IMD MBA Program Guide 2026

with PE - Adcom 30 minutes - 15 talking about assessment day 15 first minutes: you have to be very ... Read More

with PE - Adcom 30 minutes - 15 talking about assessment day 15 first minutes: you have to be very clear with your participation your interventions what would you do different what was challenging in the activity 15 final minutes: Why MBA, Why IMD your leadership style (be well prepared) how will you focus your pre -mba career in your post-mba goals questions for the Adcom Read Less

a. Paola – Initiated introduction to Assessment day. b. Prof Omar – 6 key factors of difference ... Read More

a. Paola – Initiated introduction to Assessment day. b. Prof Omar – 6 key factors of difference in IMD = leadership, entreprenurship, sustainability, experiential,personalized nature, Award Venture for seed funding c. Anna – Debate: All cars should be banned in cities = argue in favor. 2min to think. 4min to talk for the pair. i. How was your time management ii. Did you actually believe in what you argued for iii. What was the objective of this exercise iv. Conflict and maintain relation? d. Paola – Case Study = An owner wants to put a hand drying equipment in the bathroom. What are the questions she should ask to decide what to put, air drier, hand towel or paper towel. 30min to think and discuss. Plot twist where meebers switched in between the 30min. Presentation of 5min. i. What were your assumptions if any? ii. Clarification required? iii. When there was a plot twist, what clarification did you require in order to cope up iv. Did you ask if anyone in the team was an expert? v. Time mamabgemtn? vi. What was the most important question? vii. Do you have a question for the other group? viii. What was your role in the group and did it change? e. Personal Interview = Jennifer i. Why MBA ii. Interacted with a difficult team? iii. What happens to the company you made? Rain? iv. How will you finance MBA v. Alternative options to consuting Read Less

Below was my experience of the assessment day : Day started at 8.00 AM CET (lasted for ~5 to 5.5 hr... Read More

Below was my experience of the assessment day : Day started at 8.00 AM CET (lasted for ~5 to 5.5 hrs) 1. started with a short intro about the panel and the school (some 15 to 20 min); They didn’t share the entire agenda before hand 2. There were 9 to 10 candidates (diverse in WE and nationalities) in each group along with 4 to 5 panel members 3. Activities are to test how we are performing in group / individual level 3.1. In the group activities : - you will be given a min of time and have to speak on it (either against or pro - they will assign that) 3.2. Then they gave a short case (a very simple one - not too much of data) - divided the group into 2 groups and gave 30 min to come up with a solution 3.3. personal Interview General questions (Profile based, why MBA ? why now ? why IMD ? situational questions) Interview was conversational in nature Read Less

We had a special assessment day for women only as they wanted to show us how they celebrate. The mor... Read More

We had a special assessment day for women only as they wanted to show us how they celebrate. The morning started with special panel with women alumni, and we were able to participate in class activities. After we had lunch with current MBAs. And assessment was after lunch: - case reading - case discussion in pairs - case presentation in pairs - interview - group task We also had a meeting with dean and with career center. I would say that you don't need to prepare much for the assessment - it is quite common sense and your level of group collaboration. You need to be ready for interview though - to have answers why you do MBA and what will you do after. Whole experience is very inspiring and all the people on campus were welcoming - you start feeling this atmosphere of a small group. Read Less

We were 7 participants and we had 3-4 people of admissions with us. Started at 8AM sharp for a campu... Read More

We were 7 participants and we had 3-4 people of admissions with us. Started at 8AM sharp for a campus visit which lasted for about 20 minutes. Then we all had a different program for the morning that consisted in: - Individual assignment - 1 on 1 interview - Individual case reading - Group case preparation - Group case presentation - Group assignment Then we went for lunch and got assigned with a current MBA student for some Q&A. After this we attended a very interesting Operations class. Each one was assigned to a study group whose objective was to analyze the case and present it in front of the class. But during the case preparation we were taken away to meet with the people from the Career center. And we finished around 4PM. Contrar to what I read from previous years, no prior preparation was needed for any of the assignments in the morning, we had everything on the spot. And at no point of the morning I felt trapped on an exercise or something, they just want to get to know you better, the mindset among praticipants was clearly not competition. And the organization was flawless. So overall a great experience that conveys a feeling of excellence for IMD! Read Less

The assessment day experience is quite unique. While it may seem arduous to travel to Lausanne and d... Read More

