Calling all INSEAD Applicants (Sept 2016 Intake) Class of July 2017!!

INSEAD website says: "Competition for each round is equal regardless of the intake or round you apply for."

Is that really the case or is INSEAD similar to US schools where early rounds are easier. As an Indian applicant, should I submit in R3 or go to R1 of next intake?

Hi aryabhata,

I think it really is what they say it is. It will be a problem only if there is an unexpected flurry of applications in R3 or R4. If the number of applications in each round are as per INSEAD's estimates, then the competition is more or less equal in all the rounds. It is different from the US schools in this regard.

I applied in R4 myself for the January 2016 intake. Accepted. Indian male engineer. But I would not recommend waiting for R4. It will still be okay, but if for some reason a lot of applications come in, it might get very competitive as they only leave so many seats for the last round. R3 is totally fine though. I don't think you need to worry about R3 being more competitive than the earlier rounds

Good luck!!

Any R2 interview calls yet? Shall we expect the calls to start flowing in from today? (been more than 2 weeks since the submission deadline)

Last year's post shows that many had got the call by this time.
Is it slow this time or folks are not updating ??

Had my interviews last week.
Both alumni were exceptional. Having that said, the conversations were both very dynamic yet not particularly challenging. There were no curve balls. So I believe if you know your application, your story, and prepare with some general sample questions, all will be fine. It felt more like a conversation between equals which I loved, knowing both my interviewers were really impressive.
Waiting for that call now...

Sounds like you have made it
Congrats!!!
Opting SG or Fonty

My second interview was last Friday. He is a GM Assistant at International SOS (never heard about this one, but they are quite big, in fact, ~11k people all over the world).
He is a '12D graduate. We met at his office in Paris.
Again, nothing special during the interview.
1h in total: walk me through your work experience, why mba, why insead, why now, have you applied to any other school. No pressure, just a casual, relaxed conversation, although a bit more formal than my first one. He asked his questions, I asked mine. Very positive, smooth. He made me a tour around the office at the end, telling about their activities worldwide.

My AO told me that whenever one is done with the interviews, one has to wait till Nov 27th for the final decision... it sucks...

I'd do Fonty.. I like Europe:)

Thanks for sharing.
After going through many posts, I realized these three whys are must. Was there any specific question on INSEAD ? such as have you visited any INSEAD campus ? spoken to any alumni?

Yes, my second interviewer asked about it. As a part of "why Insead" topic. But probably I provoked him to ask these questions by mentioning something (I did both, in fact)

At last done with both my interviews! One was at a cafe and the other at the interviewer's office. One was a senior alum and the other relatively recent. Both were very conversational and covered the usual questions such as why MBA, why Insead, why now, which other schools, tell me about yourself, your career progression, your hobbies etc., One of them said he would recommend me while the other didn't say anything. One lasted about an hour and the other about 45 mins. Now the wait!

FROM Insead Admissions Blog: Joining London VCs Trek

Arriving at Gare de Lyon in Paris to take the Eurostar to London, I met a couple of INSEAD MBA students and started to realize why the UK is the most popular destination after graduation. It was our P4/P5 Break, and while the school and students and have organized many field trips or treks to different places across the globe from Japan to Silicon Valley, nothing seemed to compare to the 5 treks there were about to take place in London. One of my colleagues was going to join the PE Trek, the other would be joining the Asset Management Trek, one more group of students was going to join the TMT Trek, another the INDEVOR Trek, and the last one the VCs Trek – which was the one I joined. In P4, one of the electives I had enrolled in was Private Equity. Vikas Aggarwal, our professor for this course, not only managed to cover important principles about the VC industry, but also to bring relevant guests working in the industry both to share their experience and run dynamic exercises in class. I knew that the interaction with the guests from the VC industry was just a hint of what I could find in London. Therefore, eager for more knowledge, I followed all the necessary steps to make sure I would be able to join the group in the trek. The trek was organized in order to allow us to visit 9 firms in two days. Given the profile of the firms and the people we were going to see I had no doubt about how much I could learn from the interaction with them. That would be an amazing opportunity to learn about their processes, ask relevant questions, and construct bridges with relevant firms. What I had not thought, however, was how much I was going to learn from my peers in the group. INSEAD MBA Candidates at the VC Trek During the trip, the small team of eight people were revealed to have impressive achievements in the start-up area. Just to cite a few examples, one of the participants was responsible for the setup of the USA operation of a French patisserie start-up and had run the business for three years. Another one was a co-founder of a start-up which had raised a few millions dollars in London. Interacting with my peers, learning about how they struggled in their endeavours, how they managed to overcome their challenges, and so on, was remarkable.  Furthermore, the experience of bonding during those two intensive days is priceless. The group of students was accompanied by Ivy Kwan, a member of the INSEAD Career centre, who also had the opportunity to create the right connections with the firms. Doing so, the school might be able to place more students in the industry, which seems to be a growing target among MBA candidates. On the first day, we were set to visit a few prominent funds, including Balderton and Index Ventures, and after the meetings with the VCs we were going to participate in an INSEAD UK Alumni event. Once we arrived for the last scheduled meeting, we discovered that Accel Partners was in the same building. Between this last meeting and the UK Alumni event, there was roughly two hours break. This was an excellent opportunity to try a meeting with Accel as well. But, how on earth could someone just show up and politely require a meeting with such an outstanding VC firm? I have no answer. Yet, to make a long story short, after calling her contacts, our colleague Virginie was able to secure a meeting with Accel Partners for that very afternoon. On the second day, we visited five more funds, almost all of them in the East of London, and with no happy surprises we finished up the trek at the iconic Second Home London in Shoreditch, where the last two meetings were scheduled to happen. Interior of Second Home London in Shoreditch P.s. A very special thanks to Ivy Kwan for taking the photos and Szabi Baranyi for having lead the efforts to organize the VCs Trek.

