First Week of Classes

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 that many classroom discussion were limited because 2/3 of the class was distracted on Facebook or email rather than participating in the class. There is also a zero-tolerance on being late to class known as the "Swiss Train Policy" and professors won't let you in if you arrive 5 seconds late. This is definitely a change from my experiences in Mexico where 10-15 minutes late was considered one time even for business meetings. 

This first week there has definitely been a lot of jockeying in the classroom to prove who is the coolest, or who thinks they are the coolest. There is a girl in my class that probably talks 10 times per 90 minute class and usually doesn't add much value. I think the professors will wise up to her quickly, although mostly she doesn't raise her hand. Just blurts out whatever is on her mind. We also had a game where two students were bidding to win a 20 euro bill, the trick was that the second-highest bidder paid the bill and the highest bidder paid nothing. The bidding was at 1,750 euros when the professor had to stop it. This is my favorite professor so far as he teaches statistics by allowing students to make small bets for real money in his classroom. The first class he did a bet to see who thought that out of a class of 80 people if two people would share the same birthday. Most of the class thought the probability was very low. The girl who always talks estimated the probability at below 1% (somehow). His bet was that if there is a same birthday, the student pays 20 euros, and if not, he pays them 20 euros (btw, all funds go to a end of the semester party fund). Turns out, with 80 people the chances that two share a birthday is 99.9%. In fact, with just 23 people in a room, chances are greater than 50% that two will share a birthday. If you don't believe me, check Wikipedia for the "Birthday Problem."

 So far I haven't been that assertive in class discussions only because the material is still very basic. Once the subject becomes more complex, I think I will want to participate more. I don't mean to sound conceited, I've just been in school for a long time. Perhaps too long of a time. I graduated from UW with 250 credits, only 180 needed to graduate, so I essentially had over a year of extra coursework accumulated in 4 years and a quarter. I also have been in school for the last year and a half at SAIS so I have taken 4 economics courses and econometrics. Classes are still ramping up, but I expect to have more work this next week.