The assessment day experience is quite unique. While it may seem arduous to travel to Lausanne and do an entire day of interviews, the experience gives you a great sense of what it is like to be an IMD MBA. It is the day that I fell in love with the school. The day typically starts before the actual day. I was on a WhatsApp group with the other attendees and we all decided to have dinner together the night before the assessment day. I had the opportunity to meet a number of my future classmates who hailed from all over the world. It was nice to go into the assessment day already familiar with the other attendees. On my assessment day, I spent most of the day doing the following: Standard Individual Interview - Why MBA, why IMD, what do you want to do in the future, etc. This is to get a sense of your competence, personality, and motives. This is done individually. Case Study in group - We were given a case study prior to the assessment day to prepare for the assessment day. We had an IMD professor who moderated the case and, as a group, we had to drive the case to a conclusion. This is to get a sense of your competence, your ability to be a team player, and your ability to keep your composure. Role Play interview - You sit with one other role play participant and an assessor (both from IMD admissions). They will create a life like scenario and you have to think on your feet to solve a problem. They tell you the situation and you have a brief period of time to prepare a plan of attack. My role play was on a high performing employee who refused to train junior employees. I thought I knew the answer to the case and quickly found that my assumptions were wrong. This is to get a sense of your competence, your ability to maintain control in dynamic situations, how you handle mistakes of your making, and how quick you are on your feet. Outside of interviews you will get the chance to attend a class and have lunch at IMD’s Restaurant. They usually pair you with a current IMD MBA for lunch. I greatly enjoyed my experience, despite the intensity. Lausanne is a beautiful city and IMD’s campus is amazing. I hope this helps. Good luck to all those who were chose to attend the assessment day. Read Less

R1 Offer got. Background : 5+ engineering in Manufacturing GMAT : 650 Q49 V31 ( So I'm sure IMD is... Read More

R1 Offer got. Background : 5+ engineering in Manufacturing GMAT : 650 Q49 V31 ( So I'm sure IMD is judging from the whole package or saw my potential) Schedule - invitation received 20 days after R1 deadline - assessment day about 1 month after invitation - a case will be sent 3~4 days before assessment - offer got 10 biz days after assessment day - must decide and send back acceptance in another 10 biz days Assessment day - personal interview : schedule could be the day before or the morning of assessment day. casuals questions such as tell me about yourself, biggest achievement , why is that, what's the key factor to bring the success, how your friend, colleague, family would say about your quality/defect, how many hours you sleep everyday - impromptu presentation preparation : 30 minutes to read a case + hand writing presentation (4 minutes) , hand writing ones will be collected but you can *****keep some drafts and read questions first before starting the case - Snack time - group discussion( ~2-3 hrs) for the case sent previously : open discussion firstly to share each own vision and host will pose some questions, challenges from time to time. **** don't be offended or aggressive, just take it as a study group where you just share your visions and challenge each other instead of attacking or winning over something. Remember you are a TEAM and you like everyone at this stage. - Impromptu presentation : ****4 MINUTES !!!!! RESPECT IT. Some started with a time line for general introduction before heading into the analysis and conclusions. There is no fixed way but it's important to hit the points and show your analytical skills and logics of thinking within the time frame. Find your own style and the methodology that suits you. Don't let others presentations influence yours. But listen carefully if some points you can use. After everyone finished the turn, a group discussion led by host, he would pose some interesting and challenging questions, pointing out our missing puzzles or superficial understanding - snack time + dinner time - Mingling time before master class - Master class - Mingling time + snack time It was a long heavy and rich day which I supposed to be every single day during the program. At the same event, you ll see who you are and how you position yourself in this program; meeting future candidates and professors as well as the ambiance that this program develops. If it wasn't for this experience, I would be still doubtful about myself and about the program. There are some other candidates with different interview process ( individual Skype with case , in campus individuel interview only without case ) Welcome to send PM if you need more infirmation or you just want to meet me or you got offers. Wish you all luck :) Read Less

Surprised to see no IMD assessment challenge interview details, so let me add my experience. In Ap... Read More

Surprised to see no IMD assessment challenge interview details, so let me add my experience. In April 2018, IMD announced a "Mumbai Assessment challenge" in Mumbai, India. This was the first time IMD came over to India for a full day assessment. Many folks applied to it, some even without any idea about IMD MBA, since there was no application fees plus no recommendation as well :) 56 folks were chosen to come for a 2 day event. Day 1 evening and day 2 full day event. Day 1 evening : It was a networking event in the Trident Hotel, Mumbai. The alumni's were there - 1992 (Harsh Goenka), 2002 , 2016 and 2017 graduates. The adcoms and the dean of IMD MBA were also present. It was a nice enjoyable evening. When I asked the adcoms about the number of candidates they wanted to select out of 56, they told me it was not fixed, whereas the assessment challenge mentioned 4 folks were to be selected. Adcoms didn't disclose anything about what was supposed to happen the next day. Day 2 : The event started at 9 am and we were divided in a group of 6 on each round table. It was a big hall facing the sea (the view was awesome). There were 1 problem statement placed on each of the table ; 3 tables had one common problem. The overall process was as follows a. take the problem statement, discuss among the folks seated on your table. b. come up with a solution to the problem statement c. create a company for it. d. create a business model for the company. In short, it was more like a "capstone" project done in B schools, but done in a single day. Everything was organized smoothly and there was a framework to take your idea from concept to a company. It was pretty interesting to say the least. But we were here for an interview?? Sadly that didn't happen. There were no one-on-one interviews. So how did they choose 4 people out of 56? Well that is a mystery for everyone; even the ones who were selected. ( If someone asks the selected folks as to why they were selected they wont have a convincing answer for it. Read the IMD website for this part ;) ). There were 9 teams and only 6 judges to do the marking; looked like IMD adcoms missed out basic some calculations or may be some judges didn't turn up at the last moment. Anyways, The 6 judges moved from one table to another and kept marking against the criteria (no one knew what was the criteria). To make matter worse, the 6 judges would also talk among themselves, so at times teams would be discussing something very important and people would be making some solid points but there was no judge to listen to our conversations. Plus there was a lot of bias among judges; they would stay one table for 2 minutes and another for 20 minutes, where they personally found something interesting. In short, the overall marking was non transparent and left everyone with a feeling of disappointment. The results were supposed to be announced next day, as per initial communication but it took them 2 weeks to come up with 3 admits and 1 was announced some another couple of weeks later. Though I was dinged but when I talked to folks who were selected in on-campus interviews and even the alumni's ; all of them were surprised with "No personal interview" policy of IMD in this assessment, as it is not the case with usual on-campus interview. Everyone asked me the same question - "So how did IMD knew that they had selected the right candidate (in absence of an interview)". IMD is known for it's super personalized interviews and everyone believed that they had dropped the ball this time around. Read Less

