INSEAD Deposit Troubles

Just a brief rant here. Not happy with the INSEAD billing department. I sent them an email with records of my transfer in order to meet the April 2nd deadline. The first time I sent it to them, I got an email saying the person responsible was out for a week, and to contact someone else. I contact that person, and no response. A couple of days later I send an email asking about the status and I get an email saying they are both out of town for a week!! What's going on? Anyways the day back day has passed and still no word from INSEAD whether or not they have received my deposit. I need to get this sorted out! ARGHHHHH....I wonder if others are having this problem, or are just assuming that INSEAD has received their deposit.

I dont get it. They are asking to have the deposit by the 2nd of April, and they are unavailable to accept it or to notify people about it. Does that make any sense? I hope this is not an indication of efficiancy at INSEAD. Maybe this is the global business education that I need. Maybe I'm already in training.

All I need is a "we have received your deposit, thanks" email. Please send it INSEAD!!!!

Acapulco Pics

I just posted our pics from Acapulco up on Picasa. This was a trip we did back in Feb for Varun's bday. We went for 4 days and it was a great time. Click on the picture above to see all the pics.

Vegas Baby!!!

So tomorrow I'm heading to Vegas for one of my best friends bachelor party. Awesome!! I'm affraid though of my to be state on Monday morning after a weekend of debauchary....oh and not to mention being 1500$ poorer.

Let's just put it this way...my friends love to party...and they love to do it in extravagent style....not the backpacker way.

There will be 12 of us, and we all staying at the MGM Grand. It is gonna be 3 nights of craziness. In fact I dont even know why we booked a hotel room. I don't see us spending any time there at all.

So here's to lots of women, bottles and bottles of crystale, and some hardcore gambling....

If you don't see a post in the next week or so, it means:
a) I'm lost in a dumpster in an alley next to the MGM...please rescue me
b) My hands have been cut off due to running up a huge gambling debt hence i can't type
c) My great looks and personality have landed me a lead role in a Hollywood or even Bollywood movie and i'm too cool to blog
d) Struck the jackpot...and now I'm rich BITCH! screw INSEAD, screw MBA, screw JOB, and screw BLOG.

Singapore vs Fonty

Fonty

Singapore

People have been asking me why Singapore over starting at Fonty? Well I have my reasons, but they are basically summed up in this table I found on the INSEAD wiki. A lot of this applies to most US MBA schools too:

	Singapore	Fontainebleau
Where to live	Heritage or Dover: 4 pools each (including Jacuzzi and live fountains, with underwater music), BBQ pits, tennis courts, jogging paths, fantastic exotic gardens, saunas, 10 minute walk to INSEAD.	Rent a 300 year old house downtown fontainebleau with cable TV.
Nickname	'Club Med'	'Construction Yard'
Weather	25-30oC year round, mostly sunny	Over 25oC only in summer, when Insead is closed. Mostly cloudy and rainy.
VAT	5%	20%
To go downtown	20 min by bus or MRT, or 10 min taxi (2 S$ when split 3 ways).	50 min SNCF train, if direct and no strikes. Cab is 40+ EUR.
To go to the main airport	40 min MRT or 30 min taxi (5 S$ split 3 ways)	Don't try to go to Roissy using public transportation. Cab is 60+ EUR.
Diving	Malaysia, Bali and Thailand have plenty of paradisiacal island. During opening week 30+ Insead participants take the Open Water course.	In the Channel or in the Seine?
Surfing	Bali: sunshine and perfect waves.	Lacanau. Have you ever surfed in Lacanau in February?
Trekking	Borneo and Bali volcanoes have gorgeous views and fantastic vegetation.	Alps.
Wake-boarding	Plenty of places within Singapore.	Seine?
Sunbathing and beaches	Bali, Phuket, Koh Samui, Pulau Tioman and many more are withing reach for the week-ends.	Bretagne and 'la plage a Paris'. Oops, this last one is only during the summer.
Construction	Not even one class was disturbed by the construction of new facilities. Most of the work is done at night and on week-ends.	Have you ever tried having a French worker work only on week-ends?
Strikes	What is a strike?	SNCF, RATP, Controleurs aeriens, Air France, EDF, ...
Drinking	Tiger Beer and fresh mango, guava, passion fruit or dragonfruit juices for S$2.	Champagne for 30 EUR.
Own birthday	If it's a bbq night, you can just dive in the Heritage pool with your clothes on.	?
Electives	No need to bid for electives	Will you have enough points?

Oh, and if that wasn't enough, check out this Deck that previous INSEAD students have prepared outlining 100 reasons why an MBA in Singapore rocks. How can you not be convinced? Try doing these things in Boston, Chicago, or Fonty.
Link to Deck
I'm definately convinced. And with a tax rate of only 15%, I might even consider living in Singapore after my MBA. Anybody want to offer me a job?

Big Problem

As the Stanley Cup playoffs approach, I keep thinking of a major issue I will encounter next year. HOW AM I GOING TO WATCH MY SENS?

Two problems:
a) Most games are at 7:30pm EST. That translates directly to 7:30AM Singapore time. Hopefully classes will start at 11 so I can watch my games :)
b) Apparently (god knows why) hockey that is played on ice is not very popular in Singapore, and thus not available on network television. So to watch my games I need to subscribe my parents to NHL Center ICE AND need to get a slingbox to stream those games on the internet, so I can watch them in a tiny window on my laptop in the comfort of my apartment in Singapore. oh and did i mention they can't change the channel to watch anything else while the game is on? lol... Sens better just win the cup this year, so I can forget about next year and not worry about having to watch them! GO SENS GO!
pffffffffffffft...as I write this, they just lost to Boston today...talk about a BAD OMEN!

