INSEAD Calling all Applicants(SEPT 2015 Intake)Class of 2016

Yeah, I can confirm. INSEAD doesn't seem to care about GMAT as much as American schools. They like stories and people just as much as test score

Not to belabor the point - but here is the quote from the admissions rep from insead. Keep in mind - this is more or less what they told me when i got the rejection. So yea, they don't car about score per se but they care about percentiles. Take it for what you want.

notice - the word "requirement". With my 50th percentile quant - i wasnt close... even though i was close to the average. once again - they said (not directly) that was the only reason i didnt get the interview.

to be fair to angelfire, INSEAD's pretty clear on this as well on its admissions page: https://mba.insead.edu/admissions/criteria.cfm

While they do caveat that a below average score does not eliminate candidates, they do very much prefer applicants to score above the 70th percentile in the GMAT Quant.

That said, I agree with Kamenashi, 98% on verbal leaves you tonnes of room to improve (i mean this the best way possible). I scored V44 (98%) and Q41 (49%) on my first attempt. Go do it again!

that's a big jump! to be fair - i'd have taken it again if i had more time - but i took the tests november and december...and felt i needed to start working on those essays due in january. If insead was my only school, i'd have retaken it now.. but at this point - i'll only do that if the only school i get into is yale. Funny enough, i might take it again after all this just to prove to myself i can break 700.

Good luck whichever path you choose!

FROM Insead Admissions Blog1: We are never alone

A very pleasant call Months ago, riding my bicycle down through Av. Faria Lima in São Paulo, I received a call from INSEAD. That was the yes-you’ve-been-approved call I’d been anxiously waiting for. Applying for a top business school is definitely not a solo job. Some help you to choose the school with the best fit. Others take you out when you are too GMATired. So, I immediately started calling, pinging, and messaging most of those who had helped me throughout that process. I knew the MBA would be a similar experience in terms of helping and being helped, but I didn’t know how powerful this virtuous cycle would be.   Before the start of the program. Moving to another place always is a lot of hard work, and moving to another country can potentially reach another more tedious level of work. Details and paper work can be very annoying. I was starting the preparation to tackle all of this bureaucracy and other details such as: where to live, renting a car, buying a bicycle, and so on. And suddenly I was added to an instant messaging group of other Brazilians who were also coming to the MBA. For a start, I didn’t know, and still don’t, how one of my classmates found my mobile number. I also couldn’t imagine how helpful the insights people were sharing there would be. The mutual help did not stop there. The more friends and colleagues knew I was about to come to INSEAD, the more help I received from my friends and  friends-of-friends. My move ended up going smoother than I could ever imagine.  Before the class, it happened that I even ended up being invited to a lunch prepared by Brazilians of the previous intake and to my very happy surprise they prepared FEIJOADA, which is definitely among the dishes I enjoy most.   First Week and Splash Project. During the first week at business school, I already came to meet the team I would be working with during the core part of the program. To foster camaraderie among the students while improving the life of the surrounding community, the school involved us in a Splash Project. The main activity is to build or improve a local facility that is used by the community.   Before Splash Project Later on the day   The following weeks and my MBA Group. To me, the Organizational Behaviour class has been one of the best surprises in terms of academic and personal development here. The practical approaches we have in classes along with the quality of faculty have been making a huge difference in my overall experience. One of the practical jobs we had was to deliver a contract to the group, with our group name and logo on it. The debate we had to design this contract helped us to understand how five people from four continents could work better together. We had two more activities thereafter, giving us even more opportunities to improve the way we worked together. And why is it important? As Steve Jobs once said: “Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.” Until another post.

