Yariv Hammer's MBA Site

HBS Wharton and Stanford Published 2009-2010 Applications

2009-06-19T13:09:00.006+03:00

Harvard Business School, Wharton, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Northwestern Kellogg, and Chicago Booth published their application deadlines. As expected Round 1 will be in October 2009, Round 2 in January 2010, and Round 3 in March 2010.
Full MBA Admissions Calendar

The top US business schools have also published their 2009-2010 essays. Wharton and MIT Sloan changed some of the essays significantly. Other business schools had minor changes in some of the essays. Recommendation questions had not changed at all in most of the schools.
Full List of MBA Essays and Recommendation Questions

I will keep updating on a weekly bases.

Free Consulting Session with me (follow the simple instructions on the page)

If you find any mistake please let me know via my email

Start Working on Your Application Early

2009-04-25T17:26:00.006+03:00

The first round of application is on October, and although business schools have not yet published the deadlines and essay topics for this year, you should definitely think about starting to work on your application even now, 5 months earlier, especially if you intend to create more than one application (which is highly recommended).

But what can you do until the essays are published?

Actually quite a lot. The planning of your application can be started right away. This stage include research of business schools, startegy definition, and topic selection for general essays.
(free consulting session)

After you have a clear strategy, you can then start writing drafts of essays. There are two strategies you can take: writing essays based on the 2008 essay questions, or you can work on a generic application.

The Generic Application
I did a full analysis of the 2008 essay questions, and basically there are 5 essay questions that appear frequently (with wording variations): Career Goals + Why MBA, Achievements, Personal Characteristics (Leadership / Team play), Failure, Contribution to school

You can work on any of the essays, keeping in mind your business school selection. The school specific questions you may leave for last. When the actual essay questions are published, you are guaranteed to have at least half of the work done, and all you will have left to do is tailor the essays for each of the schools, and answer any specific essay questions that was left unanswered.

Here is a full version of the generic 5 essay questions. All question were specially hand picked from actual applications. The reason for choosing the exact phrasing used here, is that answering these questions will be the easiest to tailor to more specific essay quesions:

Career Goals+Why MBA: Describe your career progress to date, including your current job, and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from ??? to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program?

Contribution to school: What will you be able to contribute that would make you a unique and valuable addition to the ??? MBA class?

Achievements: What are your two-three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such?

Failure: Describe a setback or a failure that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself?

Strengths and Weaknesses (leadership+teamplay): Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. Where in your background would we find evidence of your leadership capacity and/or potential?

Generic Recommendations
Same method applies for recommendations as well. There are 5 basic generic recommendation questions: Context, Strengths, Weaknesses/Feedback, Interpersonal Skills, Leadership Potential. Once you work with your recommenders on those 5 questions, your referee will have little work to adapt the answers to the specific questions of your application.

Context of relationship: Please comment on the context of your interaction with the applicant. How long have you known the applicant and in what connection? If applicable, briefly describe the applicant's role in your organization. What is your overall impression of the applicant?

Strengths/Ranking/Impact: What do you consider to be the candidate's major strengths? How would you rank this applicant compared to his/her peer group? How is the candidate’s impact on your organization different from that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles?

Interpersonal Skills: Describe the candidate as a person. Comment on his/her ability to establish and maintain relationships, sensitivity to others, self-confidence, attitude etc. Specifically comment on the candidate's behavior or skills in a group setting/team environment

Weaknesses/Feedback: Please describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant's response. What do you consider to be the applicant’s major weaknesses or areas for improvement?

Leadership Potential: Comment on the candidate's potential for senior management? Do you see him/her as a future leader? What will this individual be doing in 10 years? Why? How will the MBA degree contribute to the candidate’s career development?

Schedule a Free Consulting Session with IMPACTMBA, and we can start working on the strategy and generic application.

US News 2009 MBA Rankings Published

2009-04-25T16:46:00.003+03:00

US News published the annual 2009 rankings. You can find all the 2009 rankings (including US News, Financial Times, and Business Week) at IMPACTMBA Rankings page.

There were no significant changes from last year. Top 3 programs remain HBS, Wharton and Stanford. Kellogg, Chicago Booth and MIT Sloan complete the top 6, while Columbia is down to #9. Completing the top 10 are Berkeley, Yale, and Tuck. NYU Stern is missing from the Top 10 this year.

US News ranks only American business schools, thus LBS, INSEAD, and other European programs are missing from the list.

Interestingly, US News provides Ranking by Specialties. Again, no significant changes from last year. Most surprising is the Finance rankings: Wharton, Chicago Booth, and NYU remain the top 3, however MIT Sloan and Stanford climbed to #4 and #5 respectively.
Marketing: Kellogg, Wharton, Duke
General Management: Harvard, Stanford, Kellogg
Entrepreneurship: Babson, Stanford, Harvard
Operations: MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford
Executive MBA: Kellogg, Wharton, Chicago Booth.

New MBA Rankings 2009 - The Year For Top European Programs

2009-04-12T00:17:00.007+03:00

Financial Times and Business Week both published recently their new 2009 MBA Rankings.
A summary of all rankings you can find in my Rankings page at http://www.impactmba.com/rankings.htm

Traditionally, the top 3 US Programs are Wharton, Harvard, and Stanford. 4 other programs make up the Tier 1 US Schools: MIT Sloan, Kellogg, Chicago Booth, and Columbia. NYU, Tuck, Yale, Michigan, Duke, and Berekley are the strong Tier 2 B-Schools. In Europe there are 3 top tier MBA programs - LBS, INSEAD, and IMD.

Looking at the 2009 ranking, the programs listed above remain the top 10 programs. However some other MBA schools, especially from Asia, climbed up to become top tier. There is a definite trend of improvement in the European and Asian business school to become on par with the US programs.

The key takeaways:

Definitely the year for top European programs. London Business School is ranked #1 in Financial Times. INSEAD up to #5.
5 Asian programs in the FT top 20.
7 European programs in the FT top 20. Spain is becoming a center of business schools in Europe with 3 universities on the FT Top 20. UK also with 3 programs in the top 20.
6 US MBA programs in the FT top 10, and 9 in the Top 20.

Financial Times
The top 10 US MBA Programs are: Wharton, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern, Chicago Booth, Dartmouth Tuck, Yale, Kellogg

Top 5 European MBA Programs: London Business School, INSEAD, IE Business School, IESE, IMD

Top 5 Asian MBA Program: INSEAD, Ceibs, Indian School of Business, Hong Kong UST, Nanyang

Alumni recommendation (one of my favorite categories, which correlates well with prestige): Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Kellogg, LBS, INSEAD, Chicago Booth, Columbia, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern

My insights:
- The list above seems reasonable. I believe that the list indeed contains the top programs in each region.
- The trend of globalization is in full motion - only 9 American MBA programs in the top 20 (6 in the top 10) implies that no longer studying in the US Ivy league is as important as it used to be.
- The #1 school is joint between Wharton and London Business School. Pretty amazing!
- Schools on consistent up trend (3 years) - LBS, INSEAD
- Schools on consistent down trend - Columbia, Stanford, Chicago Booth, Yale

I want to examine some of the key parameters, and list the top 10 schools in each of them:
Salary: Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Tuck, Ceibs, IMD, Chicago Booth, Indian Business School.
Salary Increase: Ceibs, IE, Indian, ESADE, IESE, Yale, NYU Stern, Columbia, Nanyang, Hong Kong
Value for money: IMD, INSEAD, Cambridge Judge, Oxford Said (one year programs are better value-for-money according to FT)

Business Week
BW gives a slightly different view. First, there is no direct comparison between US based MBA programs, and European ones.

Top 10 US Programs: Chicago Booth, HBS, Kellogg, Wharton, Michigan Ross, Stanford, Columbia, Duke Fuqua, MIT Sloan, Berekley Haas.

Top 5 European Programs: IE, INSEAD, LBS, ESADE, IMD

Top 3 Canadian Programs: Queens, Werstern Ontario (Ivey), Toronto Rotman

Business Week also ranks EMBA programs. Top 10: Northwestern, Wharton, Chaicago, Michigan, USC, Columbia, Emory, UCLA, Duke, UNC.

US News
Based on 2008 rankings, US News provides data only on American MBA programs. They do a ranking per specialty.

Finance: Wharton, Chicago Booth, NYU Stern, Columbia, Stanford. I would add LBS to this list.
Marketing: Kellogg, Wharton, Duke, Harvard, Stanford. I would add INSEAD.
General Management: Harvard, Stanford, Kellogg, Michigan, Wharton. I would add LBS and INSEAD to the list.
Entreprenuership: Babson, Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, MIT Sloan. INSEAD would be ranked first or second.

Visit my new website IMPACTMBA

IMPACT MBA Launch

2009-03-24T09:36:00.009+02:00

After several months of work, I am proud to announce the launch of my new MBA Admissions Consulting Services company - IMPACTMBA.
http://www.impactmba.com/

Until now we operated under a different name, and we have already helped several candidates in their application. I am proud that our success rate so far has been 100%.

At IMPACTMBA we are offering an affordable and transparent service, based on pre-defined packages, and fixed price model (unlike other similar services, we do not charge by the hour/minute). Our services are based on unique methodologies that we have developed based on our experience, to offer an effective and responsive service. Last, but as important, we offer a friendly service, with a personal touch, as we are in this business because we enjoy helping candidates from all over the world succeed in being admitted to top MBA program, just as we had succeeded several years ago.

Please visit our website, to find all the information in details and learn more about our services, packages, fees, and methodologies. You will be able to book a free Introductory Meeting or Phonecall.

We can help you create an impactful application for any MBA program in the world. Especially, for INSEAD candidates we have special offers.

Please provide me with any feedback, and I hope that you will choose IMPACTMBA.

Yariv Hammer

New MBA Admissions Consulting Service

2008-11-07T12:17:00.005+02:00

As many of you requested, I will now be offering a professional MBA Admissions Consulting Services. Over the past year I have already assisted many of you with your journey towards a top MBA program. If you read through my blog, you should have realized that applying to your dream MBA program will require a very complex application.

Please visit our new website at www.hmr.co.il/mba

We will simplify the process for you, provide you with all the candid feedback that you require, and be with you every step of the way. Our services include:

General extensive guidance on the entire MBA experience, the application process, the GMAT, etc.
Selecting the business schools, scheduling time line, and defining your most appropriate application strategy.
Targeted structure of the application for each business school, including selections of topics for the essays, structuring each essay, etc.
Selecting the recommenders, and structuring the recommendations.Essays and other written material reviews.
Interview preparation.

So if you want to study an MBA in a Top Tier business school; If you want an international experience that will last for your entire life; If you want to have your dream job in just one or two years – don’t hesitate to schedule your free of charge Introductory Meeting/Phone-call with us today!

To receive more information, please contact us at our Email address.

My MBA Admissions Guide

2008-03-26T18:53:00.006+02:00

Here are my posts regarding MBA admissions.
I felt it was appropriate to have it all in one post. If you browse in my blog you will find other information about the preparation for the business school once you are in, and some of my INSEAD experience. Good luck.
Please remember that I am an MBA student and not an admissions professional, therefore everything in this site is based on my experience. You should probably talk to other people before doing anything.
These days I am too busy job searching to write in my blog, but soon as time frees up I will continue writing about the amazing experience in INSEAD.

Do You Really Want an MBA?
The MBA Admission Process
The GMAT
The TOEFL
Choosing a School
MBA Rankings 2007
Planning the application
Building Your Strategy
The Recommendations
Writing the Essays
Finalizing the Application
The Interview

My Interviews
My Yale SOM Interview
My London Business School Interview
My INSEAD Interviews
My MIT Sloan Interview
My Oxford Phone Interview
My NYU Stern Interview (That didn't take place)

Being on the Waitlist

And finally
Why Did I Choose INSEAD Over MIT And Oxford...

High-Tech and Consulting Clubs

2008-01-18T21:54:00.000+02:00

As P3 started, and we are now the senior promotion on campus, we took over all the clubs. Since I have more time now I am actively involved in the High Tech Club and the Consulting Club, two industries that I might seek a career in after the MBA. I was struck by how much the students shape the clubs. It is all a matter of how students wish to contribute from their precious time and their experience.

The High Tech Club is growing. I imagine that 10-20% of the students will end up in a high tech company or consulting to this sector (a third of the students will end up in Industry, so at least a third of that will work in High Tech). We cover the wide range of sectors within the high tech industry, including telecom, computers, software, IT, electronics, equipment, consulting and startups. We ran a poll in P2 to check which are the top 20 companies which INSEADers would like to see on campus. We will try to maintain contacts with those companies in the future. In addition we are planning an industry panel in P4, and an industry trek to Dublin in one of the breaks. We are working on a focused CV book dedicated to those who are interested in High Tech. In P2, when we had to submit our CVs to the INSEAD CV Book, we had a session in which all the members of the clubs gave feedbacks to one another, in order to optimize the CVs. So, a wide variety of activities which will be extended in the future.

The Consulting Club is a much more established club, as almost all students are interested somewhat in that industry. INSEAD is a well-known school for consultants, and the consulting firms have a strong relation with the INSEAD Consulting Club and the Career Services. The club brings speakers from the top consulting firms, organize mock interviews for students, maintain contacts with consulting firms and alumni, and much more.

I took it on myself to help creating the websites for those clubs which will be up and running soon hopefully. Also I help to organize a mock case interview session in P3, in order to help us practice for the most infamous case interviews that we all fear so much these days. I will surely get involved in other projects as P3 continues.

The clubs are an important part of student life, and can help engage in leadership activities. So far it was a pleasure to be part of those clubs, and I will report later (hopefully) how are things shaping.

P3 - Changes

2008-01-18T18:14:00.000+02:00

We ended the second week of p3. The campus looks completely different. A new promotion has just started, and the campus is full with unfamiliar faces. Also our promotions changed a lot as 180 of our friends moved to Singapore, and 100 came here.

On the one hand, it is good to meet new people
and it makes things here more intersting. On the other hand several friends went to Singapore, so we surely miss them, and we did not get a lot of time to spend with them. That's the price of a short program on a two campus university.

Also, elective season started. After doing some shopping on the first days, everyone selected the most interesting courses for them. This period is extremely interesting and the workload is significantly lower, so I actually find time to engage in other activities, such as clubs and job search.

And some pics from the break - on the menu was a skiing trip with 80 of INSEAD community to Meribel in the 3-Valles, a trip to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Bruges, and new year's eve in Paris.

P2 Ended - Go P3

2007-12-24T19:13:00.000+02:00

P2 is over. 4 month have passed so fast, in a blink of an eye. Now I have some time to tell you about some of the important things you need to know from a p2 perspective,

We studied 6 core courses in p2, still in the same sections and study groups as in p1. This was a very busy period, and academics took most of our lives.

Corporate Finance Policy (aka Finance 2)
We had a brilliant professor, who taught us (almost) all about options and corporate finance. This was the class to see many paniced faces who had no idea what's going on in class. The professor was so good, that there were no compaints - everybody understood that it's their own damn fault that they don't understand what in god's name is the difference between a short put and a long forward, and between tender offers and right issues. Lucky for us in almost all study groups there was one finance guru who solved the problem sets (or at least we could take the answers from the finance guru of other study group, and reverse engineer the answers). The exam was super difficult - the professor had a vision of 50 average with 25 points standard diviation (so all you need to pass the exam was show up).

Managerial Accounting (Harvard Style)
This course deals with analyzing costs of things, and how to better plan the budgets of corporation. The professor was very much influenced by the case method of HBS, and in every class he intimidated another poor student into spilling the content of the latest case of another failed company somewhere in Argentina or Sweden. The course was quite good, and we even touched some of the more juicy stories of businesses from previous years like the Enron energy fiasco, and Ford's failure to deal with excess capacity.

Processes and Operations Management (POM POM POM)
6-sigma? Queues? Inverntory Management? All of these were taught in an entertaining way, using fun cases like Zara, Shloldice Hospital (for hernias), Ralph Laurence, Xenon and others. The course is built around the smart book "The Goal" (a nice read). We even shot ping pong balls using an XPult catapult (to test its quality).

Strategy (Camel Comedy Club)
Strategy is a pretty abstract term. In order to teach it you must be a very skillful professor. We had one: a very funny and original guy, who gave us the framework to think in a strategic way. 90 minutes of laughter. He used the Cirque de Soleil as an example to Blue Ocean Strategy (an INSEAD invention), the italian mafia (from godfather) as a family business who wants to expand to pharma (should it go to a JV with the other mafia and share resources?), Formula 1 (to explain how to be a center of a business), and the music industry (as an example for industry evolution). In addition we used cases for easyGroup, Apple, Dell, and many more. A fun fun course and I truely learnt a lot. Unfortunately, the Teva case was cancelled (which was the only Israeli company in the menu of p1 and p2).

Foundation of Marketing (or how to market a small grocery store in London, Canada)
This course was not as successful as the others, although we did cover a lot of topics, such as advertisement (using Virgin histerical commercial, and Intel Inside evolution of commercial), branding (using Black&Decker and Wal Mart), and others. For an assignment we had to do a marketing strategy to Jill's Table, a high end grocery store in the middle of London, Ontario (mmm, very large international scale as appropriate to INSEAD). The exam was about the Chinese Li Ning sportsware company, who had to build a brand competing against Adidas and Nike.

Leading Organization (aka LO)
Better than LPG from p1, this course gave us the foundations to think about organizations in 3 percpectives: Strategic Design, Culture, and Political. We did several simulations, last one was a computer simulation in which we had to convince an entire organization to implement a significant change. The most controvercial moment in class was the debate about Milgram's experiment, in which a person had to ask questions another person, and to punish the latter for a failed answer (to teach us about misuse of power). We had a most dreadful group exam, in which for 4 hours we had to write a 22 pages (!!!) paper about a company with problems.

Summary
It was busy, but we learnt a lot about business, less quantitative more qualitative, and many many Harvard cases.

A Trip to Reims in Champagne

2007-12-04T23:03:00.000+02:00

I took time-off from studying hard in p2, and went with my wife Inna, and a couple of friends, Carolina and Patricio, to Champagne.

We went on a Saturday by car. Using toll roads it is about 2 hours drive to Reims, and the toll is about 10 euros one way. We drove back the same evening.

Since it was Saturday we could only find one Champagne Cave (a winery) openned, Pommery, and we reserved a place on Friday. There are English tours at 12:00 and at 14:45. On

weekdays there are plenty of Champagne caves around.

Pommery is the oldest winery in Champagne, since the 19th century, and it the second largest in terms of market share. Madam Pommery inheritted the estate from her husband, and immedietly started to expand. She bought the area, and apperantely there were Roman pyramid-shaped caves. She dug tunnels between those pyramid to form an 18 km cellers underground. This place is amazing! In the caves there are huge carvings done by artists.

At the end of the tour we got a glass of champagne each. There are several options: 10 Euros for the simple traditional champagne. 12 Euros for the more sophisticated one. 15 Euros for 2 glasses of your choice. 17 Euros for the best quality champagne. All prices include the tour.

This is December, and in Reims there is a beautiful Christmas market, near the impressive gothic church that reminded us of Notre-Dam in Paris. From christmas decoration, to all sorts of food, this rich market was a nice way to spend our Saturday evening. I even found Krembo (an Israeli invention of creme and choclate, apperantly improved by the French) - the best Krembo I ate in my life. We ate Chorus and marrons - it was awesome.

In the area you can also go to Epernay (someone told me that except for some more caves nothing much to see), and Chalons which is the capital. We passed.

Campus Exchange

2007-12-01T02:06:00.000+02:00

As you probably know INSEAD has campuses in France and in Singapore. When you get into a campus you have to stay there for P1 and P2. But in P3/4/5 you are free to fransfer between campuses. Also in P4 there is the option to go to Wharton in Philadelphia.

Singapore Exchange

80% of the July promotion (at least those who start at Fonty) want to go for P3 to Singapore, for several reasons: the French winter (vs. The Asian sun), in P4 the recruiting process start so they want to be at Fonty, many wanted in the first place to spend several periods in Asia, and maybe more.

