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Howe to decide between September (no internship opport) or Jan Intake

shivam9205

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18 Aug 2018, 13:45

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I have about 9 years of experience in oil and gas. I have worked in mostly in operations in different parts of the world. I intend to switch to consulting post my MBA. Which would be a better option for me- Sep intake or Jan intake? The difference between them for me is the 2 month intern opportunity in the Jan intake which seems important to if I have to change my field from operations in Oil and Gas to Consulting. Any pointers on the same would help.

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nishantd88

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[5]

Updated on: 26 Dec 2018, 02:47

Originally posted by nishantd88 on 21 Aug 2018, 10:36.
Last edited by nishantd88 on 26 Dec 2018, 02:47, edited 1 time in total.

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shivam9205

I'll share a few pointers primarily based on what I heard during an interactive session with students at INSEAD SG campus during a visit.
1. The key difference is the internship as you have identified
2. If you want to break into investment banking, then internship is a must. Apparently most roles get filled through full-time offers via internships. Very few roles are opened in IB for full-time recruitment.
3. For other finance roles, such as VC/PE, the Sept intake too is fine as the recruitment is not that streamlined and full-time offers are given directly
4. Consulting is the most liberal and the internship doesn't make a major difference.
5. An internship is advisable for people coming from non-traditional backgrounds, such as journalism, military service, etc.
6. Though the Sept intake doesn't have a full-time internship, there is the option of doing a term in the UAE campus. In this term there is a live industry consulting project. So basically students work on a live project with big names like GE, At Kearney, etc. Not a full on internship, but some sort of practical exposure.

Cheers and good luck!

MBAPrepCoach

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22 Aug 2018, 18:28

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shivam9205

shivam9205 internship not relevant for strategy consulting at INSEAD - otherwise they would not send 50% of their class to consulting post MBA for Sept batch see what I mean. Do research your goal however, please - make sure the plan you have will work out, speak to an MBA recruiter at the firm you intend to apply to. Find it if there is an age issue - in US, someone with 9 years WE would not be viable for consulting because too old. However INSEAD, different story.

theMBAroom

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24 Aug 2018, 14:56

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I opted for September-intake. In your case, there will not be much of a difference between the two terms. To understand the detailed difference between September and January intake, read this
https://aidmit.com/index.php/2018/08/24/ ... ry-intake/

shivam9205

tightrope

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24 Aug 2018, 20:10

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I was at an event recently where this topic came up in an alumni chat. One alum (who did the Sept intake and ended up in consulting) mentioned that they actually preferred the Sept intake because there was less rush.

For the Jan intake, recruiting for internships starts almost immediately. If you get an internship, you have a very good chance of getting a full-time offer (assuming you don't completely mess it up), so in effect full-time recruiting for you starts in the first couple of months. You can of course recruit for full-time later in the year without doing an internship, but it's seen as a little strange ("where were you during internship recruiting?").

For the Sept intake, you can take a few months to work out what you want to do, and then start full-time recruiting when the time comes later in the year, and it's seen as totally normal. For someone who isn't sure about consulting and maybe wants to talk to other students with consulting backgrounds and get to know it better, this could be a benefit. As MBAPrepCoach mentioned INSEAD sends a lot of students to consulting in the Sept intake so obviously the lack of internship isn't holding anyone back.

Just wanted to share as I hadn't heard this perspective before, I'm only a prospective applicant but just thought this was an interesting take on it.

MBAPrepCoach

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26 Aug 2018, 18:38

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aidmit THIS BLOG IS GREAT. Thank you for writing it. IMO you should cut and paste the whole damn thing here.

Biggest headline/takeaway for me is IF MIDDLE EAST = RECRUIT IN ABU DHABI = APPLY SEPTEMBER.

Do you happen to have any recent information about different in acceptance rates? App volumes much higher for Jan batch which is another reason to apply.

Would lump PE in with IB on Jan term compulsory.

aidmit

shivam9205

theMBAroom

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27 Aug 2018, 11:49

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MBAPrepCoach

INSEAD doesn't release acceptance rate data separately for Septemeber and Jan intake. But the general consensus is that more people tend to apply to Jan term and hence lower acceptance rate. This doesn't necessarily mean that it is any easier to get through

Here goes the major chunk from the blog
https://aidmit.com/index.php/2018/08/24/ ... ry-intake/

September intake of MBA at INSEAD is a 10-month program which does not allow you the time to pursue any full-time internship during the course. January intake is a 12-month program which includes a 2-month full-time internship opportunity. There is one more difference, as a part September intake, you have an option to spend 2-month study period in Abu Dhabi. This exchange is not available for January term. The exchange between Singapore and France campus and to the partner universities in the US is possible for all the students.

With all the above information, how do we pick which intake works best for us? The answer is – there isn’t any difference between the two. In most of the cases, your intake has no bearing on the learning outcome or your employment chances. An internship provides a good platform for you to put your networking skills and soft skills to test, but the lack of internship doesn’t mean that you are not trained in these skills. Internship is required only for people who intend to transition to investment banking and have no prior experience at all. Most of the investment banking firms hire you as an intern and then promote you to a full-time role. Hence, people looking to build their career as an investment banker should prefer January term. This in no way means that it is not possible to land a job at an investment banking firm for September term students. But September term students may have to join the firm as an intern upon graduation and then look to convert to a full-time role.

Also, people looking to work in middle east post graduation (and haven’t stayed or worked in the region) should prefer September term. September term provides you with an opportunity to stay in Abu Dhabi for 2 months and network with industry around and meet prospective recruiters.

People looking to continue in consulting domain / transitioning to the consulting domain should not worry at all. INSEAD is a consulting heavy school and it should not be difficult to land a consulting job if you work smart during your stay at INSEAD irrespective of the intake you choose to join.

MBAPrepCoach

aidmit

shivam9205

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21 Nov 2018, 04:59

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shivam9205

From what I heard, if you are into consulting, then intenship is not mandatory. However, this info was shared by very old alumni in one of the events. It's better to make an informed decision . Good luck

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