INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants : MBA Archive

AmineCHABBI

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 01:15

yoyoyoyo wrote:

Jan R2. Interviews finished. Getting a bit restless because I took a bet (quit my job that I anyway don't love any more, Last day one month later)

9 years working experience (started in IT, presales, then 5 years in recruitment with international firms. In between ran my own business for 2 years)

GMAT 730 (but my GPA sucks, only 2.99. Was youngest student received scholarship for Undergraduate studies but also spoiled the years due to the young age)

CCA: Volunteer with women association; toastmasters club president; photography exhibition nation wide;
Asian Female

1st Interview feels perfect. Interviewer was friendly and very structured in asking questions. Asked for tips for improvement, told me to just stay with my story. Sounds positive.

2nd Interview. Interviewer forgot the meeting completely. Insead gave wrong contact number, somehow. Tried multiple other channels, managed to reach the interviewer still, but was not at my best. Very cold! stiff after 2 hours wait and really tense. Suffered from the interviewer's very disorganized style too. Interviewer feedback I was too focused (too serious, no small talk) and therefore more for US MBA than Insead. Managed to salvage the situation by explaining my recent effort on switching to value orientation from achievement orientation (grew up in China education system and achievement orientation high). Interviewer said would support my candidature. However, the whole experience feels so... not positive... and when parting, the interviewer again said "most likely I will support you". I was truly confused with the "most likely" that suddenly pops up... The only thing is that interviewer was also impressed of the resourcefulness of reaching her nonetheless.

Insead coordinator emailed me to apologise for the wrong contact number. (I emailed them when discovering the contact number was wrong) Replied them saying no worries, added that "Not major I suppose, the interview still went well and interviewer was professional. But every small details can have big impact on an important matter like such an interview. Therefore I believe it is only fair if I request Insead takes this factor into consideration while evaluating the feedback from the interviewer."

No reply.

I know everyone is persevering the long wait... Thought to just share my story, to offload some anxiety

:oops:

Hello Yoyo...
Obviously (and understandably) you're worrying too much. If you want to be busy, take care of some scholarship applications : the essays will keep your mind from worrying...
My two cents worth of advice : NEVER communicate with your judge asking for special considerations ; Not only does it show you're anxious, but it also shows you lack confidence in your case... you don't want your judges to get the prejudice : "if her case is not sound enough for her, why would it be sound enough for me?" kind of thinking.
In any case, do not communicate any further on that with INSEAD, just do what's left to be done : great scholarship essays, putting forward what you just shared with us in some concise, eloquent format.

Keep the faith, and good luck .

A.C.

docks007

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 01:21

What awesome plans have you made for the time after you quit your job ?

Writing scholarship essay before result needs highest motivation ever. Could not write even one in last 2 weeks.

yoyoyoyo

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

Updated on: 12 Aug 2013, 01:40

AmineCHABBI wrote:

Hello Yoyo...
Obviously (and understandably) you're worrying too much. If you want to be busy, take care of some scholarship applications : the essays will keep your mind from worrying...
My two cents worth of advice : NEVER communicate with your judge asking for special considerations ; Not only does it show you're anxious, but it also shows you lack confidence in your case... you don't want your judges to get the prejudice : "if her case is not sound enough for her, why would it be sound enough for me?" kind of thinking.
In any case, do not communicate any further on that with INSEAD, just do what's left to be done : great scholarship essays, putting forward what you just shared with us in some concise, eloquent format.

Keep the faith, and good luck .

A.C.

Thanks a lot A.C. for your response. I guess, at the time of that email, I felt the second interview experience was disappointing for which Insead should take some responsibility: (wrong contact number provided by the school and their interviewer, though voluntary basis, totally forgot the interview) and indeed Insead was apologising. I thought the email I wrote was quite light as I was trying to downplay the impact. But you are right, if given a chance again, I would rather leave it alone...

Do you think it could have caused some significant damage? (yeah thinking too much but love to hear more from you...

)

Scholarship essays... tough but trying hard to keep it going!

Originally posted by yoyoyoyo on 12 Aug 2013, 01:26.
Last edited by yoyoyoyo on 12 Aug 2013, 01:40, edited 1 time in total.

yoyoyoyo

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 01:29

docks007 wrote:

What awesome plans have you made for the time after you quit your job ?

