INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) : MBA Archive

abhisheksahay · 2014-09-12T07:50:07-07:00

INSEAD aspirants, I want to share my application journey and hopefully, this would be useful to other applicants. Background: Indian male, 26 years, Delhi University, work exp of ~5 yrs at top 3 management consulting firm, a few months of social sector experience in Africa Results: Admitted to Wharton (with $40K), Kellogg & INSEAD. Withdrew application after interview from London Business School and Chicago Booth. Decline from HBS/Stanford Decision: Joining INSEAD in Jan 2015 (yes, it was difficult to decline Wharton but I believe INSEAD is a better fit for me) Application strategy: 1. Highlighting differentiating factors among the competitive Indian male category: international work experience, social sector experience, non-IT background 2. Spent a solid time researching unique aspects of each school and relevance to my career goals 3. Focused on keeping my profile "interesting": e.g not just focusing on work exp, career goals but also some hobbies, travel experience etc. 4. Provided very specific examples to highlight my skills, not high-level/generic comments 5. My academics and undergrad were not super impressive (and not from IIT), so I made it up with decent GMAT score (760) Happy to answer any questions you may have. This thread is awfully quiet for a forum of more than 100 candidates. Hit me with your questions. Abhishek.INSEAD aspirants, I want to share my application journey and hopefully, this would be useful to other applicants. Background: Indian male, 26 years, Delhi University, work exp of ~5 yrs at top 3 management consulting firm, a few months of social sector experience in Africa Results: Admitted to Wharton (with $40K), Kellogg & INSEAD. Withdrew application after interview from London Business School and Chicago Booth. Decline from HBS/Stanford Decision: Joining INSEAD in Jan 2015 (yes, it was difficult to decline Wharton but I believe INSEAD is a better fit for me) Application strategy: 1. Highlighting differentiating factors among the competitive Indian male category: international work experience, social sector experience, non-IT background 2. Spent a solid time researching unique aspects of each school and relevance to my career goals 3. Focused on keeping my profile "interesting": e.g not just focusing on work exp, career goals but also some hobbies, travel experience etc. 4. Provided very specific examples to highlight my skills, not high-level/generic comments 5. My academics and undergrad were not super impressive (and not from IIT), so I made it up with decent GMAT score (760) Happy to answer any questions you may have. This thread is awfully quiet for a forum of more than 100 candidates. Hit me with your questions. Abhishek.

zero722

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

05 May 2015, 20:19

Thanks, couple more question if you don't mind me asking.

1) In terms of getting a job after MBA, does the start date, Jan intake vs Sept intake matters beside the optional summer internship for Jan intake?
2) Officially they say all rounds are same in terms of difficulty to get accepted, is it true? And is it worth it to apply now for 3rd or 4th round for 2016 Jan intake or should wait for Sept 2016 intake?
3) How are your views on the school so far? Any insights that is not usually shared on the forum?

Thanks

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

05 May 2015, 23:07

1

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I am very interested in INSEAD as the program location and student body very much align with my interests. I am white American male, and would love to be able to work and live abroad in the future. I have some concerns that perhaps you would be able to speak to. As much as the school touts international placement it seems like those numbers may be skewed based on how international the student body is. As an English speaking American what job opportunities would I really have outside of say England? I would like to work in management consulting, anywhere in Europe, Asia or Africa would be amazing especially if I had the opportunity to move around, but from researching it seems firms only hire native speakers of the language where offices are located, understandably.

(I understand the language requirement and do speak Spanish and Arabic, but there is no way I would be working in a professional context in either of those languages)

puneetjain18

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

06 May 2015, 00:43

Hi Abhishek,

I recently wrote the GMAT and scored a 680(Q48, V35). My background is as below

34/M/Indian

10 years work ex. Past 6 yrs with Accenture Management Consulting. One of the top performers. Main focus area is oil and gas.

Mechanical Engineer and have an MBA from tier 2 college in India.

MBA%- 62
BE%-65

Social contributions: have been active within Accenture in social initiatives. Apart from that, I have done some more voluntary work in the past but nothing greatly significant.

International experience- Worked around 1year in Australia and 6 months in Thailand

Team handling: Managed 6 resources in Australia. Currently handling 3 consultants.

Leadership:

1. I had set up an entire Analytics centre of excellence for a client based out of Australia. I had 6 resources working under me. I was then given the additional task of strategic sourcing for the client.

2. Currently I am managing a team of 3 consultants to work on a strategic project for a French client. I have been instrumental in providing the client with strategic recommendations related to the oil and gas industry.

Can you please suggest as to what are my chances for INSEAD? How important is the age factor and should i retake the GMAT?

abhisheksahay

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

06 May 2015, 20:53

1

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zero722 wrote:

Thanks, couple more question if you don't mind me asking.

