Insead Exchanges

Question

Dear all,

Insead offers opportunities to do a campus exchange with their 3 Campus and to opt for their exchange programmes with other universities, Wharton for instance.

I am in the application process for September Intake 2020 for the fontainebleau campus.

Can someone explain how easy / difficult it would be to spend a period or two at another campus or join the exchange program. For instance, I would like to spend one period either at Singapore or Abu Dhabi campus and one period at Wharton. How likely are the chances that this can be realised and are campus exchanges easier to organise than Wharton (for which I understand a separate application is necessary).

All info is welcome. Thanks a lot in advance!

Posted from my mobile device

tnsl6212 · Answer

Hey Mercutio,

I'm about to start at INSEAD in January, so I don't have actual experience yet, but this is what I've heard: At the beginning of the year you are given a certain number of "points" to use to bid on classes and exchanges. Exchanges are bid on in the same way as classes, and your pool of points goes towards both classes and exchanges. So if you blow all of your points bidding on an exchange, you won't have any for classes and vice-versa. There are some exchanges that are more popular than others (Singapore in the Winter, France in the Summer, Wharton P4 are all probably more "valuable" than France in Winter, Singy in Summer, and Kellogg P4). I don't think it's out of the question to do an exchange in both Singy and Abu Dabhi, but you'd have to play your cards right. I also believe that, especially for the American exchanges, you have to submit a light application of sorts to show why you are interested in the exchange. But it's nothing like the original b-school app.

To simply answer your question- it's not difficult to do an exchange. As a matter of fact, the majority of students do at least one exchange, so to NOT do an exchange would be more uncommon. But to do two exchanges is more tricky than one, and even more tricky if you want to go at "desirable times".

Hope this helps
T

mercutio1243 · Answer

Hi T,

Congrats for getting in! And thanks for your reply, this had roughly also been my understanding up to now.

But from the outside, it is very difficult to assess how much spending points on more than one exchange will hinder me to choose elective courses. Will it be that I can then choose less elective courses than normal or that I cannot get into the most interesting ones? And which would that be?

Doing exchanges in P3 and P4 or P5 would be the idea. I understand that P4 you should be at the location where you want to work later on? I understand that one exchange is somewhat guaranteed. Now the question would be how two exchanges would work out in the bidding system?

Posted from my mobile device

tnsl6212 · Answer

Well, since I'm still "on the outside" I don't have much more perspective to offer. As incoming students we are all a bit confused on how the process works also. Looking forward to finding out more in a few weeks. Best of luck in your app.

nishantd88 · Answer

Just went through the exchange bidding process. SO guess I'm well positioned to answer this:

1. Getting at least one exchange is quite easy. You can pretty much be certain about that.
2. Wharton exchange is in P4, which overlaps with the recruiting cycle. People who opt for it are primarily either those who want to network and later recruit in the US or are sponsored by their firm and want to spend time in the US to travel.
3. Successfully getting a Wharton exchange is dependent on how much points you bid, your motivation essay and your GPA of P1.
4. Bidding points are primarily used up for campus exchange. More than 90% of electives are available for free. Only a few high demand electives require bidding points - such as the Silicon Valley trek. I think more than 50% of the batch uses up all or more than 90% of the points for campus exchange bidding. And this brings me back to point 1. Since you don;t need much points for electives, you can bid pretty much all points to ensure 1 campus exchange (for instance, I started in Singapore campus and I bid 96% of my points to secure a spot in Fontainebleau for P5)

Before the bidding process, MBA office shares information about historical bidding trends for exchange and electives. You can use that while deciding how much to bid.

mercutio1243 · Answer

Thanks! Is it more costly in terms of points to spend two or three periods on another campus (e.g. p3-p5 in Singapore) instead of only one period (P3)

Posted from my mobile device

nishantd88 · Answer

Usually yes. Depends on the demand for that campus in that period. For the J batch, P5 in Fonty and P3 in Singy are usually the high demand ones.

mercutio1243 · Answer

Ok, so I am applying for the September 2020 intake. How is the situation here? Am I interpreting correctly?

P1: August to October 2020 - Fonty higher demand?
P2: Oktober to December 2020 - equal?
P3: January to February 2021 - Singapore higher demand?
P4: March to April 2021 - Singapore higher demand?
P5: Mai to June 2021 - Fonty higher demand?

Many thanks in advance!

nishantd88 · Answer

Guess I am a bit late to answer this but posting anyway so that it helps others.

P1 and P2: demand is pretty balanced. You usually get the campus you opt for.
P3: Singapore high demand. This year, Abu Dhabi was high demand too.
P4: Fonty demand slightly higher than Singapore. But almost everyone who wants Fonty ends up getting it. Also, among US exchange options Wharton is high demand. Kellogg not so much.
P5: Fonty very high demand.

This is for the September intake only. For the January intake the dynamics would be quite different.

pst90 · Answer

Thanks for all your input so far. I am in a similar position, looking to start in Singapore for September intake, and then hoping to finish with P4 and P5 in Fonty (goal is to work in Europe). Is it possible to secure both terms for such an exchange with the allotted points?

nishantd88 · Answer

Yes it's possible......many people in my batch have been able to secure that!!

bb · Answer

Insead Exchanges

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