The other direction is non-significant. Students from Singapore want to come to Fonty probably in P4. This result in a massive movement to Singapore. Fonty will probably be empty in P3.

Now, there are limited spaces in each campus (around 260), and the demand is high. So INSEAD asks each student to tell where they want to be in each period, and then select people randomly. Those who registered but did not get in are on the waitlist. In the next month or so people waiver their opportunity to go to Singapore, so almost all the waitlist can also go to Singapore.

Those who go to Singapore will have to find a solution for their appartments in Fonty. Some will simply replace appartments with students who come from Singapore to Fonty. But most has to either continue pay the rent or leave their appartments.

Then there is the accomodation in Singapore. The landlords over there knows exactly how to take advantage of the situation and charge very high prices (for example 1200 Euro/Month for a room). Since there are so many people coming to Singapore in P3 there is a big demand and the price goes through the roof. There are two apartments buildings (Heritage and something else) which are more expensive. However, all the other appartments are far away, and you will need public transportaion.

Wharton

There are 20 places on the list of MBAs who want to Wharton. For this previlege students must bid points from their elective banks. The lucky ones gets to spend p4 in philadelphia. The number of points deducted from their elective choice in p5 is the points bid by the last person to get in the list.

While in Wharton, students from INSEAD who exchange with Wharton are regular students for the period of 2 month, and they have access to all the facilities and networks as Wharton students. The courses, however, are not as good as p4 at INSEAD, because most of the courses at Wharton are for regular semester, so finding courses only for half a semester is limited.

With regard to emloyment, for the July promotion p4 in USA is off season. So there is not much recruitment going on in the campus.

Still, several students each year bid for the place in Wharton.

Summary
The past month there was an intensive hunt for appartments in Singapore, many people from the waitlist tried to convince people who are not certain to remove themselves from the list, and planning the 2 month vacation is Asia. They probably forgot how intense INSEAD can be.

I will remain your loyal reporter of the life here at Fontainebleau.

INSEAD Auction and the Electives

2007-12-01T01:14:00.000+02:00

In the past month we had to bid for both the campus exchange and the p3 electives. Since this is unique I figured it is worth some explanations.

The system works like this: Each student gets 200 points. Each period the students bid points for the electives that they want to take next period. Since some of the electives are too popular, not all students can take them. So out of all the points that remained from previous periods, each student divide them between the courses they want to take (giving most points to the electives they want the most - strategy, strategy).

If a course is not full, no points are deducted. However, if the course is full each student that bid high get in. The number of points deducted for all the students is according to the last student to get in. For example: If there are 100 places, and the 100th student bid 20 points, all the 100 students are deducted 20 points (even if they bid higher). Sometimes though, INSEAD opens a new section if there is a high demand (not guaranteed).

The auction is done per campus. Most classes are given in both campuses. They provide us with all the information about the syllabuses, requirements, and faculty (including rankings of the professors in previous periods - a grade above 4 is considered good).

The 200 points are cummulative throughout the program. If a student is deducted 50 points in the P3 bidding, he will only have 150 points in P4.

In the first week of P3 the students are allowed to drop and add electives as they choose (if there are available places). If the class is full, dropping from a course will result in someone from the waitlist getting in (dropping the course gives you the bidding points back). There is also the possibility to audit a course (meaning to sit in class but not get credit) - if the professor allows it.

Why did INSEAD impose such a complicated system is beyond me, but these are the rules, and we must play accordingly, right?

The P3 Electives
There are 6 groups of electives in the program: Finance, Accounting, Strategy, Marketing, Technology & Operations, and Entrepreneurship. There are also electives in Organizational Behaviour (OB) and Economics.

Most electives are 1 credit, but there are also mini ones for half a credit (and only 8 sessions). In the program you can take 10.5-12.5 elective credits (and you must attend minimum of 2 credits in P5 - meaning that you have to be at INSEAD in that period). More then 12.5 you must pay extra.

There are tons of electives - mostly in P5 - and choosing is hard. In P3 it is recommended to take 3.5 credits. There are also 2 core courses.

Here is a list of some of the electives offered (not all of them):

Finance - If you want a finance career, it is recommended that you take all the finance courses. However, for the numbers-handicaped of us, it is recommended to take two basic courses: Applied Corporate Finance (the cases course, given both in P3 and P4), and Investements (mini, only in P3). International Financial Management is the third course offered.

Entrepreneurship - In P3 INSEAD offers Corporate Entrepreneurship in Fonty, and Business Models in Singapore (no symmetry). Also you can take a project in the industry (Entrepreneurshial Field Study).

Marketing - In P3 or P4 you should take Marketing Driving Strategies, which involves simulations and is supposed to be great.

Strategy - A popular course is given in P3, M&As, Alliances and Corporate Strategy (taught in Fonty by an Israeli professor).

Technology and Operations: The second course (after the core course) is Strategies for Product and Service Development. There are two mini course called Leveraging IT Opportunities and Trends - Part I/II which are given in P3 and P4 respectively (different courses not related).

One last course that I want to describe here is the Negotiations course which is supposed to be great in Singapore (and hopefully in Fontainebleau too).

P2 Academic Overview

2007-12-01T00:38:00.000+02:00

P2 was definitely busier than P1. You might have wondered where I disappeared in the past couple of weeks. But no worries - I am still here (tired but breathing), writing to you about all the stuff that you need to know about INSEAD, the greatest business school in the Fontainebleau area (and the world).

So what did we have in this period: More courses, less time, more team assignments, less time, more CV preparation, less time, more stress, well you get the picture...

We study 6 courses this period, but 5 of them are only 12 sessions (Foundation of Marketing is the only one with 16). All of the courses together give a much clearer view of the business world.

We do a lot of cases (some from Harvard, some from IMD, and some - yes - from INSEAD). So I got to intimately know various companies so far. Let me name the most well known: Coca Cola, Pepsico, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Black&Decker, IKEA, IBM, Dell, Apple, Cirque de Soleil, Nintendo, easyJet, American Airlines, Zara, Marks&Spencer, Ralph-Lauren, and the list goes on and on.

We learnt how to analyze business problems with relation to cost measurements, allocation and control; marketing and branding; option pricing; process and bottleneck problems, to name a few.

INSEAD had a very big impact on strategy with the invention of "Blue Ocean Strategy", and you might want to read the book about it (with the same name). For this achievement the Strategy department here at INSEAD is very strong, and the course of Strategy is taught seperately from the Marketing course.

In the Processes and Operations course we had read the book "The Goal" by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt (an Israeli!), which is written as an easy-reading and demonstrates the constraints theory very effectively. I recommend the book (you will probably have to read it anyhow if you study an MBA), and I enjoyed it very much (it didn't take long to read).

I must say that in most of the courses the level of teaching and the material is at a very high level, and the classes are taught in a interesting and inspiring ways. The professors make tremendous efforts to deliver the material in a fun and effective way (Some of the classes we laugh so hard that you might think it is a stand-up comedy show).

However, we have a large amounts of readings, and some of the professors use the cold-calling method. Especially in the Managerial Accounting course, in which we have a professor from HBS, who use the case method devoutly. The case method means in practice that for each class you must read a story about a company, and analyse several exhibits in order to answer several questions regarding an issue. Then the class is more of a discussion fascilitated by the professor. The method has proven itself in my eyes as effective, though very strict.

Once the period is over I will give a more thorough review of the different courses, so you will know in advance what to look for.

A Trip to Loire Valley

2007-11-03T16:23:00.000+02:00

On P1/P2 break I went on a two days trip to Loire Valley with my partner Inna. Loire Valley is an area in France located on both sides of the Loire river, and is rich with Castles, Chateaus and interesting cities.

The capital is Orlean, a city located 1 and a half hour drive from Fontainebleau. Unfortunately there is not much to see there, and another hour drive brought us to Chambord, the biggest castle in the area. It is truely magnificant, and the rich architecture of the roofs and terraces is impressive. There is a very interesting stare case with two parrallel starecases allowing two persons to go up without meeting. Leonardo De Vinci was involved in the engineering of the castle.

From there we went to Chambray castle (20 minutes drive), not very exciting.

Then we went to Blois (pernounces- blua), a city of medivial ages, a very impressive view from the other side of the Loire. A line of gray roofs, with several large castles and cathedrals, very dense on the mountain side. The Chateau is from 4 different architecture styles - Reinnesance, Gothic, and others. We walked on stairs that looks a lot like Piaza Espania in Rome, and in the couple of streets full of stores and pasteries.

The next stop was Embois, another small town, with a medivial style Chateau, near the Leonardo De Vinci museum. Again it was nice to walk for half an hour in the European Village style streets of this town.

The last stop of the day, and where we spent the night, is Tours, a large city located 3 and a half hours drive from Fontainebleau. They have a Gothis cathedral in the center of town (a small version of Notre-Dam in Paris?). It was a perfect location for next days' trip.

The next day we started with Azay Le Rideau Chateau, 20 minutes further from Tours. This Chateau is a small but impressive one, located on an artificial small lake, giving a reflection in the water. There is a small garden. Very nice. We came at 11:45 so only the gardens were open for a discounted price. It was sunday and there was a flee market out side the Chateau.

Next we started going back, visiting Villandry gardens. These are probably the largest and richest gardens in the Loire. Different shapes and colors, walking around different vegetables and fruits and a big artificial lakes and tunnels. You can walk up to the forest for a view of the entire area.

We ended the trip by visiting Chenonceaux castle. This is the most touristic attraction, and you can tell from the moment you enter the place. This chateau is the most impressive from the inside (although surprisingly small). It is located literally on the river, with several arcs holding it like a bridge. Pitty that the line of water is low. The gardens are nothing like Villandry but worth a visit. They have an old farm and a winary (the whole Loire is filled with winaries).

A little tip about the cost: Each chateau cost 7 to 10 euros per persons, sometimes there are discounts for students, or for persons below 25 years of age. Fuel (diesel) cost around 40 euros. And the hotel cost 35-100 Euros per night (search the web). You might want to sleep in Embois or Blois instead of Tours, or look for a small place on the way.

And a word about the roads in France: The highways cost money (probably 30-40 euros for the entire trip). Otherwise, N152 (I think) takes you all the way to Tours. It's partly yellow and partly red, but most of the ride is in one lane, and you can get stuck behind a slow car for half an hour. But the road is pretty, so there is an upside. Once you get near a chateau there are good way signs.

What Has Changed in the MBA World

2007-11-02T20:02:00.000+02:00

Financial Times has posted the annual MBA ranking. Being the most international ranking there is, I used this ranking a lot when deciding which program to attend.
http://rankings.ft.com/global-mba-rankings

Global Perspective
Top 10 USA schools according to this ranking (place last year in the brackets)
1. Wharton (1)
2. Columbia (4) - surprised here?
3. Stanford (3)
3. Harvard (2)
6. Chicago GSB (6)
8. NYU Stern (7)
9. Tuck (8)
10. Yale (11)
14. MIT Sloan (10)
17. UCLA Anderson (19)

Top 10 European Schools
5. LBS, UK (5)
7. INSEAD, France/Singapore (8)
11. IE Business School, Spain (-)
13. IMD, Switzerland (14)
15. Cambridge Judge, UK (35)
16. IESE, Spain (13)
18. HEC Paris, France (22)
19. Oxford Said, UK (20)
22. Manchester Business School, UK (22)
24. Esade, Spain

An up trend for European school. Also important is Ceibs from China #11 this year.

Personal Perspective
INSEAD is ranked 7th in the world, up from #8 last year. MIT Sloan - the other business school I was admitted to is down - #14 this year, a fall from #10 last year. Did I do the right decision here? It seems so.

My third business school was Oxford - up 1 place in #19 in the world. Cambridge (the strong competition) is #15.

I was on the waitlist of London Business School, still at #5 and the best European school according to this ranking. But it is not that clear that it is a better choice than INSEAD as I will show next.

INSEAD - A Further Look
Ok, so INSEAD is up to #7. What other things can we tell from this ranking?
Employment
Weighted Salary for INSEAD students is 140K$. 2nd in Europe - IMD is first with 153K$. LBS only third with 135K$. Oxford is not legging behind with 128K$.
Top salaries are for graduates from Stanford (168K$), Cape Town (What? 163K$), Wharton (160K$), and HBS (157K$).

Salary Increase - For LBS it's 122%, INSEAD only 94% (poor us).
You wanna get an increase? Go to Ceibs (159%), Yale (151%), or IE (149%).

Will you get a job after the MBA? According to FT you have a chance of 90% if you graduate from INSEAD - pretty low comparing to all the others. LBS is 96%.

School
INSEAD is the #6 international school. LBS is only 10. The other top 10 schools are no where to be seen. Do you want an international perspective? Come to INSEAD.

Value for money - INSEAD is the 2nd school among the Top 20 schools, only IMD is above. Oxford not too far behind. LBS is one of the most expensive schools and the worst in the world in that category. Being a one year program pays off.

Reputation - Alumni were asked to rate the schools based on whether they will recruit MBAs from that school. LBS is #5 and INSEAD #6. This is a pretty important category so here is the top 10:
1. Wharton
2. HBS
3. Stanford
4. Kellogg
5. LBS
6. INSEAD
7. Chicago GSB
8. Columbia
9. MIT Sloan
10. Ross
Next 10: NYU, Tuck, Duke, Darden, UCLA, Berkeley, IMD, Toronto, Iese, Kenan-Flagler.

Is this the true ranking? From inspecting the results it might as well be. The American schools are sorted pretty much as I would expect, and also the European schools. Less surprising than the real FT ranking.

Summary
It seems that INSEAD is a top 10 school again this year in all categories, an excellent value for money, with great employment future and an international exposure.

Last, I did my own ranking based on the criteria I find most important (I know that's weird but it made sense to me): Alumni recommendation-reputation (30%), salary(30%), chance of employment(10%), international(10%) and value(20%).

Here are the results:
1. INSEAD
2. IMD
3. MIT Sloan
4. Wharton
5. Kellogg
6. LBS
7. Cranfield (Uk)
8. HBS
9. Stanford
10. Tuck
11. Oxford
12. UCLA
13. Capetown (South Africa)
14. Chicago GSB
15. Ceibs (China)
16. Columbia
17. IE (Spain)
18. Erasmus (Netherland)
19. Iese
20. North Carolina

Told you that INSEAD is number 1 :) .

(I swear that I did not arrange it so INSEAD would be #1. I just picked the most important criteria and put it in Excel. Amazingly INSEAD is the best pick.)

How To Do 5 Exams in 3 Days And Stay Sane

2007-10-25T14:06:00.000+02:00

In the previous days we had the final exams. The way that INSEAD organizes it is to put all the exams in 3 days, and let you go for a 4 days vacation. They keep you studying and submitting group assignments until the last minute, so you only have the weekend to study.

Preparation
First of all, you must be on top of things throughout the period. Otherwise it will be difficult to study everything in a few hours.
Most of the courses are closed book, one A4 sheet allowed, so everybody spent their weekend in preparing Cheat Sheets (I have no idea why they call it that way - it is completely legit). Those are word documents in a 5 sized font, with all the material of the course packed in it. (completely worthless in real time).
We got several exams from previous promotions, so we had little time to solve them all.
Basically it is 3 days of studying all day long.

The Exams Themselves
In order to do 5 exams in 3 days you have to be superman. Otherwise you just have to rely on the Z-Curve to do the work for you. The grading policy is that everybody get their grades in a scale (sometime 1-100), and then the professor checks the average and standard deviation. If you are more than 3 standard deviations below the average you failed. Your grade is the number of standard devations you are from the mean. It means that if they give us an easy exam, everybody will get 90, and then if someone gets a 70 he fails the class! so they try to make an exam with an average of 50, and a wide spread of grades.

If I had completely lost you by now: The grades are completely relative. They give us very very very difficult exams, in order for the average to be 50. It means that not only we did 5 exams in 3 days, we did very fuckin difficult exams as well (pardon my french).

Now, I come from the Technion. I am used to difficult exams. But such a marathon I have never done in my life. Lucky for us we are all in the same boat, so if I had to suffer everybody else had to suffer as well (I am a nice guy, aren't I?). Because the grades are completely relative, I probably had to do miserably horrible in order to fail.

Two funny things about the Z-Scores. They brain-washes us into hoping to get difficult exams. So I heard a girl who was not so strong in Finance actually coming to the professor and asking him to give us a hard exam! People here have completely lost their minds.
Also I heard talks about colluding and doing lowsy on purpose (it's like a prisoner dillema if you think about it). Of course it was a joke, but a funny one (of course this can never work - this is not a Nash equilibrium. You should probably work on your game theory if you don't understand me).

First Exam - A Group Exam
A group exam is an exam you take with your study group (well, dah!). In the leadership course we were given a case, and we had to sit for four hours and write one paper about all the sheety things that happened in the case. Of course we had to put as much terms from the course as possible, linking to buzz-words, and like any history exam in high school - write as much as possible.

Think that you are given such an assignment to do alone. You would probably finish it without any problems. It's not that hard - read the case for 30 minutes, think for another 10, write 20 pages for 2 hours, check your spelling and you are done (kind of like writing a blog ;)

But if you do it in a group it becomes much more complicated, as 5 people want to write the exact same thing in 5 different ways. Ironically all the ways are completely ok. We had a planning session before the exams and you could hear the shouting from the cubicles in the South Wing! We agreed to some strategy (and of course changed it 180 degrees in the real exam).

We divided ourselves into 3 sub-groups, each group will write about a third of the problem. We were 5 so one of us was left writing alone. We read the case, and sat for half an hour trying to figure the structure of the paper. For each of the 3 topics we assigned as many buzz words as possible. And at last we sat to write (who is going to write on the computer almost ended in a fight, but I was the bigger man). Of course the one person who wrote alone finished earliest.

At last we finished and submitted the paper. I was named before the exam the leader of the group (Because I possess some of Henry Fonda, from "12 angry men", and Ghandi leadership qualities. Ohh sorry I fell asleep for a second, because I was the first in alpha bethical order). What can I say, leadership sucks (Maybe this is what they have tried to teach me in this leadership course). I had to come 10 minutes earlier to take the case, and stay 30 minutes after we were done to wait for the assisstant to come and pick up our paper (I was starving).

Regular Exams
It was all part a very big scheme. First Nikos, the professor from economics, told us not to worry too much because the exam is going to be piece of cake, and we will finish it in half the time. Of course I did not study for this one (priorities). 2 and a half hours in the exam I was still trying to figure out what the hell is Cournot equilibrium (he specifically said he would require us to calculate the damn things).

Then in Finance we got a question about call stock options. Did we not study enough material in the course that the professor could ask questions about stuff that we ACTUALLY DID learn? I recall that he specifically told us that options are for Finance 2. I calculated the points - 18 points out of a 100 for something we learnt nothing about. Of course the question could be solved by pure simple (or not so simple) logic.

I knew that the accounting exam is going to be the hardest (call it a hunch or a sixth sense). It was. And the thing is that it was the forth one. I had 2 exams on Monday, one finance exam in the morning (not a picnic), and only then came the One. I thought that I was going to fall asleep in the middle of the exam. The professor told us that never tries to trick us on purpose. It is always done by accident. Well, too bad I am not insured because I counted at least 3 accidents in the exam.

And after this one I had the entire evening to study for the statistics exam coming tomorrow. Of course I fell asleep right on the 2006 exam in 22:00. I woke up the next day, rushed out of the house, only to discover 5 minutes into the exam that I have forgotten my statistics tables (you simply cannot calculate anything without them). So I improvised (Donald Trump would have been proud). I programmed my calculator to perform the ntegral for the normal distribution (so lucky for me the claculator replaced some of the tables). Superman or not? Of course I screwed the easiest question on the exam (old habit of mine).

