Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at.
One of the principal things I’ve noted since arriving at the Singapore campus is the subtle cultural difference (differences, natch) between students who spent P1/P2 here and those of us who toiled in the sylvan Fontainebleau labor camp. To be honest, I think I credit the fact that I’m surrounded by such a blindingly intelligent, well-traveled group of individuals with the fact that the two demographics, for lack of a better word, have integrated as well as they have. These are horrible generalizations for which I hang my head in shame, but the topic has surfaced in several conversations with classmates from both Singapore and Fonty:
- The Fonty crowd generally seem to have had a much tougher time of it in P1/P2. As with all of these observations, I don’t really have an answer as to “why”, only some pet theories; I sense a subtle difference in the average motivations, if there is such a thing, for choosing either insead.fr or insead.sg as a starting point. However, it does occur to me that, among Asian students coming to Singapore, many will actually look for work here, while many Europeans, Americans and others from overseas are either sponsored (hence, no stress) or adventurous (hence, no stress.) The Fonty group, on the other hand, took a pretty intense approach to academics, despite constant exhortations to not worry about grades, everyone graduating, whatnot. Nonetheless, I do sense different levels of surprise at the amount of work confronting us in Singapore in P3 — the Fonty folks surprised at what was supposed to be a cakewalk after P1/P2 turning into a fairly intense, stressful experience, the Singaporeans surprised at how serious the average FBL INSEADer takes classwork, and at what was supposed to be a cakewalk like P1/P2 turning into a fairly intense, stressful experience.
- Maybe it’s just me, but I sense that the social environment here, while definitely friendly, is a bit cooler than back home. Don’t get me wrong — it’s a great group, and the events we have are fantastic; however, I sometimes get an odd vibe saying hello to people I don’t know in the hallway and receiving no acknowledgment. Sounds a bit hokey, but there seemed to be a defined espirit de corps, maybe stemming from shared suffering in the bubble, that’s somehow missing here. Social events in general also seem far more distributed, with no individual residence having the resources and space to put on a huge shebang, and bars/restaurants in such easy reach, thus being more conducive to smaller groups going out.
- What the hell, maybe it’s just the weather. Maybe there was something in the water in Fonty. Maybe we’re just mad. Sometimes, I still wonder whether I took the decision to put myself through this while in the best mental health.
A spate of projects is approaching; while I’m entirely disinclined to take my electives even close to as seriously as I did my classes in fall, there’s nonetheless an appreciable amount of pressure to get things done. I’m astounded at the quality of work my classmates churn out — often, this exceeds by orders of magnitude the materials we are presented with in class. In fact, although I’m fairly interested in the topics this turn around, many of my professors are good-but-not-awesome, an opinion I’ve heard from many colleagues.
In all honesty, I feel that I’ve profited far more from interactions with professors who are not teaching any of my classes; it’s a good feeling dealing with someone who has experience and industry contacts without the pressure that a fixed lecture plan and academic deliverables convey. The spectre of having to find a job looms on the horizon; those of us not putting much stock in on campus recruiting (what would an investment bank do with a 34-year-old IT consultant internship candidate anyway?) are only beginning to scratch the surface of how much networking and research will be needed until most of us dig something up. The prospect of a receding economy is causing significant unease, although most people I’ve spoken to about this display a kind of fatalistic humor — eventually things will work out.
I hope. Heard of any good luxury hotel chains that want a smart business development guy? I know of at least one who’s in the market.