I received notification of my interview decision somewhat on the early side, about a month before the deadline. Nonetheless, I received the interviewer details from my admissions coordinator about the same time as everyone else. A couple days after receiving the details, my coordinator contacted me to let me know that one of my original interviewers (female, and I am female) would not be able to do the interview and that they would have to find someone else. It took about a week, but they found a replacement somewhat within my area.
First Interview
My first interview was with the VP of a consulting firm. His assistant arranged a meeting for us about two weeks after the date that I originally contacted him. I was asked to provide my CV and the six page profile from my application. I arrived on time (ten minutes early) and was placed in a conference room to wait for him. He showed up at the scheduled time, with my resume and profile in hand. He told me that he had gone over them fairly thoroughly and that everything seemed to be “standard”. The interview went by fairly quickly, running between thirty and forty minutes. I got the feeling that he had blocked about thirty minutes of time for the interview but I asked a few extra questions that put us over the time limit.
Questions:
- Why INSEAD, why MBA, why now?
- Where do I want to work after graduation (industry and location)?
- What kind of role do I see myself in immediately after graduation and long term (both title and job responsibilities)?
- What about INSEAD excites me?
- Which campus do I want to study on?
- How comfortable am I with my third language (French)?
- How many people report to me in my current job? What is a typical project?
He then gave me the opportunity to ask him some questions about his experience. I didn’t get the impression that he was trying to grill me at all. It went by fairly quickly and easily and I felt like he just wanted to confirm that I was the person that I had represented in the application. A “check the box” interview, if you will.
Second Interview
My second interviewer had to reschedule me at the last minute due to a work emergency, which shook my nerves a little bit, but I completely understood. He is the director of marketing/strategy at a large firm (industry). The interview questions were very similar to that of my first interview, but the interviewer was a lot more animated, responding often with “that’s good” to my responses.
Questions:
- Walk my through your resume?
- Why MBA?
- Why INSEAD?
- Which campus do I want to study on?
- How do I define leadership? Give an example of leadership in my current job.
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- Where do you want to work after graduation (location) and in what type of role and industry?
- What kinds of teams do you work in at your current job?
- Where else did I apply? What would I do if I didn’t get into INSEAD?
- How well do I know my third language (French)?
Once again, a friendly conversation, where I didn’t feel like I was being grilled. After asking his questions, he started telling me about his experiences and opening up the floor for my questions. He seemed to be happy with my answers and agreed it is the right time and that INSEAD makes sense for me. The interview lasted just under an hour.
Overall Impressions
I spent way too much time stressing out about these interviews. They just want to get to know you and are not trying to stump you at all. I had heard they sometimes break into your third language out of nowhere, so I was prepared for that, but instead, both interviewers just asked me to tell them about my language background. Neither one told me flat out that they would recommend me, but I feel as though the interviews went well and I can’t think of any reason they would not recommend me. I guess only time will tell!
