The Application Process

Hi

I am a foreigner living in Singapore.
I want to pursue MBA at HKUST or NUS or NTU.
Based on my reserch, HKUST is the best among these three. I would like to do Asia focused MBA so not thinking of Insead.

I rather wanna do MBA at good one, so HKUST comes to my 1st priority. However I may want to come back to Singapore after completing MBA. Living wise, I prefer Singapore.

Working 4yrs+ in Singapore now, I feel it may have good chance to study/experience internship in HongKong to give myself more exposure. On the other hand I am aware that NUS is highly recognized in Singapore.
Maybe in terms of building local connection, NUS is better than HKUST.

Do you still think it is better to do MBA in HongKong, or should I continue to stay here and go to NUS/NTU? Anyone?

Hi there

I am Singaporean, and here's my two cents worth.

The best b-school in Singapore with a full-time MBA, hands-down, is INSEAD. You may be right in that its curriculum is not Asian-focused; but then again it is certainly top-notch, which may be what matters most for your employment prospects.

Another advantage of going to INSEAD VS NUS is that the value of the network there is far superior. You get internationally mobile individuals in your class, many of whom stay in Singapore after their MBA. The CEO of my company, for instance, is an INSEAD MBA grad. How many CEOs of big companies graduated from NUS?

A third advantage, other than the quality of education and network, is the brand-name. An MBA is for life. An NUS MBA might help you now (for 5 years?) in Singapore. But the INSEAD brand-name goes with you for life. Trust me, if recruiters in Singapore see INSEAD as opposed to NUS, the difference is astounding. Let's just put it this way. None of the top-drawer locals will even consider NUS. All of them will think about INSEAD.

As for HKUST, I suspect it's a similar case to NUS. The name is not top-drawer; it also does not have the quality of education of a place like INSEAD. I would recommend that you take a top-quality education (even in the US, for instance) and then go on exchange to an Asian country of your choosing. That way you'll get the top drawer brand-name (which opens more doors than any kind of 'Asian education') but also the exposure to Asian business culture that you seek.

If cost is a concern, I would also recommend looking at CEIBS and Tsinghua-SEM in China (fully English programmes). These are two schools that will open a LOT of doors for you in China, and having that 'Chinese exposure' will do you very well in finding employment in Singapore.

Thank you for your advise.
I understand, Insead is much better than NUS or HKUST.
but $$$ is the concern, to be honest.

I will look into the b-schools in China as well...

I understand, many of my peers in Singapore are very concerned about costs too.

If you ask me, though, if you spread those extra costs out over the rest of your life when u think the MBA will come in useful it may not seem like much. Say INSEAD costs 100K more... If you think the MBA will come in useful for 20 years to come, not counting interest, then that's $5K a year extra for INSEAD as opposed to NUS or HKUST. Do you really think that on average INSEAD grads don't earn $420 a month (=$5K/12) more than an NUS grad?

My understanding is that you can cover the costs of business school with loans.. think of it as an investment (Which is exactly what it is) rather than a cost, and you'll thank yourself for it in future.

hi jelt, hope you're still browsing this topic. anyway, i have some concerns too regarding INSEAD. I would really love to study there, however, I am a breadwinner in my family and INSEAD dont offer part time studies. It will be quite difficult for me to resign from my current job just to study as i do have responsibilities.

what do you suggest should I do? Should i still go with Insead or continue with MBA but with the ones that offers part time studies only? Honestly, I would also want to advance my career in the near future, it's just that taking loan is not enough cos i need to cover my living expenses here in singapore as well.

Please advise me.

It depends on what your aims for pursuing the MBA are. If you're a career switcher, then the full-time programme probably makes more sense.

If the financial situation is going to be a problem, you may want to start cutting back on disposable spending right now, and start saving for that one year spent in school.

All I can say is that career wise, the INSEAD programme will benefit you far more than any other local PT programmes. Especially if you're thinking of expanding beyond Singapore eventually.

Alternately, you can wait a few years and try to get into their EMBA programme instead.

Hi jelt, thanks for your response. i appreciate it. Normally for what age group does EMBA for? I heard it's for more experienced professionals only (managers). I am only 27 and is just a shift lead in a consumer banking industry.

I was actually thinking if it's also an option to study at NUS/NTU for the MBA part time program and take EMBA at INSEAD after 5 or more years. I guess to be honest with you I am more concerned with what I will get after graduation (e.i to increase my current pay dramatically after MBA).

are there any graduates from NTU/NUS that you know who actually got higher positions/salary compared to INSEAD graduates? Can they earn higher than INSEAD graduates?

Thanks again.

I will chime into this topic too since I've recently attended an INSEAD recruitment session just last week.

