CLASS OF 2000 GRADUATE COMMENTS
Editor's Note: BusinessWeek collected graduate comments in 2000 during its ranking of full-time MBA programs. The next ranking is scheduled for fall, 2002.
I found the one-year program to be excellent. Although occasionally you don't have as much opportunity to go in depth into subjects as one would like, it doesn't seem to hamper career prospects, and you are out learning on the job one year sooner. My graduating class was the biggest ever, and we came at a time just before the facilities in Fontainebleau were to be expanded. I know that they are in the process of improving the facilities. However, one of the frustrations of being in a one-year program is that improvements on the campus never happen quite fast enough. My classmates were what made the experience one I would gladly repeat. On both a personal and professional level they made 1999 one of the most interesting years of my life. --Anonymous
I have lived in 4 countries and worked in 17, yet I consider that attending Insead was my most cosmopolitan experience. The program achieves a remarkable balancing act: attaining ambitious learning objectives, which require tough academic standards and grading pressure, while fostering a collaborative environment in which people from an unmatched range of professional and cultural backgrounds enthusiastically share their perspectives. --Consulting
Apart from the incredible diversity of students and staff at INSEAD, and the high quality of both, I feel credit should be given to the fact that INSEAD is a one-year program, which still manages to teach a complete MBA and attract the best students, staff, and employers. Condensing the MBA into one year, obviously makes the program very tough, and involves a lot of long hours and hard work. However, the disruption to one's career as well as one's private life is minimized, which was a great advantage to me. A further observation to me was that the atmosphere at the school was extremely good and very supportive. With that I mean that students often went out of their way to help others (i.e. no 'back stabbing'), even to the extent that questions asked during job interviews were passed on!! Very remarkable and very impressive. --Operations
INSEAD has three major advantages over the American schools: diversity of student body (no nationality/culture accounts for more than about 10-12%); it's a one year program; it's in France/Europe. Overall, INSEAD has surpassed my expectations for an MBA by far. It was the best year of my life, and I would go there anytime again and recommend it to all my European friends. Even though I got a job in the U.S. after graduation, if the U.S. is the place you want to be in the long run, you should go to Harvard or Stanford (and nowhere else). Because these are the two schools that command the highest respect. The rest is just second-rate stuff (at least for a career in consulting). As for me, for the rest of my stay in the U.S., I will have to explain what INSEAD is (a business school in Europe!?) and that I am from Switzerland and not Sweden. --Consulting
If there was something wrong it had to do with my personal circumstances. Being 33 at the time of joining the program, I was in the upper limit. This is due in part to the lack of knowledge we had regarding this issue when being at the university. --Consulting
INSEAD is truly outstanding, because it covers the European market pretty much alone. [London Business School] is there, too, but most of its graduates come from and are absorbed by London's financial district. And IMD, the only other top caliber European MBA is tiny, with 'half' of their alumni in Nestle and Switzerland. So, Europe, an economy the size of U.S., is covered by INSEAD and one more good school. In the U.S., there are at least 7-8 great schools that cover the market. Hence, the quality of the student body, the quality of recruiters, and the quality of professional visitors is simply head and shoulders above the U.S. MBAs. Diversity is terrific (and useful). The alumni network if you are going to stay in Europe is unbeatable (except maybe Harvard's and that's because of their longer history). Access to Asia was already strong and must be step-change improving thanks to the Singapore campus.
The downside is the amount of women students and that's due to European women's choices and not the school (for instance, the North American student body within INSEAD is about 40% women!). And I agree with the school not to have European women for the sake of having them. So, keep the criteria high, but maybe engage in some efforts to entice top quality European women into INSEAD through awareness increase, scholarships and being "female-friendly." --Consulting
I am now trying to launch my own business. This is the greatest experience I have ever had. I would have never jumped off the cliff without having gone through the Insead process. Generally speaking, I feel I am now fully equipped to start real things, and bring something to the world. This is permitted through the material, and the people. Before Insead, I was a successful founder and general manager of the UK subsidiary of the leading mail order group in the world (Otto Versand). This position made me think I would get bored at Insead. All the contrary, after Insead I realized I knew nothing before attending Insead. --Entrepreneurship
The INSEAD new ventures class inspired a number of us to create business plans which have now turned into real companies. The professors provided very helpful advice and contacts. The entrepreneurial spirit was encouraged at INSEAD. Many of those who did not opt to go directly into a startup will almost certainly do so in the coming years. Other INSEAD courses complemented the entrepreneurship courses and have given me a set of tools with which to run my own small venture. --Anynomous
I miss it already. --Finance
The INSEAD MBA program is very short and very demanding. But it is worth doing it if you are really motivated. You can meet every bright people there, from various backgrounds and personalities. In my section, there were people from 54 different countries and we were only 80! That could not happen even in the most prestigious U.S. MBAs. --Consulting
INSEAD is an outstanding business school in terms of its level of international students. it is also very responsive to the market/business environment and incorporates new courses rapidly (e.g. New Economy). However, INSEAD's challenge is the quality go the professors and to balance the work loads as to enhance quality learning. I really annoyed the year in Fontainebleau and would recommend it to others. --Venture Capital/Private Equity
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