INSEAD MBA News

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Published: March 31, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: So You Want to Live in a French Villa for Business School?

A few weeks back in this space we included tips from a Harvard Business School (HBS) student on where to live on campus. This week, an INSEAD MBA student shares her dream of living in a French villa for business school and how she made it come true. Much like INSEAD itself, the villa sounds like an international melting pot, home to 11 students speaking 15 different languages. As you might expect, Fontainebleau offers a range of accommodations for INSEAD students, but snagging a villa or chateau takes a little more work. Have no fear: In the post that follows INSEAD December ’16 MBA student Winnie Van tells you exactly what steps to follow. Read more

Published: March 29, 2016

Dare to Share: MBAs and the Sharing Economy

This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, metromba.com. From ride-sharing services like Uber to fashion websites like Rent the Runway, it should come as no surprise that these so-called “sharing economy” companies are changing the face of business. Of course, when business changes, so does business education. In today's changing world, understanding the sharing economy and how to best use it could be key for new MBAs as they navigate the workplace. Read more

Published: March 23, 2016

INSEAD Interview Report: Round 3 / Alumni / Toronto

The following INSEAD interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Congratulations to them! I had two interviews with INSEAD alumni in Toronto. The two interviews were very similar in content, but different in context. Both interviews covered the following point: – Career history, what did I do in my career. – Career achievements: they wanted to know that I did some achievements in my career. – Diversity: they asked me about diversity in my experiences and how much I value diversity. They wanted to know that I have been through different experiences that Read more

Published: March 17, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: An INSEAD Student Shares the Diverse Start to His MBA

With so much buzz around this week’s release of the 2017 U.S. News ranking of top business schools, we decided to devote this week’s Fridays from the Frontline to a student perspective from one of the schools not even mentioned. Because U.S. News ranks only U.S. business schools, some great schools elsewhere in the world get left out of the conversation. Case in point: INSEAD. INSEAD, with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, boasts a remarkably diverse class made up of more than 70 nationalities. Its accelerated 10-month program also appeals to students looking to gain an MBA skill set without taking a full two years out from the work force. While not perfect for every prospective MBA applicant, current student Rayan Dawud shares in the following post some of why INSEAD, so far, feels just right for him. Read more

Published: March 13, 2016

GMAC Debuts New Executive Assessment Test Designed Specifically for EMBA Candidates

Six leading business schools are piloting a brand-new entrance exam designed specifically for applicants to executive MBA (EMBA) programs. Called the Executive Assessment test (EA), it was developed by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), maker of the GMAT, as an alternative to the GMAT or GRE that would require less preparation time while still allowing EMBA programs to effectively evaluate applicants’ business school readiness. Read more

Published: February 23, 2016

INSEAD Interview Report: Round 3 / Alumni / Off-campus

The following INSEAD interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! This website really helped me a lot when I was preparing for the interview. So, I’m returning the favor 🙂 I was invited to two separate interviews with two INSEAD alumni off-campus. Both interviewers were friendly and the interviews were more like a relaxed conversation. One thing I would say is that I felt like INSEAD carefully chose the interviewers who have something in common with you. The interviewers are I think at least 10 years older than me. They are very Read more

Published: February 8, 2016

INSEAD Interview Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus

The following INSEAD interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant who was accepted. Congratulations to them! I had two interviews for INSEAD both at local coffee shops. In both interviews it was clear that they wanted to get a sense if I would be a good cultural fit for the school above all else. Both interviewers were very friendly and the interviews felt more like casual conversations rather than interviews. I was asked about my experience with cultural diversity and to name a diversity experience that surprised me. As a student from the US, I was asked Read more

Published: February 4, 2016

Vote Now for the Best MBA Interview Report for January ’16

We're back again! We've taken the liberty of choosing the top 5 MBA interview reports that were submitted in January. Now, we're turning it over to you (because we can't decide). Read more

Published: January 24, 2016

INSEAD Knocks HBS from Top Spot in Financial Times 2016 Global MBA Rankings

INSEAD jumped three spots to claim No. 1 in the Financial Times 2016 Global MBA rankings, released today, knocking reigning Harvard Business School (HBS) to No. 2. The global business school—which features campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi—has been on an upward trajectory over the past few years, sidling from sixth to fifth to fourth, but this year marks the first time it has claimed the top spot. Incidentally, it’s also the first one-year MBA program to ever do so. HBS, for its part, held steady at No. 1 each of the past three years and has taken top honors six times since the FT’s rankings debuted in 1999. HBS wasn’t the only school displaced by INSEAD’s upward climb. London Business School (LBS) was knocked back down to third from the second-place spot it claimed last year. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania also backslid a spot, to fourth. And Stanford Graduate School of Business, which shared fourth with INSEAD last year, fell to fifth. Read more

