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INSEAD offer vs Apply R2 to HBS, Kellogg, Booth, Yale, Duke

73% [28]
26% [10]
0% [0]
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pumpkin2014
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BazingAu
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pumpkin2014
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pumpkin2014
My bad, should be simply "apply" instead of reapply. Will edit the post. I haven't applied to those schools in the first place. I am hoping that the change in my nationality will make a difference for my R2 application. Other than that, the application package is the same, maybe it will come with better/worse luck this time.

Ok, got it. If you WANT to go to INSEAD, then no, don't apply to R2 at other schools. But if you don't want to go to INSEAD, then yes, apply to R2, but you should find out what was wrong with your R1 applications so you don't make the same mistakes again. I'm not sure if you had people read your essays, but that might be a good place to start, especially if English isn't your first or primary language. BTW, you can't change your nationality. Do you mean your country of residence? Your nationality is what you are born with.
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lawgirl27
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pumpkin2014
Applied R1, got offer from INSEAD, interviewed at Wharton and then got dinged, no interview invite from Stanford GSB and MIT SLOAN

Background: Chinese, male, GMAT 740, 5 years R&D engineering background in Canada, 4.0 GPA for both undergraduate (in China) and graduate (top 3 in Canada) programs, will be 29 at matriculation
Post-MBA career goal: to work at MBB or rotational general management programs in China

Should I take the INSEAD offer or apply R2 to HBS, Kellogg, Booth, Yale, and Duke? One difference for my R2 application will be that I will be applying as a Canadian instead of Chinese, just got my Canadian citizenship status recently. Not sure whether this will make a difference.

Any thought or advice is welcome.

Hi,

I think applying as Canadian instead of as Chinese national will definitely make a difference in your chances, as universities generally either have quotas or at least like variety in representation from different countries. You will move out of one of the most competitive demographics and that improves your chances. That being said, however, that does not guarantee admission.

Taking into consideration your career goals I think INSEAD is a great option for both MBB or rotational program in China. INSEAD is a recruiting powerhouse for MBB and it has a solid reputation in Asia. Career-wise, unless you are set on doing MBB in the US, I do not think you will be better off at the US schools that at INSEAD for that purpose (and even at a US school, US offices are extremely competitive and difficult to reach for internationals).

If you like INSEAD, I would accept the offer, however, if you are really set on going to a US school then you can reject the offer and apply next year to those US schools but always bearing in mind that you may end up empty handed.

Good luck with your decision :)
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"BTW, you can't change your nationality. Do you mean your country of residence? Your nationality is what you are born with".

That's not true entirely true. I know many people that are duel citizens and I myself hold three citizenship's and passports (New Zealand, US, UK). Many countries allow you to gain citizenship after being a resident for a certain amount of time and meeting certain qualifications. Canada is on of these countries.
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KiwiCandidate
"BTW, you can't change your nationality. Do you mean your country of residence? Your nationality is what you are born with".

That's not true entirely true. I know many people that are duel citizens and I myself hold three citizenship's and passports (New Zealand, US, UK). Many countries allow you to gain citizenship after being a resident for a certain amount of time and meeting certain qualifications. Canada is on of these countries.

Nationality, as it is used in the US, does not mean citizenship. Nationality means literally where you were born. I am a US citizen (naturalized since I was an infant), but I was born in Hong Kong. My nationality is considered Chinese or Hong Kong-ese (pre merger), despite my citizenship being US.
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BazingAu
KiwiCandidate
"BTW, you can't change your nationality. Do you mean your country of residence? Your nationality is what you are born with".

That's not true entirely true. I know many people that are duel citizens and I myself hold three citizenship's and passports (New Zealand, US, UK). Many countries allow you to gain citizenship after being a resident for a certain amount of time and meeting certain qualifications. Canada is on of these countries.

Nationality, as it is used in the US, does not mean citizenship. Nationality means literally where you were born. I am a US citizen (naturalized since I was an infant), but I was born in Hong Kong. My nationality is considered Chinese or Hong Kong-ese (pre merger), despite my citizenship being US.

My point is that if Pumpkin2014 has duel citizenship then he can choose to put either on his business school application. By choosing to portray himself as a Canadian citizen it will likely make him more competitive because there are far less applicants from Canada. The rest of his profile looks extremely strong.
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pumpkin2014
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Thanks for all the advices, my friends. Yes, I was born in China and my current citizenship status is Canadian.