1) In terms of getting a job after MBA, does the start date, Jan intake vs Sept intake matters beside the optional summer internship for Jan intake?
2) Officially they say all rounds are same in terms of difficulty to get accepted, is it true? And is it worth it to apply now for 3rd or 4th round for 2016 Jan intake or should wait for Sept 2016 intake?
3) How are your views on the school so far? Any insights that is not usually shared on the forum?

Thanks

Sure, no problem. To your questions:
1) There's no difference in the final job offer, but of course, internship recruitment can be a good test run for the final recruitments, and may allow you to test out before committing full time. Quite a marginal benefit, so don't make a call solely on this.
2) As the cliche goes, "apply when you're ready". In my opinion, 3rd round is fine; the 4th round becomes tricky, specially with the visa/admin challenges
3) Like any institution/organization, there are benefits and drawbacks, but overall, I love it so far - specially driven by the people around. If you have specific questions, you can PM me.

Thanks,
Abhishek

abhisheksahay

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

06 May 2015, 21:02

themange wrote:

I am very interested in INSEAD as the program location and student body very much align with my interests. I am white American male, and would love to be able to work and live abroad in the future. I have some concerns that perhaps you would be able to speak to. As much as the school touts international placement it seems like those numbers may be skewed based on how international the student body is. As an English speaking American what job opportunities would I really have outside of say England? I would like to work in management consulting, anywhere in Europe, Asia or Africa would be amazing especially if I had the opportunity to move around, but from researching it seems firms only hire native speakers of the language where offices are located, understandably.

(I understand the language requirement and do speak Spanish and Arabic, but there is no way I would be working in a professional context in either of those languages)

Fair question. I think it's more of a relative comparison. Compared to most b-schools, arguably all, INSEAD has the most number of nationalities coming to INSEAD, and perhaps more importantly, going to different geographies. You're correct that most (not all) European jobs will require local language, but things are much more flexible in Asia, Africa and Middle East (in my opinion). Another important aspect is that the INSEAD network is spread very, very well across the globe, so getting that first conversation - the "foot in the door" - can get relatively easier. I can't commit whether everyone who wants to "go international" does that, but I know many people switch geographies and have a very international career. Hope this helps.

abhisheksahay

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

06 May 2015, 21:10

puneetjain18 wrote:

Hi Abhishek,

I recently wrote the GMAT and scored a 680(Q48, V35). My background is as below

34/M/Indian

10 years work ex. Past 6 yrs with Accenture Management Consulting. One of the top performers. Main focus area is oil and gas.

Mechanical Engineer and have an MBA from tier 2 college in India.

Can you please suggest as to what are my chances for INSEAD? How important is the age factor and should i retake the GMAT?

Hi Puneet,

I can't comment on your "chances" for INSEAD but I'll make a few general observations. You do have the necessary ingredients - demonstrated leadership, international exposure; and social sector work always helps. If you have time, retaking the GMAT may be a god option, but with applicants with high work exp, the emphasis on GMAT score tends to be lower. I'll say that there are people at INSEAD in that age bracket, but they are few. You will need to demonstrate why you really need an MBA when you are already in a senior position. An implicit question would be why not an Executive MBA. Hope this helps.

B

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

12 May 2015, 23:12

Hey Abhishek

I want to apply for INSEAD january 2016 intake, Is it worth to apply in R4 as I have heard people saying that most of the candidates are offered admits upto R2? because I have not given my Gmat and will be giving it in around mid june.
Can you assess my profile too? TIA

B

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

12 May 2015, 23:38

pria131 wrote:

Hey Abhishek

I want to apply for INSEAD january 2016 intake, Is it worth to apply in R4 as I have heard people saying that most of the candidates are offered admits upto R2? because I have not given my Gmat and will be giving it in around mid june.
Can you assess my profile too? TIA

I have the same question here...
Initially I planned to apply by R3, but my GMAT journey is taking some extra time.. Hopefully I would finish my GMAT journey by early june..
Though R3 deadline is June 17, I feel I wont have enough time excellent essays..
I am pretty confident of my profile though..

I am worried about the risks in R4..
I know that I will lose scholarship opportunities(which are only for R1, R2, R3)..
But apart from Scholarship, what else is negative about applying in R4?

Could you please provide some feedback on this?

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

14 May 2015, 05:32

Hi Abhishek,

I am an Indian, 28yrs. I am planning to apply in R3 for Jan'16 intake. I have an experience of almost 5.5 years( Around 7 months in Muscat where I am currently working). Have decent academics(3.9 GPA, B.Tech). I have worked in Service sector (The Taj Group of Hotels)for almost 4.5 years and have quite a few achievements as well. Then I moved to consulting(SAP) for my own personal interests( Justifiable reasons). However, My GMAT score is not very impressive(670). I just wanted to check if I will make a decent application with these credentials.

