Calling all Applicants: INSEAD Jan 2019 Intake (Class of Dec 2019)

Hi,

Seeking some advice - R1 insead applicant here.
Completed my gmat last year- score was 670. Breakdown Q47(63%), V35 (76%), IR 5, AWA 5
Repeated my gmat today - score was 690. Breakdown Q45 (57%), V 39(89%), IR 4, AWA pending

Quant has dropped quite significantly. Undergrad is in pharmacy.

I still have the option to cancel my score, should I report it ?

Thanks, appreciate the advice.

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You still have quite some time for the 2nd or even the 3rd round. Why not crash course for one more month and then submit?
That being said, 690 can be sufficient for INSEAD I believe; depending on your profile.

Thanks for your reply - I’m in a position in which I need to apply for R1 due to pending decision for another school. Actually I was half considering not reporting this 690 score due to the drop in my quant. But I think the absolute increase may still help - do you think?


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In the end it is about the highest overall score right? I would just post this and in parallel try to make your case (through education, work experience) that your quant background is indeed solid.


Thanks for your reply - I’m in a position in which I need to apply for R1 due to pending decision for another school. Actually I was half considering not reporting this 690 score due to the drop in my quant. But I think the absolute increase may still help - do you think?

Nomad2461 sorry it has taken me a couple of days to respond, I was super busy with round 3 for LBS. The general guideline is that you can go 10% over the word limit but don't do that on every essay. Of course it's ideal to strive to get it under the word limit but if you feel as though you would truly be sacrificing something essential to the story, going over up to 10% is okay.

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gy88 INSEAD is one of the very few schools that allows you to submit multiple scores. I think that you should keep it. However if your essays are not at the height of perfection then it's probably in your best interest to wait for Round 2... not so sure that the GMAT is necessary to retake unless you are Chinese or Indian. If so, I definitely would

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gy88 sorry I didn't see your post about round one earlier before I submitted mine

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Thanks mba coach for your valuable advise- definitely keeping the score then, although I’ll probably have to address my max 63% score in Quant between the two tests. Also I’m not of Chinese or Indian nationality. Will work hard on polishing up the rest of my application then ! Thanks again


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Thanks for your reply - I’m in a position in which I need to apply for R1 due to pending decision for another school. Actually I was half considering not reporting this 690 score due to the drop in my quant. But I think the absolute increase may still help - do you think?[/quote]

Thank you! Definitely working on your suggestions !


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gy88 I'm glad to hear that you are not significantly over-represented and so that will help with the GMAT score being slightly under par. If you are under-represented it probably should just be absolutely fine.

With regards to the quant the raw score is not embarrassing. The percentile is a little on the low side but that just means you were in a very competitive group.

Some things you could do.. .use space in the optional essay to point to your aptitude for numeracy in other ways.... one would be to highlight solid grades obtained in quant courses in college, or discussing quantitative aptitude required for your job.

And if you have the time and feel the need you can do MBA math. 12 hour online self-paced program that basically certifies you as good enough at math.

I want to highlight that applicants often think they need to be good enough at everything they have to be meeting some specific, high threshold for every single thing...and while you do need to be strong in most areas (the 4 criteria) math is just not going to win the game for you and that's okay.

So really focus and think about what is your source of competitive advantage here? What really sets you apart from anybody else who could apply to that school. Really spend some time thinking about your brand and also what you could contribute to that no one else could...the perspective...the experiences...the aptitudes. How could you enrich the experience for your colleagues?

It's really more about a dazzling them with what you DO have than trying to remedy weaknesses; I hope you feel me on this.

[URL=MBAPrepCoach.com[/URL]

I see, not completely sure if I’m under-represented but definitely not over represented.

Definitely taking your suggestion on the optional essay ! And might mention the mba math as a plan.

Completely feel you ! Thanks for the inspiring words !! Have been working on those quite abit but going to use the rest of the time to polish them up after some feedback.

I’ve a question - how much time would you suggest one allocates to practice for the video interview, because that will then determine how much ahead I should aim to submit my application.

Thank you mba coach !




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Thank you I appreciate your appreciation it's a little bit difficult to get the video question situation down to a Time number but what I will say is that I think you should have an idea of what you might say for all the questions that you can prepare for in advance. It changed it all the time but I have a fairly comprehensive list of them on the thread from last year January batch. And I think the blog article on my website is actually Justice updated if not more so. Just get an idea of what you would say honestly. If it's something that's a little bit more complex I would encourage you use the STAR method.. situation task action result

https://mbaprepcoach.com

Thanks just read through - great website


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gy88 thank you but were you able to locate the blog that has the insead video questions?

https://MBAPrepCoach.com

Yes I did ! Thanks


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Thanks MBAPrepCoach. I will keep this word limit in mind. I have a couple of questions regarding recommenders
1. Can recommenders be mentioned one at a time?
2. Once submitted as a recommender (and not the submission of the full application) can it be changed?
3. What is the usual deadline for recommenders to finish writing their answers
4. The supporting document mentions "additional letters". Can this be used to give more LoR? If yes, then what is the format that they should follow?

Lots of questions, but I am just getting done with my essays and a little anxious about the recommenders now.

Just submitted my Round 1 application! Now on to the video interviews! On a side note has interest in INSEAD dropped off slightly from the last year's peak...I read that GMAT scores have also gone down between Sep and Jan intakes of 2017/18