INSEAD MBA Program Guide 2025

My first interview was with an alum based locally who graduated ~10 years ago (over Zoom). It was ve... Read More

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! Read Less

My first interview took place online via zoom with a 2014 graduate from Singapore and my second inte... Read More

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! Read Less

My first interview took place online via Teams. I emailed the alumni & took him a few days to answe... Read More

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 Read Less

ust had my interview a few hours ago. It lasted for an hour. It was with an Alum. He asked me the fo... Read More

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. Read Less

I had two interviews, both very conversational but one was a little more casual while the other was ... Read More

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 Read Less

Both interviews were very conversational. The first interview with the COO of a FinTech Startup. Th... Read More

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 Read Less

Both interviews were conversational, and interestingly both were with people outside of my industry.... Read More

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). Read Less

The first interview was with a senior executive from a mining company. He focused on a few standard ... Read More

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. Read Less

Both interviews were very conversational. The first interview was at a meeting room in the alumni'... Read More

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. Read Less

INSEAD interviews are with two alumni and you have to coordinate with them to arrange the time and d... Read More

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! Read Less