Regards

Yash Patni

abhisheksahay

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

21 May 2015, 11:26

pria131 wrote:

Hey Abhishek

I want to apply for INSEAD january 2016 intake, Is it worth to apply in R4 as I have heard people saying that most of the candidates are offered admits upto R2? because I have not given my Gmat and will be giving it in around mid june.
Can you assess my profile too? TIA

Hi,

I'll give the cliched advice here that "it's best to apply when you are most ready". Given a choice, I surely recommend applying in the earlier rounds if possible. This is specially true for international candidates since the visa processing etc can take some time. You could also consider the Sept intake if that suits your timing better.

Hope this helps.
Abhishek

abhisheksahay

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

21 May 2015, 11:30

MorningRunner wrote:

pria131 wrote:

Hey Abhishek

I want to apply for INSEAD january 2016 intake, Is it worth to apply in R4 as I have heard people saying that most of the candidates are offered admits upto R2? because I have not given my Gmat and will be giving it in around mid june.
Can you assess my profile too? TIA

I have the same question here...
Initially I planned to apply by R3, but my GMAT journey is taking some extra time.. Hopefully I would finish my GMAT journey by early june..
Though R3 deadline is June 17, I feel I wont have enough time excellent essays..
I am pretty confident of my profile though..

I am worried about the risks in R4..
Could you please provide some feedback on this?

Please refer to my earlier response to pria131. I hope that answers your question.

abhisheksahay

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

21 May 2015, 11:35

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ypatni wrote:

Hi Abhishek,

I am an Indian, 28yrs. I am planning to apply in R3 for Jan'16 intake. I have an experience of almost 5.5 years( Around 7 months in Muscat where I am currently working). Have decent academics(3.9 GPA, B.Tech). I have worked in Service sector (The Taj Group of Hotels)for almost 4.5 years and have quite a few achievements as well. Then I moved to consulting(SAP) for my own personal interests( Justifiable reasons). However, My GMAT score is not very impressive(670). I just wanted to check if I will make a decent application with these credentials.

Regards

Yash Patni

Hi Yash,

Based on the information, I think it may be worth investing some time to increase your GMAT closer to the 700 mark. Of course, people with lower scores also get admitted, but it's always a safer bet to have a good score. In your application, you should definitely highlight the international experience (Muscat) since that's a key component for INSEAD.

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

20 Jun 2015, 02:56

Hi,

I am currently working in an investment bank (technology division) and planning to apply to the September 2016 Intake. At the time of admission, I would have had 50 months of WE. My GMAT score is 740.

Even though as part of my job I have a lot of interaction with people across various regions, I've had very little international exposure in terms of working/studying abroad. The INSEAD website clearly says that "Most applicants to INSEAD have either worked or studied outside their home country; if they have not had such international experiences, they would have demonstrated in other tangible ways (working for a multinational company, learning foreign languages, travelling, etc.)...". However, in the application, in the International Exposure section, there is no option to showcase my interactions with other regions.

Do you think the lack of international exposure would be a major factor affecting my application?

Thanks,
GC

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

26 Jun 2015, 04:45

Hi Abhishek,

What does consulting recruitment look like at INSEAD? I know it's a huge consulting school but would you say that most applicants from INSEAD get to the interview stage?

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

17 Jul 2015, 05:53

Hi,

Thank you so much for answering all the questions of mba aspirants so comprehensively. You are doing a great job in helping us all.

I am 23 years old, working in an IT firm in India. I am planning on taking the GMAT exam in 2016 with only 2 years of experience in my resume.

Is this a viable thing to do? Or should I gain some more experience in the IT field and then apply for the colleges? I am really driven to pursue MBA from INSEAD as soon as possible. Can you please provide me with some guidance as to what areas should I be concentrating on to strengthen my application and increase my chances of getting admitted?

Thanks,
Deep!

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

Updated on: 09 Feb 2016, 04:34

k

Originally posted by isti on 04 Feb 2016, 00:01.
Last edited by isti on 09 Feb 2016, 04:34, edited 1 time in total.

HimanshuPundhir

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

04 Feb 2016, 07:01

Hi Abhishek,

I want to ask you something about the TOEFL/IELTS requirement. I am going to apply for Jan 2017 intake before 2-march deadline. But I will be able to take the exam on 28th Feb, and it will take around 20 days for score to reach the college. How important is it for score to reach INSEAD before the deadline. And will they be open to consider my IELTS score from 3 years back in the meantime.

Regards,
Himanshu

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Re: INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?) [#permalink]

04 Feb 2016, 07:01

INSEAD admit from last year: Ask me anything (& Why so quiet?)

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