“First times”: stories of pivotal moments around the transition to adulthood. This week, the Parisian Thomas Sengmany, 29, evokes his experience as a student of Asian origin within the social and intellectual elite in Stanford, in the United States.
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Sunday, June 12, I will graduate from the MBA of Stanford University, considered one of the most prestigious in the United States. My parents will come from France for the occasion. Symbol of our time, it is the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, who will make the speech during the ceremony.
These two years have been an elevator for me to another social environment, far from all that I could imagine. The first time I was invited to an evening between MBA students, I understood that the next two years were going to be the most expensive in my existence. In France, most of my evenings with friends consisted of eating chips, peanuts and frozen pizzas bought at the crossroads in the area. Here in Stanford, we take a flight for Las Vegas on Tuesday evening after lessons, we will club clubbing in a luxury casino, and we come back the next day at 6 am to be at the time …
a large part of my promotion worked, before MBA, in sectors with very high wages such as investment funds and consulting firms. One of my promotion comrades received an annual salary exceeding 150,000 euros at the age of 23. In the classroom, there are also daughters and sons of CEOs of large companies and students whose family is so rich that there are buildings in their names on the Stanford campus.
A big loan from the bank
I was born and I grew up in Seine-Saint-Denis, I was then at the Lycée Claude-Monet, in the 13 e district of Paris. My parents come from Hongkong and Macao: when they arrived in France, they started by diving and service in Chinese restaurants. Mon père a longtemps travaillé comme serveur, puis il s’est reconverti dans l’acupuncture, il a son cabinet. Ma mère a fait une école de mode, elle est devenue styliste dans le prêt-à-porter.
In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, I resigned from my position of Manageur in product development at L’Oréal. J’avais suivi, après le bac, un parcours classique : classe préparatoire, école d’ingénieurs – Chimie ParisTech. L’Oréal was my first employer. After five years, I wanted to evolve in responsibilities and see other people. Un MBA apparaissait comme une bonne option, celui de Stanford est considéré comme l’un des meilleurs du monde. J’ai candidaté, j’ai été pris.
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