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11 Jul 2014, 10:49
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi,
I’m looking to apply for INSEAD for September 2015 intake, my profile is as follows. I will also be hiring an admission consultant in order to maximize my chances and address the weaknesses in my application, how much does that cost for one application to INSEAD (only school I’m interested in).
- 29-year old white male
- Dual citizen (Austrian and Danish)
- B.Sc. in Economics from University of Indiana; GPA: 3.9/4.0
- 4-year varsity athlete at university and member of U-22 national team for relatively „small“ sport during university
- Besides sports (purely as a hobby) no extra-curricular activities after university due to workload
- CFA charter holder
- GMAT: >700 (will take GMAT in two weeks, will a 750 make a large difference compared to a 750, if yes, I might push harder)
- Languages: Native in German and Danish, fluent in English, basic in Spanish (aiming to be fluent at the start of INSEAD, see below)
- Work experience (oldest first):
o Various internships in Chicago, New York and London
o 2 years in middle-market investment banking in London as analyst (tier-2 firm), top-ranked the first year
o 3 years in middle-market private equity in Frankfurt (tier-2 firm), promoted after 2 years from associate to VP
- Motivation:
o Want to move into a general management role at a corporate
- Weaknesses:
o Will leave private equity firm in August in order to travel the world for one year and learn Spanish fluently, no other activities planned besides enjoying life (I’ve never had opportunity to travel for a prolonged period of time due to commitment to sports)
o Left investment banking 6 month early in order to join a private equity fundraising company, was a big mistake, luckily I was able to get into private equity after 6 months
Best,
Olaf
I’m looking to apply for INSEAD for September 2015 intake, my profile is as follows. I will also be hiring an admission consultant in order to maximize my chances and address the weaknesses in my application, how much does that cost for one application to INSEAD (only school I’m interested in).
- 29-year old white male
- Dual citizen (Austrian and Danish)
- B.Sc. in Economics from University of Indiana; GPA: 3.9/4.0
- 4-year varsity athlete at university and member of U-22 national team for relatively „small“ sport during university
- Besides sports (purely as a hobby) no extra-curricular activities after university due to workload
- CFA charter holder
- GMAT: >700 (will take GMAT in two weeks, will a 750 make a large difference compared to a 750, if yes, I might push harder)
- Languages: Native in German and Danish, fluent in English, basic in Spanish (aiming to be fluent at the start of INSEAD, see below)
- Work experience (oldest first):
o Various internships in Chicago, New York and London
o 2 years in middle-market investment banking in London as analyst (tier-2 firm), top-ranked the first year
o 3 years in middle-market private equity in Frankfurt (tier-2 firm), promoted after 2 years from associate to VP
- Motivation:
o Want to move into a general management role at a corporate
- Weaknesses:
o Will leave private equity firm in August in order to travel the world for one year and learn Spanish fluently, no other activities planned besides enjoying life (I’ve never had opportunity to travel for a prolonged period of time due to commitment to sports)
o Left investment banking 6 month early in order to join a private equity fundraising company, was a big mistake, luckily I was able to get into private equity after 6 months
Best,
Olaf
13 Jul 2014, 09:33
Kudos
Bookmarks
Olaf,
Thanks for posting and I hope you're having a fantastic weekend. Thanks for all the info. Let's see if we can't get you some answers!
Your Profile
Obviously, your GMAT is a wildcard. You wrote: "will take GMAT in two weeks, will a 750 make a large difference compared to a 750, if yes, I might push harder" but I assume you meant 750 compared to a 700 or something along those lines? The answer is yes, that'll help. So go as hard as possible and lock in the highest possible GMAT score you can.
Professionally, you have some great experience. It's ok you didn't do IB @ a bulge bracket - it was good experience, I'm sure, and you leveraged that into PE, which is a rarer duck when it comes to bschools. You clearly have international experience in terms of both internships and full time experience. Which is PERFECT for INSEAD. I'm not sure what you meant by it was a mistake leaving IB 6 months early? Earlier than what? Are you indicating you had a work gap for 6 months between IB and PE? If so, that's not ideal but definitely not the end of the world. What were you up to in that period?
