The interviews are done! Both were positive experiences but very different type of interviews. I never had the impression that I was being grilled or that they were playing a "bad cop".
1) First was 100% in the local language, the alum has been doing interviews for some time so he was straight to the point: I want to hear about your story, career path leading to an MBA and career goals, and see that everything makes sense. After that, he asked a few questions because he needed to fill the form. Those were about culture shock, extracurricular activities, etc. After that, he said my story was coherent and that now he was there for any questions and to help me make this very important decision that is doing an MBA. He said the his career would be very different had he not gone to INSEAD. We spent some time on that and he offered some good advice.
Total duration: 90 minutes
2) Second was half in English and half in the local language. The alum asked many more questions this time. As I was explaining my trajectory from university until my current job, he stopped to ask questions and really understand my motivations. Lots of questions on soft skills, I think he covered everything: leadership story and style, culture shock, weaknesses, etc. During the interview we would go back and forth between these questions and him telling about his experience. He always had a smile when talking about his time at INSEAD and you could tell that he enjoyed it. He said my story made perfect sense and that he was in a very similar place when he did his MBA.
Total duration: almost 2 hours
Last comment to those who are still going to pass their interviews: times goes by super fast! Do not be scared of interviews that are very long, trust me, I would have stayed longer talking had I not been on a tight schedule.
That's it for now, good luck to all of you. I will be going on holiday for 10 days starting on Friday, so see you soon!