I did my research for INSEAD in the past few weeks. ~23% of graduates (including sponsored students) in 2013 went to MBB. 14% of graduates in 2013 went to MBB as new hires, either from other industries or from other consulting firms. The number looks great. And the one year format makes it even better for ROI.

My two concerns are:
1. A large portion of those MBB offers were probably for offices in Europe. For the MBB offices in China, I can not find much data online. Can anyone comment on how INSEAD MBA students compete with M7 MBA students for the limited spaces in Shanghai/Beijing/HongKong MBB offices?
2. How hard is it to change career from R&D engineering to MBB consulting? Is an internship + M7 necessary or is INSEAD good enough to help me get an interview for the offices I am targeting at? I guess it is all up to one's interview performance instead of school name after that, so I would not worry too much as along as I can get the interview at the first place.
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If you got dinged at Wharton, GSB and Sloan - HBS, Booth and Kellogg will be a stretch unless your application is positioned differently
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BazingAu
KiwiCandidate
"BTW, you can't change your nationality. Do you mean your country of residence? Your nationality is what you are born with".

That's not true entirely true. I know many people that are duel citizens and I myself hold three citizenship's and passports (New Zealand, US, UK). Many countries allow you to gain citizenship after being a resident for a certain amount of time and meeting certain qualifications. Canada is on of these countries.

Nationality, as it is used in the US, does not mean citizenship. Nationality means literally where you were born. I am a US citizen (naturalized since I was an infant), but I was born in Hong Kong. My nationality is considered Chinese or Hong Kong-ese (pre merger), despite my citizenship being US.

That's odd - learn something new everyday.

I'm a Canadian citizen but was not born in Canada. On my passport, my nationality is listed as Canadian.
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Delilah777
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BazingAu
KiwiCandidate
"BTW, you can't change your nationality. Do you mean your country of residence? Your nationality is what you are born with".

That's not true entirely true. I know many people that are duel citizens and I myself hold three citizenship's and passports (New Zealand, US, UK). Many countries allow you to gain citizenship after being a resident for a certain amount of time and meeting certain qualifications. Canada is on of these countries.

Nationality, as it is used in the US, does not mean citizenship. Nationality means literally where you were born. I am a US citizen (naturalized since I was an infant), but I was born in Hong Kong. My nationality is considered Chinese or Hong Kong-ese (pre merger), despite my citizenship being US.

That's odd - learn something new everyday.

I'm a Canadian citizen but was not born in Canada. On my passport, my nationality is listed as Canadian.

You can definitely have multiple nationalities. I have three, and am a citizen of three countries. I have had all three passports since I was a year old. Nationality can either mean belonging to a particular nation (legal status) or ethnic group.

Although, it seems a bit dishonest to use your newly acquired Canadian citizenship just to boost your chances of being accepted into a program. :o
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yea, what he said about nationalities is incorrect even as used in the US. If your a dual citizen you can pretty much choose your nationality...that's the whole point. Note, being born in France does not make you a French national automatically, neither does it do so in the UK... the US is one of the few countries that grant automatic citizenship to people born here.


anyway, to address the OP question.. I'd go with insead...simply because you want to work outside the US after school and they have great placements. There's nothing from the results of your R1 apps that say you have a great chance at HBS/Kellogg/Booth.

Unless you just feel like rolling the dice.

forevertfc
BazingAu
KiwiCandidate
"BTW, you can't change your nationality. Do you mean your country of residence? Your nationality is what you are born with".

That's not true entirely true. I know many people that are duel citizens and I myself hold three citizenship's and passports (New Zealand, US, UK). Many countries allow you to gain citizenship after being a resident for a certain amount of time and meeting certain qualifications. Canada is on of these countries.

Nationality, as it is used in the US, does not mean citizenship. Nationality means literally where you were born. I am a US citizen (naturalized since I was an infant), but I was born in Hong Kong. My nationality is considered Chinese or Hong Kong-ese (pre merger), despite my citizenship being US.

That's odd - learn something new everyday.

I'm a Canadian citizen but was not born in Canada. On my passport, my nationality is listed as Canadian.