Recent INSEAD MBA - Ask Me Anything!

1) Case studies are not solely based on US companies (like you see in most US schools); You have options to study on multiple campuses and do exchanges (i think about 70-80% do an exchange to the other INSEAD campus/Wharton/Kellogg); The class is truly diverse and you actually get valuable learnings and inputs from folks who have lived across the world (vs a US school where <30% are international, and even those internationals have largely worked only in the US) - These factors help give you a much wider and global network (I know people in every major city on earth), and help with recruiting in any country you might choose to work in

2) A lot of new elective courses are being offered - i do not have an exact list - but i recall, back in my day (3-4 yrs ago), they were already adding courses on data analytics, etc

3) You can apply for jobs anywhere you would like to work - some jobs/locations will have language constraints (i.e. you need to speak the language at business fluency) and this will be highlighted in the job post

Hi,

thanks a lot for offering your advice - I have a couple of questions (upcoming 19D student here):

1. How important is an internship for landing a full-time job? To what extend does the internship increase your chances / what is the approx. percentage of interns getting offered a full-time position?
-> I am also interested in other areas, so I would love to do an internship in other industries, but I am wondering whether it would be better to focus completely on consulting to increase the chances.

2. I'm particularly interested in MBB London and I know that it's more competitive than other offices. Do you have an idea, how much harder it is to get into MBB London than somewhere else?

3. I know this question is not easy to answer, but do you know the approximate application to acceptance ration for MBB internships and ft positions (just speaking about the INSEAD cohort)?

4. Any preparation advice apart of that?

Thanks and best

1) More than courses, which you can get at any good school, what really helps is, a) Former/spons MBB students who can support you with mock interviews (think 15-20 mocks), b) MBB outreach (coffee chats, alumni network, etc) to get a feel for which offices / sectors are growing and hiring. Support from students really is key and is what helped me most.

2) Visa wasnt really an issue, back in my day. Almost 10-15% of my batch is in london. There is a lot of competition for the big offices - NYC, London, Singapore, etc; so often the bar is higher to get in. What really helps is having cross offers and playing MBB against each other (I had done the same)

3) Dont worry about that now - for the first 4-5 months, i think there is very limited interaction with firms (mandated by INSEAD so folks can focus on acads). You can worry about this stuff once you get in. Broadly: coffee chats in feb, CV drops in mar, interviews in april-may

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time!

1) I have a low gpa (~2.7 mid-level Canadian Uni in Commerce), do you think a massive GMAT score will be enough to offset or would you recommend doing extra courses to show academic capability, I ask as I am in a crunch for prioritization? (I'm currently at a Big 4 in Toronto, Indian IT/PMO Male)

1) Internships do help - but is not critical. Less than 40% of all people joining MBB interned there. It is different from US schools where the internship carries more weight. If you do an internship, i think you have 70-80% chance of getting a FT offer.

2) Very tough to say outright, depends on which sector you apply to, who else is applying with a profile similar to yours, and the hiring needs. Best to check with MBB folks during their outreach.

3) Out of 500, I think 250+ apply to MBB, maybe 150-170 get called for interviews, 80+ might get offers. Just high level numbers.

4) Do you exit language prep early. Very important and can prevent you from getting your degree. It takes a lot of time and can add stress in the final months when you are already doing recruiting. Also, figure out your 1yr plan - i.e. which classes, activities, companies you want to recruit with. You will have limited time to stratagize once you start. You need to have a very clear path ready.

This is just my view, and not reflective of the adcom.
I think you need to show real strength in quant. There are several ways to do it
1. Job is highly quant - think building excel models for financial cash flows
2. Super high GMAT (90+ percentile in quant section)
3. Courses at strong univs that give a grade at the end (can be online or f2f, but think top 10 Univ in canada)

Normally doing just 1 of these 3 will not be sufficient - you need all 3 to mitigate the effects of a low gpa

Thank you for the guidance, my job isn't super quant focused but I know some reco's can speak to my quant ability (mostly stats).
The other two points are in my control, so the GMAT + Stats course at University of Toronto lands me a chance.

Dont just do 1 course, think 2-3 min.

Thanks a lot for your answers!

Hi recentMBA,

Thank you so much for helping us out

Talking about application essays, what would be your advice on the length of Job Description essays? What should we consider as short answer?
For example, in the career goals question is it ok to write 400 words? I’ve researched several admissions consultancy websites and blogs, and the usual answer is that this is actually ok. But it doesn’t seem like a short answer to me... what’s your take on this?

Thank you!

I think you should take up as many words as you need to convey your answer i.e. "What is your next step in terms of position..." could be 100-150 words, but you might need 250-300 for the Job description essay. I think rule is thumb is to not exceed 400, but does not mean you need to always write 400 words. Much better to be succinct than ramble on.

That's what I'm going for, succint but complete. Thanks for the feedback

Thanks for taking the time to do the AMA.

I know how important socials are to the complete MBA experience (after all, networking is one of the biggest benefits to the program). That being said, as an introvert and someone coming from a low-middle class family:

1. How important is it really to attend all the parties and out of country travels?
2. How often do these things happen?
3. How much in total did you spend for all of these events?
4. Did everyone from your batch attend most/all of these events? How would someone be treated if they didn't?

I guess it also helps to tag recentMBA

Thank you for taking the time to do an AMA.

I understand that there are several MBB analysts who gets sponsored to go through Business Schools while still remaining employed by their respective firms. For Insead graduates who are joining MBB from non-consulting backgrounds, will they be hired at the same level as these sponsored analysts/graduates with consulting experience?

Cheers!

Hi There,

1. Curious to know how much was your total MBA cost, including everything from tuition, to parties, to relocating from job to campus back to job.

2. Similarly, how did you choose to finance and do you have any tips: dos and donts, timeline, post-MBA strategy to take advantage of possible tax break against education fees, etc?

3. You spoke to the timeline if trying to get hired by MBB. In your opinion, how helpful / good is INSEAD for entrepreneurs looking to start a business?
3.1. Is there any significant hiring going on for non-MBB path? If not, would you have any tips to share for students not looking to go into consulting?

4. You touched upon the 3rd language test. How difficult/easy was it? I'm assuming easy as it never comes up as being a big problem, yet learning a new language isn't a trivial task.

Thanks a lot!

Hi There ! Not sure if I'm a bit late to the party but I'm going to take my chances

First off, thank you for doing this ! Much appreciated insights.

I have just 2 questions:

If I'm starting in Fonty in September but would like to experience the Singapore campus but still be back in Europe for the recruitment season - how do I accomplish that ?

Secondly, what are your thoughts on the exchange programs with Kellogg's and Wharton?

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