MBA Graduate Profile: Ekaterina Sycheva, INSEAD

MBA graduate Ekaterina Sycheva tells TopMBA.com she always wanted to get a degree from a top-notch business school abroad. And so that is exactly what she did.

Upon graduation from INSEAD, Russian MBA Ekaterina Sycheva had eight job offers. “I truly considered all of them,” she says, “but chose the one that I felt best suited my demands. Needless to say, I am more than satisfied with the outcome of my MBA year.”

However, some of her classmates haven’t been so lucky and are still looking for jobs. “If I were to apply now, I would definitely take into account the economic cycles,” Sycheva says. “I was not thinking of that at the time of application and, although I have absolutely nothing to complain about in terms of the outcome of my MBA year, graduating on the downturn is what you really want to avoid.”

Sycheva not only received multiple offers from potential employers, she also received multiple offers from business schools. “I received two offers and was waitlisted for the third, but, since I had already studied in the US for a year during my high school I was looking to study in Europe. I also saw a one-year program as a great advantage and was only considering top five European business schools. I applied to four of them.”

Given her selection criteria, Sycheva says INSEAD was by all means her top choice, so she cancelled her second round interviews with the fourth school, got off the waitlist for another school and joined the INSEAD MBA crowd without hesitation. What she had just joined was a very intense ten-month endeavour where she quickly had to learn to balance the demands of study and personal life.

“When you are part of a full-time program, study and personal life are integrated,” Sycheva says. “My advice is not to put too much emphasis on either side of the experience. It will allow you to get the most out of the program. In any case, remember that academics are not the most important part of being in an MBA environment. It is the people, the cooperation, the diversity of ideas, backgrounds and pathways that you will get access to.”

The INSEAD MBA program cost Sycheva €48,800. She received a scholarship from INSEAD worth €15,000, took a bank loan for €20,000 and paid the rest out of her own savings. “Most schools have their own loan programs, but INSEAD does not. If you are applying to schools that do not have their own loan programs, my main recommendation is to start looking for financing early,” she says.

In ten years time, Sycheva would like to be a successful professional who can sincerely claim that her job is rewarding – and not only on the financial side. She’d also like to be a happy mother of at least two children. And in ten years time, she’ll still be able to look back on her INSEAD MBA experience with fond memories.

“I loved my MBA experience, so I would not be able to tell you anything about the worst things of business school. The best things about INSEAD are the people, the people, the people. Plus an opportunity to do an exchange with Singapore greatly broadens the experience and is a truly unique highlight.”

The European leg of the QS World MBA Tour begins on October 4th and brings hundreds of schools to 14 cities on the continent. For further details on the tour, and the $1.6m scholarships available, please click here.