To: YFEFFER
Hi Yoni,
Sorry for the late reply (but better late then never). I see that Ichiban (we are in the same section btw) has already answered your questions, so I'll just add my perspective on the INSEAD experience:
I came from an IT engineering background, working in Israel all my life.My goal is to go into IT consulting or into a global IT/Technology corporatio and then going back to Israel.
1. INSEAD is first and foremost the people here. This is an amazing international experience. Since people come here from all around the world (just in my class of 70 there are more than 30 nationalities!) contributes a lot to your business perspective. Another aspect of that is the global networks you are able to built here and the amount of experience people come with. The avg. age and experience are relative higher than other MBA's (except for IMD maybe) and it shows.
2. 1 year program. Despite of it being intensive I value the fact that it is short and to the point. This serves my goal as I am not changing my career completely and I don't want to stay out of the market for a long time.
3. Amazing lifetime experience of leaving in a beautiful 19th century Chateaux (with 14 housemates from all over the world) in the middle of the French countryside – hard to beat that…
4. As Ichiban mentioned, INSEAD has the largest alumni network in Israel and a vast active alumni network worldwide.
The main challenge here is for sure getting a job in Europe without a European passport and/or another strong European languague aside of English. The competion is great and Europeans have a great advantage over us Israelis. I believe doing an Internship could mainly help you if you plan going to Banking, but I don't think it makes such a big difference in other sectors. I would agree that the military experience is important, since it is a unique experience and perspective that has a value both for your application and to your contribution later during the studies.
Feel free to ask me anything else you wish to know: [email protected]