My Assessment Day experience from Round 1 for January 2018 Admissions The Assessment day started sh... Read More

My Assessment Day experience from Round 1 for January 2018 Admissions The Assessment day started sharp at 7:50 AM with Antonio from the Admissions Committee and then we were given a tour of the lovely campus! After the tour, we gathered in a conference room where we were joined by the other admissions committee members. The day then started off with a brief introduction of the schedule of the day. The Assessment Day at IMD is almost a day long affair and nothing like any other MBA school’s interview. Each one of us had a separate schedule with a mix of individual and group activities lined up throughout the day. For me, it started with a personal interview with an Admissions Committee Member. It was a pleasant discussion and was more like a conversation than a very formal interview. The questions mostly revolved around my career progression so far, how particular skills have changed over time, why MBA, my most significant achievement/ challenge in that particular project, my strengths, weaknesses, some oddball questions about my past company, what do I do in my free time, what does my boss has to say about me, what does my husband has to say about me :-D , how do I plan to finance my MBA etc. Towards the end, she also gave me time to ask my questions. Post the interview, I came to the conference room and it was time for the impromptu presentation. I had gone through several case study frameworks and sample cases courtesy the material provided by one of the alumni to help prepare. The case was related to a German steel & engineering conglomerate and we had to identify the reasons which led to its failure in US & Brazil. We had been provided with A4 sheets, markers, pens, rough notes etc to put together a presentation in 35 minutes. I spent approx. 10 minutes in reading the case and making some quick notes, next 15 minutes in making a draft version of slides with points etc on a rough sheet and next ten minutes in making the final slides on the A4 sheets for a 4 minute presentation. At the end of the 35 minutes, all the material was taken away including the case itself. So unless if you have a fantastic memory, chances are that you may not remember what you decided to present when you have to do it later in the day :( A trick: make your notes in a rough sheets provided at the beginning of the day and not on the case pages as I did, so that you can use them for revision later.Post the impromptu presentation prep, we all gathered together in the conference room for the group case study discussion. The case had already been sent to us 2 weeks in advance. It was based on a Chinese multinational consumer electronics organization and how it transformed to one of the largest players in the world with its very innovative and disruptive management policies. I had spent a lot of time understanding the case, preparing my own notes, and putting it in a SWOT framework. The discussion was led by Professor Jennifer and it started with a quick round of introduction and short description of what has surprised us at IMD so far and anything different that we would want to share about ourselves with the group. We were then divided into two teams and asked to work on three questions. The ad-com members are always present and they observe our ability to work in a group as that’s a very important aspect of IMD life. At the end of 20 minutes, we all collected again and the case discussion started – it lasted for about an hour or so. The entire discussion was extremely enriching and stimulating and gave a very good peek into what kind of learning I could look forward to if I was granted admission. What is very important in any group activity and was literally hammered into my brain by every alumni and current student I spoke to was, don’t cut people, let others speak, interject at right times, be receptive to other’s ideas, put your point across but never overshadow any discussion as we Indians in general are supposed to be very competitive and find it hard to just actively listen. This could have been a bit worrisome, but the fact that we gelled together as a group and were quite respectful and mature did not lead to any such situation. Then it was time for lunch with a current student at the very famous IMD restaurant. Post lunch, it was time to gear up again for the rest of the day. We immediately got into the role play preparation. A situation was handed out and we had to write how we will handle it. After that, we had to enact the situation(actual role play) with another member of the ad-com as the disgruntled employee for 3 minutes. After this, we presented the impromptu case study (alone and then in a group together). What helped me handle that very strenuous eight hours was What helped me survive the eight hours was a combination of good preparation, positive attitude and knowing well my reasons for pursuing this career path and school. for full text of my review: https://gmatclub.com/forum/calling-all-imd-applicants-2017-intake-class-of-227685-80.html#p1839921 Read Less