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Hi I am a female and my first interview was with a male alumni. The interview was friendly and relaxed but professional, he had read my whole application and had a list of around 15 questions. The interview lasted for 70 minutes. He asked: -about all of my transitions in my resume -why business from engineering? -why insead? which campus? -what is your day to day job? -how do you differentiate your service from your competitor at your current company? -how do you segment your customers? -asked about my post mba goal -what schools did you apply to and why? -in a team setting what is your tendency? e.g. a leader, follower, etc -if you dont get admitted what would you do this year? -why do you want to leave your company given your current position? Why your manager would let you go? At the end I asked him a few questions and when I was done he mentioned that he would recommend me to the Adcom but that would be only his feedback and doesn't guarantee my admission. My second interview was with a female alumni, extremely casual, fun, and friendly. She only asked me one question and that was: tell me about yourself. While I was talking about my post mba goal and my extracurricular activities, we connected in one subject and the rest of the interview was about that subject. She wasn't even taking notes and it felt like a friendly chat. I truly enjoyed that conversation, I had a chance to ask all of my questions about insead, the culture and everything. This one took about 45 minutes. The second interview was very eye opening bc I met a person who had the same goals and aspirations and mine and had achieved all of her goals after MBA. Now I just have to wait and see what the outcome is. Fingers crossed and good luck to everyone else.

Both interviews were very chill, one more than the other. First interviewer is in the same field as me currently. We had a bit of problem nailing the interview time due to her busy schedule. It started with some chit-chatting about working-from-home arrangement for both of us. Then I spent the next 20 minutes telling my story from birth to where I am today, touching various aspects of life. She then asked me the standard questions: - Which other schools have I applied? - Why only INSEAD? - What if I didn't get in? - How would I prepare myself and deal with the high-pace life in INSEAD? We were left with only a couple of minutes for Q&A so i asked about her post-MBA career choice and how she has grown in INSEAD. Second interviewer is from the industry that I want to go to post-MBA. We started more unstructured but we still cover the basic questions: - Why MBA? - Why INSEAD? - Why now? Once my story made sense, the interviewer was very supportive and shared with me his experience before, during and after MBA. Overall, it was a very good experience. Now finger-crossed, waiting for the final result.

1st Interview was with an alumni from 2008 batch, who has her own startup now. The overall interview lasted for around 75 minutes. 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Why did you launch your start-up after under-grad? 3. Why did you left your start-up after working for five years and moved to United States? 4. Why Master's in Supply Chain? 5. Tell me some of the challenging aspects of your job? 6. What motivates me to go to job every-day? 7. Walk me through your career progression in your current job? 8. Why do you want to leave your current job since you're progressing rapidly? 9. Tell me about a situation where I led or worked on a team in a cross-cultural setting? 10. What are your short term and long term goals? 11. Why can't you achieve them now without MBA? 12. Why INSEAD? 13. Why Singapore? 14. What would you do if you don't get selected? 15. How can you contribute to the class? 16. What would you do if you aren't selected? 17. What do you like to do outside of work? Overall, it was an amazing and very conversational interview. Honestly, didn't feel like an interview, more like two people speaking candidly to each other, talking about work, life, COVID and INSEAD.

Both my interviews were virtual (on Zoom/Skype). The first alumnus worked in a different industry than me. First he made me comfortable and we had a casual chat for a few mins. He was based out of singapore, so told me about the situation there and asked me about the same in India. He had gone through my application and resume, and so asked me to clarify a few things mentioned there. Major Questions: How have you grown in your workplace? Elaborate on your international experience? How do you demonstrate leadership? What are your short-term and long-term goal? Why MBA? Why INSEAD? Why 1-yr vs traditional 2-yr (Since I am on the young side with 3 yrs exp)? Singy or Fonty? We talked about his career (he had dual MBA - i.e. one in India and then in INSEAD), career advice, industry trends and etc. It lasted around 60 minutes. ************************************************************************ My second interview with an alumna was again very casual. She had a sort of a checklist. First was a long conversation on my resume (about 15 mins). She asked me about almost each and every position/work I had done in detail. Then she spent about 15 mins asking me about my story. Bascially connecting the dots from undergrad, pre-mba, mba-school, and then post-mba. How it all made sense? How have you evolved? Your realisations? Major Questions: Why MBA? Why INSEAD? What other schools are you applying? Give me an example of Leadership? Give me an example of Conflict? Singy or Fonty? Long term/Short term goals? Drilled downed a bit on my short term goals. Then we talked about her career since she has graduated. In total it lasted for about 60 mins. There is no surprising question. A lot of stress was put on my fit for the program and that INSEAD is my one and only choice for MBA. Both of them were friendly.