Let me summerize (and with that I leave p1 exams behind me for good, thank god for the memories) by saying that doing so many exams in such a short period of time, without any time to prepare is more a mental challenge than an academic one. It doesn't really matter whether you have answered everything right, because everybody is on the same boat. What matters is how much you have actually learnt and will take with you to the next periods. I can proudly say that I survived this week (They should give you a certificate: "Did 5 exams in 3 days and remained sane"). p2 starts, and will go by in a second, and then we have 6 exams in 4 days. A breeze compared to p1 (I am sure...)

P1 Ended - Go P2

2007-10-25T13:20:00.000+02:00

It's been awhile since I have last written in my blog. It's been really hectic around here. Now that the exams are over and I have some days off, I can tell you about some of the things we have done in the past few weeks.

I will dedicate this post to summerize the first period academically. Later I will post on some of the more interesting things that you need to know about INSEAD.

We studied 5 courses, and I also studied spanish. I can say that it was very busy. Here is what happened in all 5 courses:

Finance
Definitely one of the more difficult courses. The material is complicated, and in the 7 weeks we had to learn about the time value of money, how to valuate companies and projects based on NPV and future cash flows, and how to price risk.
We had some group work (somewhat limited), and plenty of exercises and readinings. I can say that this is the course where I heard a lot of complaints from the other students about the way that our professor taught it. I guess that like in all places some of the professors are not as good as the others.
The math requirement was limited, and the challnge was more understanding the concepts. Some of the students have a lot of experience in the area, so when they asked questions it was last Chinese for me. And there were some classes in which I felt completely lost (especially when the professor put some English letters on the slides without explaining what they were). But overall I think that I have taken from the course what I should have.

Microeconomics
We had a great professor for that course. Every lecture was like a stand-up comedy show. It was a very basic course in micro economics. If you had seen supply and demand, monompoly pricing, and oligopoly games you should hae exempted from the course, because it was really slow. The professor was very afraid to confuse us with derivatives (of straight lines - it is very simple), so he insisted on explaining everything with "Marginal" this and "Marginal" that. For me it's more confusing, but the subject is easy to begin with.
I can say that I have studied a basic course in microeconomics before, and it had been much more difficult than our course.
The more interesting part was the Game Theory part. We learnt about Dominant strategies, Nash equilibrium and more. I will dedicate a seperate post to this part of the studies.

Financial Accounting
Here we arrived to the least pleasant course. Now I understand why I wouldn't want to be an accountant. The professor was very good, and he brought from his experience to teach us how to interpret financial statements, and how managers tend to manipulate them. The goals of the course were to understand company valuation and managerial decision making. The excelent professor made the subject interesting, but challenging. It is definitely not intuitive.
However, the professor uses cases and he cold called us on class - so we had to be perfectly prepared to every class. This was very tiring, and he managed to hijack our time form the other courses. Also he did not let us into class if we came late (even by 5 seconds). He said "You are late you have to leave), and then you had to turn around, no arguments, and walk out the amphi. He actually came to class 5 minutes ahead of time, stared at the clock, and the second it turned 15, he started the lecture and you could not enter.

Statistics
This is a breeze if you have some background in probability and/or statistics. This is hell if you are a lawyer (ot have no background). It is a very basic course in statistics, but with a lot of material covered (binomial, poisson and normal distributions, hypothesis testing and p-values, and linear regression).
Some of us were bored half the time, while the other stared at the slides without understanding what's going on.
The professor did his best to narrow the gaps. The course material is very original. I don't want to spoil it for you, so I won't say much, but as an example they tried to teach us what is sampling, so they brought M&Ms bags, and we tried to see if the number of red M&Ms in the bag is indeed 1/6 of the bag like the company promised. So everyone got a bag of M&M and we actually counted the number of each color. Than with the data we assessed whether the company is not so accurate (and the company is indeed not accurate). A brilliant experiment to understand this subject.
Also the professor tried to show us how newspaper and other sources manipulate the data they present to us in polls. The most famous is what happened in Florida in the Bush-Gore elections, but plenty of other examples were given (there was a competition of who brings the most radical manipulation from the most well-known source).
Moreover, we did some surveys and the professor showed how he can bias our answers with the way that he asks the questions. Very intertaining. At one time he gave us a list of words such as "Probable", "Possible", "Likely", "Slightly", and we should have put a percentage for each word that an event will occur. For instance I said that if the event is probable to occur, it means that it will occur in 90%, and if there it has slight chances it means 20%. Other students gave completely different numbers, and the most extreme, a girl in my class gave 10% for probable, and 90% to slightly possible. Go figure! It is amazing how different people think differently sometimes.

Leading People and Groups
I looked forward to the leadership module (you can learn all the other stuff reading books, but this is were you can honestly improve), and came out somewhat disappointed. We covered conflict resolution, negociations, group dynamics, influence, cultural differences and more, but the overall feeling is that we only scratched the surface. We had to write two essays - one at the beginning and one in the end. What can I say, it is completely BS to write that you have learnt something in 1 and a half month. I had to write about my strength and weaknesses as a leader and show what I have learnt. Lucky for me, after 8 school applications (and one blog) I am trained in BSing for several pages.
The most interesting lesson was the feedback lesson. In our study groups each of the 5 of us gave feedback to the other 4 (and received feedback as well). I find it hard to deliver feedback , but I managed to do all right. The other people delivered me the feedback that I expected to hear, but it was an educating experience to hear from people I had known for such a short time about myself. I will definitley take their comments into account in the future.
There were other very fun experiments but I don't want to spoil them for you so I won't continue.

Overall
Several points:

The academic level is not of a masters degree. Each course by itself is an introduction to a topic.
The difficulty comes from the time pressure, and the vast information they bombard you with. You must learn these things very fast if you don't want to stay behind.
INSEAD structure the courses nicely, in the amphi, the readings, and all the courses combined, and by studying so much stuff hopefully all the important pieces of information got through (I will only be able to tell for sure in the future).
Although we have to invest time for our careers and socially as well, in the last few weeks I was more into the academics. It is hectic!
The atmosphere was excellent, and people are very smart. All the students came here to study hard and fast, and to have fun in the process.

Looking forward to P2. We will study Finance 2 and Managerial Accounting, but also Leading organizations, Proccessed and Operations, Marketing and Strategy. Should be interesting.

I will dedicate seperate posts to the exams, and the language courses.

Japan-Korea Week

2007-10-02T00:00:00.001+02:00

Last week was the first national week of the year: Japan-Korea Week. All the Japanese and Korean students did their best to bring activities and attractions to INSEAD. It was a great effort ftom their behalf. Ken from my study group, a proud Japanese, got on average 2 hours of sleep last week.

It all started on Monday, with the Japan-Korea delegation crashing the amphi with traditional customs, and show a movie they have created. There was a long list of activities for the week: A market (and a special T-Shirt), Korean breakfast, Korean and Japanese games (Tug-of-War is a rope pulling game, with my section coming second place after the tenacious E2), Japanese Lunch (those shushi where gone in a second - what a demand!), Origami school, Talko drums performance, Korean Dinner, Kimono & Hanbok Tryout, and last the Drunken Businessmen Party.

In the middle of the week we had a Karaioki Bar of the Week thing. Every week the student council sets up a different bar in Fonty with happy hour prices between 9 and 10. This week it was dedicated to our friends fromthe far east. The bar had many TVs and basically the students just screamed the song together over beers and very large glasses of cocktail.

The Drunken Businessmen Party was something else. Good atmosphere, nice place, and a lot of karaioki and booze. The hit of the night was the Soja Bomb: They take a glass of beer, and put two chopsticks on top of it. Then they put a shot of Soja (like a korean Saki - really strong) on top of the chop sticks, to create a fearsome structure. They put it all on a tray with a towel in front, and you have to hit your forehead on the towek (not kidding), making the shot of Soja drop into the beer glass, mixing the alcohols. Then you have to drink all of it in my shot. 3 of those and 2 Saki made my head spin (but not like my friend who drank 7 Sojas).

INSEAD Impact

2007-10-01T23:41:00.000+02:00

(3-10-07)

Advetures as Academic Rep

Ever since I got here I wanted to do something different. I figured that INSEAD is the place to take initiatives and engage in activities that I have not done before. I looked for several things that could interest me, and finally decided to become a Section Rep.

In the first two periods we are divided into 4 sections. Each section has 5 representatives: The Social Rep (responsible for drinks, events, activities, champaigne fines for people who are late or fall asleep in classes), Academic Rep (responsible for all program related issues), Career Rep (responsible for connections with career services), Campus Rep, and IT Rep. The role that suited me most was Academic Rep, and I was elected for the role (let's say that no-one wanted the position more than me).

And so I found myself dealing with all sorts of situations: the class did not understand the material in one of our classes, so I engaged several activities to handle the matter: I am in touch with the professor and we aligned to make the subject more approachable to the croud, and I organized a session where students from strong background in the subject sat with the students who found the subject hard; I arranged (and taught) an Excel Workshop for my section (next week I do it again for entire class - pretty scary); I delivered messages from the professors to the students and vice versa. Quite a challenge, and a little time consuming- but a lot of fun. I found it fun to have people discussing the professors and the lessons with you, exchanging stories and suggestions. Very fulfilling position. Yesterday I had a meeting with Dean Fatas, who wanted ro hear from us the major issues that we faced and how we are handling our duty.

Student Council

In the last week it was announced that the next Student Council would be elected next week. I collaborated with a team that runs for the position. After we get elected (of course we will) we will be in the Student Council starting p3. Should be very interesting and a unique experience for me.

Our team is called INSEAD Impact, and we have a proactive agenda. Our moto is "Easier INSEAD For You - No B.S.", and we have a bull (no relation to Meryl Lynch) with cross on it to emphasize the last term. We worked all week on posters and flyers (lots of hard work), and we had a presentation.

Our competition are a group called "Show Us". They decided to turn INSEAD into an american high school (Veronice Mars or something), and made a campaigne with all the accessories and tararam. Agenda was not really necessary in their case, but it should be a closed call any how.

Voting ends tonight, and results are tomorrow, so I will update when we win.

Language Courses in INSEAD

2007-09-29T12:17:00.000+02:00

Dean Fatas told us at orientation week that as an international school it is important for us to know 3 languages - our native language, English, and a 3rd language in a basic level. It kind of makes sense, since this is definitely one of the most international business schools. However, the implementation of the language program at INSEAD kind of ruin the noble concept.

Apperantely the courses are run by an independent contractor (or something like that) - I will call them "The Company", and those guys run the language program at INSEAD. On orientation week you do a placement test (if you want) - for 115 Euros, at the language of your choice. The test is written by The Company, and is very hard. If you get 100 you are fluent in that language. Get over 50 and you are basic level, and this is the minimum requirement for the exit level - you are done with languages. Less than 50 and you will have to somehow pass the exam (the difficult exam again) later that year.

Alternatively, you may choose to take the courses offered by The Company on campus (depending on your level, you might need to take courses for 1,2, or even 3 semesters). The courses require payment of around 500 euros per period. If you do those courses you will get much easier exams at the end of each period (passing it is guaranteed, trust me).

The Placement Exam

As I said it is hard. There is definitely a conflict of interests here - the same company who will train you for 1500 euros if you fail the exam is the one writing it. Do you wonder why the exam is hard? I am not saying the The Company and INSEAD is deliberatly doing something unethical, but the doubts still remain. The exam that you do after you study 3 preiods with The Company is much easier and everybody passes it (after we pay so much for it, we had better pass it).

The exam is a written exam. People told me that they studied for 2 month, scored the 51 they needed, but cannot speak or understand a word. The fact that they scored 51 is impressive by itself, as the exam contains all the most isoteric grammatical exceptions, and focuses on vocabulary that no-one knows or needs.

I studied 2 month before coming to INSEAD with a private teacher. I studied most of the needed grammer, but I did not have the time to study the vocabulary well. So I ended with a 31. I managed to save one period. I should have started the Spanish courses in p2 (Beginner 2) with the people who finished Spanish Begginer 1, but the company suggested that we start on p1.

Studying Spanish at INSEAD

First of all I suggest that people learn French in France. I wanted to study an easier language, but it is difficult to live in Fonty without knowing a single word of French.

We were arranged in 2 groups of 6. The teacher is from Spain, and is very nice. From the first lesson she talked with us only in Spanish. So we stare at her in discomfort, and she talks to us completely aware that we do not understand a single word that comes from her mouth. We got used to it during the period, and even manage to assemble a short sentence (a very stuttering one).

We learnt some of the tenses in Spanish (present, future, and a little past), we learnt some vocabulary - nothing exciting. I already knew most of it, so it was 80% complete waste of time (and money). There are 16 lessons of 1 and a half hour stuck in my already busy schedule. It is so nice to have 3 lectures back to back, and then have another 2 Spanish lessons (5 straight if you lost count). Or to have your first lecture at 14:00 but your Spanish lesson is at 9:00 (especially in a cold morning).

Exams

We did a quiz in mid term - ungraded. Then at the end of the period we had an oral exam - we had to pick one of 3 topics and talk about it 5-10 minutes in front of the class. Everybody chose to talk about their family. Everybody surprisingly passed.

Then we had a one hour written exam that I finished in 35 minutes (I studied for half an hour). It was pretty easy.

Summary of the first period

I haven't learnt much (but paid much). It was stuck in my schedule, and was 80% waste of time. In my opinion it missed the point. I did not have a lot of time to spend, and would have preffered to not do it at all.

Lucky for me in p2 I have to go through it all over again (Beginner 3 class). And I don't imagine that I will learn much. At the end of p2 we will have another exam, this time covering all the material we have learnt so far. Pass that exam and you are Basic. In my mind I am Basic now. The only reason I had to study his Spanish thing at INSEAD because the pleacement test was too hard (that's my take on it at least). Of course I cannot talk or understand in a reasonable way, but the placement test was a written exam (so no-one actually cares about that).

Tips for next years promotion
Get rid of it before you come here. Study as much as you can in order to get 51 in the placement exam.

Of course think if the costs. If you come here knowing nothing, you will spend 1500 euros and it will take much of your time. Think positive NPV for a second - if you will spend less back home on private lessons, and learn enough to get 51 you don't need The Company and it is much cheaper.

Social Life at INSEAD

2007-09-17T23:00:00.000+02:00

INSEAD is a great experience and an oportunity to meet new people. Actually I have a lot of fun, and besides the studying, it is a good change in my life. Before I went to INSEAD I was stuck in a routin and now I feel that my life is pretty exciting. Too bad that currently my wife, Inna, is not here with me.

Well, to illustrate what I am talking about, here are the activities from the previous week.

At Monday I had dinner at friends house.

At Wednesday there was Rosh Hashana dinner (Jewish new year) at friends. The next day there was the official Rosh Hashana dinner at Shangri-La - over 30 people came (Israelis and Jewish). Everyone contributed a dish and it was wonderful and very exciting.

At Friday we had a group dinner at the house of one of our group members, an Indian dinner cooked by his lovely wife. It was great we loughed all evening. It really bonded us as a group, and we learnt a lot about each other cultures.

After dinner I went to a custom party, Quention Tarantino style, in Shangri-La.

On Saturday there was a very big BBQ in the Mint House in Bois Le Rois, and an unexpected number of students showed up. It was amazing, and after eating tons of meat, we ended up playing ping pong and poker (some of us even played Golf).

France is NOT so Expensive

2007-09-17T22:12:00.000+02:00

Just kidding. France is VERY expensive (got your attention now, right?).
To help you figure out how much money you need, here are some of the things that I spent money on since I came here. It has been almost 4 weeks so you can get a nice estimate. The first 3 weeks we were two here, and in the last week it's only me.

School
Beside the tuition of course, I spent around 850 euros. That include reloading my student card (photocopies cost 9 cents per page, eating in the restaurabts and bar), paying for the stamps for the Card De Sejour (330 euros), student council (100 euros), 2 books (115 euros), business cards (38 euros), and my Spanish exam (115 euros).

Language tuition of 550 euros awates.

Food
So far I have spent about 300 Euros on food and drinks (including wine). There are 4 supermarkets that I checked: Champion (there is one in every city, including Champagne and Avon), Casino (in Samorau), ACAT (near Champagne - very expensive), and Leader Price (in Rue Grande - Fontainebleau). Except ACAT all are pretty much the same price range.

Food (except for cheese and wine) is generally expensive. You buy with 30-40 euros basic stuff. Be prepared for this expense.

Home
Besides rent, which is 800-1200 euros in general, I paid around 350 Euros so far on expenses for my apartment.

Furniture - Don't hesitate and drive to IKEA. It's only 25 minutes from here and is the cheapest. Don't waste your time on stores like BricoMarche. They are more expensive. Almost all you need you can buy there.

Electronic equipment - Go to Carfour. It has a large stock with a variety of products in reasonable prices (computer equipment, kitchen, etc).

Telecom and internet - Here is the big annoyance. Let's start with phone for the apartment. There is a monopoly here, and you will have to go to Orange in France Telecom at Rue Grande. For the worst service you will ever see (large lines, and you will have to come almost every day) and for an outragous price you will get yourself a fixed line. It will cost you 27 euros to install the line (they just have to press a button), and then 16 euros per month for maintenance (if you don't pay and there is a malfunction it will take them two weeks to fix it).
Then there is internet. Again I used Orange, since they have a program without commitment. For 28 Euros per month you get yourself a Livebox and 8M internet. Now here is the catch - it takes them up tp two weeks to install internet on your fixed lines, and then if you are lucky your Livebox will work.
Next we have mobile phone. You can get a prepaid SIM but I did the math and it is not worth it. Again I went to Orange, and you can get a Mobile with two hours and 30 SMS for around 32 Euros per month. Plus you have to pay for the phone 20 Euros.

That's it, enough complaining about Orange. I have spent around 150 Euros on telecom and internet.

Car Expenses
So far I have spent around 130 euros on fuel and parking. In Fontainebleau you have to pay for parking everywhere, but in all the other places parking is free.
I have a diesel car, so around every 650 km I have to spend 40 euros for full tank.

Summary
For all other expenses I have spent around 400 Euros (Paris, restaurants, gifts, etc).

In total I have spent here around 3000 Euros in 4 weeks (including rent). The price don't include expenses I had made in Israel - flying tickets, tuition, shipping, car leasing, laptop, etc. This is merely for living here in France.
Obviousely a portion of the amount is a one time expenditure in the first month.

Leadership and Career Tests

2007-09-15T21:56:00.000+03:00

Nice to meet you all. I am an ESTP (MBTI test), with strong LS and GM anchors (Career Anchor test), with very high Decisiveness, Resilience, and Straregy Thinking abilities (Career Leader test). These are some of the tests they make us take here in INSEAD in the first few weeks. Based on these scores you should focus on career path that fits, and improve your leadership skills.

Note: Lots of people are reading this blog lately (which is good - keep coming), so the results I have given above are not MY scores. I just picked some arbitrary results.

I won't bore you with the details, but each test is a long set of nerve wrecking, brain sucking questions, designed to sample my patience skills and my cosistency. It reminds me of those newspaper quizes that supposedly do a profound psychological analysis by making you circle the answer that suits you most, then make you sum the scores and provide the results (always hated those).

First of all I don't believe in categorizing people into groups of 8, 16, or 100 categories. The world is not so simple and the models of people brains must be more complicated than that. Just reading the results makes me lough: I fit to at least 3 categories in the MBTI test (which classify you by measuring 4 pairs of characteristics one against the other. And come on - is Judgemental really means "Following schedule"?). I always wondered why people believe in horoscopes: Do they really think that the billions of people in the universe can be divided into only 12 groups, when the commonality is an arbitrary parameter - their birthday? In the same way, I can't believe that companies actually use these profiles when making decisions to hire you. They might as well check your horoscope.

Also, I can retake the test 10 times never to answer the exact same way twice. I mean, there are more than 500 questions in the career leader test. Will I want to have more influence or to earn more benefits? That can change in any given day depending on my mood. And based on questions such as this they derive my career motivations! I admit that when I first read the (10 pages, seriousely) report of the Career Leader exam I was impressed. It actually told stories about myself that I could relate to. But then I got to think about it, and my guess is that if I did the test again, assuming that I cannot remember what I picked the last time, I will get a somewhat different report with stories that I can relate to also. And believe me - the next time I take this test some things will defenitely change! I would like better lifestyle than friends on the job (unlike the last time I took the test - I think).

