I just had a chilling conversation with my ex-boss (and future recommender) who has banker friends in London. Thousands of smart and experienced finance people without jobs, some of them willing to work for free just so that they don’t have a gap in their resume. Wow.
Another person I met was a guy from IMD. He basically confirmed the horror stories I had already heard and added some. There were times when he did not sleep for days, and went to class with an alarm clock, so that he could sleep on the floor during breaks. Again, wow. As to the people there, IMD is the HBS of Europe – the students and faculty are confident to the point of arrogance, workaholics, many of them rich, many of them military. They are constantly told that they are exceptional and better than everyone else, and they start believing it. Still, the person I met was cool and helpful and claims that IMD is a good experience, career-wise. The school is definitely focused on industry and general management, but that is a good thing in the current climate.
I spoke briefly with an INSEAD alumnus as well. She also confirmed one of the popular stereotypes for her school – that it is also a lot of fun, not just hard work. The students are constantly organising parties, trips and what have you. There is apparently a huge network of alumni, whom one can contact and ask for help or advice. She definitely did not agree with the “INSEAD is for consultants” stereotype and insisted that the school is large and good enough to be able to launch all kinds of careers.
Definitely I need to talk to more people and do more research, but so far two conclusions are evident: first, LBS, INSEAD and IMD comprise the entire top tier in Europe and second, LBS is not my school because it is too expensive and soon to be flooded with desperate ex-bankers. Yes, the other schools will be flooded with those types too, but this is combined with the already unbearable costs and longer duration. Regarding IMD, I am having doubts whether it is the right school for me, but since there are only two top choices left I cannot afford not to apply there.
The next step is to meet more interesting people from the target schools, including this guy I know who graduated in St.Gallen. Maybe it would be a good idea to visit Fontainebleau and Lausanne. Yes, I am bored and want to travel. Besides, there’s plenty of time till essays are due in Feb/March, right?
