Accidental choices

1. Staying close to campus if you're poor is a very smart thing to do.
2. Having your CV ready before you come to campus would be brilliant.
3. Actually doing the pre-reading is worthwhile. Accounting at the very least.
4. Getting done with the language requirement is priceless.

I did 2 out of 4 and found some mileage out of it.

The first few days

Made it here and trying to survive on a budget (introduced by several constraints). After a few weeks, I believe that it's quite reasonable to survive here on about 800 euros a month. Ofcourse, you won't live in a chateau, you won't drive to school nor will you get to head to Paris every weekend to watch Coldplay, but you can get by.

The specific break down for me has been

Rent = 510
Electricity = 30
Food = 200
Social = 60
Total = 800.

I've been a little low on social expenses this week mostly because I've been at school all the time reading up. Hopefully, can change that a little bit.

Week 1: Went fine

Lots of stuff going on, but consensus exists: Lots of parties, lots of networking and some very intelligent folks on this campus.

I also got introduced to my classmates
1. An american lady who almost qualified for the US Olympic swimming team
2. A French guy who worked in China and knows everything there is to production.
3. A chinese girl who worked in HR
4. A Chilean brand manager with Proctor and Gamble
5. A Peruvian investment banker.

Pretty insane, but good.

Fontainebleau Survival: Tip #2

Bring them bags. Grocery stores in France charge for plastic bags (which is great, increase the price, I say). This just means that it would be good to carry with you either some plastic bags or some regular bags with which you can do groceries. It makes a lot of sense to get plenty of them.

Fontainebleau Survival: Tip #1

Since I'm getting ready to pack up and get started @ INSEAD, I thought I'll start posting survival tips as soon as I get them. The first one is thanks to a peer of mine (Vivek Peshkar) and is about eletric plugs. Basically, France supports type E plugs.

http://www.kropla.com/!e.htm
http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm

The most important learning for me atleast: Standardization is friggin hard.

1 in 5 ding

I think I need to get to used to getting dinged for 80% of the things I apply to. Resetting expectations reduces so much stress.

Scholarships Update

I got dinged in 4 out of 5. I've been shortlisted for the L'Oreal Scholarship (http://www.insead.edu/mba/schlmgmt/index.cfm?fuseaction=dsp_list_schl). There are 3 other finalists besides myself. The final round will be conducted during the orientation week.

The objective is to share with a committee of INSEAD & L'Oreal representatives your professional objectives and be prepared to answer their questions for 10-15 minutes.

While I'm excited about getting a step closer to some scholarship, I'm properly educated on how INSEAD designs everything to be so competitive. All the finalists duke it out right there and then. And the results are announced at the end of that session.

And in stake, 'Partial Tuition'! Now, I just need to demonstrate to the committee that I'm creative and have a clear vision of my professional goals.

Exciting times.