Published: January 15, 2016

INSEAD Interview Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus

The following INSEAD MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was accepted. Congratulations to them! Congratulations if you’ve made it as far as getting an interview invitation from INSEAD! If you aren’t already aware, INSEAD generally requires you to do 2 interviews with alumni, and they find current alumni in your city to interview you. When the names of the alumni I was meant to contact were emailed through, I was also instructed to either send the alumni my CV or a copy of my INSEAD application. However, whether or not they read it Read more

Published: December 22, 2015

Choosing the Best Business School for Consulting

With Round 1 decisions released for dozens of leading business schools, some applicants find themselves in the enviable position of having secured multiple acceptances. As successful applicant Preston Landers put it in our Fridays from the Frontline post last week, “It’s my turn to do the rejecting.” Indeed, with the hard work of applying behind them, Round 1 applicants now face the equally important task of deciding which business school will best meet their needs. Others are still gunning for Round 2 deadlines—no doubt trying to craft essays that reflect deep knowledge of individual school programs and how they dovetail with their personal career goals. Read more

Published: November 19, 2015

Fridays from the Frontline: An INSEAD Student in Asia Mourns for Paris, Holds Hope for the World

INSEAD student Edouard Chehade was not in Paris one week ago today. But he knows Paris well, having spent part of his MBA studying just southeast of the city in Fontainebleau on INSEAD’s Europe Campus. Today he is in Singapore on INSEAD’s Asia Campus, finishing up the final weeks of his MBA program. Paris, though, has been a topic of every moment’s discussion since the November 13th terrorist attacks that killed 129 and injured more than 350, he says. In the post that follows, Chehade mourns for the victims, those in Paris but also those who have survived or succumbed to similar events in Bombay, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Algeria, Pakistan and countless other countries. The remarkable diversity of the INSEAD class—where students represent more than 80 nationalities—means that he has friends who have lived in many of these very places. Read more

Published: November 13, 2015

How to Ace the Top Five MBA Admissions Interview Questions

Interviews, interviews, interviews...it’s all anyone seems to be talking about these days, and with good reason. Harvard Business School, Wharton, MIT Sloan and INSEAD are just a few of the schools that are busy interviewing Round 1 applicants as we speak. Instead of making yourself crazy with worry, why not buckle down and perfect your answers to the questions you are most likely to be asked? To help you prepare, we’ve scoured our Interview Guides and Interview Archive to compile our very own Top Five list of the questions that most often make their way into MBA admissions interviews at leading schools. Read more

Published: November 12, 2015

Fridays from the Frontline: Conquering FOMO at INSEAD

Watching LiveWire, we’ve seen lots of INSEAD interview action in the past few weeks, including this disappointed but determined post from an India applicant in Malta who didn’t get an invitation: “Spent all of summer in pursuit of INSEAD,” he or she wrote. “Heartbroken but not Fallen yet!!” Cue a collective “aww” in the Clear Admit office. Keep calm and stay positive! In today’s Fridays from the Frontline, we hear from someone who did make the cut at INSEAD only to arrive on campus and confront a challenge of a whole new sort: FOMO, or fear of missing out. Read more

Published: October 28, 2015

Understanding the MBA Admissions Interview, Part IV

We’ve tackled open versus invitation-only, blind versus non-blind and the newer team-based discussion interview. What’s left? In this, our final post in our MBA admissions interview series, we’re going to take a closer look at a few of the anomalies in the interview arena—special approaches thus far embraced by just one or two schools. Of course, the team-based discussion was itself an anomaly not so many years ago, so these could also be harbingers of the next big thing. Read more

Published: September 13, 2015

Business School Within Reach: Access MBA Tour In London, Moscow, Shanghai, Sao Paolo, Istanbul, And Dubai

The Access MBA Tour, the worldwide leader in One-to-One MBA events, invites you to join their one-of-a-kind international business education events. Taking place in 34 international destinations over the next four months, Access MBA brings some of the world’s best business schools within your reach. Meet and have your MBA questions answered by Admissions Directors of top international business schools, including London Business School, INSEAD, IESE Business School , University of Chicago-Booth, HEC Paris, IE Business School, Georgetown University, University of Hong Kong, Esade Business School, Kellogg – Read more