FROM Insead Admissions Blog1: Joining London VCs Trek

Arriving at Gare de Lyon in Paris to take the Eurostar to London, I met a couple of INSEAD MBA students and started to realize why the UK is the most popular destination after graduation. It was our P4/P5 Break, and while the school and students and have organized many field trips or treks to different places across the globe from Japan to Silicon Valley, nothing seemed to compare to the 5 treks there were about to take place in London. One of my colleagues was going to join the PE Trek, the other would be joining the Asset Management Trek, one more group of students was going to join the TMT Trek, another the INDEVOR Trek, and the last one the VCs Trek – which was the one I joined. In P4, one of the electives I had enrolled in was Private Equity. Vikas Aggarwal, our professor for this course, not only managed to cover important principles about the VC industry, but also to bring relevant guests working in the industry both to share their experience and run dynamic exercises in class. I knew that the interaction with the guests from the VC industry was just a hint of what I could find in London. Therefore, eager for more knowledge, I followed all the necessary steps to make sure I would be able to join the group in the trek. The trek was organized in order to allow us to visit 9 firms in two days. Given the profile of the firms and the people we were going to see I had no doubt about how much I could learn from the interaction with them. That would be an amazing opportunity to learn about their processes, ask relevant questions, and construct bridges with relevant firms. What I had not thought, however, was how much I was going to learn from my peers in the group. INSEAD MBA Candidates at the VC Trek During the trip, the small team of eight people were revealed to have impressive achievements in the start-up area. Just to cite a few examples, one of the participants was responsible for the setup of the USA operation of a French patisserie start-up and had run the business for three years. Another one was a co-founder of a start-up which had raised a few millions dollars in London. Interacting with my peers, learning about how they struggled in their endeavours, how they managed to overcome their challenges, and so on, was remarkable.  Furthermore, the experience of bonding during those two intensive days is priceless. The group of students was accompanied by Ivy Kwan, a member of the INSEAD Career centre, who also had the opportunity to create the right connections with the firms. Doing so, the school might be able to place more students in the industry, which seems to be a growing target among MBA candidates. On the first day, we were set to visit a few prominent funds, including Balderton and Index Ventures, and after the meetings with the VCs we were going to participate in an INSEAD UK Alumni event. Once we arrived for the last scheduled meeting, we discovered that Accel Partners was in the same building. Between this last meeting and the UK Alumni event, there was roughly two hours break. This was an excellent opportunity to try a meeting with Accel as well. But, how on earth could someone just show up and politely require a meeting with such an outstanding VC firm? I have no answer. Yet, to make a long story short, after calling her contacts, our colleague Virginie was able to secure a meeting with Accel Partners for that very afternoon. On the second day, we visited five more funds, almost all of them in the East of London, and with no happy surprises we finished up the trek at the iconic Second Home London in Shoreditch, where the last two meetings were scheduled to happen. Interior of Second Home London in Shoreditch P.s. A very special thanks to Ivy Kwan for taking the photos and Szabi Baranyi for having lead the efforts to organize the VCs Trek.

Sent application on R2, received interview invite today.

Can you share what's your profile and who's your AO ? Good luck

I am 27, from western europe, with a GMAT score of 710
And my AO is EM.

I am so glad the wait is over, it was excruciating, I was looking at my phone every 3 minutes or so. I don't have the names of the interviewers yet.

Good luck to you guys !

Thank you ! I have the same AO so I'm more stressed now

Applied to R2 and I've also received an e-mail for interview invite ! As said earlier, my AO is EM

Good luck everyone

Applied to R2, received interview invite