I had two alumni interviews in San Francisco.
First interview: The first interview was at the office of the interviewer. Very comfortable and informal.
Questions
- standard walk me through your resume
- why an MBA? Why international? Why INSEAD?
- where do you see your career developing following the program.
Overall the it was a good experience. The alumni was able to answer all my questions and spoke extensively about her time at INSEAD and the experiences she had. In my case she was very interested to see why I wanted to do an international MBA since I have never lived abroad
Second Interview: This alumni interview definitely did not go so well. I felt like it was more of an inquisition then actually getting an idea of who I am and why I want to go to school at INSEAD. We met at a coffee house in downtown San Francisco.
Questions
- Started with standard walk me through your resume. Why MBA? Why INSEAD?
- Things went downhill from there. Asked me what I would offer to INSEAD? What clubs or organizations would you like to be involved in? When I responded, he asked me if I knew these clubs existed and had i researched and contacted people involved in them (my answer, no)?
- Asked about career after the program? would I want to stay in France?
Ultimately, I felt the interview went poorly. The alumni is a career coach and I felt like it was less about why I wanted to go to the school and more about helping me figure out my career direction. The experience as a whole has turned me off on the school as a whole.
