Should you come to Tsinghua SEM IMBA's Program? (would I do it again?)

So, it appears that people searching for Tsinghua IMBA/MBA program actually come across this blog, which is pretty interesting because I thought I was hidden away from the rest of the world in a little corner on the Internet.

Anyway, I also realize that my posts about Tsinghua have been getting more and more negative, and will probably continue to do so. I don't intend of sugar coating anything for people who want to know what it's like to come to Tsinghua SEM. However, I thought it would be good to have an unbiased look at Tsinghua SEM.

1. Should you come to Tsinghua SEM?

You should NOT come here if you plan to go into investment banking or consulting, or maybe anything cool that MBAs usually do. Unless of course, you're incredibly fluent at Chinese, however, even then, as I've said before, top tier companies like Goldman/McKinsey do NOT recruit from here.

You should come here if you want to

i) Have a 2 year holiday in China and get to know what China is like from a semi-expat point of view.
ii) If you want to have a valid reason to learn Chinese.
iii) If you want a mainland Chinese girlfriend, or boyfriend, whatever floats your boat.
iv) If you want to be baller but in a cheap way.
v) If you really want to push yourself to explore new opportunities - entrepreneurship or niche careers that you would never have had thought about before.

Because.. because the CDC here is crap, I've been forced to explore possibilities that I never would have considered before. Which is actually a really good thing. So that's the silver lining of Tsinghua SEM's Career Developement Center. It's made me think about doing something different and forcing me to be more resourceful when looking for an internship/job.

Now, having said all that, how am I doing? Well, I'm waiting on internship replies - none which were the result of an excellent career service or a plethora of companies begging Tsinghua SEM MBAs to go for a summer internship.

But, the question is, did coming to Tsinghua give me any opportunities?

Yes. It did. By virtue of having the Tsinghua name, more general organizations (non-MBA recruiters) are open to meeting up with me. However, this is limited as in, there aren't that many non-MBA recruiting companies that you really want to work for (in terms of job scope and compensation). But that would differ from person to person... so if you really do want to come here, please do your research on what organizations you want to work for properly.

By coming to Tsinghua, almost overnight, you're given the halo of "China expert" in a minor sense. People who aren't extremely well versed will think that you are being taught by the best and brightest of China's acadamic world.

Which brings me to the next point...

2. Classes and professors.

In this second term, there are good professors that are worth attending. I'll list down their classes and names - where I can remember.

i) Gao Xudong - Strategic Management (he also teaches 1st semester)
ii) Dr Ingo Beyer - Practical Strategy Management (he's the head of McKinsey China)
iii) David Robb - Operations Management
iv) David Li - China in the Global Economy (incredible)

3. Wudaokou

Wudaokou is where Tsinghua University is. It is shit. As in, it's the shittiest place to live in. I have no idea whether any of my classmates actually enjoy staying in Wudaokou. As far as I know, it gets so bad, that once a week, we go down to town to get away from all of this. I repeat, coming to Tsinghua won't kill you, but staying in Wudaokou will...

4. Would I do it again?

Would I? Maybe not, maybe LBS/INSEAD would have been better. In terms of career, almost definitely. But then, on the other hand, who knows what lies on the road less travelled?

I would do it again for the chance to be in China. But I wouldn't do it again for the lack of basic job opportunities. I would do it again for learning Chinese and China. I wouldn't do it again to stay in Wudaokou.

I guess, like I did say before, coming here is a gamble. I guess now, it's time to see if the gamble pays off...

One month out

So it's been a month, and what did we learn?

1. CDC (Career development center) sucks. And when I mean sucks, it means that the CDC is the shits. Why? well, glad you asked. For starters, the CDC seems to be more interested in helping locals get jobs - which means, a bulk (85% or more) of their postings are intentionally in Chinese for the locals. Even when there are interesting jobs with Morgan Stanley etc.

Secondly, the school is geared towards ensuring that the best and brightest of the undergraduate class gets job. And honestly speaking, if you were in Tsinghua undergrad, you would be able to choose from quite a large range of jobs and companies that come on campus.

And lastly, the CDC does not communicate one a regular basis. Not only that, but they do not do anything to assure international students of a job.

2. Professors can be full of bullshit. The professors for the core classes seem pretty decent, and even helpful when you approach them. However, there are certain classes where the quality of education is just... shit. Was in a class where the "professor" kept repeating that he had been a successful businessman, was rolling in the benjamins and was looking to fund start up projects with his own money. I had the impression that he would fund, take a majority stake and kick you out once the project showed profit.

3. I also learnt that if you go out for 4-5 days in a row until 4am, there's a very high tendency of you getting sick especially when there's a flu bug going around....


