Insead & Wharton, Exchange US?

The Wharton Exchange, INSEAD & WHARTON read original at http://zanat0s.typepad.com

A lot of people(mostly from the states) come to insead because of their alliance. Of course this alliance is a bit lopsided and unfair towards the INSEAD crowd and here I can explain why insead get the worse half of the deal. INSEAD is one year program instead of Wharton(2 years). INSEAD has 5 periods lasting 2 months each while Wharton has semesters.  INSEAD students go to Wharton in P4(whether January or September intake). Wharton come to INSEAD mostly in June. So what is wrong here?

First of all Wharton students come mostly after they have graduated or have finished their first year so they do not end up losing anything from their Wharton experience. Moreover their period at insead has nothing to do with Wharton’s hiring season, on the other hand INSEADers find their majority of jobs during P4. Yes students can still access careerlink and apply but I cannot know how successful this course of action is. Wharton has longer periods and the students who go there have no access to nice classes since they cannot take whole courses. There is no evidence that Inseaders going to Wharton benefit from Wharton’s biggest advantage, it is amazing relationships IN THE STATES with recruiters and companies.

Here is a story I heard from a friend who was in Wharton for 2 months. One of the classes they could choose was related to international politics. The professor started the lecture with these words: According to this sheet today we have with us 18 nationalities in the classroom. 11(or 10?) come from INSEAD.” I also heard from the same person and it was confirmed by others that Wharton people have a different culture on that overemphasizes the importance of numbers and not of empathy.

So to students and admits asking me if the Wharton Exchange is worth it, my resounding answer is “only if you are sponsored”. The insead experience is too precious to spend 20% of it at Wharton during a time where most probably most whartonites will ignore the International students. Instead try to meet the whartonites coming to Insead I P5.

Cheers,

Comments

[insead graduate]

below is what i heard from the INSEAD students in my promotion, who did the Wharton exchange:

- as you mentioned, the classes they could take, due to the fact that they were there were 2 months only, were only half credit classes

- many did use Wharton career services and did interview with companies, etc.

- Classes at INSEAD have more of a practical element. I heard this from a number of Wharton students visiting INSEAD also.

- Culture at Wharton was very different. much less international, people of same nationality tended to hang out together, more serious