FROM Insead Admissions Blog1: They Call Me Mr. Start-Up

“Well, it’s not so bad! I think I’m even going to have time to read a couple of novels along the way.” These are exactly the thoughts I shared enthusiastically with my friends back home when I received the course schedule a few days before kick-off. Then the first week hit, leaving me only a few hours of sleep and a whole lot of networking and career workshops. A bit of wishful thinking and I figured that with all the activity associated to the beginning of the degree, things would settle down very soon. The interesting part is, you can choose to have it pretty laid back (relatively) at INSEAD! But is this what you want? What your heart truly desires? To have a laid back year at INSEAD? You can launch your professional or personal life in any direction you wish! You can choose from a plethora of social or professional activities, workshops, or sports and outdoor clubs, without mentioning anything about the low cost flights all over Europe or Southeast Asia. It is in those spirits that I didn’t hesitate to join an intensive 48-hour Entrepreneurial Startup Bootcamp that was offered by a finance angel. My heart quickly took over, and decided for me: I’m not here to have a relaxing year off work. Bring on the challenges, workshops and never-before-seen activities! With 34 other MBA candidates, the weekend was launched Friday night at 7pm where we touched base with dynamic duo consisting of angel Charlie Mason, bootcamp director, and start-up artist INSEAD alum Alexander Argyros. We set off to get acquainted with the three crucial start-up ‘P’s: People, Proposition, and Pitch. Within 4 hours, 35 ideas were proposed by participants and we got in teams of two to four with an idea to cherish and pamper over the next 44 hours. Fully aware the end of the weekend culminated with pitching the proposition to seasoned professionals of the startup sector, I wondered how we were to come up with a decent presentation. Finance angel Charlie Mason in rapid-fire mode. Starting Saturday at 9am sharp, we quickly got hands-on training on how to target a problem and transform it into a market opportunity. Through an ongoing iterative process, we developed a plan to acquire clients as well as develop the financial needs and requirements of the venture. The most crucial aspect I realized, was the importance of teammates all completing one another through the entire process. You close the books and go home in the middle of the night, to arrive once more, at 9am sharp on Sunday. Masterplan! One of the many appeals of the start-up world is the paramount importance of presenting to external parties to obtain funding. This is exactly what the third day focused on: How to pitch your startup venture to investors. How to capture an audience in only a few minutes, and keep your public hungry for more. By the end of the weekend, the 10 teams proposed their idea to a panel of three, and five semi-finalist teams were shortlisted to present in a more detailed fashion. In the second round, a winning team earned the top spot, to close an intense weekend of learning and building new ideas and network. Coming out of the fruitful weekend, I was totally exhausted, and took a few days to reflect on what I had gained through these 48 hours. Many people went into the workshop in order to develop an already existing idea, and to learn how to enhance their proposition. Others went out of curiosity, and in order to learn more about a fascinating sector. I was part of the latter group. After all, 53% of INSEAD alum go on to be entrepreneurs at one point or another during their professional careers. Before this weekend, I had always been afraid of entertaining a startup idea as I didn’t know how to develop it. I was scared that I wouldn’t know what to do with it, and that the opportunity would be ‘wasted’. Well not anymore! The bootcamp also convinced me an idea is only the beginning to starting one’s own company. It’s all about the right people coming together and completing one another, in order to build a project that goes in the same direction to stand the test of time. Most of all: go out there and have fun! Photo credits: Edouard Chehade; Jane Venet Fellowes

Hi everyone. I'm a current MBA student at INSEAD (15D, in Singapore), and since this forum has given me A LOT of great tips and advice, I now want to pay back. Please let me know if you have any questions.

First of all, a small disclaimer: the curriculum is super-intense, and many of the core classes in first 2 periods are highly quantitative, so the requirement of a 75 percentile in GMAT quant score is justified. Even those of you who are comfortable with data analysis and stats may struggle at times.

Hi, thank for the initiative! I am also a Russian applicant, going through interview stages now.

I am giving a serious consideration to taking an extra course on calculus and statistics before the program as I don't have a technical background. In terms of the curriculum, is there anything in particular worth learning before the program?

Thanks in advance!

Hey gipsybear,

I don't think that people with technical background make a majority here (although there are lots of engineers), but those who are major in economics normally feel more comfortable (I'm not, so I'm struggling a little bit).
P1 has 5 core courses: 1. Financial Accounting. 2. Statistics. 3. Microeconomics. 4. Finance. 5. Organizational Behavior. Plus a few hours of Business Ethics.
Despite the factthat it doesn't seem to be much, the course curriculum is built in such a way that in one period you would have to consume the same amount of information that you would normally be given in 6-12 months in your undergrad.
In order to prepare yourself or refresh your skills, there is a few recommended pre-reading books on Finance, Accounting and Microeconomics. I can share those if you want.

Disclaimer: the books are HUGE (400 to 1200 pages), and 99% of students don't actually read them.

I personally read a book an accounting - simply because I had no idea about it whatsoever, and it was incredibly helpful. I think if I didn't, it would be very hard for me to keep up with the pace. As for calculus, I would not take a special calculus course, but would probably suggest you watch a few videos related to basic statistic terms, log-linear relationship and regression, and how to do it in Excel.

Wow, thanks a lot. Do you mind if I PM you with a couple questions?

More than welcome! No need to ask.

Hi, do you know guys what is the ratio of invited to interview/accepted applicants? Is last year ratio representative?

Would anyone happen to have MBA Connect numbers with a specific emphasis on Americans? Many thanks

TOTAL: 312
Fonty: 190
Singy: 122
Americans: 42 (Sep'14 intake has 87)

Would anyone happen to have MBA Connect numbers with a specific emphasis on Thai? Many thanks