I'm wondering whether it was really worth committing to two years here. Compared to actual top schools, Tsinghua is seriously lacking in the CDC and career options....

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Chwhynny - Till the day I die (Darwin & Entity Big Kick Mix)

Semester 2: Start!

Here we go!

Semester 2 promises to be filled with plenty of all-nighters and unhealthy food, not limited to red bull, coffee, more red bull and funky pills that the military secretly uses to keep snipers awake and focused for 72 hours straight.

The holidays were pretty good all in... except for the non stop fireworks on the first day that started at 6.30am... and went on.. until... noon. And the last night, where I not only couldn't hear myself think (that's normal) but I couldn't hear my music either.

Heads up on the classes, China in a Global Economy by Prof. David Li is pretty good. Corporate finance has promises to be interesting and operational management sounds challenging - but from what I heard, it's not as hard as corporate finance.

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Had a huge swing in poker during a live game... down to the last RMB3 in my wallet and back to win everything that was lost earlier. All in 3 hours, no other game can provide that kind of adrenaline....

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DJ S3rl - Here We Go!

Holidays!

Nothing really happens during the holidays...

The first few days are filled with dinners and drinks.. and more drinks... and so much drinks that you begin to wish that you never have another drink again. And then, people start to leave, one by one - back to their home towns, back to their home countries or maybe just on a holiday.

After that, if you've decided to stay in Beijing for the winter (including the Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year) then you realize that you're suddenly here all alone. Nobody to have lunch with, nobody to have dinner with and man, you kinda wish you were out there having a drink with somebody.

So really, what can you do? Not much. For the days leading up to the New Year, you just take Chinese classes (preferably every day), go to the gym and maybe, explore Beijing a little bit. There are quite a few things to do - a must do it to try the different Chinese cuisines that China has to offer - Hunan food (Changsa Hotel), Sichuan food (Spice Garden) etc etc. It's quite interesting although you are probably likely to gain a few pounds.

You could also try looking for love, which isn't such a bad thing to do when you're bored and lonely.

What do I do? Not much, thankfully, I've got a friend visiting me so we just chill and head out. Waking up at 2pm has become the norm because sleeping at 6am has also become the norm.

Tomorrow, I find out what celebrating the Chinese New Year in Beijing is really like :)

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Barbra Streisand!!

Katie Jewel - Burning Love (Breeze remix)

Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand (O-God remix)

Numa Numa

So yeah, it's 3.15am, the week is going well. What a difference a week makes sometimes, you can change your perspective and start looking differently at things.

Don't ask about the music choices I made tonight! :D

O-zone - Dragostea Din Tei (Chinese Hardcore Remix)

O-zone - Dragostea Din Tei (DJ Splash Trance Remix)

Slow and steady... rush...

Something someone sent to me, I guess it's true, slow down and enjoy the moment...

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Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids, on a merry go round?
Or listened to the rain, slapping on the ground?
Ever follow a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last.

Do you go through each day, on the fly?
When you ask, "How are you", do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in bed
With the next hundred chores, running through your head?

You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last.

Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow"
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time, to call and say "Hi"

You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there
When you worry and hurry through your day
It's like an unopened gift.... thrown away

Life is not a race
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over....



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DHT - Listen to Your Heart (Rob Mayth remix)

Welcome to tomorrow

Let's see, I did have some things that I wanted to talk about - but I met somebody and I can't remember what they are. So, keeping it brief, NYE was an uneventful affair, with a discussion that concluded with that

i) There are very few girls in both I1/I2 combined that guys would want to hit up.
ii) There are even fewer guys in both I1/I2 combined that girls would want to hit up as well.

Admittedly, the sample size was pretty small - but I guess it's true though, there aren't that many attractive (physically, mentally, emotionally) guys/girls in the class. But by and large, most people are categorized as "nice", but nice doesn't get you laid, it just means that others wouldn't mind being on your study group. :)

This year, should be an interesting year if everything goes well. Hopefully it will be.

Oh yes, I wanted to talk about the Microsoft Kinect. It's pretty incredible and will almost guarantee to impress anybody who uses it for the first time. I think it's the future of gaming, and promises of what things will happen moving forward. It looks like Microsoft isn't that bad after all (I've always liked them a lot though. Go Office!).

Happy New Year, to what few readers I have.


Snap - Welcome to Tomorrow

I like how she's armed with a crossbow.. old school classics can be pretty good.


Welcome to tomorrow, welcome into my world...

Hocus pocus turn around, ain't no magic act around...


The world of tomorrow is a game world that layers on the world that we know today.