INSEAD Alumni - Q&A on INSEAD Experience and Admission Process

[insead.alum07]

Originally Posted by KetanK

Hi Insead.alum,

First of all thanks for running such an informational thread. I am sure this will be helpful to many who are planning to apply to Insead.

It seems by mistake you have missed answering my query. Can you please help me out with my queries.

Cheers
KK

Hi KK,

Great to see your interest in applying to INSEAD. Your profile is interesting from 2 perspectives. You have gotten a great deal of workexp which INSEAD values a lot. Secondly you have had experience in both banking and IT (so not a pure IT background). Obviously good GMAT helps you in offsetting your decent acads as you mentioned.
For your queries:
1.) I would not have the exact %age of ppl with more than 8 years work ex but I can certainly tell you that i have met at least 4 people who are about 36 years old. Considering that the average age of INSEAD student is about 6.5 years, you will find at least 20-25% people with about 7-8 years of workex.
2.) Every batch has about 450 students. So you are basically competing with those people. Obviously no school will ever guarantee that you get a job of your choice. I can tell you that 90%+ of the Indian folks come with a dream of getting into McK and this will just not happen!! People do get good placements in their choice of career but it has to do a lot with self-initative and enthusiasm which involves heavy networking.
3.) One of the strength of INSEAD is to attract companies who sponsor senior leadership programs (which are generally rotational in nature). Their are also lateral placements at Director level. However just be cautious - if you are a career changer, don't expect to be a director of Strategy for a bank if you have never done strategy before.
4.) INSEAD is quite open to second MBAs. I know couple of Indian folks from various IIMs who are now or have graduated from INSEAD.
5.) I would encourage you to consider IMD given your profile. IMD has a different value propostition - small class size - than INSEAD where diversity plays a strong role. I would say apply to both schools and if you get through both, then have a more in-depth conversation with alumni to figure out which suits you better.

Cheers

[cmon!!]

Hi insead.alum07,

Many thanks for posting and keeping this thread active.

I realize that there are a host of factors such as ones essays, the quality of the other applicants with a similar profile and so on that will affect ones chances of admission to a B-school.
So my question is - Am I shooting too high with the profile that I have, or do I stand a realistic chance of being considered for admission at Insead with my profile...

My profile -
Graduated in the top 5-7 percentile in School and Engineering.
I did my engineering from RVCE - which is a good college, but nowhere in the same league as the IITs.
Overall, I'd say my academic record has been good, but not stellar.

I work with Oracle and I'll have about 36 months under my belt when I apply

What I've achieved at Oracle:
- 1 of the 6 winners of the Entrepreneurship contest.
I recognized an inefficiency and suggested an improvement for the
build process of the code at Oracle. My idea is under consideration
for productizing and will very likely be used by 5000+ developers at
Oracle.

- Me, my manager and two friends have come up with an idea for a patent.
The oracle patents and legal team has decided to go ahead and file a
patent for the same.
By the time I apply, this will have been done and I will have a patent.

- I was nominated for a workshop on becoming a "Successful Technical
Leader" along with 2 others.
The other 2 were managers and I had completed just about a year or
work.

- I was one of 8 people to be selected to be a part of the Innovation Team at Oracle (from an employee strength of 400+) As a key player in the Innovation Team, my mandate is to
work towards making Oracle IDC a vibrant, enthusiastic place where
innovative ideas are conceptualized and driven to execution. To this
effect we strive to create the right environment all of Oracle
Application Server teams at India (400+ people). I have organized
Innovation day at Oracle - The first time such an event has taken
place and various talks as well.

Extra-curriculars:
- House Captain in School
- Head of the committee that organizes the Computer Science Department
college fests in my Engineering days
- I am an amateur photographer and my pictures have been displayed in
2 exhibitions. A couple of my pictures have also been selected for publishing in a book.

From the research that I have done on Insead, I realize that it is going to be an uphill battle getting admission.
Among others, these might be some of the reasons
- The amount work ex, since I'm way below the average
- The quality of work ex - Techies aren't hot on the B-school circuit
- Not enough depth of leadership experience
- Lack of community service

Your inputs would be greatly valued.

