Whether you choose the Singapore or Fontainebleau main campus, you are guaranteed an intense year of learning and growing during an MBA at INSEAD. In addition to two campus options, INSEAD also has two intakes per year: September and January. September candidates complete the MBA program in 10 consecutive months while the January start includes a two-month summer break for an internship or other activities. MBA students who are scheduled to graduate in July can also apply for a two-month residential period on INSEAD’s Middle East Campus in Abu Dhabi. In this edition of Real Humans: MBA Students, we meet a mix of INSEAD candidates across campuses.
The total class size of INSEAD’s two intakes in September and January usually lands around 1,000 students. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school leadership decided to cut enrollment for the September intake. This September, 232 students chose the Fontainebleau campus and 78 matriculated in Singapore. Thirty-two percent of the new class are women (74 chose the French campus and 25 chose the Asian one). The 310 students represent 62 different nationalities. Thirty-eight percent have primary nationality in Europe and 33 percent in the Asia Pacific region. Fifteen percent come from North America and seven percent from South America. Four percent each joined from Africa or MENA.
Business/Administration was the most popular undergraduate major, as 36 percent had studied it. Engineering followed at 25 percent. Another 12 percent earned degrees in economics and eight percent in law/political sciences. Ten percent had studied the sciences and five percent pursued the humanities.
The INSEAD students who joined in September averaged an age of 29 and 5.5 years of work experience. Twenty-six percent of the new group had earned pre-MBA experience in consulting. Another 21 percent came from financial services. Fifteen percent had worked across tech, media or telecom. The other 118 students came from corporate sectors, including retail, manufacturing, energy, healthcare and other typical fields. Over 300 candidates took the GMAT and their average score landed at 706.
On the following pages, meet some new INSEAD MBA candidates and learn what drew them to the dynamic program, what they learned through the admissions process and more.
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