Already deep into Covid both interviews were online (one hangouts, one zoom). They were both very relaxed and friendly and at no point I felt challenged - the normal interview preparation you would do before any interview is more than fine. No questions about golf balls in a 747 or how many smartphones are there in the world. First was with a younger alumnus graduated just few years back. After a short introduction from his side and small talk, these were the interview points: - Give me a comprehensive story of who you are, including professional life, personal life, interests, goals, etc. (I gave the cv walkthrough from high school to date, tied my interests with what I said in the essays, talked a bit about what I like to do to relax (nothing extraordinary, just don't say that you play videogames 7 hours per day or something like that)). - A challenging moment of your life (not necessarily professional life) and how did that change you, what did you learn. - Some more insight about something I wrote in my essays. - What kind of leader are you. - How do you handle conflict. - Was there a situation when you had to bring together different points of view without upsetting anybody, how did you manage the situation. - Why X campus, why do you want to do X post MBA, long term plan. - Why Insead, what other schools did you apply for and how is the application going. - Why do you think you would fit into Insead culture. - Tell me a travel story (I put travel as on of my interests on the app). - Other random chat about what I said. - Questions from my side about him and about the school. All very friendly, we had some laughs, shared some stories from out lives. Second interview with a senior alumnus graduated 10+ years back. Also very friendly and open, gave me an intro about who he is, his professional life story, his time at Insead. - Walk me through your cv. - A time you failed in your profession, how did you solve the problem, what did you learn, how did your boss react, how did your relationship with him change after that event. - Why Insead, why X campus, why you want to do X after the MBA. - Other applications? - Situation when you had to manage a conflict in your job. - Situation when you had to convince someone with a different opinion to agree with your proposition. - Questions from my side about him and his time at Insead. I genuinely enjoyed both chats, didn't feel like I was being judged / interviewd at all.

In overall, both interviews went quite well. However, both alumni had specific questions about my profile besides general ones. 1st interviewer is a female and she is a start-up founder My session lasted around 40~50 minutes before we talk about her INSEAD experience. We warmed up with basic questions, such as: - Self introduction - Why MBA? - Why INSEAD? - Long term and short term goal - I also talked about my extra professional activities in the introduction; therefore, this lady raised some more questions about my extra professional activities, such as: What do i do, How often, Why did I choose such activities, How many hours a week I spend for each? - Challenges I faced to when working with team members locating in different countries. I guess she had this question because most of my international WE is to work with a team whose members scatter around the globe. - Last question was about my long term career goal and it was the hardest one. I think it is only for me so don't worry too much. I think that all of us should think about our career goal carefully, not only what the goal is but also how to make it come true, how it can serve the society, what will you say/work/recommend then. The alumni can raise a lot questions about that to understand how INSEAD can support us. I didn't ask for her feedback as a lot of alumni said the interviewer will try to be neutral. That's why I spent my time to chit chat with this lady because I am interested in start-ups. 2nd interviewer is a male and he is a Head of Sales of a French company. Question list: - Self introduction - Go through my resume and what did I do in each position? - My learning point when I worked with client ABC (a very specific question) and what I enjoyed the most? - Any challenge that I can foresee when I am in an INSEAD study group and what will I do to solve it? - My plan between Fonty campus and Singy campus - What is my contribution for INSEAD? Although the number of questions is less than the 1st interviewer's, he went into details and linked back to my application form. I guess he spent time to go through my application before the interview. It took me also ~40 mins to finish before we discussed about INSEAD life. Luckily, my interviewer gave me his feedback about how suitable I am with INSEAD at the end of the session. I don't know how often it happens but maybe you guys can try with your interviewer :). Of course, he managed my expectation that he can't decide my result but he will give the Committee his positive feedback. Yayyy. I regretted that I did not ask my 1st interviewer :(. Anyway, I can't do much now. I hope that it is helpful Cheers

