INSEAD

"My first interview was with an alum based locally who graduated ~10 years ago (over Zoom). It was very conversational, and she naturally weaved in several questions. The questions I remember were: - Walk me through your resume? - What do you do in your spare time? - What will you do in your time outside academics at INSEAD? - Several probing questions in my application essays (more detail around specific failures, achievements, etc.) - Why do I want to return to the same place after INSEAD? It lasted an hour and I left the interview feeling very positive. My second interview was with an alum based locally who also graduated ~10 years ago (also over Zoom). It was conversational as well, and he asked a lot of point-blank questions. Half the interview focused on my long-term goal and how I would achieve it, and the other half focused on my leadership style, what I would do in specific situations, and a lot of probing into my answers. The questions I remember were: - Why an MBA now? - Pitch your long-term goal to me if I had to invest in it. - What is your management style? - Have you ever had to be confrontational with a colleague or subordinate? - What would you do if a subordinate undermines you? - Why Fonty? And why no exchanges? It lasted an hour as well. Both interviewers had full access to my entire application and resume (I had shared it with them before the interview as requested). Keeping my fingers crossed!"

"My first interview took place online via zoom with a 2014 graduate from Singapore and my second interview was in person with a 2005 graduate from India. When I first emailed them to schedule my interview, both of them were punctual and we were able to set up the interviews within a week. My first interviewer is a talent developer and a business consultant. Prior to the interview, she asked me to send her my resume. She started the interview asking if I was nervous and that it is very natural to be a little anxious. But her way of talking made me very much at ease and I had an amazing 1.15 hours chat (she always used the word "chat" instead of interview in all the emails :)). A few of the questions that she asked me were: Why do you want to do an MBA and why do you think now is the right time for you. Why do you think INSEAD will help you in achieving your ST goals? What other colleges have you applied? As I worked in a multi national company, she was interested to know about the cultural differences I experienced working with colleagues from different regions. What was the biggest failure I had and how did I overcome? As I have already completed my master's research program, she wanted to know why I did not go for a PhD program? I also got the opportunities to ask her questions regarding life at INSEAD. My second interview was in person with the COO of an AI solution provider. Needless to say, I was pretty nervous but once again it was a very pleasant 1.20 hrs conversation. Prior to my interview he asked for my resume and my application. The interview started with the following question: Tell me your backstory- where you are from, your school education, graduation, work experience- and why do you want to do an MBA now. He was a very keen listener and I felt that he absorbed every statement I made. As I am from an R&D, he wanted to know more about my career path and career decision and the switch that I am about to make. We also had a whole conversation on e-mobility (my specialization: automotive engineer in e-mobility market) and the future of India. He was very keen to know what were my takes on electric vehicles. All in all, he wanted to know how an MBA is going to fit in my life. I also got the opportunity to ask him about his life at INSEAD and how an MBA changed his career path. Both my interviewers were very relaxed, calm and patient. It was more kind of a conversation over a cup of coffee, than a typical MBA interview. Those of you who are yet to be interviewed, a few points I would like to mention (based purely on my experience): 1. Be very clear about why you are choosing an MBA now over anything else. If you are not very confident in answering this question, interviewers may try to dig up more to connect the dots. 2. Be very clear about your expectations from an MBA and INSEAD. The main idea of the interview is to see how well you can fit in the cohort and how real you are. 3. Do not try to oversell yourself. Don't hesitate to share your failure stories. Nobody is perfect and they know it well. 4. Use the interview session as an opportunity to know more about INSEAD from someone who has already lived that life. Ask questions that you could not find in the website or brochure. They would be more than happy to clear all your queries. For now, I am keeping my fingers crossed. I hope to hear good news. Good luck to all of you who have been selected for the interview. It is a huge achievement in itself!"