Published: August 24, 2015

MBA Interview Jitters? Don’t Miss Clear Admit’s Latest Interview Guides

We know. The interview can be one of the most nerve-wracking components of the entire MBA application process. But it doesn’t have to be. Clear Admit’s in-depth Interview Guide Series provides expert advice and insider tips on what to expect and how to prepare—helping you quash the MBA interview jitters and ace the interview. A sample page from one of the guides. With interview invites already rolling out at schools like Columbia Business School and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, now’s the time to check out these valuable guides. Five in the series have just been updated for the 2015-16 application season: CBS, Tuck, INSEAD, HBS and Fuqua. Read more

Published: March 26, 2015

Leading Admissions Consultants Converge in France, England for AIGAC Annual Conference

Leading graduate management admissions consultants are gathering this week in Europe for the eighth annual Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) members’ conference, where they will share best practices and speak directly with admissions officers from many of the world’s top business school. Almost 30 attendees representing admissions consultancies from 12 different countries are scheduled to attend the seven-day conference, which takes places at London Business School (LBS) and includes visits to INSEAD, HEC Paris and Cambridge Judge Business School. Read more

Published: February 15, 2015

Prodigy Finance Offers No Co-Signer Loans, Helping Solve Funding Challenges Facing MBAs Studying Abroad

Studying outside of the country of your nationality or residence can present many benefits to prospective MBA applicants. See the world, improve language skills, expand horizons, learn first-hand how increasingly global the business world has become. And yet, one major hurdle can sometimes prevent ambitious, talented prospective MBA applicants from pursuing their education abroad. That pesky little detail of funding. Traditional banks are reluctant to lend across borders because tracking and enforcement of those loans suddenly becomes more difficult. Many U.S. banks, for example, won’t lend to foreign students without a U.S. co-signer, someone local the banks can go after to recoup their debt if the borrower fails to repay. Read more

Published: January 12, 2015

Trivia Tuesday: Language Requirements at INSEAD

Hello again and welcome to this week’s Trivia Tuesday, in which we spotlight program elements that help distinguish the leading business schools from each other. Today we’re taking a look into the Clear Admit School Guide to INSEAD to share an excerpt about the language requirements at INSEAD’s MBA program. A distinctive aspect of INSEAD’s MBA program is that language skills are an official requirement for both admission and graduation. Beyond the requirement that students possess proficiency in two languages upon enrollment (see Chapter 6, “Application Requirements”), one of which must be English, students must also demonstrate basic knowledge of a Read more

Published: December 15, 2014

$3.8 Million Donation Will Help Fund New INSEAD Leadership Development Center in Singapore

A leading Indonesian family has donated approximately $3.8 million USD ($5 million SGD) to help fund INSEAD’s new Leadership Development Center, which is scheduled to open on INSEAD’s Singapore campus in January 2015. The new building will be home to the “William and Lily Soeryadjaya Amphitheater,” in honor of the gift from the Soeryadjaya family. The opening of the new Leadership Development Center next month marks “Phase Three” in INSEAD’s Asia expansion, which is designed to significantly increase the number of students, executives, leading scholars and practitioners who will be on site in Singapore. INSEAD also features campuses in Fontainebleau, France, and Abu Dhabi. Read more

Published: November 17, 2014

INSEAD Launches Emerging Markets Institute on Singapore Campus

INSEAD has launched a new think tank focused on emerging markets, the school announced earlier this month. Developed in partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board (SEDB), the Emerging Markets Institute (EMI) will be housed on INSEAD’s Asia campus in Singapore. The new research institute is designed to leverage INSEAD’s intellectual capital and global reputation – the school also features campuses in France and Abu Dhabi – as well as Singapore’s spirit of innovation and foresight to find solutions to the challenges facing emerging economies. Read more

Published: October 5, 2014

New Loan Program Launches for International MBA Students at U.S. Schools

A new pilot loan program will provide expanded options for international MBA students at a number of top programs in the United States, according to a recent report in Poestandquants. The program, offered by Prodigy Finance, will extend to international students and U.S. residents with non-permanent status who are studying at 16 top schools, including Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and MIT Sloan School of Management. Especially in recent years, banks have been reluctant to lend to students who are studying internationally. Prodigy Finance seeks to fill this need using a “community finance” model. Basically, alumni from participating schools fund loans for current students, banking on the value of a degree from their alma mater and the likelihood that future alums will repay. Interest rates on the loans vary between 6 and 12 percent, depending on the school, the individual borrower’s profile and current rates. Read more

Published: August 6, 2014

Admissions Director Q&A: Pejay Belland of INSEAD

Moving right along in our Q&A series, today we feature an interview with Pejay Belland, director of marketing, admissions and financial aid for degree programs at INSEAD. Belland worked in the pharmaceutical and music industries before entering higher education at INSEAD,where she has spent the majority of her career. Since joining INSEAD in 2007, she has held roles in career services, MBA marketing and program management. She was appointed to her current position as director of marketing, admissions and financial aid for INSEAD’s degree programs in May 2011. The British-born Belland is based out of France but manages a Read more