To summerize (and I know this is not the typical post I put in my blog, but hey - that's my blog and I can write about whatever I want to), the leadership and career fitting tests that we took in the first few weeks may seem very serious, but in my opinion we should be careful when taking them into account.

Thoughts about the MBA Program of INSEAD

2007-09-08T22:10:00.001+03:00

8-Sep-2007

"Don't obssess with the grades", told us Dean Fatas last week in the introduction meeting. He said that we all passed the "applications test", so we don't need to worry so much about the tests in INSEAD. This is the moto of the school - grades are not important, and that is why a Z-score policy is apply (the grades are completely relative, in normal distribution). The dean told us that everyone would get good grades and bad grades, simply because no-one is the best in every course. One course you are up, and the other you are down, and that is completely normal (just make sure not to be in the bottom for every course). By the way, the grades are confidential and we are not allowed to reveal them on-campus-recruitment. Some students make it to the dean's list.

This, and the open-door policy at INSEAD, is well reflected in most of the courses. The professors demand highly of us - we can't be late (and we often start at 8:30 - traffic can be really annoying near the obelisque in that hours), we must prepare ourselves before each class (and there is simply no time between classes to prepare), and we can't miss any lecture (this may result in a failing grade). For example, we have a professor that don't let people in if they are late - he starts talking, and 10 seconds afterwards people try to enter, he says to them: "You are late, you have to leave", and that is it! Someone calculated that one lecture cost us something like 150$ (pretty big loss).

However, the attitude is very friendly. We call the professors by their first names, we can come to them with any questions and problems, and some of them are really entertaining and encouraging.

In the first semester we study finance, economics, accounting, statistics and leadership. The first 4 I already encountered at some level during my first degree, but the last one is really new and fun - we watch movies in class, play card games and other fun activities with the purpose of allowing us to figure out what leadership is all about.

The more analytical courses are not that hard. The economics is taught really slowly. The finance we should learn from the book (because it is taught quite dryly). The statistics is quite entertaining (and the math is not hard - it was much harder in Advanced Probability at the Technion). Financial Accounting (not the most interesting subject to say the lease) is actually taught very thoroughly and the professor keeps us occupied and "cold-calls" us - quite bizarre that this way the course is actually digestible.

There is a lot of stuff to read between the classes, and my group found it best to solve exercises together (I like it). You don't have time to breathe (hence why I did not post much lately), but you can figure out what is important from the rest. The thing is that you must prepare for the class BEFORE it actually happens, because the professor might pick on you. Like in first grade, everybody must sit in the same location in all classes (of course I was selected to sit in the front row), and we need to put a sign with our names before us.

As a December 07 student told me: The life at INSEAD is spread across four axes: Academic, Social, Career, and Clubs. You can put the weight only in academics, but you may choose to spread your time in all of those four axes, and might even benefit from it. This is an advice that I intend to keep in mind.

Boot Camp Wrapup

2007-08-31T21:39:00.000+03:00

2-Sep-2007

Ok, Orientation Week is over. I must say it was very tough, and if it is an indicator for what's to come, it will not get easier.

Monday - Registration Day

We just came to the campus, passed through the boothes, read a lot of messages, got a password to the intranet, and assigned to a group (6) and a section (E1).

There are 4 sections (75 people each), and each section is devided to 15 groups of 5-6 people. The groups are as diverse as they can possible be, both in nationality and in background. Group can have 2 or 0 women (as there are 27% women in the class). There can't be only 1 woman (it's a wierd but reasonable policy).

In my group there is an Indian (Market research with engineering background), a Japanese (Insurance, sponsored by his company), a Bulgarian (Project manager with a background in finance, who lives in Germany, female), and a Lebanese (Advertisement, who lives in Dubai and has a British passport, female). Of course I am Israeli with engineering background (probably not many engineers in the class who asctually worked in engineering). Now isn't that a diverse group?

Tuesday - Openning Ceremony

We had some welcome lectures (languages, library, and IT). Then we had the opening ceremony in the evening.

Wednesday - Exemption Exams, and Partners Welcome

I had my Spanish exam in the morning, and then we had the introduction to INSEAD lecture from the dean.

In the evening there was a partner welcome gathering, where p4 partners explained what activities can partners participate in (there are some pretty nice clubs for partners). There are some places were partners can contribute to the school. After the meeting, there was a cocktail in the restaurant (not as "fancy" as the welcome cocktail, but pretty much the same).

Thurday - First Lecture and group assignments

Fun time is over. First we had the Drive Safe campagne. INSEAD students have an infamous name for driving drunk (and there were some horrible car accidents in previous years), so the school decided to take several steps to raise the awareness for this phenomenon. One of those steps is the campaign. Basically, each group had 2 hours to suggest an idea for a poster. The winning groups will have their posters published and hung around the campus. We saw some very clever ideas from previous years (For example: 2 views of feet - one is a corpse, and the other is a couple making you know what - "What position would you prefer?").

So we sat together and came up with a poster, where I sat on the PowerPoint, and we all looked for images in the internet (after we came with a concept - obviousely contributed by our own advertising expert).

After that we had our first lecture. A very charismatic british professor taught "Introduction to general management", and it was really funny (he is like a comedian). He tried to show us what MBA is really about in general management point of view - that you can be sent to a hell hole in the middle of sweden and try to fix a seemingly impossible company (i.e. the Arthur Keller case that we had to read and analyse prior to class. I actually fell asleep the day before in page 4 out of 30).

Then we had to prepare a presentation "What would we do instead of Keller?" - for tomorrow morning. The professor said that although only 3 groups (out of 15) would present, there is something called Murphy's Law, and "Hello, I am Murphy). So we sat for 3 and half hours and prepared this presentation.

You have to understand, I am an engineer. I have no idea how to analyse financial reports, lines of products, human resources and so on. But, non-the-less we managed to come up with a reasonable presentation.

At night, we came to friends' Mint House (a beautiful mansion with several apartments and shared living room, just on the Seine). We saw the Israeli Idol final of yesterday over the internet.

Friday - Lectures, Lectures, and some more Lectures

We had a packed day - 2 courses from 8:30 to 18:30 straight up! First we had the second part of yesterday's lecture. Guess what - our group was picked to present (Boy, this professor really is Murphy). The 3 presentations seemed very professional, and I can really tell that everybody here is really really smart! Great presentation skills.

Then we saw what Keller really did to fix the situation (we were not so far off).

After the funny lecture, and 15 minutes break for lunch, we had the "Culture and Values lecture", really interesting stuff about business ethics, non-profit, and cultural differences. Of course there were some reading to do prior to the lecture, and there was a chinese fellow who did not read it and had the professor all over him.

At night we had a wonderful dinner (organized by Inna, my wife and another partner) with several of the Mint House residents, and other students who simply showed up - lot's of fun. We could discuss the first week, and some differences in cultures.

Saturday - Outer Bound

All of us went to the forest and did some group exercises in order to get to know each other. It was great. We actually joined with another group of 5, and spent the entire day playing leadership games with a facilitator monitoring us.

The first task was to tell someone about me for 1.5 minutes, and listen to him. Then to switch identities and talk to someone else about that person. We did the switch again, and we then we regrouped and describe our current identity to the entire group. It was funny to see how things got twisted - I had two brothers (although I had a brother and a sister), and someone was described as a musician (he simply said he like to sing), and another was looking for a partner (even though he/she had a partner already).

Then we had to construct a shield of david out of a huge looped rope. Not an easy engineering task. After that we had to climb a 5 meters wall using our own body. Later, we had to walk on ropes, and other fun (and difficult) tasks.

At night we had the official welcome party, sponsored by Bain and Company, so it was free of charge, in this chateau, and free drinks all night. It was a blast.

Opening Ceremony and Welcome Cocktail

2007-08-29T20:18:00.000+03:00

(28-Aug-2007)

Well, this is a night to remember. First there was a 30 minutes welcome speaches from the dean, Prof Antonio Fatas, and some other speakers. I liked the speech of the head of alumni , Mr. Daniel Labrecque, who said "When I sat in your places, 25 years ago, there was a guest speaker as well, but I can't remember his name or what he had to say". Basically, he said that it is going to be an intense and interesting year.

After the speeches, there was a cocktail party. We all dressed up in suits (except for some wise guys who decided to come in Bermuda shorts and moccasins). There was champagne and Kir Royale (apparently Kasis with Champagne) - but not enough. Well, after 2 glasses my head spun anyhow.

The intention of the evening was to meet the other students, so they packed the 300 students in a room with no air condition, so after 20 minutes everybody ran outside to the balcony where there was not enough room for everybody.

I am not used to talking to people that I don't know, so I followed the lead of the other students (mostly the Amercian ones - do they teach mingling in school over there?). Basically, you see someone standing alone, or a group of people that has an open space between them, go ahead, shake hands, say your name and where you are from and ask the other gentlemen or women their name and country. Then you can circle through these questions:

What did you do before you arrived to INSEAD?
What are your plans after the school?
When did you arrive to France?
Where do you live around here?
What is your section?

I shook a lot of hands (almost like a politician), and put on a smile all night. If I was lucky then the person I was talking to was interesting and we had some common ground, so I could actually enjoy myself in the conversation.

I was impressed with the diversity of the students. I knew it will be like this when I applied, but seeing it with my own eyes was amazing. Almost everybody in the room was born in one place, but lives in another. A lot are managers and consultants, some of them 26 years old with already a rich international backgorund.

This was hard work, and I was exhausted in the end. So we went to the restaurant, where we met a very nice guy from France, who shared his religous and professional point of view. It was the best time of the night.

Registration Day

2007-08-28T00:22:00.000+03:00

(27-Aug-2007)

Today was registration day. I am in the letter H, so my turn was in 11:00. Actually you could have come in any time you wished. It all starts in the Upper Gallery. I dressed nicely, with a buttoned shirt and off-white pants, but it wasn't really called for, and people came in a variaty of customs.

First I met Mrs. Isabella Ramos, finally being able to connect the face to the name. She congratulated me, and gave me a very big file with tons of papers to read. I will probably finish reading it by the end of the semester.

I got a badge (finally), and could wear it around my neck like a marked sheep. I tried to be creative, using other mechanisms to hang my badge, like clipses on the pockets, but all the other students (with no exceptions) wore the blue reabon, so I wore my badge like everybody - around my neck (I hope it will not suffocate me). I also got a checklist of things to do. I had to fill some forms: Code of Conduct (only signature), Personal details (address and stuff like this) - I needed my passport for this one, An agreement to use my picture if they take my picture on campus (?! a well-known model is studying here, why would they want MY picture?), a pole of how I got my apartment, and details about my health insurance.

Apperantly you need to be covered by the ammount of 200K Euros or you will have problems with the Card De Sejour. Lucky for me, I brought with me the insurance policy I issued back in Israel (which was ok).

Overall I spent today more than 200 Euros. I paid 100 Euros to the BDE (student association), 115 Euros for the Spanish exam on Wednesday (this will be deducted from the language tuition if I attend one), 50 Euros to load into the INSEAD account (the badge is an elecronic wallet), and 30 Euros for the internal phone and fax services (actually a great service offered by INSEAD). Since I don't have a chequebook or a card yet I had to pay cash.

The phone companies did not show up as promised (they actually told us to go to Rue Grand to check them out ourselves - like we haven't done that already). But all the banks showed up to collect our money. It wasn't really relevant to me as I already have a French bank account.

I registered to the library, picked up the material for p1 (a pile of pamphlets), and then went to my personal locker to set put everything inside. It's cool to have a locker in campus. It has a combination that you can set at any time. On the way I went to my pigeon hole (that's what they call the mail boxes - because they are really narrow - I'm NOT kidding), to find a present from Bain & Company - a really nice bottle openner. Also there was an invitation to a party on Sep 1st. The student association put a note that there is a big meeting on Saturday, right after the Outbound thing.

We got a sticker for the car, with a bunch of instruction. There where boothes for the languages, alumni (where I entered the draw for a free Summer Ball ticket), partners (where my wife - I am sorry "Significant Other" - signed up again and got a temporary badge), and some more.

In retroperspective, I had to bring: cash (I don't have my debit cards yet), my passport details, my health insurance paper, and believe it or not - a pen (they didn't provide one in the file, so I used a pen I got from NYU a while back, talk about irony).

While waiting in the lines I met many of my fellow students, and was really amused to see 100 people sit with laptops and try to install their IT disc (provided in the package). With so much computers I almost felt at Elbit. The blend of cultures, languages and a bit overwhelmed faces puts you right into perspective of where you are, and that everything actually begins now.

How to Get to Paris By Train

2007-08-27T23:47:00.000+03:00

(24-Aug-2007)

We went to Paris by train today. The ride takes 35-50 minutes (depending on the train station). You need to know where the train stations are, and what ticket to buy.

The Line

The destination in Paris is Gare De Lyon station. The first station is Thomery. 4 minutes later is Fontainebleau-Avon station. In 7 minutes you will be in Bois Le Roi. From there in 35 minutes you are in Paris (through Melun).
The way back is the pretty much the same.

If you choose to use Champagne Sur Seine station, you will need go through up to 6 stations until Melun, which takes about half an hour, then switch trains (which might take additional 10 minutes), and then go to Paris directly (28 more minutes) - Less convenient, but me less difficult to arrive to this station in the first place.

Train Stations

There are 4 train stations in the area. The main one is in Avon (closest to INSEAD). The problem with this train station is that there is no free parking, and not a lot of spaces. Leaving the car for the whole day is out of the question. If you only plan to pick someone up, it is the best option (it is 5 minutes from the school). There are several buses that come to the train station. Line D will take you from INSEAD (so you can leave your car there for free).

The second train station is Bois Le Roi, which is 10 minutes drive from INSEAD. This train station has several parking lots for free, and is very convenient. The problem is that unless you leave in Bois Le Roi it can take some driving time. But this train station was the one that we used. The ride from here takes 35 minutes.

The third train station is the one in Champagne Sur Seine (our village). This is the closest one to our home, and there are parking spaces for free (it is 10 minutes walk or so). The problem is that you will need to switch trains in Mulan. The line splits in Mulan – the main line goes through the other stations, so the trains that do pass through Champagne will not go all the way to Paris. The good thing is that the trains are really coordinated, and there is not long waiting in Mulan. The ride should take about an hour with the switch.

The last train station is in Thomery. This station is located in the middle of nowhere – Only the forest around it. There is a small parking lot for free. There is no-one in this deserted station, and you will have to buy the ticket in the machine (bring cash in coins) – knowledge in French is required. I will not recommend on using this station, unless you are comfortable with riding the train, and you know how to use the machine.

Funny story about Thomery station – when we wanted to leave the station, suddenly from out of nowhere came a bunch of police, ambulances, and fire cars, starting to unload equipment, and all of this without anyone but us in sight.

The Ticket and the Ride

A single two-ways ticket to Paris – Gare De Lyon station – cost 15.20 Euros. Order a ticket of 15.90 Euros and you get a free Metro pass for the entire day! This is really worthwhile. Don’t forget to write your name and the date on the ticket. Also stamp the ticket in a machine that is located on the deck.

The ride is not so comfortable, and the train is pretty old, but it’s a short ride.

From Gare De Lyon station runs Line 1 of the metro, which takes you through Champs D'elise to La Defance. (When you come back to the station go up 1 or two floors to the train station). There is tourist information in the station, where you can get a free map. You can ask around the station, people are mostly friendly and know English surprisingly well.

Parking in INSEAD

2007-08-27T21:33:00.000+03:00

(23-Aug-2007)
There are a lot of parking spaces, and there should be no problem. There are two underground parking lots (I parked under the library) , and you can also park in the street surrounding INSEAD (near the swimming pool). It is free for everybody, and the receptionist told us that there is enough space to suit everybody.

If you park at an illegal parking space or a reserved one, you might get a fine.

You get a sticker from the school, which you should put on the back window, and so they can know when you are at school, so if you don't come they can lower your grade (or they can call you in case of an emergency).

Especially funny is the regulation that you cannot park your car at INSEAD for more than 30 straight days. Why the hack did I buy a car if I am not going to use it?

Second Visit to INSEAD

2007-08-27T01:48:00.000+03:00

(22-Aug-2007)

On the second day we were very eager to use some internet, and since the apartment does not have internet yet, we came back to INSEAD cafeteria.
This time we explored the place some more.

Yesterday I wondered how I am going to survive on sandwiches in the year. Well, by going up the stairs from the cafeteria, we came to the restaurant, where food from all flavors is served for reasonable prices: Italian, vegetarian, meat, sea food, and much more. It all looks quite good.

I went up from the cafeteria toward the fitness center. On the way we checked out the cubicles for group study. They give the place a real serious look – each one has a board and a computer connection and a small meeting’s table – almost like a small office. They are built with the same red stones as the building. A note with the cubicle’s policy is hanged on the wall – “How to achieve cubicle’s heaven” or something. Apparently this is a valuable resource that everybody fights over, so students used to save cubicles for later, use them for things other than study in groups, so there are norms that the university tries to enforce.

I also saw an amphi where classes are given, and it looked very sophisticated.

The fitness room is on the 3rd floor, and it is not very big (it's pretty disappointing) but fully equipped. Outside the window you can see the other facilities that INSEAD has to offer, including the Tennis courts and the swimming pool (25 m). There are group activities, such as walking in the woods, Yoga, and more (but those are expensive).

Bank Account in France

2007-08-27T01:38:00.000+03:00

(22-Aug-2007)
Today we opened a bank account in France. We went to Rue Grande (the main street of Fontainebleu), and went to BNP Paribas, one of the many banks in the street. We waited for 10 minutes for the guy who works with INSEAD students, Shafik, and in 30 minutes we had a bank account. Apparently it is essential to deposit 4300 Euros for the Card De Sejour, so we will do it soon.

We should receive Visa Debit Cards (which is like Credit Cards, but the amount is deducted on the spot). And it is possible to put the money in a Savings Account – 2.5% interest. Not much but it is better than nothing. Since I am not a French citizen I cannot invest in stocks – I guess the 2.5% will have to do.

You pay each month a discounted sum of 5 Euros. If a friend names you as a referral, you will not have to pay even that. A student volunteered to arrange a list of all people coming to the bank, and so with this arrangement everybody will be refered to.

The most amazing is the loan deal. You can get a loan up to 45000 Euros with 2.7% interest rate, with grace for 1 year, and you can pay it in 24-72 month. I wasn’t planning on taking this loan, but it is so cheap so I might take it just in case. Put the money in the Savings account and if all goes well, you will pay 0.2% interest. It’s like the bank gives you money for free and tells you to pay it back whenever you can. Better – you can put the same amount of money (or slightly more) in an Israeli savings account for 4% or so, and actually make money!

All I needed to do in opening the account was to give my attestation form from INSEAD and my passport (my wife’s also since this is a joint account). I had to sign some papers and write some words in French in several places, and that was it. I am now the proud owner of a bank account in France. Too bad I wasted all of money on INSEAD…

First Visit to INSEAD

2007-08-27T01:11:00.000+03:00

(21-Aug-2007)

In my first day in France I had some spare time (probably something I am going to miss), so I went with my wife to see INSEAD in my own eyes. The GPS took us right there, and we only had to circle the complex twice to find parking space. Then we walked for half an hour trying to figure out where the main entrance to the building is (that do not require a magnetic card to open).

We finally found it and were very hungry (don’t forget that we didn’t eat anything good in the past 24 hours) so we went straight to the cafeteria (and still we haven’t eaten anything good). We found out that there is free internet there, so refugees as we are we decided to hang around. We spent half an hour to send and receive emails, and I took notes of addresses of banks and telephone companies in Fonty, then we drank a crappie cup of coffee and even worse sandwiches for 6 Euros (I hope it will not cost as much once I am a student). Also, I hope that INSEAD students don’t eat sandwiches everyday cause I am on a diet.

