Argentina

Yesterday the Financial Times rated INSEAD as the #1 business school in the world. I'm a bit skeptical that it is better than the likes of Harvard, Wharton, or Stanford, but not complaining. https://www.ft.com/content/69a61dd4-d9be-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2017 We were ranked last year as #1 and some of the professors and teachers were hinting that we were going to lose it this year, so people had already started saying: "Pssh, rankings don't mean anything." But now I think everyone will suddenly think rankings are the One Truth . Still though, I am surprised by how many people in the US don't know of INSEAD. I didn't even know about INSEAD until I started looking at MBA programs. I think one of the issues is that most rankings by US publications like US News or Forbes only rank US Schools. They omit any international schools like INSEAD or London Business School. Anyway, everyone is pretty ...

Sandra visited me last week so I just wanted to show some pictures from the trip. First, the Chateau de Fontainbleau where French rulers lived for hundreds of years including Napoleon. It is also the location where Napoleon abdicated before being exiled to Elba. Here's a color photo someone snapped of Napoleon when he abdicated in 1814: And here is me capturing the historical importance of the location: The Chateau is absolutely absurd and looks more like a set for Game of Thrones or something that Disneyland created, but it's all real. Check out this bedroom: Of course the castle sits on vast gardens. Unfortunately with the weather being around 20 degrees Fahrenheit we didn't explore too much. We also managed to go to Paris for a day despite my busy class schedule. The weather was absurdly cold all week in the low 20's so we decided to spend most the day indoors at the Louvre. I had to walk around like this with two jackets, gloves, hat, and scarf a...

Classes started last Monday and I have been very busy. Here's a sample of a weekly schedule: Basically, I have 6 classes: Finance, Accounting, Statistics, Organizational Behavior, Ethics, and Microeconomics. Given that INSEAD is a one year program attempting to cover 80% of the material of a two year MBA, they cram in a lot of class time. So far the material has been very easy as it is all entry level stuff that I already covered in undergrad. For example, I was an accounting and finance major so I have taken 9 accounting courses and 6 finance courses. At INSEAD I am taking introduction to finance and accounting. Similarly, last semester I took econometrics for which statistics is a pre-requisite. At INSEAD, I am back in statistics again.  The good news is that the teachers are very good and the classes are mostly case based with lots of discussion from students. INSEAD also has a very good zero-tolerance policy on using laptops or phones during class. At SAIS, I noticed th...

Quick update on the rest of orientation week. The week continued with a lot of team building/ reflection type activities. Everyone had to decide whether they were a hunter (knows exactly what job they want), or an explorer (career switchers). On day 3, I was finally introduced to my study group with whom I will be doing all group projects for the next 4 months. So it will probably be a love-hate relationship if my past study groups are any indication. Anyway, I was excited to meet them and I think it's a good group. Here they are below: Our first task was to create an anti-drug or anti-drunk driving poster in 2 hours to be used at INSEAD. It was a great first task as we essentially had 6 strangers in a room trying to decide on a poster design. I ended up being the most creative/artistic one in the group and was brainstorming and drawing pictures on the board. At one point Sajeed said, "Taylor, do you mind if I ask what your background is?" When I said I was an acco...

After a very pleasant Christmas in Seattle and New Year in Salamanca, I arrived to Fontainebleau ("fon-ton-blow") at 11 pm the day before orientation. Didn't exactly leave buffer time, but that seems to be my style. Luckily my new French host "mom" picked me up from the train station unannounced. I had been planning on walking 40 minutes with my suitcases at night as there were no taxis, so a ride was much appreciated. The next day orientation began and 532 caffeine fueled MBA students from all over the world began exuberantly networking their hearts out. It was truly a sight to see and I was doing the same. Everyone is keen to be accepted to the group and show that they should be here. At this point, I have probably introduced myself to about 100 people and had very similar conversations kind of like when you first check into a hostel. What's your name? Where are you from? It's extremely exhausting to be firing at 100% for an entire day of orientation...