"My first interview took place online via Teams. I emailed the alumni & took him a few days to answer, but when he did he was really dedicated & flexible with the availability, he cared to fix my time, even worrying about hour time difference so it would not be too early or late for me. He rescheduled the day before to 30' earlier in the timeframe I had provided because he got another meeting just after it, but being in Consulting I believe he was extremely flexible with me. He is an alumnus from 8 years ago who went into Tier 1 management consulting after the MBA (same goal), he said at the beginning of the interview that he had been some years without giving interviews so we agreed on the structure (the standard one). I did not get the typical questions asked directly but was more a conversational interview where he asked those questions within the context of the talk, I think he is really good at interviewing and was able to make the interview a pleasant time. He said he had read three times my essays and was quite interested in them, that had enjoyed reading them and was high level, indeed he asked specific questions about what I mentioned in my essays and challenged me a lot on the main points (why an MBA now if you have a dream job; MBB is hard to get, location wise might be impossible to get a visa, what how will you react, etc, attacked my weakness to undermine my success opportunities; challenged my essay's achievement & asked for a true big failure, etc There were a lot of discussions, we ended up over-extending for 20' (so 80' total), but it was quite fun and relaxed, despite all the challenges, the conversation was always animated and interesting. I had also time to ask him questions about his time at INSEAD, his work, etc"

"ust had my interview a few hours ago. It lasted for an hour. It was with an Alum. He asked me the following questions; Walk me through your resume Why MBA? Why MBA now? Why INSEAD? My short and long term goal? Leadership experience? Time I had an uncomfortable conversation at work? I think its a diversity kind of question. He noticed i had a prior masters 9 years ago and kept grilling me on my motivations? The rest of the time we chatted about his experience at INSEAD & his work in Amazon as it is one of my target organizations post-mba."

"I had two interviews, both very conversational but one was a little more casual while the other was more structured. The first interview was with a Portfolio Manager at a PE firm in the city I live in. This was, to my surprise, a very casual and relaxed interview. He asked me questions about my home country, the things I like to do, and what my LT goals are. Our conversation then just ended up being a free-wheeling conversation about current affairs and how he always tries to help people who are not Americans acclimatize to the culture here. I tried to bring the conversation back but he just told me "I will be recommending you for admission, you can stop trying to impress me". I just smiled after that and felt a little relieved. Finally, I asked him some INSEAD specific questions. My second interview was with someone who was in Marketing and Strategy with a big healthcare firm. This was more traditional and an intense interview 1. Why MBA? Any why INSEAD? 2. A situation where you solved a team problem in both a professional and non-professional scenario. 3. How do you plan to achieve your LT goals when you have no experience in what you want to do in the long term? How do you plan to close this gap? 4. Why did you choose INSEAD? 5. What would you be doing if you continued at your current role? This interview ended positively too although I was a little concerned because I did stammer while giving my answers but the interviewer was very nice and easy to talk to. Made me feel at ease all throughout. Both interviews were about 60 minutes. PS: Class of '23"

"Both interviews were very conversational. The first interview with the COO of a FinTech Startup. The first interview was more unstructured - the standard questions (Why MBA, Why INSEAD, Why MBA now, etc) were indirectly asked through our conversation. Overall, the interview took 45mins and I felt pretty good - a little nervous. The questions asked were: 1. Tell me about yourself: walk me through your career and why you made certain decisions 2. Why MBA? 3. Why GRE and not GMAT? 4. Why are you choosing INSEAD? 5. Did you apply to any other schools? 6. How are you going to fund your MBA? 7. Are you returning to your current company post-INSEAD/MBA? The second interviewer works in a tech company with previous experience in Management Consulting. The interview was more structured (I am guessing they are the direct questions from the form they fill out) and took 1hr 30mins in total as well. I was asked a lot of situational questions. Ex, put yourself in this situation, how would you deal with it. It was more or less like a stress test. The questions I can recall were: 1. Why an MBA 2. Why INSEAD 3. What are your goals with an MBA from INSEAD 4. Tell me a time when you had to deal with a difficult situation and other situational questions. 5. Tell me a time where you had to work with people from different backgrounds 6. Did you apply for any other programs"