INSEAD is a bit of a gray place. The buildings are old built with red stones, giving them a New-Yorkish appearance, that someone installed on them a lot of high-tech windows, so it appears almost modern. There are several buildings but the place is not very big. The main building contains several amphis were lectures are taken, and many many cubicles for group study. Also I found lockers for the students, fitness area (with a pool), the cafeteria, and a reception desk where we were issued a temporary visitor tickets. The building is equipped with WiFi, but you must have an INSEAD username and password in order to login (or you can just go to the cafeteria).

We saw that people wore badges, so we asked the receptionist to give us one. We only got a temporary visitor badge for the week, which fell off after a couple of minutes.

The library is the building near the main building. It has a room with copy machines (you must pay by loading your magnetic card) and some payphones.

The campus is surrounded with grass and green, and it is quiet, peaceful, and beautiful. Overall it is built in a way to help the students study all day every day (if in lectures, groups, or alone). It is not as beautiful as Oxford, and not as modern as LBS, but it sure has its grace.

My New Best Friend

2007-08-27T01:00:00.000+03:00

Here is Bahia - the Boxer (or something) of our landlady.

She did a nice welcome to the mansion when we arrived and ever since we adopted her. She doesn't do much except drulling all over me and jumping on me with her muddy feet.

Update: the dog bit me, so it is no longer my best friend...

My First Day in France

2007-08-20T20:19:00.001+03:00

(21-Aug-2007)

Our flight was at 1 AM, and we almost missed it (duty free…). That’s a wonderful start, wouldn’t you agree? After I settled down in my Exit seats on the plane (which appeared to be actually the row in front of the Exit, so we couldn’t lower the seat backs), I thought a bit about the day to come.

In order for everything to start well the first day must go smoothly. There were several obstacles to overcome (yes, I know, too much application essays…): the overweight (or how to send 100 kilos on the plane when I am only allowed 50), the car (or how to pay for something in advance and still get it), the ride (or how to use a GPS and to avoid making the 60 km trip in 3 hours), and the apartment (or how to see pictures of a dreamy apartment and end up in a hell hole).

Well, the overweight (we actually managed to send 20 kilos above the limited weight) was all done with, after the nice receptionist in the airport agreed gracefully to allow us on the plane with a trolley and a huge backpack.
As for the car, I was just charged 4000 Euros for the leasing (which was done by a company in Lebanon from all places by email), without getting a receipt, so obviously I couldn’t help myself from thinking that I will get to Charles De Gaul Airport, and no-one will know who I am and what the hack I want. How disappointing, the guys from TT Cars were great, supplied the car on schedule, and even explained to me in perfect English how to get to Fontainblue. Talk about two birds on one strike. The car – a Citroen C3 - is a real piece of crap, but that’s another story.

We arrived to Champagne Sur Seine on 9:30, amazingly enough (I was almost certain that everything will go wrong, so I had notified them the day before that I will arrive at noon if not later), and even managed to find the house (with no address).

The landlords actually knew who we were, and the apartment looked just like in the pictures. It is a gorgeous little place, with 2 sunny fully-equipped rooms. The huge balcony has amazing view of the Seine and the village that lies beyond it, Thomery. The church gongs every hour, and we are located in the middle of the forest. The only things to disturb our peace are the train that goes every hour, the August winter that suddenly came upon us (with no heating because this is supposed to be summer, and not rainy with 13 degrees), and the smell of the apartment that made us spend the entire afternoon cleaning it furiously (after we visited INSEAD and bought groceries for 40 Euros in a local supermarket – ATAC).

I must say that overall the day went perfect, and tomorrow we will make the errands to connect us to the rest of the world –the internet, phone, TV, bank and so on.

Preparation to INSEAD

2007-08-06T16:58:00.000+03:00

I was admitted to INSEAD in May, and it's been a couple of crazy month since. There were a lot of things to arrange. Here is the list.

Accept INSEAD's Offer and pay the deposit of 4500 euros (they accept cheques and bank transfers).

Login to NetVestibule – Upload a picture, update my profile, and read all the guides.

Arrange a loan (if you need one) - There is a special loan for Israeli students through Bank Leumi, but the interest is a bit high. Some French banks offer loans for aroung 3% interest rates, but only if you have French underwriters. Check out INSEAD website for more details.

Make the second tuition payment – 29000 euros.

Rent an apartment - There were three sources of information that I used for this: bonapart.org city-junction.com, and NetVestibue Message Board. Bonapart is a website intended to rent a place near INSEAD (in the surrounding villages mostly) by contacting the landlords directly by email. City-junction is an agency which offers some apartments in Fonty (mostly) for a special fee. In NetVistibule Message Board you can contact students from last year who recommend on apartments. Some people flew to Fonty to check the place out, and rented the apartment there - It is a bit costy approach, but safer for sure.

Rent/Buy/Lease a car – I used leasing (there is a tax reduction for students), and it costs 4000-6500 euros for the year. In this option you can get a new car with insurance and garage services for an ok price. You can have diesel and automatic Citroen C3 for 4000 euros. The other option is to buy a used car from one of the students (check out NV Message Board). This option is much cheaper, but you get a used car with potential problems.

Career Leader test – one month before the studies begin you take this computerized test. It should take a couple of hours to fill this (somewhat annoying) questionnaire.

Learn a third language – I chose to study Spanish (because it is easier then French). It is best to study a bit before the school and by that maybe to reduce some of pressure during school. Some students come one week ahead of time and take a full week's course in the third language, and need to take only 2 semesters.

Order the preliminary reading books – I asked alumni and they said it is not worth it. Everything will be covered during term. So I chose not to order them (I will let you know if this was a smart choice).

Pay and come to the Preliminary Week - I asked alumni and they said that for my background (engineering) it would be a waste of time and money. So I passed.

Get health insurance – There is couple of options (through French agencies, and Israeli ones). I chose "Harel" insurance – an Israeli standard insurance for those who live aboad.

Issue a student Visa – for you and your partner.

Order a flight to France – if you need a specific date I suggest you do it well in advance. An open ticket for a year cost me around 560$. If you are flexible you might want to wait for the last minute when you can perhaps get a cheap one-way ticket for around 200$.

Buy a Laptop - this is a must for an MBA student (or so they say). It should cost you 1000-1500$ .

Buy a suit - you will need it for events and job interviews. I bought a nice one in Zara.

Deliver your stuff to France - There are several ways to do it (by air or by sea). You can only carry to the flight 20Kg each (+5Kg handbag). This is obviousely not enough, and overweight is overpriced, so you will have to send your stuff through a mail service. I found EMS, the Israeli Post Office service, very cheap (55$ for 20Kg box, and delivery is in 2-3 business days) - so this is what I will use. In addition I had to buy some suitcases.

Open a bank account in France - You can do it in advance. Simply email the bank with the request, and send a copy of the passport and the attestation form of INSEAD (that can be printed) . This can be done also in France.

Issue an international driving licence - Just in case.

Meet your fellow MBA students - It is nice to know who comes with you to study (and speaks your language). Also, everybody does things a little differently and you might even save time and money by following other's advice.

Disconnect from cable TV, internet, newspapaer and other liabilities.

If I remember something else I will add it here.

Buying a Laptop for School

2007-08-05T20:05:00.000+03:00

One of the things I had to do while preparing for school was purchasing a laptop. This is a must for any MBA student. There were several options, such as a tablet PC or a notebook. I decided that I personally will never write on the computer screen, so a tablet was out of the question.

In Israel the prices of laptop are high. In the price of an old generation computer you can purchase a new model notebook in the states. One more problem is that you cannot assemble your computer - you must buy what the supplier delivers. If the supplier provides only notebooks with Window Vista, then you cannot get a Windows XP computer. So I decided to focus on buying the computer in the internet, and have someone deliver it to me.

After some research I had to decide between Dell, the Latitude D630, or Lenovo, the T61 model. I purchased the Dell in the end, and it seems really good, but I guess the Lenovo would be just as good.

Here are some parameters that I considered when I purchased my laptop:
1. The laptop will be in use for only one year. After that if you need a computer at work, they will probably give you. I have a strong computer at home, so the notebook is not a suitable desktop replacement for me (from my experience laptops are never as strong as desktops). So for 1 year, spending more than 1000$ on a computer seems like a waste.

2. Well, you can get a decent computer for that price, but not the models I described earlier. I like my computer to be fast. I am a software engineer, so I know what I want from my computer. I am willing to go as high as 1500$ in order to get good specs for my computer.

3. I don't trust Windows Vista. Don't get me wrong, I like new technologoes, and I am always the first one to use them, but doing my research I got a bad feeling regarding Vista. The demanding requirements for video card and memory, the consumption of battery, the problems connecting to some hardware such as printers, and the lack of backward compatability to software from the XP generation - all were red lights. I guess I will wait for a year or two before I use Windows Vista. So I wanted Windows XP Pro - this way I don't have to get familiar with a new operating system, and I know the requirements of the hardware.

4. I wanted to get as much memory as possible, ie 2GB. It's not worth to save money here - because for the extra 100$ you boost your performance. I like to run a lot of processes at once, and memory is an important factor. You can never get enough memory.

5. Battery Lifetime is also very important. So for extra 40$ I got myself a nice 9-Cell battery - which lasts for about 4.5 hours.

6. Screen size - 12 inches is small. Too small to work. If I could I would have gotten the 15"4 (widescreen WXGA+), but then the computer would have weighed 3 Kg. the 14"1 screen that I got eventually weigh only 2.5 Kg. This is important, because as a student I would carry the computer everyday. I can tell you that the difference between them (in screen size) is very small, and the 14" screen is great.

7. Processor - I selected a Intel Dual Core 2 2GHz. I could have chosen a faster one, but I did not see the need for Win XP. This should be enough (a better processor cost more).

8. Connection to TV - OOPS, my computer was delivered without S-Video output (this is the 21st century, right?). Now I cannot connect my computer to the TV! I have to buy a very rare adapter, which is very hard to get, and cost around 70$. The pitfalls are always in the small details!

9. Warranty - For about 100$ I get a full warranty for 3 years, including if I spilled my drink all over the laptop, or I scratched the screen.

To summarize this, you can configure the laptop that you need (including all the parameters) in the manufactor's website. For 1500$ you get a fantastic computer with warranty. All you need to do is have someone send it to you from the States.

I will follow-up on this, and let you know if the computer is any good, and what useful software I installed on it.

Issuing a French Student Visa (Israeli Version)

2007-08-01T16:40:00.000+03:00

A disclaimer first: Yesterday I issued the Student Visa for France, and I will write here everything that I did in order to get the visa. All in all it’s a friendly process, and can be done quickly if you bring all the documents to the consulate. You might not even need a visa. I suggest you contact the consulate to verify everything I wrote here (I'm no expert). Their phone is: 03-5208508. It's best to call after 14:15.

The Consulate
You must come to The French Consulate in TA (1 Ben Yehuda St. - Migdalor Building) in order to issue the student visa. Office hours are: Mon-Thu 8:00-10:00 (at Wed 8:00-12:00). There is a parking lot in front of the building.

The Documents You Need To Bring
You need to fill some forms. You don't have to come to Consulate especially to take the forms, because you can download the forms here. You need to fill them in two copies (in English or French). A translated version (English) you can find here. You can fill the forms at the Consulate when you come with all the other documents, and they have a Hebrew version of the forms there.

In order to fill the forms you need to know INSEAD's address in France , and your permanent address in France. Also you need to write your employer's address.

Additional documents you need to bring (for all the documents you need the original and a copy):

The forms (2 copies, must be original).
Copy of your passport (you need to also bring your passport).
2 passport pictures (4cm x 5cm).
Attestation Form (French Version) from INSEAD (printed from NV).
A copy of the rental agreement in France (or some kind of proof) – my landlord faxed it to me.
A letter from the bank (in English) stating that you have more than 7300 euros, or 680 euros per month.
A Previous student card.
Medical insurance for 3 month in France (I did it through "Harel").

The arrangements you need to do prior your arrival to the consulate:

Go to your bank and get that letter.
Rent an apartment in France.
Arrange a medical insurance.

You don't need to open a bank account in France for the Visa.

When You Arrive To The Consulate
The consulate is located in the 11th floor. On the 10th floor there is the Cultural Services Office of the French Embassy. You have to bring the Attestation Letter (and passport), and they will give you a letter that you need to bring to the consulate. Go to this office BEFORE you go to the 11th floor. You should call in advance to this office and schedule an appointment (although I did not call in advance and it was still ok).

Once you have everything ready, go to the 11th floor, and if you have all the documents, the clerk will issue you the visa on the spot. You need to pay around 280 NIS (by credit card or cash). It all takes around an hour (depending on the line).

A Student's Partner
If you come with a partner to France (wife/husband) you need to bring some documents on behalf of them:

Two forms (original)
Their passport (and a copy)
2 passport pictures
Some proof of the marriage (the passport was ok).

You can come alone to the consulate (your partner does not have to come). Once you get the visa, your partner will not be able to work, only accompany you. The clerk said that I should arrange for a document that proofs the marriage in English or French (they might want to see it in France). The Partner's visa costs around 560 NIS.

All Done
Once you get the Visa, it is valid for 3 month in which you must enter France. So don't do this too soon! I wouldn't leave it for the last minute also (but I knowL people who arranged the visa in the last week before their flight). Later you will have to get a "carte de sejour" (but that will be done in France).

Why Did I Choose INSEAD Over MIT And Oxford...

2007-07-30T10:49:00.000+03:00

First I was admitted to MIT. I was still on the waitlist at INSEAD and LBS. MIT Sloan was my first priority all along because of my background as an engineer, and my career goal to become a manager in a high-tech company. I met with my fellow Israeli MBA prospective students, and I was all set to go there. The only thing that I was not sure about was the location. Although everybody told me that Boston is great place to live in, I was not sure that I wanted to live in the US.

I applied to Oxford in the second round as a backup plan (I did not know I had been admitted to MIT at the time). I never really intended to go to a second tier school, at least not when I have a terrific offer from MIT. But life goes its own course, and I was admitted to Oxford. It seemed a no-brainer – MIT is ranked higher and is in fact a better school. I did not go into all this trouble to end up in a second tier school nobody knows.

However, Oxford is a well-known name, a one year program in Europe. My wife would have a work permit there. It will cost me half the price, and looking at the Placement Reports I saw that the vast majority of graduates find good jobs with good salaries (in the UK they pay in pounds!). I decided that I wanted to see it with my own eyes, so I flew all the way to London, and visited the school.

MIT vs. Oxford

I made a list of pluses and minuses. The criteas were: Prestige of school (affects the possibilities to find a good job, and improves personal feeling of knowing you studied in the best school you could); Length of program (affects the cost of both tuition and living expenses. Also in that time I can't work); Internship; Cost; Location (both distance from Israel, time differences, and opportunities after graduation); Internationality (how foreign I would feel in the school, and how focused the school is on international business); Visas and Work-Permits (both for me and my wife, and how complicated it is); Employment Report (how much salaries I need to expect after graduation, how easy it will be to find a job; at what sectors); Program Nature; Israelis (how alone I would be).

Prestige – MIT is ranked 4 in the world. Oxford around 20. MIT is a top-ranked school, while Oxford is a second tier school (all the university is well-know around the world).
Length of program – MIT is two years and Oxford is one year.
Internship - In MIT there is a summer internship, while in Oxford there is a consulting project.
Estimated Cost – Oxford should be around 50000 pounds for the year, while MIT is 180000$ for the two years (not including the cost of not working, and the internship).
Location – MIT is in Boston and Oxford is in UK.
Internationality – MIT has 60% American students, while in Oxford the class is 100% international.
Visas and Work Permits – You need them in both US and UK. But in US it is much more complicated, and my wife will not be able to work. In the UK it is much easier.
Employment Report – Pretty much the same salaries and the same possibilities after graduation (according to the schools Placement Reports). Almost all the students find jobs.
Program Nature – MIT approach to Technology more. The entrepreneurship is strong in both. Probably studying at Oxford is more busy and difficult.
Israelis – There are at least 10 Israelis each year at MIT, while in Oxford I will possibly be alone.

My conclusions
If I look forward where I would be in 2-3 years from today, in Oxford I will hopefully be with 2 years of experience working in London, while the degree costs me half the price, so I would probably earn back a large portion of the funds I had spent on the MBA. The living expenses in the UK are a little higher than in the US, but I will have the chance to work in other parts in Europe (once I get passed the work-permits and language barriers) - also the salaries are in pounds as well. My wife will be able to work if I go to Oxford (a very big factor in my decision). She is an attorney so she might be able to work in her profession.

MIT has several advantages: Ranking, prestige, Israelis, and Technological orientation. However, the cost, length of program, employment possibilities in Europe, distance from Israel, and working possibilities for my wife – MIT is not better than Oxford (and even has severe drawbacks).

INSEAD Comes Into Play
So I decided to go Oxford (amazing, right?). I almost went to the bank to pay 4200 pounds non-refundable downpayment. The night before, I received a mail from INSEAD announcing that I had been admitted to the school from the waitlist. That changed the whole picture for me.

Prestige – MIT is ranked 4 in the world. INSEAD is ranked 7. Oxford around 20. MIT and INSEAD are top-ranked schools, while Oxford is a second tier school. However, INSEAD is not well known among common people while the other two are brand names.
Length of program – MIT is two years, while Oxford and INSEAD are one year.
Internship - In MIT there is a summer internship, in Oxford there is a consulting project, and in INSEAD there is no internship.
Estimated Cost – INSEAD is around 80000 euros for the yearm Oxford should be around 50000 pounds for the year, while MIT is 180000$ for the two years (not including the cost of not working, the internship, and earnings of my wife).
Location – MIT is in Boston, Oxford is one hour from London, and INSEAD is one hour from Paris.
Internationality – MIT has 60% American students, while INSEAD and Oxford is 100% international.
Visas and Work Permits – You need them in US, UK, and in France. But in US it is much more complicated, and my wife will not be able to work. In the UK it is much easier. In France my wife won't be able to work, but the program is only 10 and a half months – and I can get a work permit after graduation in the UK.
Employment Report – Pretty much the same salaries and the same possibilities after graduation (according to the schools Placement Reports). Almost all the students find jobs. INSEAD is like an oiled machine when it comes to finding jobs after graduation.
Program Nature – MIT approach to Technology more. The entrepreneurship is strong in all. INSEAD is a crazy program of 5 semesters in 10 month, and almost no vacations.
Israelis – There are at least 10 Israelis each year at MIT, 20 at INSEAD, while in Oxford I will possibly be alone.

The only advantage of Oxford over INSEAD is the automatic work permit for my wife. But since INSEAD has such a short program, we can adjust. Also I don't know a word in French, so this is a minor disadvantage. INSEAD is a better school, older (the B-School I mean), with more students (almost 4 times as much), and top-notch career services. The cost is the same more or less.

When I compare INSEAD to MIT, they are both top-10 schools. INSEAD is half price, and a much shorter program. However there is no summer internship. US have more bureaucracy, but the language is English. My wife will prefer INSEAD because of the length of the program and the distance to her family.

Going to INSEAD is the natural choice. While it has almost all the advantages that Oxford had over MIT, it is a Top 10 school.

The only problem is the explenation that I need to give to everyone that asks me: "You chose to go to some unknown school in France over MIT and Oxford??? What are you - CRAZY???"

Being on the Waitlist - It Can Happen to You

2007-07-29T17:18:00.000+03:00

The big day has arrived – you have been expecting it for a long time. Today your fate will be decided – either you are going to study MBA in the school of your dreams, moving to a new country, meeting new people – a real adventure, or you will be rejected from the school, weeks of work gone to waste and you will have to keep your day job. You count the minutes, refresh your mail every 5 seconds, and browse the forums to hear if other people received the mail with the AdCom decision.

You finally receive the mail and you are in confusion. This is definitely NOT what you have been waiting for. The AdCom have decided to put you on the waitlist. What the hell? Waitlist? Nobody told me about this! What should I do NOW?