Hmmmm Travel.....

Well it seems fellow INSEADers from previous years have been using the Singapore base to explore the wonders of South-East Asia. Therefore I thought it would only be appropriate for me to make a list of must-visit places during my Singapore stay.

Here is the list. Let's see how many I accomplish.
In no particular order:
1) Bali
2) Boracay (Phillipines)
3) Vietnam
4) Bangkok (OFTEN)
5) Koh Phi Phi
6) Koh Samui (full moon party)
7) Borneo
8) Cambodia (Angkor and PP)
9) Chiang Mai
10) Laos
11) Shanghai
12) HK
13) Xi'ian
14) KL (often)
15) Papua New Guinea (not likely)

Let me know if you think any other must sees are missing?

Singapoura

Looks like I have been admitted to the Singapore branch of INSEAD. For those that don't know, INSEAD has two locations: Fountainbleau (France), and Singapore. I selected Singapore since I prefer living in a city over a forrest. INSEAD students are encouraged to spend time on both campuses during the 1 year program.

The program is divided into 5 periods of 2 months each. You must spend the first 2 months in your home campus, but you can spend the other months wherever you want. I plan on spending P3 or P4 in France. P3 is usually when the major swap occurs.

So now that I know I'm starting in Singapore, I proceeded to look for roomates. Most reasonably priced acoms are 3 bedrooms. Through NetVestibule I found two people that seem quite cool. We decided we'll be getting a place together.

Doing lots of research, seems like acom near INSEAD is a mess. They are building a huge research park there, and there is limited acom available within walking distance. Two complexes make up all the housing in the area: Dover and Heritage View. Both used to be expensive, but now are super expensive due to high demand from expats and INSEAD students. So an apartment that used to cost 3000$S furnished just over a year ago has skyrocketed to 4900$S. AWESOME. Good news is though that the places looks amazing. They are basically resorts that include large pools, tennis courts, etc... Can't wait to live there. Here are some pics I found on the web:

Netvestibule

So when you get admitted, after a couple of days they send you a login for the online area where students and former alumni can get each other's contact information, and share information. First time you login you enter all your contact information as well as info about your job, etc...

Lastly they want you to post a picture. They recommend a passport picture, but while browsing through the site you can see all kinds of pictures. Seems a bit of an indicator of the person's personality. I must admit, I'm somewhat guilty of going through my class and playing the who's hot and who's not game...lol. First observation...not too many women. Its like Eng all over again.. Seems like all the Americans look like the frat type. Western Europeans seem to have entertaining pictures. Most of the Asians seem to have the standard asian pose...you know..the suit, looking straight at the camera...no smile. The Latin Americans all look super happy and stylish. Anyways after wasting a few hours going through the liost of students it seems my class is a good mix of nationalities, with a good mix of picture types. Should be a fun year.

Anyhow I seem to have found a picture that fits all stereotypes. Its a straightshot (asian), smile (latin american), having fun/fun plcae (western european)..and well since I'm Canadian, I guess it fits that group as well.

INSEAD - A new Journey

Well the letter has come, and good news! I got into INSEAD. This was my first choice MBA school, over other schools I applied to including Columbia, LBS, Kellog, and Chicago. People may wonder why I chose INSEAD instead of some of the more reputable schools in the United States. Well it comes down to a few things. INSEAD is globally recognized, whereas most US schools are not. The only ones that are in my opinion are: LBS, Columbia, Chicago GSB, Harvard, Wharton, Stanford. In fact in the FT rankings this year, those are the only schools that finished ahead of INSEAD. INSEAD also ranks well in topmba rankings, which break out MBA programs by specialty.
The US rankings are all in my opinion useless, since they hold information based on US centric recruiters and do not take into account biases by recruiters based in the US that may have gone to US schools. Anyways enough about that, and my rant about ratings. In my opinion, and in the opinion of most recruiters (which is indicated by salary out of MBA) INSEAD is a top 10 school in the world. Where it ranks in the top 10 is subject to your location and your employer.

Anyways back to the main reason for choosing INSEAD.
1) Name
2) ROI
3) International -> Contacts and Students

Why ROI? You say you can make more money coming out of Harvard, Wharton, Stanford? Well first of all that's debatable, as INSEAD's starting salary of 120,000$ is close to the others. The second point you have to consider is the opportunity cost lost due to a 2 year program as well as the additional tuition fees associated with a 2 year program.

Let's compare:
INSEAD
Tuition - 60000$/year
Living Expenses - 40000$/year
Lost salary - 90000$/year
Total cost - 190000$

Harvard
Tuition - 40000$/year * 2 - 80000$
Living Expenses - 40k/year * 2 = 80000$
Lost Salary - 90k/year + 120k/year (after MBA) = 210000$ - 20k internship = 190000$
Total Cost - 350000$

The difference is about 160000$ or more than one year of your new salary. Lets analyze this a bit further. Even if you were making 30000$ less per year than a Harvard grad (and you won't), you would require over 5 years to make up the difference. And that's assuming the INSEAD grad doesn't get a promotion before you do, because he/she has a 1 year head start on you.

So really the decision becomes a no brainer. And they tell me smart MBAs go to Harvard. Well apparently they are not THAT smart. Also INSEAD's GMAT average above 705 is one of the highest entrance MBA GMAT score required.

Insead is also the most globally diverse school with students from over 70 countries, with no country representing more than 14% of the overall student body. No other school matches that, or even comes close. Oh and INSEAD requires you to know 2 languages well enough for doing business, and requires you to learn a third by the end of your period at INSEAD.

btw did I mention it is in beautiful Singapore? Oh and I can do time in France as well. And 2 months at Wharton if I really want through an exchange program.

Anyways I'm really excited!