I didn’t understand this slide when Ioana our super cool Decision Sciences Prof showed it to us but now it’s my desktop page and I look at it at least once a day. We all just received our P1 results and I realised that most of us fall within 1 Standard Deviation of the mean on the Z curve. PWAAAA. In my opinion as long as we achieve this we are good. So the lessons to be learnt are again one of prioritizing work and play. But it’s easier said than done for most Asians who are very competitive. It’s difficult for them to come over this very basic nature of being on the top of the class. I will be lying if I said that I didn’t want a higher GPA however I look at the following and feel happy and I hope it will help some of you who are in process of joining INSEAD
1.It’s been proved that there is a negative correlation between high grades and high salaries at INSEAD. In my opinion high salaries is a function of several factors and grades is a very small part of it. You can be on the top of the class but yet not make it big because you lacked other more important things.
2.The first and foremost benefit you derive out of INSEAD is your network which is difficult to build sitting in the library or in a lonely BOR. Your network will ensure consistent cash flows in whatever role you will play in future and I believe that recruiters will see your network as a sign of superb cross cultural capabilities. Imagine knowing at least one person from each country worth its name in the world and you being able to call him in times of need. Cool! I am sure it is but you have to spend some drunken evenings together to be able to build some ground.
3.Second would be the practical understanding of a subject. Most of us in INDIA are used to the Socratic way of teaching. The teacher talks for an hour you sleep , text , flirt with the girl next to you and you go home. INSEAD Prof’s actually puts lessons in perspective. Knowing how to calculate regression doesn’t make any sense if you can’t read it and calculating the value of Beta is useless unless you know where it would be used. Remember you will always have experts in this field who you could hire in future but no one will teach you when you need to hire them.
4.Big picture Perspective is probably the most crucial factor. Often the best paid people are the ones who have a vision and who can bullshit about anything under the sun. Increasing your bandwidth is what one should focus at. If you want to get in to details do that in one subject that you think you are really interested in. Rest of the time spend broadening your horizons.
So probably the best thing to do is get the big picture perspective, live every bit of this experience and build lifelong relationships. Learn enough to make you savvy but not a nerd. And remember that all that matters is love.
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