One thing I’ve seen applicants worry about with INSEAD is international exposure.
“If I haven’t worked abroad, am I already at a disadvantage?”
I don’t think it’s quite that simple.
For a school with such a global classroom, having experience with different cultures, markets, teams or ways of working can certainly add context to your application. But international exposure doesn’t have to mean working in four countries or having a passport full of stamps.
It could be
working with clients in another market,
managing a geographically distributed team,
collaborating with colleagues from different cultural backgrounds,
serving customers with very different needs, or
even taking on a project that forced you to rethink how you approach people and problems.
And if your exposure has been limited, I wouldn’t try to manufacture a “global” story just for the application. Instead, look more closely at the experiences you already have. Have you worked across regions? Learned from people with very different perspectives? Adapted your communication style for a different audience?
For those applying now, that’s probably a more useful exercise than simply trying to add another international experience at the last minute.
There’s also a Live coffee session on
17 September at 8:30 PM IST / 8:00 AM PDT where we’ll discuss this and also INSEAD and other European schools-related questions
Click here to Register