What is the Waitlist?
The committee receives thousands of application each year. Part of the applicants is invited for interviews. Then the AdCom starts to assemble the class. Their goal is to have a diversed class – that means a certain percentage of international students, from as many nations as possible; a balanced rate of male/female; a diversity of backgrounds; and the best applicants that fit the school. Not an easy task. Also, there are several rounds – meaning that in each round they should fill only part of the class.

After the AdCom sends the invitations, the candidates have some times to think about it and reply. A significant percentage of admitted candidates will refuse the offer – mostly because they received offers from other places and they need to select only one.

When a candidate rejects the offer, a place is now allocated. Some schools will almost never allocate from the waitlist, but choose someone from the next round, while other schools may admit a lot of students from the waitlist. If a candidate is selected from the waitlist, he/she should be from a similar portfolio as the original admitted candidate who has rejected the offer. That is the reason that the waitlist is not prioritized, and there is no specific order in which candidates are removed from the waitlist. It depends on luck.

Some schools publish a date in which notifications for waitlisted candidate will be delivered (such as LBS), and some schools will not give a specific date and "abuse" the waitlisted candidates for month (for example INSEAD).

So what should you do?
Read the email from the school carefully (the one that announced your membership in the waitlist). Each school has its own policy regarding waitlisted candidates. Some schools do not wish to receive anything from candidates (such as Harvard), and they say so explicitly in the letter. Don't send ANYTHING to those schools - Perhaps a letter that you are still interested, but nothing more. These schools will see it as an unethical behaviour to send anything, so be careful. Simply wait patiently.

On the other hand, some schools do not forbid you from sending anything – it is all stated in the email. If you are not sure, you can send a mail and ask (or search the web). You can send additional recommendations and additional essays – only if they provide new information. Be careful here – don't waiste the time of the AdCom, because they won't like it. Some schools will provide information regarding weaknesses in your application. You might want to write essays that address those. You should definitely report any change in your career, promotion, award or significant achievement. Once in a while be in contact with the school, so they will know you are interested (a simple short email should be enough).

You might want to visit the school – by showing interest you might impress the committee. You can meet with admissions office members and make an impression, and get useful information in the process. Also you can arrange for students, alumni, faculty or respectable people to provide support letters on your behalf. Be careful not to go overboard.

Summary
Don't give up. The fact that you are on the waitlist shows that your application was good, but for some reason you were not offered a place. You still have a chance – people waiver their place all the time. You have to be patient, and send additional material only if the school allows it. Show interest in the school, in the appropriate amount of course, and visit if you have the chance.

I was admitted to INSEAD from the waitlist – and I'm going to France this month. I did not visit the school, and did not send any support letter. All I did was send one short email in which I expressed my desire to attend INSEAD, and one month later I sent a short email reporting a promotion at work. Other than that it was just patience. I applied back in October '06, and was offered the place only in May '07. A really long wait… But it was worth it.

Note: I strongly suggest that you Google about the waitlist, because there are a number of useful guides that explains what to do when you are on the waitlist. You don't want to make a mistake here!

My Oxford-Said Visit

2007-07-29T11:32:00.000+03:00

I visited Oxford Said Business School after I was admitted to the school. I wanted to see it with my own eyes before I commited. I had also been admitted to MIT Sloan at the time, and I had my own reasons for choosing an MBA in Europe. So I had a tough choice to make, and I decided it was worth it to visit Oxford. I will try to describe the place, atmosphere, and some technical details. It will be a bit long, so be patient.

I scheduled the visit in advance with Ms. Sally Webb from the admissions office. Everybody there was very nice throughout the visit. They did not try to presure me into accepting their offer, but tried to explain the advantages and disadvantages of Oxford vs. MIT.

Let's start with a short introduction. Oxford Said is ranked aroung the 20th place in the rankings, which makes it a second tier school in Europe. It is located one hour from London by train (a round-trip ticket costs around 18 pounds, and a train leaves every half an hour until late hours). The school is located in Oxford town which is in fact a gigantic campus. The Oxford University is one of the most ancient in the world, and the amazing town combines old with new in a unique way. Near old colleges lie shopping avenues and contemorary buildings. The university is one of the most respectable facilities in the world (in the likes of Harvard and Cambridge). In the university one can study any subject the mind can think of.

The Business School is named after Said (a big donator). It lies inside a new large building shaped as a cube. The school is located only one minute from the train station. 60 Million pounds were invested in the building and you can easily notice it. The building was designed so it would be easy to study in it. The program itself is relatively new (around 10 years old), and 220 students from around the world enroll it each year. The program is only one year, and the tuition is 28000 pounds (to be paid in advance – there is a 4200 pounds deposit). The estimated cost is 50000 pounds for the year, so it is a little more than 1 year in USA, but because it is a one year program it is cheaper. It is difficult for Israelis to receive scholarships. It might be possible to get a loan. One should own a bicycle and a laptop. The partners receive an automatic work permit (or they can study). It is fairly easy to receive a work permit (for you and your partner) after school, but they change the regulations once in a while.

In the building there are several state-of-the-art lecture halls, a beautiful computerized library (and there is an adidtional quite library for those of you who needs it), and an amphitheatre (in the summer they give lectures there). The building is square and in it's center a large relaxing patio. There are many sitting areas, study rooms (that you need to book in advance), and a comfortable cafetiria. Everywhere there are electricity sockets for your laptops (WI-FI of course).

The career services in the university are quite developed. I spoke with a representative, and she told me that companies come to recruit on campus all the time. They seem to get better and better each year. Companies seem to come to Oxford less than London because of the distance, but still you can find Oxford graduates in all the big companies. They use the alumni network in the recruiting process, and the vast majority of the graduates find jobs. The Placements Report of Oxford-Said shows that the salaries of the graduates do not fall behind the top tier schools, there are students from all backgrounds, and in all business fields (one third in high-tech companies, one fifth in consulting companies, and there are students in all other fields as well).

As for the accomodations and social life, Oxford has a unique system. The school is responsible for the teaching and career services. For the students' wellfare the Colleges are responsible (kind of fraternities). You must belong to a college (you pay 3000 pounds for the pleasure – not including rent). There are 39 colleges around campus, some of them ancient, and they are responsible for providing dorms (based on availability). They organize parties and events. One of the colleges has an Olympic pool and a gym. Templeton College owns 65 apartments for couples close the business school (it is also not very expensive – 600 pounds per month). It is said that some of the networking is done through the college and other departments in the university.

Studying seems very hard. The degree is intensive and demanding. There are two practical projects (one of them is a summer consulting project - similar to an internship). There are three semesters of 3 month, and in the end of each semester there is a tests week (tests in 6 days) - A bow-tie and a gown are required (Oxford = tradition). The average grade is 60-70 (I guess the Technion was easy compared to this). In the first semester they divide the students to groups of 75, and to study groups of 5. In the second semester they reshuffle the groups.

I sat in a Marketing lecture, and it was really interesting. The professor was very sophisticated, and presented the material in an impressive way. I understood why it is important for the class to be diversed. The students gave examples from the real world. The class is very diversed – engineers, economists, salespersons, marketing, enterpeneuirs, and a few lawyers.

In summary, Oxford seems a very strong alternative to the top tier schools. Especially to those of us who looks for a one year less-expensive program in Europe.

MY NYU Stern Interview (that didn't take place)

2007-07-26T09:27:00.001+03:00

NYU Stern invited me for an interview. The problem was that the interview was to be conducted in New York. They have a procedure to schedule an interview in London, but this is only after filling up a form and making a request. On special circumstances they would authorise a phone interview.

They agreed to interview me in London, but not in Israel. So in order to get interviewed I had to fly to London for a day or two. There were several circumstances that held me back from flying to London:

1. I had a personal event exactly in the time of the interview.
2. I could not take days off work at the time.
3. I had already been admitted to MIT, so it was really not worth my while to go into so much trouble.
4. The cost: It would have cost me 600-800$ to fly there.

NYU showed no flexibility and consideration to my personal event, so I politely declined the interview invitation. I ended up in the waitlist, and later on rejected by the school. That's a shame, because NYU Stern is supposed to be a really good business school.

I know of a guy with 10 times better and jastified reasons than mine for not flying to London, and he did not get any consideration either. So, I really can't complain. NYU Stern wants candidates who are willing to go around the world in order to be admitted to their school. I was not one of those applicants (apparently) so I was not admitted to the school. Too bad.

Note: This post is not a complaint. I have no bad feelings toward NYU, and I totally understand their approach. I just wanted to warn that some schools require you to fly to them for the interview, and you should take that into consoderation when applying. - it's ashame to waste time and money if you don't plan to fly to the interview.

My Oxford Interview

2007-07-26T09:27:00.000+03:00

Oxford Said Business School conducts phone inetrviews with Israeli applicants. The interviews are done by professors from the school. Oxford has a second tier one-year MBA program in Europe with a relatively small class of 200 students. Each year they admit one to three Israeli students.

I had the phone interview with Prof. Alex Nicholls of Oxford. I looked him up in the Oxford website, and saw his picture. The interview lasted 25 minutes, and I had a strange feeling about it. It was a bit different from the rest of my interviews. I talked most of the time, and after each answer he kind of repeated what I said in different words in order to see that he understood my point. He did not challenge me on any point or weakness.

He started by saying that I should not be intimidated by the fact that he was the head of social enterpeneurship in Oxford and this is not relevant for our conversation. (What a way to start, right?)

The questions that he asked me:

Why MBA? Why Now? Why Oxford?

Describe your company, your sector, and the challenges that your company face in your sector.

Can you tell me about an international economy event that have read lately in the Economist, BusinessWeek or Financial Times (or other place) and that is interesting to you? (I had to improvise here - a very tough question).

Can you tell me what you think about the role of China in the economy? What do you think the Economist would say about it? Do you think it is good or bad? (Again - a very tough question. I probably blabbed nonsense for 5 minutes, but he seemed to like my answer - I have no idea).

Do you have any questions for me? (I asked him if he felt that the MBA program at Oxford is more theoretical than practical).

Very tough interview, because he did not ask about me (except for the first question), but rather my knowledge and take on the business and economy world. I don't have much knowledge on those so it was very difficult for me, and I ended up in mixed feelings.

Summary
I was admitted to Oxford, and visited the school. I have decided that I wanted to study there, but was admitted to INSEAD in the last minute. In the end I will be going to INSEAD.

My Yale SOM Interview

2007-07-24T14:22:00.000+03:00

My first interview was for Yale. We did not manage to cover everything in the interview, so we finished it one day later over the phone.

Yale School of Management is a second tier school in USA, and its class is relatively small. The school has recently adopted a new innovative curriculum. Not a lot of students from Israel go there each year (maybe one), and the school does not participate at events in Israel. Yale (the university) is a well-known name in Israel, and has a good reputation.

My interviewer was an Israeli alumnus of Yale School of Management who was a partner in a hedge fund. In his company's website I found his picture, so at least I had an idea how he looked like.

Part I
I arrived to his office in Tel-Aviv 15 minutes ahead of time, and waited for him for over 30 minutes. We were scheduled for the interview in 13:30, and it started in 13:50. Actually the interviewer had a "crisis" in the office, and a scheduled meeting in 14:00, so we had less than 15 minutes!

The interview was in Hebrew. He asked me where I worked. I listed my resume very very briefly. He asked me (in that order more or less):

Where do you work?

Why did you choose to work for companies in the military-high-tech industry? What is interesting about it?

Why do you want to change your career from engineering to management? (kind of "why MBA" question). Why do you want to do it abroad and not in Israel?

How do you stand out among your peers?

Do you have someone working under you?

Can you describe the business structure of Elbit, your current employer?

What do you want to do after the MBA? ("short-term goals" question)

What are your expectations from Yale? (kind of a nice "Why Yale" question)

Do you worry about studying in English? (He then realized that he should have interviewed me in English and not in Hebrew - oops).

At that point he saw that he was out of time and suggested we continue the interview over the phone (scheduled for the next day afternoon) - probably in English.

The interview in Hebrew took me by surprise, but once I realized that it will not switch to English I adjusted accordingly.

It was more a conversation, less an interview, and he was very friendly. He told me about himself, and even offered to provide tips about how to adjust to the American culture. He did not let me develop a topic to more than two sentences, but rather jumped from one question to the other in an order that made sense (like a conversation).

I understand that crises can occur in a stressed business like his, but I did sense a little disrespect by him not allocating more time for the interview and starting the interview very late. I had not expressed my feelings out loud of course, but was very polite.

Part II
I had the phone interview in the next afternoon, and it lasted 20 minutes. He started by apologizing for the other day, and immediately continued the interview. The entire interview was in Hebrew.

Tell me again why you want to go to Yale? What specifically attracts you to Yale?

What is your GMAT score? What was your average in your first degree? What were your weaker courses? Did you take courses in Economics?

Are you focused on a specific subject in business school? What are your thoughts of the internship?

If you are not accepted to Yale what would you do?

What other schools have you applied to?

Do you like working/studying in team or alone?

What is the business potential of your current workplace?

What do you think can be improved in your company (with regards to business)?

Do you think it will be difficult for you to present yourself in English?

Anything else you think is important for me to know?

He ended the conversation by inviting me to contact him if I have more questions.

I must say that the second interview was not as good as the first. First thing, it seemed that he had a lot of work between the two sessions, and he did not remember much from the first interview. It is clear that some questions he repeated. The good impression that I may have made during the face-to-face meeting was at risk, because it seemed that the interview started all over again. Second, his phone call took me a bit off guard (I did not know the exact hour he would call), so I did not have a couple of minutes to relax and adjust my thoughts. Also, the conditions in which the phone interview took place were not optimal, because I had people over at my house.

Phone interviews are very different from regular interviews, and you need to take that into consideration.

Summary
I was not admitted to Yale, and I have no idea if the interview was to blame or other aspects in my application.

The Interview

2007-07-22T21:01:00.000+03:00

After you submitted all the material needed for your application, you might get an interview invitation. The schools publish in advance the deadlines for invitations. Some schools will send invites exactly on the deadline, and some will send them in a period of time before the deadline (you might want to get updates from other candidates in Business Week Forums).

If you got the invitation - CONGRATULATIONS - you are half way there. It means that your application indeed stood out in the pile of applications, and you are a serious candidate. Good job.
Well, hold on a bit. You still have to get yourself interviewed. In English...

How to Prepare
Here is a shocker: You can prepare for the interview. Imagine this : You get an email with an invitation to interview with an alumni. You don't prepare (because you don't want to waste your time - this should be similar to a job interview, right?). You have never been interviewed in English (a full conversation in English was something you have done maybe once in your lifetime). The interview starts, and you are asked: "Please tell me about your greatest accomplishments". After the initial shock, you mumble a few words, and think to yourself that you are really in trouble. After a few moments you wake up in sweat...

Ok, my point is that with a few hours of preparation you can work miracles in the interview. You have to be prepared for several questions. Some of them will be asked in some variations in 90% of the interviews. Some of them might not be asked, but if they do and you are not prepared, it will be very difficult to think of a good answer on the spot.

Here are the general questions for interviews:

Tell me about yourself... Walk me through your resume...

What is your career motivation?

What are your short term and long term career goals and why?

Why do you want an MBA?

Why now?

Why did you choose our school?

What is the greatest Adcom concern? What is the weakest part of your application?

What are your strengthes?

What are your weaknesses?

What are your leadership qualities?

What characteristics would your friends use to describe you?

What is your typical role in a group?

Have you ever had a case in which ... ? (Several options here)

Tell me about an ethical dillema you have faced.
Do you have a questions for me?

Do you understand the type of questions? For each question write down what you want to say. Use stories and examples. You can use stories from your application and use other stories as well. After you wrote down the answers say them out loud. Make sure that the English level is respectable. Writing and speaking are two different things. Adjust your answers so they will sound fluent and not ackward.

After you are satisfied with the results - practice. You don't need to memorize them, just know them really well. The interview will NEVER go out as you have planned. The questions you will be asked will not be in a specific order, some of the questions will not even be asked. By knowing everything well, you will be able to improvise by using the examples and stories that you have prepared.

Create a list of several guiding points and key messages that you want to deliver in your interview. Those guiding points will be a great way for you to focus. Sometimes it can be nice to shift the interview toward things that you are more comfortable talking about, and that makes you look good.

When you are done, I suggest you do a simulation test with someone. You might get valuable comments.

You can learn about your interviewer by Googling him up. Simply write his name in Google, and you might be surprised with what you can come up with - his background, companies that he worked for, people's opinions about him, projects he participated in, and so on. You might even find a picture of him.

The "Walk me through your resume" Question
One of the most important questions, because you will have to talk about yourself in the interview. The interviewer usually starts with this question because it is a good ice breaker. You have to be able to talk about yourself for 5-10 minutes uninterrupted. So create a 1-2 pages essay "Walk me through your resume", and then try to say it out loud. Cover everything in your resume, from high school through your undergraduate studies, military service, jobs, extra-curricular activities, and so on. Start with a killer opening. End with a good sales paragraph - remember that you have to market yourself throughout the interview.

In reality, I have not been asked this question even once. I was never able to talk uninterrupted for 5 minutes. Either the interviewer picked several chapters from my past in the order that was important to him (in this case I covered the rest in different parts of the interview), or he quickly shifted the interview to other questions (he had read my resume, so this was boring to him). It depends on the dynamics of the interview. But, by having this question memorized I was able to tell my interviewer about any chapter of my past in several very well phrased sentences in any time during the interview. This made me appear confident, ready, and fluent in English.

One last comment: In my first interview (Yale) I knew my "walk me through your resume" by heart. Imagine my surprise when the interviewer asked me in Hebrew: "So you work at Elbit, huh?". There goes my saling speech. I really had to improvise and focus in order to both change the order of the speech and to translate it all to Hebrew. A sentence that was phrased nicely in English, can be sound very ackward in Hebrew. So you might have to prepare yourself to speak in your native toungue as well.

Why MBA? Why Now? Why Our School?
Those three questions are always asked. You should be able to talk about them for at least 5 minutes. Those questions are good to show that you have researched the school, that you know what you want from your life, that you have thought deeply about your futue, and that you resume connects to your future as an MBA graduate.

Make sure that you know how to answer those questions and that it is convincing. The interviewer should recommend you as a serious candidate that fits the school. Remember that throughout your interview, and especially in those three questions.

Do you have questions for me?
This question is always asked in the end of the interview. It is important, and you have to come prepared with specific questions about the school. The more focused the question the better. If you can come up with a question that will show you have researched the school, and that the interviewer will spend 5-10 minutes answering the better. Most people love to talk about themselves and to brag about their school, so by using this question correctly you can spend couple of minutes to listen to your interviewer instead of answering his difficult question, while making yourself look good. If youare really lucky, you can start a conversation of 30 minutes about the school and actually become friendly with your interviewer.

Dress Code
If you are interviewed by an alumni in your home country, the dress code is the one that is customary in your home country. For example in Israel, people don't come to work in a suit usually. So in 3 of my 5 interviews I did not come in a business suit. However, when I was interviewed by the head of admissions of MIT (Mr. Rod Garcia) in a hotel lobby in Tel-Aviv I came up dressed in a business suit (first time I ever wore a tie). For phone interviews you can dress up as you please.

If you are interviewed in campus, or by a school represantative, come in an official business dress code (unless stated otherwise).

My Interviews
My Yale SOM Interview
My London Business School Interview
My INSEAD Interviews
My MIT Sloan Interview
My Oxford Phone Interview
My NYU Stern Interview (That didn't take place)

Finalizing the Application

2007-07-12T22:07:00.001+03:00

So, you have written the essays, arranged the recommendations, did the GMAT and perhaps the TOEFL. What else should you do?

Visit The Schools

There is quite a debate whether visiting the school is helpful to the application. In my opinion, visiting the school shows the admissions committee that you have taken some measurements to evaluate their school and have shown interest. Other than that it will contribute nothing to your application and essays. However, visiting the school will give you perspective on the life in campus, teaching methods, atmosphere of the school, and chemistry with the other students. You can learn a lot from a one day tour of the campus and its surroundings. It can help you decide on the schools that you want to apply to.

