INSEAD MBA Program Guide 2026

Hello Everyone! I have compiled and categorized INSEAD video essay questions. I. Motivation & ... Read More

Hello Everyone! I have compiled and categorized INSEAD video essay questions. I. Motivation & Fit 1. What motivated you to apply to INSEAD? 2. Why are you a good candidate for INSEAD? 3. What do you want to learn at INSEAD? II. Cultural Dexterity & Diversity 1. Explain a situation where you had to deal with cultural conflict. 2. How does your workplace handle cultural differences? 3. What is culture? 4. How do you operate in a diverse cohort? 5. Why is diversity and inclusion important in a workplace? 6. How does your cultural background give you a unique identity? 7. You are leading a project with teams based in different geographies with different cultures. How do you ensure collaboration? 8. Have you worked with people with different languages and dialects; how was your experience? 9. Your new boss is behaving in a manner offensive to the local culture; what do you do about it? III. Leadership & Teamwork 1. If someone you work with is afraid to speak out, what would you tell them? 2. What would you do if your teammate isn't putting in his/her share of the work? 3. When you are a team leader and someone is underperforming, how do you deal with it? 4. Tell us about a time you had to share difficult news. How did you handle it? 5. For collaboration, do you need to accept others as they are? 6. When was the last time you dealt with someone else's frustration? 7. Who do you look up to at work? IV. Personal Insight, Passion, & Self-Awareness 1. Tell us about something you are passionate about. 2. What is a passion/hobby you do on the side? 3. What's your passion project right now? 4. Tell us about a hobby or interest that brings you immense joy. 5. What is a topic or activity that you can engage in for hours on end? 6. What is something you are passionate about, and which aspect do you wish people knew? How are you working on your passion? 7. What do you do in your free time? 8. What is your greatest limitation? 9. How do you measure success? What results do you want to achieve? 10. What are some challenging goals that you set for yourself in your professional life? V. Feedback & Growth 1. What is feedback you received, and what did you learn from it? Written Response Questions 1. If you have 1 million dollars to spend on a social project, on what will you spend it? 2. A time when you had to decide whether to wait for further information or go ahead. 3. How do you stay on track with your vision or the vision of the company? 4. What is one thing you have learned on the go? How have you applied it in your future projects and experiences? 5. What is a risky decision you took, and what did you learn from it? 6. How do you contribute in your company to make people healthy? 7. Did you ever receive negative feedback? How did it make you feel? Read Less

Sharing some questions asked during INSEAD Interview: 1. How do you lead in ambiguous situations? 2... Read More

Sharing some questions asked during INSEAD Interview: 1. How do you lead in ambiguous situations? 2. Tell me about a conflict in a multicultural team and how you resolved it. 3. What is your Plan B if your post-MBA goals don’t work out? 4. Why INSEAD over other global programs? 5. What is one aspect of your profile that might raise a concern, and how do you address it? 6. How will you contribute to the INSEAD community? 7. Tell me about a time you failed as a leader, what did you learn from it? 8. If you had to convince a skeptical investor or senior leader to back your idea, how would you approach it? 9. What challenges do you foresee in INSEAD’s diverse environment, and how will you adapt? 10. If anyone else has completed their INSEAD or ISB interviews, would love to connect and exchange insights. Hope it helps you guys for your interview. Good luck🙌 Read Less

Both my interviews were conversational but had a part where the questions were mainly addressed to m... Read More

Both my interviews were conversational but had a part where the questions were mainly addressed to me and another part where I got to ask questions and it was more of an exchange. My first interview was with an alumni based locally over google meet and they first introduced themselves then asked me: - Introduce myself - Why would I pay 100k for an MBA instead of buying a book about business - Why INSEAD and not US MBA - I told them I was applying with my partner so they asked if it was my partner who convinced to do an MBA - Why I applied to other european MBAs - Why I want to go to BCG afterwards - What did it mean to work with big client like the one we had - Personal questions about my home country The second interview started directly with questions: - Who are you - Why an MBA - What kind of projects do you manage in your company - Did I visit INSEAD and why I chose INSEAD - What I want to do afterwards and why BCG - A time I did something and realized I was wrong and what I learned from it And then took the time to give me advice and both wished me luck and made it sound that I did well at the end of the interview Read Less

I had a one hour pressure interview with an alum. Surprisingly the alum went straight to Q&A wit... Read More

I had a one hour pressure interview with an alum. Surprisingly the alum went straight to Q&A without introductions. Interviewer did not engage with my answers, kept it strictly Q&A. Here are the types of questions: - Tell me about yourself. Goals? - Why Insead? Why not other schools? Why MBA? Why now? - Opinions on several specific current affairs and drill down (some related to Industry, some completely unrelated to my Industry) - What are your long term goals and how will you achieve them? - Do you have a Language certification? - Personality based questions and multiple hypothetical situations - Exposure to diversity - Deep drill down into CV items Wanted to post this here since my experience seems to be different from the content online!! Read Less

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