"Both interviews were conversational, and interestingly both were with people outside of my industry. Interview 1: a) The usual introduction/walk me through your life/resumé b) Why MBA/Why INSEAD/why now? What is it specifically about INSEAD that attracts you (NOT the usual international/ diversity, 1 year time-frame, etc)? c) A few situational questions such as: - tell me about a group failure - tell me about a time when things did not work out the way you wanted to -a time where you actually convinced someone, what was the result? d) A few thinking on the feet questions like: - what if goal industry does not work out? What is your ideal job if not consulting, finance, tech/ typical post-MBA jobs? -What are you most looking forward to in school (outside of the usual extracurriculars, course work, networking)? Interview 2: a) The usual introduction/walk me through your life/resumé b) Why MBA/Why INSEAD/Why now? c) Strengths/Weaknesses d) Rehash of my application in some manner with respect to achievements and failures Both took roughly 1 hour (45-50 minutes with 10-15 minutes of informal chat and me asking questions)."

"The first interview was with a senior executive from a mining company. He focused on a few standard questions at the beginning (i.e. Why MBA, why INSEAD, why now, etc.) and then he wanted me to go a bit deeper into my failure story in my application. Overall the conversation was very casual and very much focused on self-awareness perspectives instead of achievements or career goals. My second interview was with someone in the retail space. She graduated from INSEAD almost 10 years ago and she is now the CEO of her family business. My interviewer seems to be in a rush so that she asked all the standard questions and ended the interview 20 mins earlier. I was a bit worried that it's a bad sign but it turns out I still got in. So you have encountered a similar situation - Don't worry. It doesn't mean you did poorly."

"Both interviews were very conversational. The first interview was at a meeting room in the alumni's workspace. He is a Co-CEO of a health start-up. The first interview was more unstructured - the standard questions (Why MBA, Why INSEAD, Why MBA now etc) were indirectly asked through our conversation. I took the opportunity of the conversation and constantly 'interviewed' him back to understand more about his situation as he had an interesting background/experience. Overall, the interview took 45mins and I felt pretty good - a little nervous. The questions asked were: 1. Tell me about yourself: where did you grow up, how was schooling and where do you work now? 2. Follow up question around what my current company does and the work I do day-to-day. 3. How was the GMAT? Did you study a lot? How was the application progress? Did you hire someone? 4. Why are you choosing INSEAD? 5. Did you apply to any other schools? 6. How are you going to fund your MBA? 7. Are you returning to your current company post-INSEAD/MBA? 8. Tell me about your passions for basketball and cooking (In response to my application answers) Second interviewer works in a tech company with previous experience in Management Consulting. Interview was at a local cafe over coffee. The interview was more structured (I am guessing they are the direct questions from the form they fill out) and took 45mins in total as well. Once again, I 'interviewed' her back to understand her situation and keep it more conversational. The questions I can recall were: 1. Why an MBA 2. Why INSEAD 3. What are your goals with an MBA from INSEAD 4. Tell me a time when you had to deal with a difficult situation 5. Tell me a time where you had to work with people from different backgrounds 6. Did you apply for any other programs Overall, I enjoyed both the interviews I had. It was a nice catchup and I got to understand their perspectives and journeys. Fingers crossed as I continue to wait. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions - especially Aussies or Kiwis. Hopefully, this helps people."

