Calling all INSEAD MBA Applicants: (Sept 2017 Intake) Class of 2018!!

Thanks !

Hi dss84. I'm the threadmaster for Jan 18 entry. While it's not out of the question, it's getting competitive R3, and especially so for overrrepresented candidates. I would actually recommend you apply to J-term which starts 3 months later, and allows time for an internship. Round 1 on March 15.

FROM Insead Admissions Blog: Raise your hand!

One difference between MBA students at Harvard and INSEAD at graduation could be the strengths of their arms due to how often they raise their hands in the class. Today’s post will revolve around this very important topic of physical... Continue Reading →

Long time lurker on this forum, I've been following this thread quite closely. I just submitted my video essay for R3 and wanted to pop in and thank all of you for your comments. This has been super helpful for me, especially the video essay questions de-brief.

A bit about me :

Male Indian Engineer (Oh! No!), working in Singapore on digital marketing
750 (Q49, V44)
About 62 months of WE at Matriculation between India and Singapore

And as a thank you, here are some of the questions for the video essay that I compiled if others need help with them :

What are you expecting to learn during INSEAD MBA?
What makes you a good fit with INSEAD?
If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?
How would your team mates describe you?
If you are the leader in a team where an individual is underperforming, how would you solve it?
To what organization or cause have you dedicated significant time? Why was it meaningful?
Who has had the greatest impact on you and why?
What will your classmates be surprised to learn about you?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?
What is the most meaningful thing you have done for anyone else?
What is the most meaningful thing anyone has done for you?
Why MBA ? Why Now?
Example of cultural diversity ?
Give an example of a case where you creatively resolved an issue?
How your colleagues would describe your leadership style? give an example
What project has had the most impact on your life?
How would you fight stereotypes in a work environment?
Are you aware of your biases? How has that changed the way you behave?
You are starting a new project with team members coming from different cultures and educational background. How would you make them meet?
How did you build your International experience?
Why INSEAD?
What do you do when someone comes to you with a problem?
What was the most interesting project you have worked on? Why was it interesting to you?
What does diversity mean to you?
How do you keep track of your vision? Or that of your company?
Company that you admire ?
What does success mean for you?
How would you establish the foundations of your company?
Describe a situation where you faced an ethical dilemma and how did you resolve it?
Non-verbal cues for resolving a conflict?
Business leader that you admire.
What is the toughest decision you had to make in your professional life?
Stressful situation you did not handle well at work
What is your favourite book and why?
Give an example of a time you had to juggle a number of projects and priorities. How did you manage the situation?

Looking forward to the decision that the ad-com makes and congrats to all who have already made it in!

82% employed for Top 1 school?! Isn't it too low?

89% after 3 months. At least that is what the website says. Don't forget, that some students might be in a process of decision making, like take a job within a company or incorporate a start-up or just don't want to disclose their plans/status. This statistics is gathered from the students on non-obligatory basis.

I have like 7 people graduated from INSEAD, all of them were super happy with the quality and quantity of offers they got. Of cause this is super biased

Yeah, I definitely understand. But still, just imagine that almost 200 are not employed after 3 months. That's too high!!! Take a look on main competitors like HBS and LBS. Both have mid 90s.

Too low

what I am trying to say, that it could be a conscious choice of those people and they might have good reasons for that. And my bet it is the choice and not the problems with finding a job after. However, we can rise this question during the next online school overview session. There should be one very soon.

Hey guys, an INSEAD MBA'17D here, currently based in Fontainebleau. I have drawn big time from this forum when I was applying, so I would be glad if I can help with any questions / queries. Feel free to ask about student life and all related things.

Hey there iccotdis I have applied to R3 - Sept 2017 intake - any idea how much time it takes for the interview decision to be released- the latest as per official communication is 24 Feb of this month - but does the adcom generally take so long or do they generally reply earlier ?

FROM Insead Admissions Blog: Finding your own way

It was a Tuesday afternoon at our office in Berlin. After a long call with our main provider in Latin America (a major bank) the message was clear: without a history of at least six months operating in the region, signing... Continue Reading →

Hi Sophia, from my experience, the admission results are released on or near the decision date for the deadline. There might be some people who get their decisions early but majority would get it around the same time. I know the waiting game is difficult. Good luck with the application.

FROM Insead Admissions Blog: #1MBA #2017 #INSEAD

With tons of social, career, academic activities running in parallel during the day at INSEAD, I hardly ever have problems staying asleep at night. But on Monday January 31st, I woke up before 5am feeling somewhat uneasy. I reached out... Continue Reading →

FROM Insead Admissions Blog: What Just Happened?

Learning the distribution of a desired variable in a random sample using M&Ms, hmmm….. seems to be a really interesting and colorful way to understand statistics. But it’s uncanny that how sometimes very simple experiences can lead to quite meaningful... Continue Reading →

In case you guys haven't seen it...Complete report is out !!

https://www.insead.edu/sites/default/fi ... istics.pdf

Hey Iccotdis, that's so nice of you. I am a R3 applicant for the sept 2017 intake. I am undecisive about where to start the year (if I get in). I understand that the caliber of the teachers is pretty much the same between Fonty and Singy, and that one cannot know in advance where a core course teacher would be. The alumni I have talked to say that it in fact comes down to personal preferences. However, I would like to make the most of Insead's diversity, and get exposed to as many different backgrounds/experiences/countries of origin as possible. Is there a difference between the two campuses in terms of diversity?
My profile: 29yo female working in Private Equity in Sub-Saharan Africa. African-island native who spent nearly a decade in France for school and work.

Many thanks for your insights

Hi Kloi,

Yes, the quality of teaching is very similar across the three campuses. In fact, professors often travel between campuses to teach for a period. The alumni are spot on when they say that you cant choose who your core course teacher would be as even within one campus, different professors teach different sections. (btw, in Fonty the entire intake is divided into 4 sections). You would even be doing course work sometimes with students from the other campuses. So, I dont think it matters much for the core. For electives, yes some profs might be based in one campus or a particular elective might only be available there. So, you need to take this into account. However, you dont take electives till P3 anyway, so you can always switch campuses by then.

As far as diversity goes, you are again pretty much sorted. The campuses are more or less similar in terms of diversity. Oh the diversity! It is impossible to imagine how diverse the overall population is till you experience it yourself. Our name cards carry our nationalities, and when we sit in the amphitheaters for lectures, it is normal to find people from different nationalities and backgrounds sitting in the same row. It is an incredible experience. Our stats prof was saying the other day that it is difficult to run experiments on insead students as due to the diversity, we place all over the chart. Similar experiments in American unis were showing specific trends due to inherent biases.

Most people base their choice of campus on either the weather or the location where they want to work eventually. First the weather. Fonty is in high demand during the summer months and in low demand during the winters. Singy is pretty much the same throughout the year, so the demand for that location depends somewhat on the demand for Fonty.

On the job front, particularly, if you are looking for niche sectors after your MBA, your location matters quite a lot. You want to make sure when the recruitment season starts, you are generally close to your eventual work location. For the banks, consultancies and big corporates though, this is kind of a moot point as they recruit irrespective of the campus through local offices or Video conferences.

I hope that answered your question. I will say, ultimately, it is a very personal decision as INSEAD operates as one school thoughout. You will get the same experience anyway and you can always switch to Singy or Wharton/ Kellogg/ CEIBS.

Good luck with your application and hope to see you on campus.