Writing scholarship essay before result needs highest motivation ever. Could not write even one in last 2 weeks.

Some traveling plans to re-charge before the one-year of training on soul and body...

It's true scholarship essays are tough. only finished half essay by now

We have 10 more days. push on... :evil:

AmineCHABBI

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 02:07

on THE ESSAYS : it might be hard, but keep in mind that you won't have time to do it properly if you wait until notified...

AmineCHABBI

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 05:57

a TIP of advice to everyone kindly sharing about their interview experience : please remember to explain the type of job of your interviewer, particularly if you want some feedback on what their reaction or behavior meant; example : if a consultant has an approach to interviews that might be ok for him, it might seem brutal from a corporate strategist point of view...
I realize its too late for most of the people reading this, but just in case there's some R3 reading it : when given the contacts from INSEAD, send an email immediately introducing yourself to your interviwers... if you get an "undelivered" reply, just call the "SWTICH" of their company, instead of the landline provided in their contact : if the email is not convenient, chances are that the phone isn't either... and leave all your contacts at a secretary...that way you will look resourceful, and not harrassing at all...

blackpea

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 06:27

AmineCHABBI wrote:

a TIP of advice to everyone kindly sharing about their interview experience : please remember to explain the type of job of your interviewer, particularly if you want some feedback on what their reaction or behavior meant; example : if a consultant has an approach to interviews that might be ok for him, it might seem brutal from a corporate strategist point of view...
I realize its too late for most of the people reading this, but just in case there's some R3 reading it : when given the contacts from INSEAD, send an email immediately introducing yourself to your interviwers... if you get an "undelivered" reply, just call the "SWTICH" of their company, instead of the landline provided in their contact : if the email is not convenient, chances are that the phone isn't either... and leave all your contacts at a secretary...that way you will look resourceful, and not harrassing at all...

well, i won't say the the email is 'not convenient'. They may be on leave and didn't check their emails as often. In my case, my interviewer changed her job and countries several times after INSEAD, i guess that's why she left her INSEAD alumni email and home number. And I think they may not want you to call their office either especially most of the interviewers are busy at work and they deal with such interviews after office hour. For example, my 1st interviewer replied me after one week using her personal email address instead of her INSEAD or works email and she offered to meet me after office hour at Starbucks. But in the contrary, my 2nd interviewer used his work email and asked me to meet him during office hour in his office. Both of them are management consultant by the way. I think it is really a matter of preference in the end. So I would rather assume the contact details adcom provided are the ones those interviewers prefer to be reached since those are the details they willingly provided to INSEAD themselves. And if both email and phone don't work, I would contact adcom instead.

AmineCHABBI

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 07:33

All is well, then. What I would tend to think is that it is more practical for past alumnee whom are not active in the INSEAD conferences and networks to go with the insead email, in order not clutter their personal email with invites and infos they know in advance they won't act on (that's what your "second" interviewer seemed to have done).
Going back to AdCom will always get you there, but even if your interviewer is a CEO, he won't mind if you leave a message saying Mr. Amine CHABBI (in my case) has called and left details to be contacted back ; particularly if you leave both mobile phone and professional email : it shows you're contacting for a serious matter, because you allow to be identified.
In my individual case, it saved me a lot a of time because I scheduled both interviews in less than a week and had them as soon as the schedule permitted (which was very difficult in my case)... the AdCom could have been at leave, overwhelmed with similar requests or dealing already with the R3s applications and Q&As.
You got nothing to worry about, you did what you had to do , and from what you recount, you probably appeared the way you wanted : "not too aplogetic" and not too insisting...

ducceus

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 10:39

Quote:

Interviewer feedback I was too focused (too serious, no small talk) and therefore more for US MBA than Insead. Managed to salvage the situation by explaining my recent effort on switching to value orientation from achievement orientation (grew up in China education system and achievement orientation high). Interviewer said would support my candidature

I can comment on this since I have met quiet a few INSEAD admitted students as well as alumni. We share the same mind set, and very relax in nature. Most are very sociable and willing to help each other out. I met a couple of fellow INSEAD students and we could spend hours just to hang out, I feel like I could be best friend with the people I've met.