"INSEAD interviews are with two alumni and you have to coordinate with them to arrange the time and date of the interview. Both interviewers live in the same city as me. Due to the pandemic, interviews were online. To prepare for the interviews, I did a mock interview with a friend who went to INSEAD a few years ago. The first interview was with an alumni with a lot of experience and who event went back to INSEAD for some executive education. The interview was schedule for 30minutes, 20minutes of interview and 10minutes of questions. -Introduce myself -Why MBA? -Why INSEAD? -Why Singapore? -Which other school have you applied to? -Goals? -How do you deal with difficult situations? She was very honest with her answers to my questions and I leant a few things about the period in the UAE. At the end of the interview, I thought that I hadn’t done too well because my interviewer didn’t seem so much into what I was saying (not from the same industry at all) and didn’t smile so much. But I think that was down to cultural differences because when I asked for feedback, she was positive and said she enjoyed our conversation. So don’t let your interviewer perceived reaction fool you and a good lesson to learn for a future at INSEAD, the business school of the world. To prepare for the second interview, I had a chat with an INSEAD alumni from my industry who gave me some tips to draw my interviewer into why my specific branch of the industry matters. The second interview was with a more recent graduate from my industry, although a complete different branch and background. The interview was scheduled for 1h with 45minutes for the interview and 15minutes of Q&A. -Walk me through your resume (many interruptions to ask why this choice, why this country, why this industry) -Why MBA? -Why now? -Why INSEAD? -Have you applied to other schools? -Why to this specific school? -What will INSEAD bring you? -What will you bring to INSEAD? -Which association do you want to join? -Goals? -Why your goals? -Why stay within your industry? -An example of leadership -An example of dealing with a difficult decision -What is your definition of diversity? -How has your background influenced a decision you’ve made? His answers to my questions were interesting and he had a lot of recommendations to make the most of an experience at INSEAD. At the end of the interview I was exhausted; it was fast paced with a lot of questions (maybe more than I can remember). I was slightly more satisfied with my performance than with the first one but once again the interviewer didn’t let anything transpire and didn’t provide me with feedback when I asked. Overall, prepare well, but don’t be scripted. Be yourself and I’m sure you’ll do very well. Good luck!"

"I did my interview this Monday.It was a semi-formal chat with an MBA alumni. We briefly introduced ourselves and we went through some standard questions( Why INSEAD, Which internship experience means the most to you, your short term goal post MiM, what do you anticipate learning in INSEAD would be like.) The alumni is very friendly so it didn't feel as formal as a traditional interview."

"It was pretty chill. KIRA system allows for practice so you can get used to it quickly. Their were 5 questions, mostly random, with one of them being specific to INSEAD MIM program. Overall it was quite a nice process. For Preparation, you can watch MIM-essay videos on Youtube and their website. Their are a few Kira specific articles online which you can look up as well. All the Best in advance! (In case you are planning to give one in the future)"

"Both interviews were conversational, one more so than the other. First interviewer was currently working in a similar company, albeit in a very different role. It was a cafe conversation. She had read my application. She gave an introduction of her work and then proceeded to ask the questions: 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Questions about current role - Stakeholders, team size, work I do, KPIs I handle 3. Why switch from people manager to individual contributor 4. What would you do differently if you are now a people manager 5. What do you like about data (since I was a data scientist) - I think this could have led to MS vs MBA question had I not answered well 6. Why Product management and why an MBA 7. How was it working in a culturally diverse team. Any insights to share? 8. What would you do during your time at INSEAD? 9. How would you prioritize coping up with so many offerings at INSEAD? 10. Any other colleges you are applying to? For QnA, I asked her about her INSEAD experience and her motivation for joining INSEAD. Overall a conversational interview with couple of probing questions. Second interviewer works in a similar role I aspire to be post MBA, albeit in a very different industry. He was also slightly senior to me (about 17 years work ex). Again a cafe conversation. Even he had read my application. Questions as follows: 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. Why MBA and why INSEAD? 3. Which courses at INSEAD appeal to you? 4. What would you do if MBA does not work out (Natural career progression as well as what would you like to do)? 5. Why not directly venture into your long term goal of starting your own venture immediately post MBA. Why wait? 6.. 1 year vs 2 year MBA 7. Tell me about your interests outside work? 8. How do you apply your learnings outside work in professional life? 9. Any geography in mind for post MBA job? Which company post your MBA? 10. Why not return to old company again? 11. How is your leadership style? 12. Tell me about a time when there was a disagreement between you and your team. How did you handle it? 13. At INSEAD MBA class group, what role do you foresee playing among your peer working group? As part of QnA, I asked him what would you do differently if he had the option of doing INSEAD MBA again. I also asked him about his experience at INSEAD and how is the long term value of it helping him? His response was mainly centered towards strength of alumni network. Overall a very casual conversation. We even bonded over the love for our football club :) I had a good experience across both interviews. Both lasted for about 70 mins. Fingers crossed as the wait begins. Best of luck to all the participants!"