Regards,
Varun

[vishalvivek]

Thanks for your reply.

one more thing. you said if i am shifting to consulting the work ex doesn't matter much while placement. Does insead gives me a chance to go back to IT again , i mean can i select IT electives so that my MBA seems like an IT major ? can i mention in my essays that i wud like to go back to IT, so am joining insead ? I am asking this bcoz am not very clear of the course curriculam of insead. please clarify.

vivek







Re: INSEAD Alumni - Q&A on INSEAD Experience and Admission Process - 17-12-2007, 08:41 AM



Quote:
Originally Posted by vishalvivek (INSEAD Alumni - Q&A on INSEAD Experience and Admission Process)
Hi,

I am planning to apply for Jan 2009 session.
My profile is as below:

Indian
IT Exp 4.5 yrs by jan 2009 ( 6 months of intl exp as of now in Israel and USA)
Gmat 720
B.Tech from IIT Roorkee with 7.5 cgpa
Good extracurriculars
fair community service
will get good recos as well

Planning to shift to management consulting.

What are the chances at Insead for me ? Should i apply or wait ?

Regards,
Vivek

Hi Vivek,

You should certainly apply for Jan 09 intake. However I would also say that at least for INSEAD that longer the worex, the better are the chances for getting into. On the contrary, mgmt consulting firms (esp. the top tier ones) have common entry points for MBAs. So if you spend too much time working before MBA, you would not be able to reap any benefit of your longer workex in consulting.

Chances of getting into INSEAD (or for that matter any bschool) are relative to other applicants and not absolute in nature. What this means is that you may have a wonderful app package but if there are better applicants, then certainly your chances would hurt. So I would suggest that you should work on enhancing your strong points and try to create some unique aspect of your personality that you can demonstrate well in the essays.

Cheers

[KetanK]

Hi Insead.alum,

Thanks a lot for your detailed response. This really clarifies a lot of doubts that were in my mind. I am particularly interested in the point 3 where you have mentioned about the strength of INSEAD in attracting companies who sponsor senior leadership programs and the possibility of lateral placements at Director level. From where can I get more info of these companies and their senior leadership programs? I wish to stay in Banking and am not a career changer... and yes.. I am not aiming for McK at all..

Heartiest congrats once again in running such a useful thread.
Sincerely
KK

Originally Posted by insead.alum07

Hi KK,

Great to see your interest in applying to INSEAD. Your profile is interesting from 2 perspectives. You have gotten a great deal of workexp which INSEAD values a lot. Secondly you have had experience in both banking and IT (so not a pure IT background). Obviously good GMAT helps you in offsetting your decent acads as you mentioned.
For your queries:
1.) I would not have the exact %age of ppl with more than 8 years work ex but I can certainly tell you that i have met at least 4 people who are about 36 years old. Considering that the average age of INSEAD student is about 6.5 years, you will find at least 20-25% people with about 7-8 years of workex.
2.) Every batch has about 450 students. So you are basically competing with those people. Obviously no school will ever guarantee that you get a job of your choice. I can tell you that 90%+ of the Indian folks come with a dream of getting into McK and this will just not happen!! People do get good placements in their choice of career but it has to do a lot with self-initative and enthusiasm which involves heavy networking.
3.) One of the strength of INSEAD is to attract companies who sponsor senior leadership programs (which are generally rotational in nature). Their are also lateral placements at Director level. However just be cautious - if you are a career changer, don't expect to be a director of Strategy for a bank if you have never done strategy before.
4.) INSEAD is quite open to second MBAs. I know couple of Indian folks from various IIMs who are now or have graduated from INSEAD.
5.) I would encourage you to consider IMD given your profile. IMD has a different value propostition - small class size - than INSEAD where diversity plays a strong role. I would say apply to both schools and if you get through both, then have a more in-depth conversation with alumni to figure out which suits you better.

Cheers

[starofisb]

Hi Insead Alumini,

I am looking forward to apply for Jan 2009 intake. Here is my short profile. I am a typical Indian/IT/Male applicant.