In my opinion, I think INSEAD looking for people who are smart and focus, but also know how to have fun and have a sense of humors. After all, that is the different between INSEAD culture and that of the US school, in which everyone see everybody else their competitions for the top-tier job in MC or IB. It is clearly not the case at INSEAD.

More on this topic, please watch the video below, even though this video might be a parody, but it has some truth to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VU9wRG6kAs

The people who got accepted in R1 organized a bunch of meetings around the world already from Singapore to London to New York, and there will be more to come. I hope to see you' all there.

yoyoyoyo

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

12 Aug 2013, 16:35

ducceus wrote:

I can comment on this since I have met quiet a few INSEAD admitted students as well as alumni. We share the same mind set, and very relax in nature. Most are very sociable and willing to help each other out. I met a couple of fellow INSEAD students and we could spend hours just to hang out, I feel like I could be best friend with the people I've met.

Dear Ducceus, so you can imagine how wrong my second interview has gone... being categorized as "not for Insead" by interviewer!
I had a very good time with my first interviewer, 45 mins chat after the interviewer, about family, travel, photography... for second i/v i was not at my best, quite stiff after the two hours of wait (is she coming? How to reach her?) For those who cant take the cold in aircon in singapore, the lesson is to always bring a shawl or keep yourself warm! And before my interview i saw some article saying, for disorganized interviewers, try to bring thr person back on track. After 10 mins of small talk, i felt we were not going anywhere and tried to stir conversation towards my profile (we were talking about job market and how i managed to reach her, for a long time). Lesson is that, you may wish to be cautious about it. At least my interviewer did not seem to like it... i did not want to appear to be argumentative, so i admitted her judgement was right. While i think myself being relaxed and collaborative, i indeed want to work on that a little more. We are all focused people to some extend, otherwise no one has achieved anything.

Anyway, a bit of tougher experience. Sounded positive towards the end, i dont know... but lets see! :-)

AmineCHABBI

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

13 Aug 2013, 01:29

Ladie and Gents,

I was curious to know where you were going with this MBA : change in Geography, Industry, Function ... all of those ?

As far as I am concerned, I am adamant on the change of Function thing , the rest being optional and depending on the opportunity (but rest assured : I can sign a commitment to any of you that I am not going to MC NO MATTER WHAT, as it doesn't lead to my long term goals), would be greatly intersted in going to Asia.

docks007

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

13 Aug 2013, 14:37

I dont agree with this. Before I had my interviews, I met so many INSEAD alumni, all fun and super friendly. But my interviews were very formal with no small talk. I tried to do it from my end several times but they kept it formal. The main difference that I realized was that my interviewers were very old alumni ( from 90's), MD and Director, and I have quite less experience. + may be they keep it more formal with females :-)

ducceus wrote:

Quote:

Interviewer feedback I was too focused (too serious, no small talk) and therefore more for US MBA than Insead. Managed to salvage the situation by explaining my recent effort on switching to value orientation from achievement orientation (grew up in China education system and achievement orientation high). Interviewer said would support my candidature

I can comment on this since I have met quiet a few INSEAD admitted students as well as alumni. We share the same mind set, and very relax in nature. Most are very sociable and willing to help each other out. I met a couple of fellow INSEAD students and we could spend hours just to hang out, I feel like I could be best friend with the people I've met.

In my opinion, I think INSEAD looking for people who are smart and focus, but also know how to have fun and have a sense of humors. After all, that is the different between INSEAD culture and that of the US school, in which everyone see everybody else their competitions for the top-tier job in MC or IB. It is clearly not the case at INSEAD.

More on this topic, please watch the video below, even though this video might be a parody, but it has some truth to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VU9wRG6kAs

The people who got accepted in R1 organized a bunch of meetings around the world already from Singapore to London to New York, and there will be more to come. I hope to see you' all there.

jw613

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

13 Aug 2013, 23:14

For those of you who were admitted and going to Singapore.
How much is the 1 bedroom rent in Singapore?
I've searching online and it seems like that it is around S$4000.

Does anyone have access to mbaconnect.insead.edu
Does that website offer cheaper prices?

Thanks!