"Interviewed with one INSEAD MBA alumnus. The interview was more on the informal side, took little over one hour and the pace was more relaxed. He definitely tried to challenge me and just give counterarguments to what I would say. I think this was definitely by design in order to see how I would react to pressure and being challenged. Even when I said I wanted to work in financial services post graduation he asked things like "then why not HEC's MSc International Finance or St Gallen's?" He told me a lot about student life and the community feeling and expected to hear from me how I would function there and what I would add to the community. Honestly though the interview is really about yourself so just be yourself."

"Both interviews were over zoom. I wore a suit jacket, but the alumni were dressed super casually. Both had been out of the program for 8+ years and US based. First interview was very conversational. Questions included tell me about yourself, why an MBA, why now, why INSEAD, 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses, long term goals, one cultural like and dislike based on my experience, tell me a time you faced a problem at work, about a time you showed leadership, greatest accomplishment, how you will balance school and social life at INSEAD. She seemed genuinely interested in my background and motivations and answered my questions about her experience very thoroughly. Second interview even more casual. The interviewer shared the questions on the sheet that the interviewers have to fill out about candidates including questions like has this person shown growth and accelerated in their career, leadership capability, international motivations, how would this person handle the rigorous academics at INSEAD, would they make a good fit socially, etc. I answered his questions while he typed notes. He said he would go back and fill it all in later and his philosophy is that he shouldn’t stand in the way of people getting into the program so he would recommend me. We then spent the rest of the interview answering my questions and talking about his experience which was very candid about the pros and cons. I think we genuinely connected and he was helpful with discussing larger MBA and career considerations and said to let him know how the decision goes. Sent a thank you note to both interviewers after."

"The interviewer is not working in the same industry. She is now in strategic development for retail. She is an Indian who has spent most of her life in Hong Kong but studied in an international school. Then she got her undergrad in the U.S. I believe she was selected to interview me because INSEAD wanted to evaluate my cultural fit and international perspectives, but not so much the reasonableness of my goals. The only similarity we have is that we both studied in Hong Kong and then went to the U.S. for undergrad. The conversation went well. I gave her a very comprehensive walkthrough of my background with solid reasoning on each choice I made in my professional development. She appeared to be happy with my answers. Other questions (all pretty standard) include: 1) Did you experience any culture shock when you studied in the U.S.? 2) Why do you think an MBA will help you achieve your goal? 3) Why INSEAD? 4) Biggest failure? 5) Tell me more about your experience as a mentor in the internship programs of the investment banks 6) Tell me more about your involvement in volunteering work 7) Tell me what you love and hate about Investment Banking / Finance 8) Did you apply to any other schools? When we got into Q&A, the conversation became more natural. We spoke about the clubs @ INSEAD and her career transition since INSEAD. Then we found our common interest: singing! I enjoyed the good vibes we shared in this call. I hope the next one will also go well."

"Vietnamese national, live in France since 2009, 5 years of work experience in Hospitality and Tourisme 1st interview : French alum graduated >10 years, worked in Consulting after graduation then entrepreneur in Wine business. After my contact email, he quickly replied in a very (too) casual tone, which was quite unexpected. The interview was on Zoom and went pretty well. We discussed in French though. We first talked a lot about Covid crisis and how it had been impacting our respective activities/industries. Despite the casual and friendly tone, he woven all the questions about my current job in the discussion. In the "second" part of the interview, he told me about his journey before and after INSEAD, giving me some tips about financing and student life. And I've asked a lot of question about his experience. Only after that we talked about me, mostly around "Why MBA" question. Although the interview went well, I sensed that he wasn't convinced about my "Why MBA" answers and arguments. I wrote him an email later that day with some more factual details on the arguments I had put forward but he replied only the following day saying that he acknowledged my email too late, and the "interview report" was sent to the school. He did tell me in the email that he really appreciated our discussion. 2nd interview: French alumna graduated about 10 years ago, located near my town so we had a 121 interview at a bar/coffee-shop near my house. Her career path after MBA was quite unusual... The interview was in English. She spent one hour only convincing me that the MBA is not a suitable choice for me and I should look into cheaper and shorter training from INSEAD (i.e executive classes) !!! After the interview, she even texted me and sent me link to executive classes! I didn't know how to evaluate the interview afterward. Overall, my two interviewers were extremely friendly and casual. And it was kind of confusing. It was more a discussion between friends or colleagues rather than a "formal" interview. I knew it from other interview debrief but was still very surprised :) Hope that helps :)"

