Calling all Applicants: INSEAD September 2020 Intake !

This post was pretty popular from the Jan batch thread so I am reposting it here, as it is relevant

Round 1 applicants, I hope you have started brainstorming content for each of the 7 essays and 10 recommendation anecdotes to share. 8 weeks passes by very fast. This is definitely a marathon application, too.

I thought you might find this sample INSEAD set of essays helpful. My client has OK'ed me to share them but for your own benefit don't plagiarize, of course.

With regards to his profile, plus points were that he was French (underrepresented..however less so at INSEAD of course), good grades, demonstrated impact at work and a strong "contribution" profile. Negatives were that he only had 2 years of work experience and a 650 GMAT.

He did not want to disclose his ambitions to his manager, so we did not submit any manager recommendations. His recommenders were a fellow board member and one internal client.

Invited to interview but withdrew when he was admitted to Wharton (specifically, Wharton-Lauder MBA/MA joint degree in International Affairs). His internship this summer was to work on the Facebook and https://gmatclub.com/chat merger in Ireland.

6 weeks to Round 1~

My overriding guidance is to first take stock of yourself with regards to the 4 criteria: academics, leadership, contribution and international orientation. Really examine what examples you can provide in each of these areas, and figure out where to include them in the application.

Not everyone has to have 100% in all these areas but I would recommend that you look at measures you can take to mitigate problems.

The most important thing however, is to understand your unique contribution, that no one else could make to the program, and get that across. Because ultimately good enough is not good enough; they are looking for STARS that add value to the program (which, don’t forget, is the product they are selling.)

See yourself realistically. Please know that if you plan to “make up” one area for another, there is likely another applicant who does not need to do that. Other applicants are good. They are solid. Keep in mind the GSB mantra: it’s not about evaluation but selection. Will you play the part they need? Who else is going up for the role?

Each week I will post some helpful tips on various questions. Not making any hard promises but will do my best!

Job Essay 1
Briefly summarize your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work, major responsibilities, and where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, clients/products and results achieved. (short answer)

This is fairly straightforward; however I urge you to run this response by people in your life (or ideally, a consultant) who has no familiarity with your job. We are striving for universal language that will be understood by all members of adcom. They don’t get your acronyms or jargon, and it will be a barrier to them appreciating your greatness.

Tell them the level you are working at: this is often indicated by budgets and employees, but if there is some other measure in your industry, share that. The point of an MBA, for employers, is to access a large body of vetted candidates. Here, INSEAD is seeing how VETTED you are already, by your employer.

And of course, don’t forget the results part. While you don’t have to go into long-winded stories here, just give them a bit of context around the resume highlights that are already in STAR format. Bring a bit of life to those, don’t copy paste, of course. Results are best when quantitative and speak to motivations of making money, saving time and saving money.

For many that involves a certain amount of modeling: what would have happened had you not done that IT thing you did?
Would it have impacted the amount of money your organization could have made? Would it have jeopardized your organizations ability to make money? Think creatively about how to demonstrate how you added value.

Online information session taking place 8am GMT on September 16. There is another preceding it for late August that is already booked so act fast. You will want to do adequate research for the application process! Register here: https://www.insead.edu/master-programmes/events?eloqua_id=5193

Hi Experts,
I am from the heavily condensed IT Indian background. Keeping that in mind I have few questions :

1.Onsite or Different Country Assignments : I was advised not to keep INSEAD in my college list since the college prefers individuals who have worked on onsite assignments more than those who havent. How true ??
2.INSEAD Abu-Dhabi MBA Campus : Internet has lots to confuse, however, no info on INSEAD official website.
3.INSEAD website talks about International Motivation : Travelling to different countries on personal terms, does that brings any addons.

Hi anandmsinha987 I am mainly the expert for this thread, so you will get my perspective but feel free to post this elsewhere for other opinions.

You don't HAVE to have international work experience but you do need to have demonstrated a mentality of internationalism. You would be working with a small group of people who do not come from your country or speak your mother tongue, and they want to know you will value that and thrive in that environment.

For Indians, you are up against much tougher competition than less represented applicants. They have a rule of having no more than 10% of students from any one country; you can imagine the applicant pool from India and how plentiful/accomplished they are. So, tough for Indians to get in without international work experience and even with. There would have to be some real interesting offsetting entries.

Traveling for personal reasons is OK but - if you can show it had a really transformational impact on your commitment to internationalism - but frankly, I think you would at LEAST need to have worked with international teams on top of that to appear credible. Sorry to disappoint; if you have a very solid compelling goal that requires an international "UN-style" MBA program you might have a chance IF the test of your profile is mind blowing and exceptional (leadership/contribution/academics.)

