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

insead.alum07

Hi Folks,

I am a graduate of INSEAD Class of Dec 07. If anyone has any questions on the INSEAD experience or admission process, please feel free to raise them. I would try to answer them as best as I can.

In terms of my profile, I am a career changer. I was working in IT and Risk Management before INSEAD and now moving into Management Consulting.

federaloshima

hi every body
i am federal oshima.
let me give you my profile.
gmat-710, we-3 yrs by 2009 as asst mgr.
i want to apply for insead for 2009 session.
acads avg, not much from college days.
pls advise me wat are my chances.
if you feel sth i can do in advance do guide me.

insead.alum07

Hi federal oshima,

INSEAD generally has an average workex of 5 years. Workex becomes an important factor if you are an Indian, male. For females, the workexp criteria is bit relaxed (as is true with every other b-school globally). But workexp is something that you cannot improve upon. Can you also indicate which field are you working in?

Your GMAT score is good and you probably do not need to worry about it too much. To improve upon your chances, I would suggest you to get yourself involved in some extra-curricular initiative that can demonstrate your leadership (this would help you in offsetting your lesser workexp). An important aspect is to show the impact of anything that you have done.

I would also suggest you to apply for Jan 2010 intake which would give you an opportunity to do an internship if you are a career changer.

eng_harsh

Hi INSEAD Alum,
I'm working as a Business Analyst in a big Fin. IT Product company.
My stats are 740/IT/M/ 5 Years of work ex by July'2008
Extra-curriculars - good leadership exp
My worry is I don't have any International work-ex. Although I work with US and Japanese clients over telecoms and I don't have many cultural shock stories to tell.
Will it hurt my chances at INSEAD ?
Would you suggest me to apply at INSEAD?

pragr

Hi

Here is my profile

PP: Male, Indian, 30 years
Education : Masters
Work Experience: 7 years in IT (software devel)
Location : Singapore

I have not given GMAT yet.
I am looking forward to make a switch in finance.

Please advise whether I should be applying to INSEAD, what are my prospects of getting admission, and what are the post-MBA career avenues.

Prashant

insead.alum07

Quote:

Originally Posted by eng_harsh

Hi INSEAD Alum,
I'm working as a Business Analyst in a big Fin. IT Product company.
My stats are 740/IT/M/ 5 Years of work ex by July'2008
Extra-curriculars - good leadership exp
My worry is I don't have any International work-ex. Although I work with US and Japanese clients over telecoms and I don't have many cultural shock stories to tell.
Will it hurt my chances at INSEAD ?
Would you suggest me to apply at INSEAD?

Hi Eng_Harsh,

I do not see any reason for you to not apply to INSEAD. Overall I would say that your profile (given the limited information you have provided) is very much similar to any other Indian applicant. What you should try to do is to highlight some unique facets about your personality in the essays.

Although INSEAD has strong emphasis on multi-culturalism, this should not discourage you in any way. The culture shock essay is to understand your sensitivity to various other cultures. It does not necessarily means traveling abroad. Through your interaction with Japanese/American client, you can develop a story that can emphasize your understanding of other cultures, issues you faced during your interaction, how you coped with them and most importantly what did you learn from that.

Cheers

insead.alum07

Quote:

Originally Posted by pragr

Hi

Here is my profile

PP: Male, Indian, 30 years
Education : Masters
Work Experience: 7 years in IT (software devel)
Location : Singapore

I have not given GMAT yet.
I am looking forward to make a switch in finance.

Please advise whether I should be applying to INSEAD, what are my prospects of getting admission, and what are the post-MBA career avenues.

Prashant

Hi Prashant,

You have a good profile in terms of the number of years of workexp. However switching to finance does not happen as easy as it sounds. Many of the folks who come to INSEAD with non-fin experience do not mostly know what exactly they want to do in finance. Finance is a very broad area and hence you should do your research as to which exact area of finance you want to go into. I would suggest you to apply in Jan intake so that you can pursue internship in finance.

In terms of should you be applying to INSEAD, I would say "why not?". Getting admission does not purely depend on workexp etc. A lot has to do with how you write your essays. So I guess once you have taken your GMAT and decided to apply to INSEAD, you should spend at least 1 week of time on each essay. Post-MBA career options are consulting, industry and finance (1/3 split in each segment).

Cheers

federaloshima

hello insead
i am a marine engineer.
my profession is by itself unique.
can u give me an idea whether there are any marine engineer in ur campus.
do you think improving my gmat score can help me.
also i am the co founder of one percent humanity in kol.
here we are involved with poor people and provide them education.

KetanK · 11:42 AM

Hi,

I am planning to apply for Jan 2009 intake. However, I have certain queries which I would be grateful if you can clarify.

First my profile:

Age:31

GMAT: 750
Work Ex: 7.5 yrs (will be 8.5 yrs by the time I join)
Industry: Banking (5 yrs) & IT Consulting (2.5 yrs).
Have held leadership positions at various levels
Community Service: Excellent
Academics: Decent

My queries are:

1) What %age of Insead students have work-ex of more than 8 yrs?
2) How is the placement scenario? Does all students gets placed with the job of their choice? Does the strength of 800 students pose a hurdle in getting everyone placed?
3) What about the placements of students with greater no. of work ex.? What sort of profile do they get? Do companies recruit them at senior level positions? (I have read that there are a few placements at Director level. Generally what is the %age as well as the profile of the students getting placed at Director level?
4) Is Insead open for second MBAs? What no. of Indians join Insead to do thier Second MBA?
5) Lastly, and esp. for people with greater no. of work ex., do you suggest that Insead will be a good choice over IMD or vice versa?

Regds
KK

priyom

Hi insead.alum07,

Thanks for creating this thread...really appreciate it.

Could you please shed some more light on your profile like no of yrs of work ex, gmat, extra currics etc?
In terms of career shift, is it feasible to move into management consulting after working as a software developer for 4-5 years? Would you say working in Risk asessment helped you make the move?
I have around 3 years of exp as a Technology Consultant in a top tier MNC. What, if anything, would aid the transition to mgmt consulting?

Thanks in advance,
Priyom