"Hi I am a female and my first interview was with a male alumni. The interview was friendly and relaxed but professional, he had read my whole application and had a list of around 15 questions. The interview lasted for 70 minutes. He asked: -about all of my transitions in my resume -why business from engineering? -why insead? which campus? -what is your day to day job? -how do you differentiate your service from your competitor at your current company? -how do you segment your customers? -asked about my post mba goal -what schools did you apply to and why? -in a team setting what is your tendency? e.g. a leader, follower, etc -if you dont get admitted what would you do this year? -why do you want to leave your company given your current position? Why your manager would let you go? At the end I asked him a few questions and when I was done he mentioned that he would recommend me to the Adcom but that would be only his feedback and doesn't guarantee my admission. My second interview was with a female alumni, extremely casual, fun, and friendly. She only asked me one question and that was: tell me about yourself. While I was talking about my post mba goal and my extracurricular activities, we connected in one subject and the rest of the interview was about that subject. She wasn't even taking notes and it felt like a friendly chat. I truly enjoyed that conversation, I had a chance to ask all of my questions about insead, the culture and everything. This one took about 45 minutes. The second interview was very eye opening bc I met a person who had the same goals and aspirations and mine and had achieved all of her goals after MBA. Now I just have to wait and see what the outcome is. Fingers crossed and good luck to everyone else."

"Both interviews were very chill, one more than the other. First interviewer is in the same field as me currently. We had a bit of problem nailing the interview time due to her busy schedule. It started with some chit-chatting about working-from-home arrangement for both of us. Then I spent the next 20 minutes telling my story from birth to where I am today, touching various aspects of life. She then asked me the standard questions: - Which other schools have I applied? - Why only INSEAD? - What if I didn't get in? - How would I prepare myself and deal with the high-pace life in INSEAD? We were left with only a couple of minutes for Q&A so i asked about her post-MBA career choice and how she has grown in INSEAD. Second interviewer is from the industry that I want to go to post-MBA. We started more unstructured but we still cover the basic questions: - Why MBA? - Why INSEAD? - Why now? Once my story made sense, the interviewer was very supportive and shared with me his experience before, during and after MBA. Overall, it was a very good experience. Now finger-crossed, waiting for the final result."

"1st Interview was with an alumni from 2008 batch, who has her own startup now. The overall interview lasted for around 75 minutes. 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Why did you launch your start-up after under-grad? 3. Why did you left your start-up after working for five years and moved to United States? 4. Why Master's in Supply Chain? 5. Tell me some of the challenging aspects of your job? 6. What motivates me to go to job every-day? 7. Walk me through your career progression in your current job? 8. Why do you want to leave your current job since you're progressing rapidly? 9. Tell me about a situation where I led or worked on a team in a cross-cultural setting? 10. What are your short term and long term goals? 11. Why can't you achieve them now without MBA? 12. Why INSEAD? 13. Why Singapore? 14. What would you do if you don't get selected? 15. How can you contribute to the class? 16. What would you do if you aren't selected? 17. What do you like to do outside of work? Overall, it was an amazing and very conversational interview. Honestly, didn't feel like an interview, more like two people speaking candidly to each other, talking about work, life, COVID and INSEAD."