Pretty much agree with everything jelt has said so far regarding the INSEAD program, its a bit pricey but the long term returns should more than make up for your investment into the program.

The general advice is, you take a part time program if you're looking to upgrade from your current job level, and a full time program if you're looking to switch sectors entirely. An EMBA should not be interpreted as a "advanced MBA", as the only difference between the 2 programs is the age of the participants, thus the EMBA program may be catered slightly differently to an older crowd. And a MBA is a MBA, if you do complete a part time MBA chances are the schools are not going to encourage you to do a full time EMBA with them in the future.

And finally, I can't give you examples but I am sure there are many NUS/NTU grads that earn more than INSEAD grads. That's pretty much based on the same assumption that not all Harvard grads make more than say, UCLA grads. In the end it comes down to each individual.

hi wagoboy, thanks for your response. i also registered on INSEAD's In-house event so I could understand more of their MBA program.

By the way, for their full Full-time course, do they have an activity during weekends? Or it's just strictly Mondays-Fridays only?

Is there anyone here who knows someone from INSEAD who actually kept his/her job while studying? Is it advisable? I am thinking to speak to my manager (provided when I get accepted of course ) and work during weekends instead (so i can still keep my job and still have a monthly income to support my monthly responsibility to my family).

What do you guys think? sorry if i kept on asking these, it's just that I know no one from INSEAD who could share their experiences to me.

I'm sure there's always stuff going on during your MBA life, chances are your weekends will be tied down with extra-curricular activities and/or projects and studying!

It is definitely NOT advisable to work while studying a full-time MBA, esp. at an intense program such as INSEAD.

Best is to contact their program people directly. If you live in Singapore you can just arrange for a walk-in tour of their campus.

Thought I should chip in as a current INSEAD student who started in Singapore and moved to Fonty. Just a couple of points to add

a) It is impractical to keep ones job alongside an INSEAD MBA. It's extremely hectic and I don't know anyone who does a job by the side. To really experience and enjoy INSEAD you need to be fully immersed in it, and in 2 (or even 3 - including Wharton) campuses!

b) I am not a big fan of ROI calculations. IMHO it is short-sighted to make calculations for the next "3 years" (for e.g.) when you work life will stay the next 30 years. INSEAD network and brand will stay for life. The school cannot guarantee one to a high paying job on graduation, it's really left to you. But what I can say is that the school opens many doors you would otherwise not know of.

But if financial considerations are serious and you really cannot manage it as you are the sole breadwinner, I would be careful and maybe wait a few years. At the end of the day, a happy family is worth a lot more than any MBA - but that's my opinion.

hi wagoboy & necromonger, thanks so much for the response. I truly appreciate it. Necromonger, i also read ur blog! Anyway, I wish i could meet up some alumnis here so they could actually tell me more about their experience.

Necromonger, since you are almost done with your MBA, was your weekend pretty hectic too? like are there any school related activities going on during saturdays or sundays? how bout weekdays after school? are there any activities involved?

Once again, thanks guys for sharing...

Hi Gotta-Think,
Have you tried contacting the school to put you in touch with a student/alumni that could speak with you about your questions? I am not too familiar with INSEADs admissions resources, but there might be student chats, blogs or other resources you can use to learn more about the program.

Regards,

NP

Weekdays are invariably hectic and weekends have a greater stint of socializing. However, note that days, in general are a mix of study, group work, classes (weekdays) and parties/events etc. Overall...very hectic, especially the first 4 terms.

gotta_think wrote:hi wagoboy & necromonger, thanks so much for the response. I truly appreciate it. Necromonger, i also read ur blog! Anyway, I wish i could meet up some alumnis here so they could actually tell me more about their experience.

Necromonger, since you are almost done with your MBA, was your weekend pretty hectic too? like are there any school related activities going on during saturdays or sundays? how bout weekdays after school? are there any activities involved?

Once again, thanks guys for sharing...

It really depends what you want out of business school. Don't forget, part of the amazing resources you have are your own classmates- everyone is extremely accomplished professionally, and there is tonnes to learn from them as well. For a school like INSEAD, and also the Wharton/Lauder programme I'm in, everyone is from such diverse backgrounds that it's also an amazing exercise in cross-cultural interactions to learn how each person deals with different tasks differently.

All in all, I've just completed my first month at Wharton, and this also coincides with an entire month away from these boards. I often did not have time to eat a proper meal, let alone find time to surf the internet or go to work, if I'm at a job.

That said, I do know some people who work while doing a full-time MBA. Know someone at Chicago GSB, for instance, who does this. She does zero socialising/networking though, and is just there for the classes. Given the intense one-year programme that INSEAD is, however, I suspect even this might be so insane to be virtually impossible.

Good luck! And for what it's worth, 90% of my classmates took out a huge loan to come to business school.