If it is possible, I recommend visiting some of the schools. Of course it envolves taking days off work and financing your stay. So visiting the schools is definitly not mandatory. Personally, I did not visit any school before submitting the application. Only after I was accepted I went to visit Oxford, and London Business School on the way. My visits were real education, and there are clear differences between those schools.

When you plan the visits contact the schools' offices to coordinate the meeting. Each school is at least a 1 day visit. Arrange an official tour. If you can arrange to meet students (maybe from your origin) it might give you more insights. Definitely sit in a lecture. I coordinated a meeting with the placement office in order to find out more about employment possibilities after Oxford. After the visit don't forget to sign up in the admissions office, and mention it later in the application.

Endorsement Letters

Letters from alumni, current students, faculty members and known persons can give small contribution. Try to arrange one or two short letters in which people related to the school can tell that they have met you, or know you well, and that you fit into the school. Try to create a small network from the conventions, internet forums, and school meetings for applicants, and by staying in touch you might get such a letter. Those letters, if written appropriately, can help in little extent. They should be short and to the point, no need for full recmmendations, and no more than a page long. I recommend that those letters will be sent directly to the school, or by you in a sealed envelope.

Send material to the school

The application forms are submitted on-line. In the Application Forms you provide personal information, previous education details (including unofficial score reports - you might have to upload a scanned version), employment history, unofficial test scores (GMAT and TOEFL), essays, recommenders details, and other information (in the form of very short essays). Those will take few hours to complete, so fill them ahead of deadline. You must submit them before the deadline.

The recommenders should send the recommendation letters on-line. Most schools allow for hard-copies, and in those cases the recommender should either send the letters directly to the schools, or give them to you in sealed envelopes and you can send them with the rest of the material.

Send the official score reports (in English) from all your previous institutions. Some schools require that you provide a deploma, and if applicable a class ranking report. My undergraduate university, The Technion, had sent the reports to me, and I sent those with all the other materials.

You have to arrange for the GMAT and TOEFL score reports to be sent to school directly from the companies (ETS and Pearson-Vue). The GMAT can be ordered on-line in a friendly user interface. The TOEFL score report can be ordered telephonically and it takes some time for it to arrive, so do it in advance (it is best to send them when you take the exam - this way it is free). If you think that there is a chance the grades will not be received on deadline, don't panic - simply notify the admissions office of the school. Your status will be pending until all the materials are received, but it will be ok.

You can send the material by regular mail, registered mail, or use a shipping company like UPS, DHL or Fedex. I sent all my stuff with UPS for 20$ per school. I was able to track the envelope on-line and to be certain that they were received (it is funny to watch your package travel all across the world, only to get from Israel to France in 2 days). Make sure that the date of the delivery is before the deadline - this way you can be sure it arrives on time. The date that matters for most school is the date you send the package, not the date it was received.

Once you submit and send everything, you should get a notification from the school (each school has its own procedure). Now, you have to wait patiently for the reply. Each school publish a deadline for interview invitation. The respond might be an interview invitation, or a rejection letter (most school correspond withyou through emails).

The Recommendations

2007-06-30T16:51:00.000+03:00

This is definitely the most complicated part of the application logistically. You need to find two or three persons with good English that are willing to write 3-4 pages about you. They need to know you really well. They have to write a recommendation for each school you apply to - and it's a different recommendation for each one.

You need to find people who actually care enough for you to write a long essay about you. They are probably very busy people. So it is twice as hard for them to write a decent recommendation. The recommendations are a very important component of the application - so your recommendations should be good.

Choosing the Recommenders
One of your recommenders should be your current direct supervisor. Of course he should know you really well. The highest ranked he is in your organization the better, but definitely favour someone who knows you well.

Your second/third recommender should be someone from your previous jobs. If you don't have one, you can pick a professor from your previous studies. You might choose a colleague, or someone who knows you proffesionally well. If you can get a famous person to give you a recommendation it will be great - but he should know you. There are no discounts for this recommender - his/her recommendation should be as long and well-written as the other recommendations.

How to start
No one expects your previous boss to remember every little thing you contributed to your team. You will have to sit and debrief your recommenders. In Israel, for example, it is not common to write a recommendation in the style that the MBA schools require. That is why it is very important to explain in details what this recommendation is all about.

Explain what the business schools require from candidate, what type of characteristics they need, what background they expect, and what experience the recommendation should show. The recommendation should be very enthusiastic about you and your future plans to become a manager. The recommender should use superlatives as much as possible. Your recommender should wholeheartedly recommend you to the school. Explain the structure of the recommendation: several questions that should be answered. Each school has different questions, so it will be a lot of work. Some schools give categories that based on them the recommender should rank you, and might need to explain. When giving the rankings the recommenders should not rank you highest in all categories, but mark several categories in the second highest level (so he will be taken seriousely).

Once the recommendation is completed the recommender should submit it online. You should not see the recommendation at all, nor should you participate in the process of writing the recommendation. The school might contact the recommender at later stages to verify the validity of the recommendation. The deadlines are important - the recommendations should be submitted before the deadlines, so you might want to create a schedule. Word limit is important too - the recommender should not exceed it - although some schools will be linient about this.

Meet your recommenders and share old stories. Make a list of all your contributions, times that you made an impact, examples for leadership and teamwork, and times you had to do better. Remember that the recommendation should not contradict your essays, and should support your strategy, so it is important that you come prepared.

Once you make the list together give the recommenders a list of common questions from previous years. The recommenders will be able to write a generic recommendation, and once the real questions are published they will have short work of adjusting the recommendations to the schools. It is important not to send a too general recommendation because the admissions comittees don't like it.

Common Recommendation Questions

The following 5 areas keep coming up again and again for each school: Applicant's role, strengthes, weaknesses, potential, and interpersonal characteristics. Some schools might have different wordings, word-limits, or more specific questions (for example, Wharton asks the recommender to describe the applicant's sense of humor; HBS asks about the applicant's English abilities). But if the recommender prepares good stories and examples for these questions, he will later be able to assemble the appropriate official recommendations once the questions are published.

1. How long have you known the applicant and in what connection? If applicable, briefly describe the applicant's role in your organization. Please comment on the frequency and context of your interaction. (HBS)

2. Strengthes - In what ways has the candidate distinguished himself or herself among peers? (HBS) What are the applicant’s most salient strengths? (Wharton)

3. Weaknesses - Comment on the candidate’s professional weaknesses and opportunities for growth. (HBS) What efforts has the applicant made to address these areas? (Wharton)

4. Charactristics - What observations do you have concerning the applicant’s leadership abilities, team and/or group skills? (Wharton) Describe the candidate as a person. Comment on his/her ability to establish and maintain relationships, sensitivity to others, self-confidence, attitude etc. (INSEAD) Please provide an example of the applicant's impact on a person, group, or organization. (MIT) Please provide a representative example of how the applicant interacts with other people. (MIT)

5. Potential- How will the MBA degree contribute to the candidate’s career development? (Wharton) Comment on the candidate's potential for senior management? Do you see him/her as a future leader? (INSEAD)

At the first stage the recommenders should not worry about word limit, or English styling. When they write your final recommendations they can use all the material and adjust it to fit. It is ok for the English level to be standard and not perfect - but the recommenders should be familiar with English - you cannot translate it for them.

Summary
Pick recommenders who know you very well proffesionally, and that care enough for you to get into this adventure. Sit and explain to them exactly what you need, and make sure that they understand what the recommendation should look like in the end. Remind them of your heroic stories. Make sure that they are on deadline, and that the styling, word limit and other requirements are fulfilled. Make sure NOT to participate in the process of writing the recommendation. They should submit it online and on schedule (or send it directly to the university - contact the specific school for details).

Writing the Essays

2007-06-24T20:47:00.000+03:00

After you have created your strategy, and created a list of all your history achievments, you are ready for the hard work: Writing the essays. You should have an idea of the schools you want to apply to.

Business schools require 5 essays in average. The essay questions are published one month or 2 months before the deadline. However, you can start writing the essays much earlier. If you want to apply to one or two schools, check the essay topics of last year (you should easily find them on the schools' websites, or google them up). You can start working on those. Once the official topics are published you will have less work. Most of the times the changes from year to year are minor.

If you want to apply to more schools you can start by creating a General Application. There are topics that keep coming up every year. Once you write essays for the general application, you will be able to use these for each school. Write long essays, with many examples, so later on you can shorten them to fit to the school's actual essay.

The General Application Essays

I have applied to 8 schools, so I know what most business schools ask. I took the most frequent questions, and put them here on a list. I also wrote the name of the school from which I took the exact wording for the question. Don't be mistaken - those questions came up again and again in various wordings.

Discuss your career goals. How will your past and present experiences help you achieve this? (LBS) What skills do you expect to gain from studying at SCHOOL and how will they contribute to your professional career. (INSEAD)

Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities and where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (INSEAD)

Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (INSEAD)

Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (INSEAD)

What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (HBS)

Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life. (LBS)

Please tell us about a time when you had an impact on a person, group, or organization. (MIT)

Describe a failure or setback that you have experienced. How did you respond, and what did you learn about yourself? (Wharton)

When have your values, ethics, or morals been challenged? How has this shaped who you are today? (Wharton)

Those essay topics are typical, and are often asked in variations. They might be asked in the interview as well. So answering those will give you a lot of material that you can use in your applications.

How to go about writing an essay

For each question you need to brain storm first. Write down every option, every example, every thing that might be related. You have to realize that the essays are the only part of the application that the committee will learn about you. They need to know who you are, and why they should pick you for their school. Some tips:

1. Don't be modest - This is your only chance to show that the committee should choose you! If you don't feel that an activity, action, idea, contribution is an achievement - think again. Everything can be phrased as an achievement. You just need to write it in the proper way.

2. Be honest - you can't fool them. They can smell lies from miles. It can come up in the interview. It is easier to write an essay about the truth. You should have plenty of stuff to write about. But it is ok to exaggerate and embellish the truth in good taste.

3. Each essay should show different aspects of you. Try to make your application cover as much as possible - this way the admissions committee will see that you are a diverse and strong candidate that can contribute in various ways. Everything that is not covered in the essays, should be addressed in the recommendations (and the recommendations should support your essays). Note that sometimes there are short essays in the application form itself, which gives you a chance to cover more.

4. If you have more than one topic to write about, definitly write the essay more than once. This way you will have more material when you work on the real application. Also some examples and stories can be used in several questions, so you will have more flexibility when you assemble the pieces for the real applications.

5. Answer the question. Read it carefully, and if there is more than one part don't forget to address everything.

6. Don't waste words. Try to write in short and decisive manner. This way you can tell more things about yourself.

7. Don't use offensive, cynical, definitive words. Always leave room for someone with opinions that are different than yours (you should be decisive, but show that there is a 0.001% that you might be wrong). Don't use rethorical questions.

Writing the real essays

Start from the earliest application deadline. The school will publish the essay questions about 1-2 months before the deadline. First, plan! Read all the questions and decide what you want to write about in each question. Than pick stuff from the general application and make the needed adaptation so that your application will fit the school.

1. Make sure that the application is in coordination with your strategy, and that you covered as much a spossible.

2. You should use stuff from your general application. Remember that each school looks for different things, so you might want to change some paragraphs. Also - schools don't like getting generic application - they want to make sure that the application was written especially for them. So make the essays fit the school.

3. Don't go over the word limit. But use every word you can. In each sentence rephrase it so it will be as short as possible. Than if you have more words think about adding new things. If you don't have anything to add, you can add words to the essays in order to make it longer.

4. The schools care about YOU - NOT your story. They don't care about the details, and they don't care about your company or your team. It is very tempting to write half of the essays about the story - because you don't have to dig deep. But you have to remember that they care about what you did, felt, said, and thought. So write the story background in short (if you do it correctly you will be able to tell only the important part and make it interesting), and then focus on your actions. Tell them what you have learnt. Tell them how did you make an impact. Tell them how you can improve and grow. Show that you are a leader.

5. There is always an optional essay to include. USE THIS ESSAY. You can include an essay that covers a topic that you were not able to address in your application.

6. Read the entire application and see that you addressed everything. See that your application is suitable for this specific school. See that you did not contradict yourself. If there is a strength that you want to show, add it to one of the essays.

7. Make sure that you covered: Your leadership skills. Your teamwork ability. Your knowledge of English. Brand names. Your business skills (if there are any). Your intellectual abilities. Your international experience. Your extra-curricular activities (voulenteer and community contributions).

The Career Goals Essays

One of the essays is always: "What are your career goals? Why MBA? Why Now? Why our school?".

This essay is the most important, and it should be different for each school. In this essay you should include a short passage about your short and long term career goals. You might want to include a short description of your career progress.

Tell them why their school is best for your needs. Show that you need to aquire some skills (2 or 3), that those skills are best taught in their school, and show examples and facts based on your research (from the school website, and students/alumni). Give specific courses, clubs, faculty, facilitis, activities, etc. Show that you know their school and that you fit. Tell them how you can contribute to their student body.

Summary

The essays should show the committee who you are, what drives you, and why they should pick you for their schools. Make sure that the application fit the school and your strategy. Write short and to the point. Tell an interesting story - be unique.

I believe that this part is the most important, so you should work hard on it.

Building Your Strategy

2007-06-19T18:14:00.000+03:00

Business schools don't admit everybody. They are flooded with thousands of applications, and the numbers keep going up each year. If you want to be even considered you must think how you are going to market yourself in front of the admissions committee. Your application should shine in the crowd.

What is a strategy?
You need to come up with very clear short-term, medium-term and long-term career goals. The short term is the period of time that starts with your MBA graduation and last for 2-3 years. The medium term is 5 years from your MBA graduation. The long term is 10-20 years after your MBA graduation. Once you come up with your goals, you will be able to start planning your essays and recommendations. You should come up with the strategy about 5-6 month before the first deadline (together with your history list).

What Do Business Schools Look for?
First of all they look for specific characteristics. It's true that business schools vary in this category, but most of them want candidate with leadership potential, rich background, good references, and something interesting to tell. They want the candidate to be able to contribute to the atmosphere and the academic environment of the school. They want people with initiative and drive. But most important - they look for students with good chances to become very SUCCESSFUL.

The business schools want to climb the ranking ladder. The higher the school is ranked, the more prestige it becomes. With prestige comes large grants to build better facilities, better academic faculty, more companies will come to recruit. All of these will lead to higher ranking in the coming years.

How are the schools ranked? There are many criterions, but the most important (at least in my opinion) are the percentage of employment after graduation, the promotion of the alumni over the years, the brand name of the school, how desirable are the alumni of the schools, the diversity and number of nationalities, the facilities and faculty, the opinions of the students and alumni themselves, the salaries after graduation, and how many admitted candidates refused the offer and chose to go some place else.

The school wants to be sure that:
A. You will be successful - it will bring prestige to the school.
B. You will find a good job (that pays well) immediately after graduation.
C. You fit into the school, and you won't refuse their offer.

Your strategy must see that you are what the business schools look for. By admitting you, the business schools will not only gain an excellent students in their standards, but also you will help the school climb the rankings by being successful, and bringing good reputation to the school.

Creating Your Strategy
Your goals should be connected to your past, present, and future. If you are not into banking, why do you want to be an investment banker? If you have never seen a high-tech company from the inside how do you expect to fit into technology management? You should show that you know where you are headed and that it makes sense. For example: becoming an entrepreneur (with no experience) is very risky - you might fail. It is more safe to stay in your industry. If you want to change careers you need to realize that it is more difficult, so you better have good way of doing it and proving that you can. Some schools would prefer career changers while other won't.

Choose the industry - if it is an industry that you are familiar with it is more safe. Be very specific. Show why this industry is good - how much market does your industry have? What is the potential growth? Is your industry interesting? Do some research on the industry if you have to.

Choose your specialization - Do you want to be a project manager? A business strategist? A consultant? An investor? An entrepreneur? You need to know that this specialization fits your profile. The furthest you change your career the riskier it gets. And again - be specific. What exacly do you want to do, and how does that fit with your profile and industry?

Select your short-term goals - Where do you see yourself after graduating from business school? Do you want to create a start-up? (it might be risky). Do you want to return to your old employer? (if your boss can confirm this in the recommendation - it is safe. The school will like the idea that it does not need to find a work place for you). Do you want to switch countries or careers? Again, be specific - what kind of companies do you see yourself work for? Remember that your goals should match your background.

Select your long-term goals - you can dream here. Where do you see yourself when you are all grown up? How is that connected to your short term goals? Do you want to be VP or CEO of a large corporation? Do you want to be a mayor? Do you want to own start ups?

If you want to, you can come up with medium term goals that will connect your short and long term goals.

Guidelines
Your strategy should be solid and very specific. It should make sense. It should be interesting. It should be realistic. Your past, present, and future should be linked together. And most importantly - the MBA must be the natural connection between you past and present, and your goals. You will later have to prove in the essays and interview that without an MBA, you simply can't reach your goals. Don't forget - be honest. Don't invent something just so that the admissions committee will like you, because it won't work. Pick goals that come naturally to you.
Write everything down on 1 page and save it as a reference. You will need it when you write your essays, and when you plan the recommendations. You will be asked about your goals on the interview. Remember that your application must support your strategy 100%. In your application you will show your strengthes that will help you achieve your goals, and the weaknesses that you have to work on during your MBA.

Planning the application

2007-06-12T15:07:00.000+03:00

By now you should have:
- Taken the GMAT and scored about 700
- Taken the TOEFL and scored more than 265 (CBT)
- Done your research regarding the MBA programs and the MBA experience
- Picked some schools you want to try an apply to.

Schedule

For each school you have chosen you need to know the deadlines for first, second and third rounds. Most schools don't care if you apply on the second round. Third round might be problematic. Note that some schools (such as Columbia) have rolling admissions process, meaning that "Applications are reviewed in the order in which they are received and decisions can be rendered at any point during the review period. It is always to your benefit to apply before the posted deadline" (From the Columbia website). You should take into consideration deadlines for scholarships.

Prepare a schedule for all the schools you want to apply to, and optimally give yourself at least 4 days between each school - you will need it! Don't apply to more than 4 schools in each round. Apply for the schools you want best at the first round (but don't apply only to Top-10 schools - give yourself the option to choose a Top-20 or Top-30 school as well).

Remember that each application will cost you 200-300$, and you will have to be prepared with everything on time. That means that you should start no later than 3 month from the first application. 6 month would be great.

I heard about MBA students that only applied to only one school and got in. I heard about successful candidates that prepared their entire application in 2 weeks. If you think you can pull it off - go ahead. But most people (like me) simply need more time and more schools.

What do you need in the end?

This is a short checklist for the stuff you must send on-line or by mail prior to the deadline (if you don't send something important you might be postponed for the next round - contact the specific admissions office).

- On-line application form (Personal details, employment history, academic background, self reported GMAT and TOEFL scores, self reported undergraduate grades, additional essays)
- Essays
- 2 or 3 Recommendations - should be sent on-line or by mail from the recommenders (or from you in a sealed envelope).
- Pay on-line
- Send official GMAT and TOEFL score reports to the school directly from the companies.
- Send official undergraduate grades, class-rank, and diploma in a sealed envelope (in English).

The last two can be arranged ahead of time - I suggest you take care of it as soon as possible.

Is it worth to use a consulting company?

There are consulting companies that help MBA candidates to prepare the application. They will not write anything for you, just help you decide what to write, come up with a promising strategy, fix your English, and give you comments on the essays. Those services are very expensive - starting from 60$ per hour (can reach 10-20K$). But, you might want to look at the overall cost (100K$ per year) and decide if additional 10K$ to spend in order to get in is not worth it. Those consulting companies can be helpful if you utilize them correctly. DON'T DO ANYTHING UNETHICALLY. You should write the essays. You should tell the truth. You should write about true events. Believe me - you have plenty. Those companies should only guide you based on their knowledge of the schools and the process - not do all the work for you (they won't).

