INSEAD Business School Interview (cont'd)

INSEAD has a very large class of around 800 students. Is this approximately the number of students you have in each intake (September and January) and does the number include both campuses? How is the class/intake divided up for courses and team work?

Actually, we have about 900 students per year – 450 in each intake across both campuses. Our campus in France is slightly larger than our campus in Singapore, so at any given time we normally have about 60% of the students in France, and 40% in Singapore. Upon arrival, they are assigned to sections of 50 – 70 students each, with whom they will take all of their core classes. Additionally, they are placed in pre-selected study groups of 5 – 6 students of complete different cultural and professional backgrounds. They will work within these groups throughout their core curriculum.

Being a short program of only 10 months, what opportunities are there for students to customize the program to their areas of interest?

After their core curriculum, students have full autonomy in selecting their elective portfolio. They can choose to focus all of their classes in one area of interest, or take a range of classes across various disciplines.

Is there an ideal length of work experience? For example, how many years would you consider the minimum and on the other hand, too many for a full-time program?

Very few absolutes exist in the world of MBA Admissions, and work experience is one of those areas in which it is hard to set strict parameters. Certainly, the quality of work experience a candidate has is far more important than the quantity. Primarily, we look for a candidate to demonstrate his or her leadership potential within their work experience, and we assess each person's success and progression relative to peers in their industry. The average number of years of experience our students have is just over five, and the range tends to be between two and seven years.

Are there any recruiting industries that are particularly strong at INSEAD?

McKinsey & Company is our top recruiter. In fact, McKinsey makes more new hires from INSEAD than from any other business school. However, we have strong recruiting relationships across the board, and almost exactly a third of our students enter finance, consulting and industry upon graduation.

Where do the majority of INSEAD graduates end-up geographically? How strong is the alumni network outside of Europe?

Like all aspects of INSEAD, our alumni community is truly global. More than 35,000 INSEAD alumni are living and working in over 150 countries across all continents. Last year's INSEAD graduates are now working in over 50 different countries – more than any other business school.

Do you have any particular advice for non-European applicants who would like to stay in Europe to work after graduation?

It's difficult to generalize about working in "Europe". The European Union alone is made up of twenty-seven individual countries, each with its own unique working culture, with varying degrees of strengths in their respective labor markets. The best advice I could give would be to learn the language of the country in which you would like to live and leverage your networks within it as much as possible. Of course, the INSEAD network is an incredible resource across the globe.

Tell me about the admissions interview. Do you utilize your alumni world-wide? How would an on-campus interview differ from one in your home country with alumni?

We don't conduct on-campus interviews. All of our admissions interviews are by invite only and are conducted by INSEAD alumni. Typically, a candidate who has been shortlisted for interview will have two separate interviews with two different INSEAD alumni local to the candidate.

Are there any top application blunders you would hope that prospective candidates would avoid in the future?

Make sure you edit your essays well. I strongly recommend that you take the time to consider each business school application you are completing independently and write separate essays tailored for that school and application. However, if you’re going to try to submit the same essays for multiple applications, at least make sure that you get the name of the School right! You might be surprised how many people make this mistake, and I can assure you that the Admissions Committee does not look favorably upon those who do.

Is there any general advice you would like to offer prospective students for the next recruiting cycle?

Really take your time to get to know the schools you are considering. Undertaking an MBA represents a significant investment in time and money. You can only do it once, so you want to make sure that you select the right program and network for you.

If at all possible, visit the campus, sit in on a class and meet the current students. If it is not possible for you to visit the campus then try your best to attend an Information Session or other Admissions event which will allow you to learn more about the school and the program and to meet students and alumni.

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