Work Ex: 4 years in IT MNC by Mar 2008.( 1.5 years in India, 2.8 Years in USA)

Role – Program Manager (Managing 33 ppl team) ( Reached this position in very short term (3 yrs) Typical Avg Exp for this role is 6 yrs) and Business development.

Academic – Excellent

Awards – Won Several awards throughout School, College and also from Employer.

Extra Curricular – I am satified with this. won awards and certifications
Community Services. – doing it from my heart for longer time.

I am little bit worrying about the work experience. Because i will be having 4 years and 10 months by Decemeer 2008. Will it be sufficient?

Thanks,
Ak.

[insead.alum07]

Originally Posted by cmon!!

Hi insead.alum07,

Many thanks for posting and keeping this thread active.

I realize that there are a host of factors such as ones essays, the quality of the other applicants with a similar profile and so on that will affect ones chances of admission to a B-school.
So my question is - Am I shooting too high with the profile that I have, or do I stand a realistic chance of being considered for admission at Insead with my profile...

My profile -
Graduated in the top 5-7 percentile in School and Engineering.
I did my engineering from RVCE - which is a good college, but nowhere in the same league as the IITs.
Overall, I'd say my academic record has been good, but not stellar.

I work with Oracle and I'll have about 36 months under my belt when I apply

What I've achieved at Oracle:
- 1 of the 6 winners of the Entrepreneurship contest.
I recognized an inefficiency and suggested an improvement for the
build process of the code at Oracle. My idea is under consideration
for productizing and will very likely be used by 5000+ developers at
Oracle.

- Me, my manager and two friends have come up with an idea for a patent.
The oracle patents and legal team has decided to go ahead and file a
patent for the same.
By the time I apply, this will have been done and I will have a patent.

- I was nominated for a workshop on becoming a "Successful Technical
Leader" along with 2 others.
The other 2 were managers and I had completed just about a year or
work.

- I was one of 8 people to be selected to be a part of the Innovation Team at Oracle (from an employee strength of 400+) As a key player in the Innovation Team, my mandate is to
work towards making Oracle IDC a vibrant, enthusiastic place where
innovative ideas are conceptualized and driven to execution. To this
effect we strive to create the right environment all of Oracle
Application Server teams at India (400+ people). I have organized
Innovation day at Oracle - The first time such an event has taken
place and various talks as well.

Extra-curriculars:
- House Captain in School
- Head of the committee that organizes the Computer Science Department
college fests in my Engineering days
- I am an amateur photographer and my pictures have been displayed in
2 exhibitions. A couple of my pictures have also been selected for publishing in a book.

From the research that I have done on Insead, I realize that it is going to be an uphill battle getting admission.
Among others, these might be some of the reasons
- The amount work ex, since I'm way below the average
- The quality of work ex - Techies aren't hot on the B-school circuit
- Not enough depth of leadership experience
- Lack of community service

Your inputs would be greatly valued.

Regards,
Varun

Hi Varun,

Your profile especially your achievements are very interesting and impactful. However having said that I also would like to mention that at INSEAD, every single student has a very strong list of achivements. For instance, I know a person who has 27 patents filed or pending under his name. This however should not discourage you from applying to INSEAD. I believe that if you do not even try, you would not know if you would be successful. In this sense, you should definitely apply to INSEAD.

As for your workex, it is certainly on a lower side (3 years). You may want to work for 1 more year to strengthen your candidacy. Moreover the quality of workex is not related to being a techie or non-techie. As a techie, you can still have high quality workex. In terms of diversity of techie pool, I have seen a lot of techie non-Indians at INSEAD. So you can imagine that not all Techies are Indians.
Leadership is something that you can highlight in 2 ways - through the formal responsibility as a Manager or by taking initiatives in which you direct ppl to certain goal. I am sure if you cannot highlight your leadership through the formal responsibility, you can highlight it with some initiatives that you have taken.
Community service is not an essential aspect although most Indians tend to think the other way. Community service just adds another dimension into your personality and shows your achievements outside work. if you have any other things to share outside work, there would be certainly encouraged.

