Welcome to 2018! With the start of this new year, we begin to welcome this year’s MBA participants as they arrive on campus to collect keys for their new homes, settle their families, meet insurance advisors, set up bank accounts, and generally start preparing for the year ahead! As of Monday, the program will begin, but for now, here is our first guest entry of the year, from MBA 2018 Kshitij Verma:
For someone with a family, making a choice between the best of schools is more than just rankings, jobs and location. Leaving a well-settled, comfortable life to look beyond the apparent horizons is challenging. However it is much more demanding for the partners and young children, as they leave behind the place they’ve always known as home. How does one then make a choice which is as rewarding for the loved ones, as for oneself?
The foremost issue one faces is with the documentation, visa and settling in. For those with kids, enrolment in playschools and knowing who’s the best doctor around is the next question! In the past few months of program preparation, we have found that IMD has not just taken care of such issues in a very structured manner, but has proactively informed us of numerous other things we never thought of. This has made the entire process extremely smooth and effortless. Most of our concerns are addressed even before landing in Switzerland, and there is nothing left to chance. It shows the amount of effort put in by the team at IMD, to ensure personalised solutions for each of us! Knowing that someone is connected to and is with your family is priceless for an MBA who is expected to remain focused throughout the year.
The most important part is to integrate the partners into the schools curriculum, as if it were their own. IMD has done extremely well on this front as well, and it is not a surprise that my wife’s calendar for first few weeks seems to be full! From Yoga classes, to language lessons, to electives of ones choice – there is no end to the partners’ schedule, thanks to IMD’s efforts. The best part is that I never knew about the family’s plans till I started talking about mine – turns out they are busier than us!
IMD appears to be more than just the best general management program in the world. It looks like they have done a great job in helping create a home in a new country, even without meeting us in person yet. Who says Switzerland is going to be cold – we already find it to be a warm, comfortable and welcoming place!
Kshitij
