Rachel Shin, INSEAD’s MBA Class of 2022
Age: 29
Hometown: Busan, South Korea
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Korea Maritime University, Major in Navigation (B.B.A.)
Pre-MBA Work Experience (years, industry): 6 years, Maritime Industry (Ship broker)
Why did you make the decision to attend business school? Why now?
While working in the shipping industry for 5 years, I’ve always enjoyed talking to people in different industries and would love to explore what is out there. Unlike the majority of the people who chose MBA to change one of the two factors of their career (industry or region or both), I intend to go back to Singapore where I was based for the past 6 years and would stay in the same industry. I wanted to expand my personal and professional network while interacting with people from different cultures and different industries, MBA seem like a perfect choice for me as it is too much academic-focused and there will be likeminded people from various industries and background.
Why did you choose INSEAD? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?The fact that INSEAD has a campus in Singapore was a strong appeal to me. Because of that, INSEAD has the strongest Asian alumni network which is the biggest asset that I can gain from MBA as I will be coming back to Asia post-MBA. To a broader extent, I love the school’s culture that it values diversity and inclusion and I could feel that even when I was reaching out to alumni on linked in when I was preparing for the application.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to the Class of 2022?
Cultural and industrial diversity is the strong contribution that I can make where the importance of logistics, shipping and financing is getting bigger and bigger in international business. We are now seeing a lot of opportunities in my industry as we face upcoming environmental regulations and volatility of asset prices. Uncertainty can be a risk but it can also be an opportunity for new businesses and I am excited to bring my industrial knowledge and network to the alumni community to solve issues our industry is facing.
Tell us a fun fact that didn’t get included on your application:
That I can drive a ship but I cannot drive a car. As I graduated maritime university, I do have a navigational officer license which allows me to work as the navigational officers in a commercial ship like container, oil tankers, however, I failed my driver’s license test twice which I am not really proud of.
Post-MBA career interests:
I am interested in startup, especially related to Shipping, FinTech, blockchain and platform business for mentoring or connecting people in need. I will be going back to Singapore where I was based in the past, as I think it is a strategically great location for startup that covers Asian & Western market easily.
Advice for Current Prospective Applicants:
– What is one thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process?
I would take some time to look back my life, which I did to come up with story for my essay. It was very worthwhile as it helped me set my priorities and directions of my life. Putting those in writing was necessary and that is actually most of the topics I am talking and discussing with classmates I met here.
– What is one thing you would change or do differently?
I did apply to quite a handful of business schools, not only INSEAD, and that actually took up so much of my time and resources. If I could go back, I would have narrowed down my target business schools and taken more strategic approaches instead of aiming all possible schools.
– What is one part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it?
One regret I have is that I spread my time for GMAT preparation too wide. It is something that needs to be done quick with intensive focus, rather than doing it when you have time. I would spend one or two months with intensive focus on GMAT to get the score I wanted and move on.
What is your initial impression of INSEAD’s students/culture/community?
The identity of INSEAD is coming from the diversity and inclusion. The school is putting a lot of effort to seed that mindset to students and I could feel that from the day 1.
What is one thing you have learned about INSEAD that has surprised you?
I was surprised that it is known as a party school and also a lot of people are coming with their partners. They do care about partner’s experience at school too, and lots of social gathering involves partner’s participation as well.
Also it is known as a school for consulting. I thought that was because a lot of people choose to be a consultant after MBA but I realized that about 30% of the current students are from consulting companies, either because they want to switch to another industry or because they were sponsored. So I would say if you are interested in consulting industry, INSEAD would really be a good place to learn ins and outs of the industry as we have both who want to switch from and to consulting.
Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your personal application or admissions process in any way? If so, how?It didn’t affect me much in my case, however, many students changed their starting campus to France due to the stricter regulations in Singapore.
What is one thing you are most excited about in your first year?
I am concerned about setting right priorities and sticking to them as they change dynamically when you are interacting with so many different people with different values and mindsets. This year will be a year of discovery for me and I am anxious and excited at the same time. It has only been one month but a lot of my mindset and values changed already.