One thing I will mention, however, is that not being involved, while understandable for your profession, still isn't ideal. Were you involved within your firms? Or do you have any hobbies or passions that keep you busy outside of work? Essentially, schools are looking for folks who aren't just all about work.
As for traveling for a year beginning in August, if it's important to you, then more power to you. I don't think, with the right story, adcoms will view this negatively at all. A lot of people do it right after graduation but if it works better for you now, go for it! And you'll learn Spanish to boot. I would, however, advise you to put more a story around it. It's great that you'll actually just be heading around to enjoy life but you should have some cohesiveness to the story.
Chances
Honestly, I think your chances are pretty good for INSEAD. You have a lot of the basics covered that they look for. There are two things outstanding, however. Your GMAT, for one. The other is your goals. Why do you want your MBA? Why INSEAD? The answer to that is what helps you get in once you have all the basics covered. Top programs turn away qualified applicants all the time because they don't really convey their story well or they don't have a well thought out story in the first place.
Our Services
We have two options for one school services that might work for you. Our packages (of which there are 3 levels) are designed to support applicants who have different needs. Some folks need just a passing polish on their way out the door so that's our Tactical Package. However, our Strategic and Comprehensive Packages might be better fits for you. I've included links to all three below for your convenience - it includes how we go about it, how they compare to other packages, and what kind of an applicant they're right for.
Compare all 3 side-by-side
Tactical Package - $975
Strategic Package - $2,250
Comprehensive Package - $3,900
I hope that helps - if you have any other questions don't hesitate to post them here. If you'd like to chat about the path ahead or get started, sign up for a free consultation here and we can hop on a call to talk things through!
Bhavik
Thanks for posting and I hope you're having a fantastic weekend. Thanks for all the info. Let's see if we can't get you some answers!
Your Profile
Obviously, your GMAT is a wildcard. You wrote: "will take GMAT in two weeks, will a 750 make a large difference compared to a 750, if yes, I might push harder" but I assume you meant 750 compared to a 700 or something along those lines? The answer is yes, that'll help. So go as hard as possible and lock in the highest possible GMAT score you can.
Professionally, you have some great experience. It's ok you didn't do IB @ a bulge bracket - it was good experience, I'm sure, and you leveraged that into PE, which is a rarer duck when it comes to bschools. You clearly have international experience in terms of both internships and full time experience. Which is PERFECT for INSEAD. I'm not sure what you meant by it was a mistake leaving IB 6 months early? Earlier than what? Are you indicating you had a work gap for 6 months between IB and PE? If so, that's not ideal but definitely not the end of the world. What were you up to in that period?
One thing I will mention, however, is that not being involved, while understandable for your profession, still isn't ideal. Were you involved within your firms? Or do you have any hobbies or passions that keep you busy outside of work? Essentially, schools are looking for folks who aren't just all about work.
As for traveling for a year beginning in August, if it's important to you, then more power to you. I don't think, with the right story, adcoms will view this negatively at all. A lot of people do it right after graduation but if it works better for you now, go for it! And you'll learn Spanish to boot. I would, however, advise you to put more a story around it. It's great that you'll actually just be heading around to enjoy life but you should have some cohesiveness to the story.
Chances
Honestly, I think your chances are pretty good for INSEAD. You have a lot of the basics covered that they look for. There are two things outstanding, however. Your GMAT, for one. The other is your goals. Why do you want your MBA? Why INSEAD? The answer to that is what helps you get in once you have all the basics covered. Top programs turn away qualified applicants all the time because they don't really convey their story well or they don't have a well thought out story in the first place.
Our Services
We have two options for one school services that might work for you. Our packages (of which there are 3 levels) are designed to support applicants who have different needs. Some folks need just a passing polish on their way out the door so that's our Tactical Package. However, our Strategic and Comprehensive Packages might be better fits for you. I've included links to all three below for your convenience - it includes how we go about it, how they compare to other packages, and what kind of an applicant they're right for.
Compare all 3 side-by-side
Tactical Package - $975
Strategic Package - $2,250
Comprehensive Package - $3,900
I hope that helps - if you have any other questions don't hesitate to post them here. If you'd like to chat about the path ahead or get started, sign up for a free consultation here and we can hop on a call to talk things through!
Bhavik
