Singapore, here I come

Quick update only, because my schedule is crazy at the moment – electives, core courses, assignments, readings, Student Council work, job related stuff and parties, speakers, national weeks … just too much to handle (yes, P3 really is the busiest period at INSEAD, no matter what anyone else tells you).

I have decided over the weekend to spend September to December, i.e. both my P4 and P5, in Singapore. My rationale for it is that this is a unique opportunity for me to find out more about this part of the world, broaden my network even further and travel to some exotic locations. And two months are just not enough to experience all this. In addition, I feel that the professors who will teach electives in the areas I am interested in (Entrepreneurship, Finance and some Strategy) are stronger overall in Singapore than they are in Fontainebleau, at least for my promotion.

On the other side, this may have negative implications for my job search in Europe. Moreover, it means that will not see a lot of my classmates from the first two periods, at least not on campus – after all, my decision means that I have only one month left on the Fontainebleau campus (so if you are one of the many who wanted to visit me in France and never came, time is running out quickly – hint!). Last, but not least, it means that I will have to work for the Student Council from the other campus, but this should not be a major problem, especially not when it comes to working on technology.

As always, there is no free lunch – you have to balance the positive and negative implications for every decision you make. After considering all arguments for and against Fontainebleau versus Singapore in the past few weeks I am conviced that this is the right choice for me now. In the end, it boils down to the same main reason why I have taken many key decisions in my life so far (join Trilogy, travel around the world, apply for an MBA, come to INSEAD …): If I don’t do it now that I have the opportunity, I will regret it for the rest of my life and keep asking myself: “What if …?”