchange bidding. Everyone is allocated some bidding points, and you can choose how much you want to bid on exchange, the remaining points will be used for elective later. Basically you need to decidewhich one is more importnat for you. My personal priority is exchange, because i don’t think any elective couuld be so lifechanging that i must do it. But i want to physically be in the right place.

So I was alway very clear that i wanted to expereince all 3 campuses. I wanted to start in Singapore because 1. i was already there, so i could to work until the very last minute to make sure my bank account is ready. 2. i would graduate in July, so graduation ceremony is gonna be in fonty, so i want to be there in P5. 3. I was hoping to recruit in Europe so being in fonty in P3 and P4 will make interview scheduling and networking easier. But if you are applying to consulting, it doesn’t matter where you are.

Abu Dhabu but unfortunately it wasn’t available that year due to covid to spend the rest of my program in fonty.

P2 Break – Transition

The break between P2 and P3 was an important transition.

Firstly there were a lot of admin work like moving out, finding new flats etc. It was chaos, in the end i found two different places in fonty for different periods because housing was battle.

It also felt like a mini graduation, because I realised that, many friends i made over the past 4 months, the next time i see them would be graduation, because they want to be a lifer in Singapore. it was a little bit sad.

so many of us decided to do a big trip in south east asia. God knows how many times my nose got poked in that month. but I am really glad i could have that time i with my friends.

And after a great trip in Malaysia and Thailand, i landed in France!

P3/4 – Social & Treks

Social in fonty were similar. We did activities and parties, except that they are much bigger as fonty is a large campus and there was no covid restriction.

Also because there is no border control, travel is a big part of the social life as well, and that’s exactly what i wanted. I went for quite a few. Some are organised treks and some are just group trips.

There are a few significant ones:

1. A french friend kindly took us to a ski resort, where I saw snow for the first time in my life, and learned how to ski and fell in love with it. (I am going to Chamonix for new year’s eve later this year. Subscribe for an upcoming vlog. 😉
2. I also took a trip to London to see if i could see myself living there. And well here i am, living in London. So a life changing trip I guess?
3. I also visited Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon separately. Which wouldn’t be possible in the current situation. On these treks, My classmates and tour guides from these regions helped me understand the history and perspectives in very inclusive and respectful ways. I think that’ really valuable.

There are some other nice trips as well, like i saw the Northern light in Tromso, Giza pyramid in Cairo, and turned 29 in Budapest.

The best part is absolutely the people I met along the way. Like I said before, those are the low social optionality environements where you are forced to get to know someone. Some of them really turned from strangers to my best friends.

P3/4 – Recruiting

While i was exploring the world and myself, i didn’t forget i came to this program to get a job. I guess part of the reason why INSEAD is a consulting school is that there is strong community to prepare together. Everyone was doing cases, including myself who didn’t plan to go back to consulting.

On the train to Les Arcs, we were doing cases. On the road trip on Lofoten Islands, we were doing case. We love cases.

But if you saw the last video, you would know that I in ended up with Amazon in London, because there were not many other MBA opportunities in tech here and location is my priority.

I am also kind of glad i didn’t do D batch because they would be applying for summer internship immediately in the first 2 period, which i feel was intense enough for me already!

P5 – Ready To Go

As I reached P5, I thought I would be sad, but I actually couldn’t wait for the programme to be over. It’s something I observed in many of my friends as well.

People definitely have different perspectives here but to me, it was starting to feel empty. You simply can’t just be networking and traveling forever, unless this is your job. At one point, all the temples in Asia, or all the churches in Europe are gonna the look the same. Even the conversations were not as exciting as before because people were starting to get tired and i hate repeating my stories. I couldn’t wait to start to live my life again, so I could have actual content to share with my friends.

I guess that tells me the 10 months length is actually perfect. Anything longer would not work for me. I do believe after knowing the fundamentals, real work is a best teacher, or you could do very targeted deep dive on some topics i needed. After roughly figuring out what i want to do after graduation, i just want to go and do it.

So while i really cherish the last 2 months of time with friends over more trips, and parties. I was really happy when it’s over and I could get my routines back.

P6 – To Be Continued

Then I graduated, and have been living in London for 2 years, for which i also made a video if you haven’t seen it! https://youtu.be/QkzZS-KVMxw

A big part of my friends here are from INSEAD, i also visit those who are not in London but there are so many of them.

Looking back, INSEAD is an extremely enriching experience and i wouldn’t be able to cover everything in this one video, (also my memory loss) but I will share them in future when the it is relevant. Also I heard we will have 5 reunion in fonty in 2027, so i promise i will make a video at that time.

Also, while I am really grateful for the opportunity to go to INSEAD, I don’t think it’s irreplaceable. I have friends who are doing amazing without an mba. It all depends on what kind of life you want and what do you need to live that life.

I will end with that. Thanks for watching. Bye.