Due to COVID-19, both interviews are virtual. The first alumnus works in the same industry with me. He read the whole application file and mentioned some details in it. It felt more like chatting with a friend. Questions included -- How will you manage conflicts with others? How confident are you to speak for yourself in the international settings? (English is my second language) How do you demonstrate leadership? Long term goal. Why MBA now? Singy or Fonty? We talked about his school life, career advice, industry trends and etc. It lasted around 100 minutes. *** My second interview with an alumna was more formal. I could feel she had a checklist to go through. After some chats, she then jumped in questions. Questions included -- Tell me about yourself. Why MBA. Why INSEAD? What other schools are you applying? Give me an example of teamwork. How can you contribute? Singy or Fonty? We finished the checklist in 20 minutes. Then we talked about her career since she has graduated for many years. It lasted around 40 minutes. Generally speaking, there is no surprising question. They were checking my fit for the programme in particular. Both of them were friendly, and happy to answer any question I had. The experience was very delightful. Hoping for the best.

My first interview was yesterday and it lasted for about 30 min. The interviewer was from the class of 2003, so I think he has experience doing these interviews and he knew exactly what he was going to ask. I sent my application and my CV to him early, but it was a good thing that I brought a printed version for the interview. He used both in the conversation and asked me to keep the printouts. We chatted a little bit about how loudly the place it was and then we got down to business. He asked me to walk him through my CV since college to my current job. He stopped me several times to understand all my experience in more detail. Then he asked a couple of questions: • Why I decide to the major I did? • Tell me about an important project that you did since you started working in US? (I’m Brazilian and I was transferred to US in 2018) • What do you want to do after business school? – (I also used this space to answer why INSEAD). • Why fonty over singy? In the end we chatted a little bit about his experience after INSEAD and I asked him a couple of questions.

Finished both my interviews. First interview was two weeks ago and was incredibly chilled out and conversational. We started by me talking about my current job and from there we kind of backtracked to what got me where I am today. The interviewer also really dug into how I think I will fit into the INSEAD culture and what will I focus on while there. Really, it felt like a conversation with an acquaintance. He continually followed up with questions to get a better understanding of why I want to do this. We concluded with him telling me about his own experience at INSEAD. Overall, a very positive experience. It lasted 1.5 hours. Second interview felt more formal. It started with a "tell me about yourself starting from your childhood", followed by Why MBA, Why INSEAD, how will I manage my time at INSEAD etc. It was also conversational but felt less casual than the first one. It lasted about an hour. I couldn't judge if the interviewer liked chatting with me or not, but I tried my best to answer all their questions.

My second interview was with a 2002 alumni. He was super friendly and at all times it felt like a casual conversation more than an interview. He asked about my work, and what I did, sounding more interested and curious rather than "testing me". He asked why MBA, why now, where do you see yourself 5 years after the MBA, what is your plan if you don't get in. I think it was smooth and friendly. it lasted an hour

My first interview was pretty relaxed in a Starbucks. I guess there are not many alumni in my country so we didn't share any kind of background. Interviewer was serious at first - she had read my resume and application so she had specific questions about my stories, mainly asking me to add more details to things that had caught her attention. She asked about my job experience, my goal, about a challenging story and about my failure. She asked me why an MBA, why INSEAD. She asked me how I pictured myself in the first 5 years after INSEAD and given all countries I traveled to and lived in, what could I contribute to INSEAD's diversity. We then had a chat in English (my resume said I have learned French by myself so she asked me more detailed about that) and then it was my turn asking questions. We ended up chatting for a while afterwards and she gave me some tips for the program. It lasted around 75 minutes.

Just had my first alumni interview with alum from 2004, and was quite tonally different to other school interviews. He definitely grilled me on all my answers and seemed like he really wanted to understand my reasoning rather than just accept the answers I had. It was a great learning experience for sure. It was quite conversational, with questions building on my previous answers, but the rough topics covered were: He'd also really done his research on my background so lots of questions were company specific. 1. Tell me about yourself/run me through your resume 2. Why MBA, why now 3. What drew you to INSEAD 4. Explain your day to day -> it was a bit muddled but he basically covered: - teamwork - leadership - how do you normally take charge, what are some examples. went back to college days and asked about teamwork from the engineering perspective. - conflict resolution (do you get pushback when you take charge, vertically or laterally in the company) followed by do you think this is the best way to resolve conflicts 5. What are the pros and cons of working in a small company (I work in a company of 14 people)? 6. if the MBA doesn't work out, then what? Why do you feel like you need an MBA when marketing consultancy or other jobs dont require them. 7. Why not a US 2 year program? 8. Why Fonty over Singapore? Overall, it was an interesting experience. His background was totally different to mine (finance vs media), and he kept quite a poker face. His love of INSEAD definitely came through though, and we spent 20 minutes talking through my questions I had prepared for him. He was quite transparent about the process requiring quite a lengthy report and he took lots of notes. Lasted about 50 mins. Will be interesting to see what the second one is like, as it is more of a similar background to me.