Published: May 8, 2014

Fridays From the Frontline

Hello and welcome to Fridays From the Frontline, Clear Admit's weekly roundup of the ruminations of the b-school blogosphere. This week, several of our 2016 applicants weigh in with recommendations, from audio books to MBA programs, while current students take stock of the MBA experience, including the challenges and rewards of transitioning from the military to pursuing an MBA. MBATheNonProfitWay has made a resolution to switch her audio-book listening habit away from fiction to various business related books. The first selection, "The McKinsey Mind" did not fare so well in review. JourneyOfaGMATer took some time to share insights on the definition of 'problem', while Sarah'sMBAJourney hasn't given up on the idea of pursuing the MBA, and is now looking at a Cranfield MBA, although she does have some concerns and is open to other options as well. Read more

INSEAD

Class Size: 486

Avg. GMAT: 700

Nationalities: 73

Women: 42%

Livewire Decisionwire Interview Reports Essay Topic Analysis MBA Admissions Deadlines View Full Profile

MBA Applywire

December 21, 2024 12:13pm ET

Applying: Dartmouth / Tuck, Northwestern / Kellogg, UPenn / Wharton, UT Austin / McCombs, UVA / Darden

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Military/Corporate Logistics

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG , McKinsey

GRE: 302

GPA: 3.63

Years of Work Experience: 9

Notes:

Submitting for R2, but retaking GRE after application deadline. Military Vet with Corporate experience.

December 20, 2024 5:17pm ET

Applying: Columbia, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Healthcare

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG

GRE: 332

GPA: 3.5

Years of Work Experience: 3

Location: Florida

Post MBA Location: Consulting

Notes:

25F, lgbtq, 3 years as a registered nurse. also have started working for an early stage VC in the past several months.

December 19, 2024 4:44pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Stanford GSB

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Insurance

Post-MBA Target Industry: Entrepreneurship

GRE: 318

GPA: 3.59

Years of Work Experience: 3.5

Location: Georgia

Post MBA Location: Southeast

Notes:

Looking to launch a tech startup post MBA, without any background in tech. Come from a quant heavy background and undergraduate coursework. I regularly attended admissions events, in person and online at my schools. I hope that focusing energy on my few top schools and spending a lot of time on essays will help me overcome the less than average test score (164 quant 154 verbal) and GPA.

Serial entrepreneur with a history of profitable small businesses. Was promoted twice in 3.5 years. Involved in many extracurricular activities in and outside of work. My background is very centered around financial services/insurance, is this a red flag for a pivot to Tech Entrepreneurship?

Transferred between two state schools in the southeast. School I graduated from is a top 25 undergrad business program. Obtained a few professionals designations post grad.

December 18, 2024 11:38am ET

Applying: Michigan / Ross, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Vanderbilt / Owen

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Held various positions in Finance and Accounting in a healthcare institution

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Other Companies: BCG , Deloitte , Other

GPA: 3.0

Years of Work Experience: 11

Location: International

Notes:

I am passionate about healthcare enhancing patient quality care. So exploring in that field is what I would love. Got a 72k scholarship from Vandy and named Forte Fellow. UNC 50k. I'm having a hard time deciding though my heart is leaning towards Owen

December 18, 2024 10:23am ET

Applying: Arizona State / W.P. Carey, Indiana / Kelley, Ohio State / Fisher

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Facility management

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting

GRE: 309

GPA: 2.8

Years of Work Experience: 3

Notes:

Graduate GPA -3.869

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MBA LiveWire

December 21, 2024 8:37am ET

Accepted to Duke / Fuqua

Round: Round 1

Received via phone on December 11, 2024

GMAT: 675

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

December 21, 2024 2:38am ET

Waitlisted at Duke / Fuqua

Round: Round 1

Received via phone on December 10, 2024

GPA: 3.27

GMAT: 760

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: CA

December 20, 2024 11:16pm ET

Accepted to Babson / Olin

Round: Round 1

Received via email on December 17, 2024

GPA: 3.9

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

Application Location: South Asia

December 20, 2024 7:50pm ET

Accepted to Columbia

Round: Round 1

Received via portal on December 10, 2024

GMAT: 750

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Application Location: India

Note:

$100k scholarship

December 20, 2024 3:21pm ET

Accepted to Yale SOM

Round: Round 1

Received via email December 20, 2024

GPA: 4.0

GMAT: 750

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Note:

100% scholarship

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