AmineCHABBI

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

14 Aug 2013, 00:23

Hi there,

I haven't done it yet, but what I gather from the 2013D crowd (and a friend who's lived there for ages) is that rent gets down the further you get away from the expensive condo expats area. While being totally ok, appartments outside of the heart of the city center are less than half the rent you would pay very close to insead, "heritage" and the rest. It's anyway not 4000 Singapore dollar, because most people end up sharing a multi-bedroom flat (6000 singapore dollars approximately for a three bedroom appartment).

For the inexpensive, but less fancy appartments, I don't think you'd get anything thousands of mile away, your best bet is to link up with people from 2013D currently in Singapore, because these are not apparments the realtors are pushing very hard with foreigners and outsiders.
Hope this helps, I'm not going in Singapore before P3 and I'm counting on the cohort doing otherwise to give me tips and maybe help out a little.

A.C.

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

14 Aug 2013, 01:13

jw613 wrote:

For those of you who were admitted and going to Singapore.
How much is the 1 bedroom rent in Singapore?
I've searching online and it seems like that it is around S$4000.

Does anyone have access to mbaconnect.insead.edu
Does that website offer cheaper prices?

Thanks!

nah, not that expensive. but are you looking for 1 bedroom unit (Studio) or sharing apartment?

In Singapore, there are 3 major types of accommodations, HDB, Apartment/Condominium, and Landed Property (House)
All price quoted in SGD.

HDB are government housing. Cheapest. Depends on location and condition of the place, rental for 2 bedroom is roughly between 2000 to 3500 and rental for 3 bedroom can be between 2500 to 3500. There are not many 1 bedroom unit HBD except the really old ones, and i think the price would be around 2000..not quite sure.

Apartment/Condominium are private properties. There will usually be a security guard, condo will also have a range of facilities, e.g. swimming pool, tennis court, BBQ pit, etc. Studios in Singapore are very expensive since they are usually close to town, rental is more than SGD2500. Rental for 2 bedroom is above SGD2500 and rental for 3 bedroom is above 3200. there is really no upper limit because there are really expensive ones with sea view and all.

Landed house are the most expensive of course. Rental depends on how many rooms are there in one house.

INSEAD SG alumni told me, most of them stay in the condo near campus, one is called Heritage Height, i don't remember what's the other one. the rental at Heritage Height is around SGD4500 for 3 bedroom apartment sharing, which is considered expensive. I think 1500 is for common room, master room would be more expensive since it comes with attached bathroom. The area near INSEAD campus is in medium to high range in terms of rental price. Since it is near National University of Singapore (NUS), you should be able to find people to share accommodation.

There are a few popular websites for room rental in Singapore:
Easy Roommate: https://www.easyroommate.com.sg/
Singapore Expat Room Rental: https://classifieds.singaporeexpats.com/ ... hp/cat/122
Craigslist SG, of course
Property Guru: https://www.propertyguru.com.sg/

For these first 3 websites, most of the time, you don't need to pay agent fee. Property Guru are listings posted by property agent, so you have to pay half a month rental as agent commission for a one-year lease.

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

14 Aug 2013, 11:53

oh no. Are we already discussing all this ? What about the result ?

Anyways now that the topic is on, can someone please tell me what I really need to do to get the loan in EUR at 3.5% from some bank ? Is it possible to get it if I can get guarantee note from a bank in my home country ?

My interviewer told me to stay in the apartments next to campus in Singapore as everyone stays there. Though its expensive than other areas but its totally worth it because of the networking part involved.

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Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

14 Aug 2013, 17:54

Thank you so much for your information, blackpea.
I'm married and have one kid (3 people in total), and we prefer to have a 1-bedroom.

I'm asking for the apartment rent prices because of the Need-based scholarship application.
I'm not female nor from emerging countries, but I will apply some scholarships :D

I checked the HDB housing, but they are really old, and not close to INSEAD.
Like docks007 mentioned, it is better for us to get one of these apartments, which are close to INSEAD

One North Residences
Dover Parkview
Heritage View.

I need to do more research on the apartments.
Anyways, thank you so much for your information!

gmatclubot

Re: INSEAD -January 2014 Intake - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

14 Aug 2013, 17:54