My first interview was during working hours at a coffee shop with an alum who had graduated in 2010. The discussion was very casual right from the start, and I felt completely at ease. I come from a non-traditional sector, so my interviewer asked me a few questions regarding my motivation for applying to an MBA, what I planned to do afterwards, and why I thought an MBA would be a necessary next step. The rest of the discussion revolved around why I chose INSEAD, what I hoped to gain from my time there, why a one year program in Europe, and which other schools I had applied to. We discovered we had a mutual interest in photography so ended up talking about that for a bit! Overall, it was a very relaxed process and lasted about 45 minutes. The questions were straightforward and nothing out of the ordinary. We spend the last ten minutes talking about my interviewer's experiences at INSEAD and he had nothing but glowing reviews. If you have a logical reason for getting an MBA at INSEAD and can articulate that well, you'll be fine.

Hi everyone, I just had my first interview. Alumni from 2006 batch, with a background different from mine. The interview was in the Alumni work office and lasted 90 minutes. The conversation was a bit on the tough side on the beginning, with the interviewer challenging my answers constantly, so preparation was key. Besides the usual questions (why MBA, why INSEAD, which other schools, CV questions), I was asked about my leadership style, how would my colleagues describe me, what is my plan without an MBA, which would be the bigger challenge in pursuing my career goals post-MBA, which was my favorite project at work or university, how do I deal with different negotiation styles.... Overall, it felt closer to a job interview than a relaxed conversation. However, when it came to the part where I was asking questions, the vibe became much more relaxed and we actually laughed a lot. I actually confirmed that there is no indication from the school regarding the good cop/bad cop attitude, it's just the interviewer style. I guess it makes sense that they try to grill us a bit, just to check if we can handle hot water ;) As long as you were authentic in everything you mentioned in your application and your CV, you'll be just fine :) I'll come back after my second interview to give you feedback. Best of luck to all of us!

Alum was a graduate from the 2006 batch. She started off with an introduction about her background, her journey after INSEAD and what she does currently. I followed with my introduction. She asked me to explain my career trajectory a bit in detail. Asked me to talk an interesting project I did and what I learnt from it. Moved on to the usual suspects - why MBA, why INSEAD, what other schools did you apply to and what's the order of preference. Had a fairly long discussion on conflict resolution - she laid out the context that in INSEAD you'll work a lot in groups and people will have different opinions. How will you work through that? What role do you play in groups? Are you active or passive? What approach will you take to resolve a conflict with another group member? What will you do if there's a conflict between two other group members? Moved on what I do for fun and a bit of probing into that. Concluded with me asking her a bunch of questions for about 10-15 minutes. Lasted about 45 mins. A pretty casual and chilled out conversation.

Interviewer was an alum from the batch of 2007. Was a very relaxed and chilled out person. He said upfront that the interview isn't a big hurdle and is just to gauge fit. If you have been shortlisted then you tick all the boxes and this is just sort of a sanity check. It started off a bit unexpectedly. He said "Lets do it the other way round. What questions do you have for me?" Discussed in detail about his experience and memories, his learning from INSEAD and about the alumni network. Then went on to discuss about my career to date and my current role. Went through the usual questions - why MBA, why INSEAD, what other schools did you apply to and what's the order of preference. Asked two scenario based questions - a time when you had to overcome language barrier to communicate and areas of weakness you are currently working on. Overall a very relaxed and comfortable conversation.