Cheers

[insead.alum07]

Originally Posted by KetanK

Hi Insead.alum,

Thanks a lot for your detailed response. This really clarifies a lot of doubts that were in my mind. I am particularly interested in the point 3 where you have mentioned about the strength of INSEAD in attracting companies who sponsor senior leadership programs and the possibility of lateral placements at Director level. From where can I get more info of these companies and their senior leadership programs? I wish to stay in Banking and am not a career changer... and yes.. I am not aiming for McK at all..

Heartiest congrats once again in running such a useful thread.
Sincerely
KK

Hi KK,

INSEAD only publishes the list of companies that recruit on campus but do not indicate what positions these companies are recuiting for. However just a guessetimate, more than 50% of industry companies have leadership and rotational program. I am not aware of any comprehensive list though.

Cheers

[insead.alum07]

Originally Posted by starofisb

Hi Insead Alumini,

I am looking forward to apply for Jan 2009 intake. Here is my short profile. I am a typical Indian/IT/Male applicant.

Work Ex: 4 years in IT MNC by Mar 2008.( 1.5 years in India, 2.8 Years in USA)

Role – Program Manager (Managing 33 ppl team) ( Reached this position in very short term (3 yrs) Typical Avg Exp for this role is 6 yrs) and Business development.

Academic – Excellent

Awards – Won Several awards throughout School, College and also from Employer.

Extra Curricular – I am satified with this. won awards and certifications
Community Services. – doing it from my heart for longer time.

I am little bit worrying about the work experience. Because i will be having 4 years and 10 months by Decemeer 2008. Will it be sufficient?

Thanks,
Ak.

Hi AK,

Yes, your workex is pretty sufficient for applying to INSEAD. Go for it!!

Cheers

[Pradeep Sahay]

Hi
A very welcome initiative ..
I have been going through all the queries of prospective applicants on this thread and wanted an objective opinion on my background. I intend applying to INSEAD in the Sept '08 cycle .

I am senior Industry functionary based out of India and presently heading a consulting outfit designated as Vice President .

A summary outline on my background.

* An alumnus of BITS Pilani, a top drawer engg Institute in the same league as the IIT's.
* Aged 40, I have over 18 years of Professional work experience , the last 8 years have been in a leadership/profit centre managing role.
* Preent compensation: INR 30 Lacs/annum
* Acads: good., was a merit scholershipholder till school level.
* extra Curriculars: decent.
* GMAT: 580.< is a stumbler as I hv not able to commit the reqd regimen on acct of my 24X7 work schedule. I , am confident though of rationalising on this , if invited ... I would anycase be retaking my GMAT in April-may'08

Pls revert with your valued inputs at the earliest convenience.

Regards

Pradeep Sahay

[addiegloriam]

Hi Insead

I am new to this forum and to pagalguy for that matter ..........

have a few questions .........

How does one compare an Oxford or a Cambridge with say an INSEAD ......pros , cons etc ..

Hw much weightage is given to one's GMAT score , i know that most schools refer to the GMAT score as just one criterion but still ........

I am 26 / M / Agricultural commodities

I already have a prior MBA from a top Indian school .......

Will have around 4.5 yrs of work ex by the time i start wid my MBA (all of it international , having worked in more than 8 countries in Africa and South America)

Work for a trading company that primarily deals with agricultural commodities ..........

Manage a work force of 85 employees and a business worth $50 Million......

3 promotions in 4 years

Good Acads (not spectacular) - 10th standard - 80% , 12th standard - 87% , B.com (hons) (Delhi University) - 61% , MBA - 7.5 / 9 (GPA) (among the top ten in the class) ............

Good extra co ( I have been an avid quizzer , have learnt jazz dance fr over 3 yrs and done professional theatre for over 3 years) .....

Now , the weakest link in my profile , my GMAT score - 660

Hw much is the low score going to impact my chances ?? .....

Plz advise ????????????????? Should i go ahead wid the apps .........

Can you please tell me which are the other schools which might look at my somewhat different profile and not just my GMAT score ..........

Thanks