Research your own background

Before you do anything, sit down and write everything you have done in your life after high school - at work, in school, in public service, military, and hobbies. Take a week to do it. Write all your accomplishments - anything that made you look good. Did you initiate? Did you help someone? Did you lead a team or a project? Did you try something innovative and it worked or did not work? Did you make the difference? Did you stand out in the crowd? Do you have something unique? Did you have a good idea or invent anything? Can you show good team work? Were you successful? Did you win any awards? Was your group better because of you? Are you a part of a winning team? Did you improve anything? Can you show progress in your work, and links between the things that you do? And so on.

This should be long!!! I had 9 pages, and I had to dig deep. It's not that I have such a unique background. On my day to day work it seems that I show some enthusiasm, initiative, drive, and maybe some of it can be connected to leadership later (this is from a retrospective point of view - I could not see all of it at first). I showed progress in my work and status throughout the years.

I wrote down everything. Some of it was not useful in the essays, but the things that I wanted to write about became more clear to me. For the first time in my life I could actually list my accomplishments (and my failures). I knew what I would want to avoid mentioning. I could perhaps see my weaknesses so I could address them later on. And most important I had examples for my strengthes and weaknesses - this would be extremely useful both in the essays, recommendations, and interviews.

You might want to discuss this with your close friends and family. They might be able to say things about you that you did not realize.

For each of the companies and organizations you worked for or took part of, do some research and find some impressive way to describe them - was your company #3 in manufacturing something in the world? Was your company a leader in your industry? Did your company earn 40% of the revenue of the entire industry? Things like that. Show that you were part of successful interesting organizations and projects.

Create your resume

Write a 1 page resume. It should be a brief summary of your background list. For each employment, degree or activity in your background pick out the 5 most important things you've done, and write them in 1 short sentence starting with an active verb. Pick the things that shows your leadership, teamwork, initiative and so on. It should look like a business CV, so format it in a similar way.

Some school require your resume, and some don't - but will not object if you ask to send one. This document is good to have, because it will help your focus on the essays.

Recommendations and Essays

I will write different posts about those. You should start them no later than 3 month before the first application. Because each school asks different questions you will have to work on each application seperately (but can re-use some of the work from previous applications).

Summary

You now know when to start preparing the application, how to create a schedule, and how to get yourself starting by creating a list of your background and your resume.

In the next posts I will describe in detail how to write the essays and how to get good recommendations.

The TOEFL Exam

2007-06-12T09:15:00.000+03:00

If you are an international student you will probably have to take the TOEFL exam. Some schools do not require TOEFL (MIT for example) but this is rare.

The TOEFL is an English language test - tests your English skills. It is computer based, and is adaptive. You don't need to take it if you are a resident of an native English speaker, or you studied in an English school. You should probably verify this with the universities. It costs around 150$, and you can take it several times. You send your scores to specific programs, and later on can send to additional schools for extra fees.

In Israel, there are some problems with testing availablity (you book the test date on-line, and there are no available dates) so you should take the test well in advance! You don't want to go to a different country to do the test (right?). The grade will count for 2 years. It takes about a month for the schools to receive the score reports. The customer services of ETS are not so good (to say the lease), so relieve yourself from this exam soon enough.

I suggest you take the GMAT first. Finish with the GMAT about 6 month to a year before application deadlines, so take the TOEFL when you are done with it (this is just my recommendation. You can manage to do them 3 month before the application deadline and even less). The TOEFL test is much easier than the GMAT, which contains most of the material of TOEFL, so it makes sense to take the GMAT first.

I did the CBT which is one format of the exam. Today, as far as know, the test is only available in iBT format, which I have heard is harder. The CBT test had a grade skale of 0-300, and the minimum requirement was 265.

Basically the CBT test contained 4 sections: Listening (you use headphones to listen to some lectures and conversations, and then answer some questions), Grammer, Reading, and an Essay. This is not like the GMAT - the focus here is purely on English vocabulary, grammer, and knowledge. The GMAT had much more focus on way of thinking, business logic, decision making, etc. You cannot write anything during the listening section!

In the iBT version there is a Speaking section.I have no idea how that works out.

Check out the TOEFL website: http://www.ets.org/toefl . You can download sample tests from the website and check your level.

In summary, this is an easier test than the GMAT. If you got around 700 in the GMAT, you should not have many problems scoring high in the TOEFL. You should probably spend 10-20 hours to study (mostly prepare yourself fot the format of the exam and types of questions). Do soem tests and you are done.

Choosing a School

2007-06-11T14:02:00.001+03:00

If you are interested in a Top 20 business school, you should do your research. Each school have different strengthes and weaknesses, class size, student body diversity, teaching methods, atmospheres, requirements, and more. US schools and a European schools are very different. You should talk to students and alumni, and possibly visit the schools before you apply. It will have tremendous impact of your way of thinking. Also visit the web-sites of the schools, look for the academic program details, student life and clubs. Look for scholarship opportunities, look for the location of the school and the accomodations. Look for the brand name and the recruitment details. Observe the statistics of each school. Also, check the requirements for admissions (essays, recommendations).

In short: DO YOUR RESEARCH. Then decide how many schools you want to apply to (3-8 schools). You might want to spread the risk: apply to a few Top Tier schools, and a few Second Tier schools. Each application should be different - because each school looks for different things. If you get into more than one school pick the one best suited for you. I must emphasize that most of the applicants I have spoken with applied to no more than 4 schools. Each application costs you time and money.

To get you started look at some of the MBA rankings. The most popular are:

Financial times: http://rankings.ft.com/rankings/mba/rankings.html
Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/06/full_time.htm
US News: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/mba/brief/mbarank_brief.php
Those rankings are based on different parameters with different weights (thus explaining the differences in ranking). Most important (at least to me) are the salaries, diversities, percent of employment, nationalities, and several more.

If you want to get mathematical, then pick your top 5 or ten criterias and weigh them according to importance. Then you will get yourown customize ranking. Woo-Hoo!

But seriousely, you don't need all this.

The top 7 schools in USA are (not in order) - based on my research.

Top 3: Harvard (Boston), Wharton (Philadelphia), and Stanford (San-Francisco)
MIT (Boston), Chicago, Kellogg (Chicago), and Columbia (NYC).

These are sometimes refered to as the M7.

In Europe the top 3 schools are: LBS (London), INSEAD (France/Singapore), IMD (Switzerland).

By getting into one of those schools you are almost guaranteed a good job after school - and earn a good salary. You will get a good internship. Companies will come to your school and pick students to work for them.
But, each school has its strengthes and weaknesses. You need to learn for yourself which is best suited for you.
Also, most of these schools are expensive, and do not offer scholarships (although some of them do). Plus, it is the most difficult to get into one of them.

The second tier schools are:

In USA: NYU Stern (NYC), Tuck (NH), Yale (Connecticut), UCLA (California), Ross (Michigen), Duke (North Carolina), Berkeley (California), Darden (Virginia), Cornell (NY), UNC (North Carolina), Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh). Perhaps other schools as well.

In Europe: Instituto de Empresa (Spain), Oxford (UK), Cambridge (UK), HEC (France), Manchester (UK), Esade (Spain), IESE (Spain), Bocconi (Italy). Perhaps other schools as well.

Those are really good schools (some of them are especialy good in a specific field of business). Getting into one of those open doors for you almost as much as the Top Tier schools, but you have to do your research. Read the recruitement sheets, and visit the websites. Go to conventions and talk to people.

Look at MBA forums. The biggest one is Business Week. For Israelis look at http://www.mbachances.co.il/ (I'm known as jhammer there).

The GMAT

2007-06-06T17:29:00.000+03:00

The GMAT is a psychometric exam that is designed to test your skills as a future manager. Well, at least so they say. Actually it is a grueling computer adaptive test that test your quantitive and English verbal skills. You must take the GMAT in order to get into a business school. You should score about 700 if you want to get into a top 20 business school. The GMAT is only the first step in the admissions process, and I suggest you take it out of your way as soon as possible. It might prove difficult to work on the essays while studying for the exam.

The GMAT cost today 250$, and you can register online on the official website. http://www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT . Once you register to the site (not to the exam), you can download a software package with 2 sample exams and some exercises. You can take the GMAT in the test center near you in any business day, in 2 different time slots (morning and noon). You can take the GMAT each month (7 times a year).

Test Description

The GMAT has 3 sections.

1. Essays - 2 English essays. 30 minutes for each essay. One is to tell your opinion on a day-to-day topic. The other is to explain why a claim is logically false. The grade for both your essays is 0-6, and a score of 4-5 should be OK. The grade for essay is given seperately from the GMAT grade, and only after 2 or 3 persons have read your essays and graded them.

2. Quantitive part - 37 questions in 75 minutes. You see only one question at a time and can't go back. All are multiple choice questions with 5 answers. The topics are geomatry, statistics and probability, percents, relations, problem solving, numbers theory, etc. All in pretty basic level (nothing in academic level). But you only have about 2 minutes for question.

There is a special type of questions: Data Sufficiency. You are given 2 statements and a question. Based on the two statements you must decide if the statements are sufficient to answer the question together, each one alone, or not sufficient.

3. Verbal part - 41 questions in 75 minutes. All are multiple choice questions with 5 answers. There are 3 types of questions: Reading Comprehension - read a short articles and answer some questions about it; Sentence Correction - You are given a sentence with a part underlined. You must decide if the underlined part is correct or choose between 4 alternatives - this will test your grammer; Critical Reasoning - You are given a statement or a short story (couple of senetences) and a question that you need to answer (for example "What can strengthen/Weaken the statement?").

The Score System

You get 4 scores - Essays (0-6), Quantitve (0-60), Verbal (0-60), and GMAT (0-800).

The GMAT score is a combination of the quantitive and the verbal parts. In the quantitive - a score of 48-52 (maximum - in the computerized tests it is impossible to score higher) is sufficient. In the Verbal a score of 40-50 should be enough. For the essays you should score more than 4.

For example: Quantitve 50 and Verbal 40 earned me a 740, while Quantitive 50 and Verbal 34 earned me a 660.

What Score Do You Really Need

About 700. Some business schools will admit candidate with 620, while others will not admit candidates with 770 GMAT. For example, I got a 740 and was not admitted to all the schools I had applied to. It is important to understand that the GMAT is only one of many components of the application. However, a high GMAT score will compensate on weaknesses in your application. For example, if you have a low undergraduate GPA, a 720 GMAT might compensate on that.

If you want to do an Israeli MBA you don't need to do the essays, and some schools don't even need the verbal score. Check the business school you want for more information (but the score would be something like 500-550, and more than 45 in the quantitive)

I did bad. Should I do it again?

If you scored less than 620 you should definitely do it again. Most of the times you can improve your weak points in a month and score much higher. Most schools take into account the highest score, but receive all your scores!!! If you take the test 5 times it might look suspicious. If you got 400 because you did not prepare yourself, they might see it in a bad way.

For example, the first time I got 660. I improved my verbal skills, especially Sentence Correction, and received 740 one month (and 250$) later. It was worth it.

If you received more than 700, it is ok - don't bother. If you did the exam twice and got 680, you might want to stop and work on the other important components of the application. It depends on your background.

Adaptive Test

The GMAT is an adaptive test - that means that the computer will generate the questions as you go. If you answered well on a question you would get a harder question next. If you answered wrong you will get an easier question next. No-one knows the exact algorithm. It is said that the difficulty level of the last question is your grade (you need to answer correctly a hard question in the end in order to do well on the test).

Here are some guidelines: You start from an average question. The first 10 questions decide your general level - so it is important to answer correctly on those. After that you get questions for your level. Failure to answer consequent questions will lower your grade substansially (if you have to make mistakes - spread them around). If you fail to answer all the questions you get a severe penalty.

Time is critical - You don't want to finish early and rest for 20 minutes because it means that the test went easy for you and you did not get to your potential difficulty level. Although I am strong in math I worked very hard in my quantitive part, and finished just on time. That means that I got difficult questions (to solve in 2 minutes) and I couldn't get more difficult - because I would not complete on time. You need to practice your timing before taking the exam.

Also don't waste your time on one question - it is sometimes more benefitial to spend only 2-3 minutes on the questions and make a guess, than to waste 10 minutes on the answer and get it right - because the next question will be harder and you won't have enough time to finish your exam.

Don't try to predict how well you are doing. They plant pilot questions (they test new questions on you) everywhere. Those questions do not count, and they are not in the correct difficulty level. You will not have any idea how well you did until the exam is over - but you will get the grade immidiatly on your screen when you are done with all parts (except for the essays).

How to study

I did a GMAT course with Kidum (an Israeli company). Their website is http://gmat.kidum.com/. It was good - I did not need the quantitve course (but I did it anyway), and I really improved on the verbal section. For the essays they give you nice templates that you learn by heart, and then you just fill in the blanks based on your topic. You practice 3 or 4 essays and you are done.

We used the ETS official book (which is sufficient in my opinion), and Barrons (not so good). Now they use Kaplan (I heard it is harder).

The course cost about 1000$ (4000 NIS). Which means that I might have done the GMAT 5 times for that price (not recommended - but maybe 2 times would have been enough).

If you are not sure whether to take a course, I suggest you download the software from the GMAT website, and do one of the sampel tests. Skip the essays, and do the Quantitve and Verbal. Don't take rests, and don't cheat (yourself). The sample exam is very similar to the real test, and the score you get might give you an indication of where you stand.

If you feel you can handle the quantitive section, you might want to consider a verbal course. If you got 600 in this exam, you might not need a course at all - simply solve problems from ETS books, and then take the exam. I suggest you practice at least 4 sample exams before the real thing.

Pick Schools to Send the Grade

Before you take the test you choose 5 MBA programs you want to send the grade to. If you later on decide on different schools, you can ask the GMAT guys to send it to additional schools (for the nice price of 25$ per school). So it is nice to pick the schools you are going to apply to, but not crucial.

Summary

This is your TODO list:

Read my post. Download the sample exams from the official website. Do the test and see your initial level. Either take a course or study yourself. Practice several sample tests. Do the exam once or twice. Get 700.

Good luck!

Do You Really Want an MBA?

2007-06-02T23:46:00.000+03:00

Before you get involved in the admissions process, take a moment and read this post. It is probably the most important post in this blog.

I suggest that you think hard if an MBA is really what you want and need. The MBA Admissions Comittees will make sure that your decision is based on valid reasons, so why not start this early in the process before you commit. I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but this is your life, so it is best to make sure in advance that you are on the right track. Plus, it would be a shame to waste a year on writing essays and taking tests only to find out that you don't really want to leave your work, or that your spouse does not want to leave with you abroad.

Do you really want to leave your work for one or two years in order to study? What do you want to gain by that? Are you not satisfied with your career? Do you think an MBA is a stepping stone, and a natural continuation of your career? How can an MBA help your career? Can a different path be more benefitial? Why not pursue a graduate degree in your field? Is the MBA a mean for career change? Do you want to stay in your industry or your company? Do you want to work in general management, investment banking, public office, private equity, consulting, or entrepreneurship? How is that connected to your undergraduate studies and your work history?
Do you have enough work experience? Do you have enough academic background? Are you in the correct age?

You are going to spend 100-200K$ for your studies. That is like buying a house. Like buying 10 cars. Like traveling around the world. Can you handle that? Do you have financial means? How do you feel about getting a loan? Do you want to get into such a financial adventure? Why? How do you plan to pay off the tuition after graduation?

You are going to leave your home country and do a relocation for several years. Are you ok with that? Do you understand that you might have to stay abroad for several years after graduation in order to pay off your tuition? Do you have a family? Discuss your plans with your partner: Are they willing to relocate with you? What are they going to do while you study? Do they have a work permit? Do they want to study (maybe they should apply with you to some schools)? Can you finance your children while you are there? Do you want to live in dorms or student apartments? Do you want to go to USA, Europe, or Asia?

Do you understand that the application process can take more than a year? Can you handle that? Can you handle studying in English?

The answers should come after you do a profound research, talk to people, and understand what a Top-10 MBA is all about. If you decide that you want this badly enough, then you might get into an adventure of a lifetime.

The MBA Admission Process

2007-06-02T13:19:00.000+03:00

These are the steps (in chronological order) you need to take in order to complete an application. I am going to write in detail about each step later on.

1. Take the GMAT - you should score around 700. It might be difficult to get in with a score of 600-680 GMAT - but it is possible.

2. Take the TOEFL - The English test is manadatory for most schools, if you are not a English native speaker. You should score above 265, even 280 (That's in CBT test format). It might be a different score scale in iBT. Some alternatives for this exam exists.

3. Select the business schools you want to apply to. Do a research, talk to some students and alumni, go to convensions, check the ranking, and visit the schools' websites. Each school is different, the programs vary, each school has its strengthes and weaknesses. Do your research! it's important.

4. Create a list of all your proffesional, academic, extra-curricular, valunteering, and military achievements. You should have several years of proffesional experience post your graduation (military service counts even before your degree). The list should be long - include every activity that might show your initiative, leadership, awards, accomplishments, team-work, influence, etc. Leave out nothing. You might end up not using some of it, but this will clear your head. Be honest - DON'T LIE and don't make up anything. Summarize everything in a 1 page business resume.

5. Create a strategy - how you want to present yourself to the business schools. What are your short and long term career goals, and what do you want to do next? How is the MBA helpful to achieve your goals?

6. Select 2 or 3 recommenders. One should be your current employer. The third one can be a professor or a colleage. They should know you from different aspects of your past. It is essential that they know you and be willing to write 3-4 pages recommendation in Englidh about you. Sit with each of them in advance, and describe to them what the recommendation is all about. Design with them a general recommendation based on common questions. Don't write the recommendation for them - as it is unethical. But you can help them by reminding them of your strengthes and weaknesses.

7. Write the essays - each school has different essay questions, but there are some typical questions that you can work on in advance. Each school looks for different things in a candidate, so generic essays might not be perfect, but it's a start.

8. If you wish to do so - visit some of the schools you want to apply to. You might learn some things and then add to the essays. It also shows your enthusiathm.

9. Fill the application forms - they might contain short essays as well.

10. Send everything online and wait for the interview invitations.

11. If you received an interview invitation WELL DONE - you are two-thirds of the way there. You can prepare yourself for the interview by practicing.

12. Wait for the decision - you might end up on the waitlist. There are several things you can do while on the waitlist - but basically you have to be patient.

If you are offered a place - CONGRATULATIONS.

About Me

2007-06-02T13:12:00.000+03:00

I am 29 years old from Haifa, Israel. I am an INSEAD J'08 MBA student in Fontainebleau, France.

When I started this blog back in June my goal was to share my experience of getting into a Top 10 MBA program. I applied to 8 business schools, and was admitted into 3: INSEAD, MIT and Oxford. I was also waitlisted in LBS and NYU Stern. In my blog you will find a full guide of how to get into a Top 10 MBA. I am no expert in getting into an MBA program, but I did my research. I worked hard on my applications, and gained some useful pieces of information. In a few years I would probably not remember much, so I decided to write down my knowledge while it is still fresh.

Hopefully I should graduate from INSEAD in July 2008. Meanwhile, I dedicate my blog currently to document my life here at INSEAD in order to provide my readers with the understanding of what a Top 10 MBA experience is all about. Especially I emphasize on INSEAD life, and what you should expect if you are admitted. Some of the posts are informative and contain a lot of tips I learnt the hard way.

I am a software engineer by profession. My last job was a software projects leader in Elbit Systems in Haifa, Israel. I studied in the Technion institution in the Electrical Engineering Department, and graduated in 2004. Before my studies I served in the Israeli Navy for 3 years. I also worked as a computer science high school teacher for 4 years.

You may want to learn from my experience and try some of it yourself. You might want to consider alternatives. I mean that there is probably more than one way to get in. Perhaps mine is not even the best. You may just want to read my blog to get some insights or a different point of view. You might disregard everything I have to say and work on your entire application for one month, only to get yourself into Harvard (Lucky you).