As for the Abu Dhabi campus, this is mainly for the Executive Global MBA program participants however if you are part of September batch, you can spend period 4 or later there (about 2 months) and if you are in January batch you can do up to 3 field trips there. it's not really a "home campus" option. Some like to time things so they can do recruitment in P5 in UAE.

Thanks anandmsinha987 for posing this question.

MBAPrepCoach , thats an interesting insight. Deducing from your reply, approx. 50 students per country per intake?
Do you happen to have an idea regarding the number of european applicants, specially french?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks, NikC for Indians, actually 100, as the class size is 1000 per batch. They don't require 10% from each country, that would be impossible, but do not exceed that percentage for any particular nationality.

It is becoming even more competitive given the political climate in the US.

I am sorry, don't have the numbers on French applicants. However being French is an advantage in general - maybe slightly less so at INSEAD but the MBA has not totally caught on there and so being French makes you a bit underrepresented in the applicant pool. Once of my French clients was advanced to interviews with a 650 GMAT but decided to go to Wharton instead. Bon merde!

Thanks for providing your feedback. Have a great day ahead!

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Hi, I just found out from INSEAD that INSEAD has changed its policy on the GRE as of last month. They are now accepting the GRE, even if the GMAT is available in your country. This is very exciting especially for those of you who might have struggled with the Quant on the GMAT.

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MBAPrepCoach

Please evaluate my Profile

Nationality: Indian ( )
Gender: Male
GMAT : 690
TOEFL: Yet to take
Work Experience: 49 Months
Sector : Energy Sector ,working as a Business Analyst
Responsibilities at Work: Different Projects specifically centered around Digital Transformations
Did some Volunteering work at College but not so many

NGO/Volunteering Exp : Nil
International Exp : Nil

Can you please let me know should I retake ?

following

Good morning,

I am preparing my application to INSEAD Sept 2020 Intake. I have written my essays (just some improvements needed) and reccomendations letters are being written also. I have 9 years of work experience in Retail Market. I scored 710 in GMAT and 7 in IELTS. Do you see any problem with my IELTS score? I know that the recommended score is 7,5...

Tks

URGENT
Can someone please specify the recommendation questions (including smaller questions like rating etc.) for the MBA program? I am getting different answers from my recommenders and want to make sure either of them is not making a mistake in filling them.

Many thanks

You can google it.

Put simply --> https://www.clearadmit.com/mba-admissio ... questions/

2019-2020 INSEAD MBA Recommendation Questions

Relationship to Candidate
After some personal identifying information, the form proceeds to inquire about the recommender’s relationship to the applicant.
Please, specify your relationship to candidate:
• Professional
• Educational
• Personal
How long have you known the candidate? Define your relationship with the candidate and the circumstances whereby you met.


Candidate Rating


How do you rate the candidate on the following criteria? (Using the following scale: Outstanding (top 2%), Very Good (top 10%), Above Average (top 25%), Average (top 50%), Below Average (bottom 50%), Unobserved)
• Competence in his/her field
• Professionalism
• Focus on the task at hand
• Readiness to use opportunities for achievement
• Creativity and resourcefulness
• Intellectual curiosity
• Energy and drive
• Personal integrity
• Ability to work in a team
• Organizational ability
• Oral communication skills
• Written communication skills
•
How do you rate the candidate’s potential for becoming a responsible and successful manager in international business compared with other students or employees whom you have known in a similar capacity?
• Excellent (top 2%)
• Very good (top 10%)
• Above average (top 25%)
• Average (top 50%)
• Below average (bottom 50%)

Recommender Questions


Please give your answers to each of the following questions.
1. Comment on the candidate’s career progress to date and his/her career focus?
2. What do you consider to be the candidate’s major strengths? Comment on the factors that distinguish the candidate from other individuals at his/her level.
3. What do you consider to be the candidate’s major weaknesses?
4. Comment on the candidate’s potential for senior management. Do you see him/her as a future leader?
5. Describe the candidate as a person. Comment on his/her ability to establish and maintain relationships, sensitivity to others, self-confidence, attitude, etc. Specifically comment on the candidate’s behaviour or skills in a group setting/team environment.

Thanks, I found this but want to be sure that this is exactly per INSEAD's official source

LoneSurvivor Yes, I think you should.. as an Indian Male your score becomes competitive when it is 20 points over the class average which is last reported to be 715. But I'm going to have to delete this because profile evaluations are not okay in this thread. There's another thread and you can also post them in ask admissions Consultants.

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