Less than 2 weeks before the decisions come out. As per my interviews, both were held at the alumni's office and I would say they were quite relaxed. First one was with a Japanese alumna who is a bit on the older side. She asked me the usual why INSEAD, why now, and which other schools was I applying for. She also probed my goals a bit, asking me why I need to transition to consulting in the short-term post-MBA instead of going straight to pursuing my real passion, social entrepreneurship. I just answered honestly and cited financial reasons, to which she laughed because she apparently did the same! Overall, it was a very fruitful experience. She was just checking my fit in the program. At the end of the interview, she told me that my personality and goals are a perfect fit for INSEAD. :D PS: It seems that INSEAD used to have this creative question, "Would you want to sit beside this person for 2 hours on a plane?", but she told me they scratched it out this year. The second one was with a Singaporean alumnus living in Tokyo and a fairly recent graduate. He came prepared with notes about my resume and job description essay. He was asking a lot of questions about the achievements I wrote on my resume, specifically on the scope of my contribution. I made the rookie mistake of not reviewing one tiny detail of my resume: I have close to zero recollection of a paper I published 10 years ago for an NGO I volunteered with for 4 months. Well, it was just 1 question and I think I did well on others so I'm hoping for the best. He also asked the usual why INSEAD. At the end of the interview, I asked him some questions about his INSEAD experience and recommendations on classes/professors to take. That's it for me. I wish everyone the best of luck!

Both the interviews done a few days ago. I was lucky to schedule both my interviews on the same day and both took place in coffee shop in London. Both alums did their MBA more than 10 years ago but were still able to recall their memories. Interview 1: The alumni is working in Ecom - the same sector where I am from. It was nice conversation mostly around walk me through your resume, why MBA, Why INSEAD and why now? Then she asked me about a time when I worked in multi-cultural team, how I resolve a conflict, a project where I succeeded, team I led etc. She also asked what I fear the most about studying at INSEAD. What other schools I applied to and how will I take the final decision if selected in all. I felt I could have done much better by being more structured but what's done is done. Interview 2: The venue was 45 minutes away from 1st interview place and I was scared to be late- even though I had good one and a half hour to cover that distance. Luckily I reached before time :). The interviewer was prepared and I could feel that he studied my application before meeting. He created a timeline of my entire professional career and switches that I made and asked specific questions to me why I did what I did. This was followed by usual Why MBA, why INSEAD and why now. What is my goal post MBA goal and if I'll chose to start my own venture instead of going to my dream job post MBA. Surprisingly, he asked me to tell about my family, where I come from to understand me better, if my husband will quit his job to join me at INSEAD. Once the interview was over, we had a conversation for more than 15 minutes about his country and his first international experience etc. Overall, both the interviews were good and conversational. My advice will be to be yourself and enjoy the conversation. Moreover, try to be short, concise and structured. Now waiting impatiently for the results - fingers crossed. Best wishes to everyone who's in the same boat as me.

Interview one done. Went pretty well. Was with an Alumni who works in the O&G sector. * Asked me to take him through my CV and my life story. Asked a few questions about details of projects highlighted on the CV. Dug a bit deeper to see how I had coped with some difficult situations, etc. * Got the 3 classic questions; why an MBA, why now, why INSEAD. * What do you wanna do, what's your plan after the MBA; why do you think you need an MBA to get there. After that, it was pretty much conversational; me asking him several questions, etc. Quite an interesting and insightful experience. Now unto the second one coming up tomorrow. EDIT: So I had my second interview on Friday. It went OK in my opinion. The alumni graduated in 2013 and was very chilled. He actually send me a mail the day before confirming the venue saying "See you tomorrow. And relax, no #pressure..". So I traded my suit for a more laid back chinos and shirt with a tie. He had prepared the interview quite well. We went through my CV and I presented myself and he inquired about the different career choices I made, the motivations, etc. He asked the classic Why MBA, Why now and Why INSEAD. We spoke about my career objectives post MBA. All this lastest for 45 mins. Then I asked him quite a few questions about the INSEAD experience, what he does now, etc. All in all, we spoke for 1h45 mins. It was a very interesting exchange. Now fingers crossed while I wait for the call. Cheers and goodluck to everyone.

Had my interviews. Generally pretty traditional interview. First one was with a consultant, so I was asked tougher and more specific questions. It was in the office. I was asked about my career progression and talked about my work experience. There were definitely questions on cultural sensitivity and awareness as well. I was asked about what other paths I considered and why an MBA. Typical interview questions. Second one was at a cafe near the office with someone in my profession. It focused more on my past experience and what I want to take away from the school. Had very traditional interview questions. All in all, pretty positive experiences.