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INSEAD MBA Application Tips
Welcome to F1GMAT's #askAtulJose series. I am Atul Jose. Today we explore INSEAD's MBA Application.
If you need help from me, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Review Service at store.f1gmat.com/essay-review where I offer end to end support for the application covering resume, essays, and recommendation letters.
If you need help just with the essays, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Editing service at store.f1gmat.com/essay-editing.
INSEAD is a school known for strong consulting placements, with 34% of the latest class entering the industry. INSEAD is also the only top school with a three-campus structure. For the full-time MBA, applicants are expected to choose one of their home campuses - either in France or Singapore.
Unlike other schools where the essays are mostly goal questions or an open-ended question, or traditional goal questions and a creative essay with or without a Video Essay, INSEAD is perhaps the only school with one of the most comprehensive sets of essay questions. It covers three mandatory questions on - strengths, weaknesses, achievements, failure, and extra-curricular as part of the Motivational Essay series. And there is another 3-question section called the Job Description Essay, where you must summarize your current job, mention the next role if you choose to continue in the current organization, and last question about your short-term and long-term career aspirations. On submission of the application, a link to answer the 4-video questions is posted by email and should be completed within 48 hours. The video interview assesses the student's quick thinking, delivery, articulation of ideas, and uniqueness in expressing their thoughts.
For this INSEAD MBA Application tips series, let's start with the Job Description Essay. The first question is:
Job Description Essay #1: Briefly summarize your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work, major responsibilities, and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, clients/products, and results achieved. (200 words maximum) *
If you have worked with F1GMAT, you know that we have something called an IMPACT table. It is a table that summarizes the title of the project, the strengths that you demonstrated in achieving the goals, the weaknesses, and finally, the IMPACT you had on clients, the company, the team, the community, or the culture.
It is a 200-word question. So you have to be careful not to overdo the responsibilities part. Make sure that only the responsibilities or skillsets that gave you the unique edge are highlighted here. The team management skill is especially important for this question because it hints at the employees under supervision. If the word permit allows, you can add a small phrase highlighting the company hierarchy. If you are working in a startup, this information will help you stand out.
The tone of the essay is not like your typical MBA application essay. You can limit the storytelling elements for the job description essay.
The second question is:
Job Description Essay #2: What would be your next step in terms of position if you were to remain in the same company instead of going to business school? (200 words maximum) *
This looks like a simple question, but the school is trying to understand whether you will get a lot of value from the MBA program. If the post-MBA role and the role that you are likely to get if you continue in the organization are similar, the admissions team is unlikely to accept you. This is because alumni satisfaction and an increase in salary are two important criteria for business school ranking. This question is a do-or-die for many applicants.
Does that mean that you soften the potential promotion news or interesting title that awaits you? No.
For someone working in a startup, the titles might not match the experience.
Startups incentivize talent - through the title. But if you are working in a large organization and the tiles post-MBA and the one where you continued with the current organization looked similar, then there should be other motivations captured clearly in the motivational essays. The admissions team refers to this question before checking out the goals and strengths/weakness essay.
The third question is:
Job Description Essay #3: Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. Describe your career path with the rationale behind your choices. (300 words maximum) *
A typical INSEAD MBA candidate already has 2-3 transitions. One transition that I have seen is with choosing to consult after a core engineering or technology degree, some transition within a specialization of a function like corporate finance to investment Banking, Technology Consulting to Management Consulting, or even outside the function like Operations To Consulting.
So anyone with absolutely no exposure to an international culture or work environment will not be a good fit for the program. This doesn't mean that are no exceptions. And it is especially true from 2020 to 2022 because of COVID. Even those who typically traveled were restricted in the past two years. To compensate for this data, the admissions team is likely to evaluate the international composition of your team. If you worked remotely and interacted with an international team on a regular basis spread across multiple geographies, you definitely have some advantages over an applicant working in a homogenous environment.
The fourth question is:
Job Description Essay #4:Discuss your short and long-term career aspirations with an MBA from INSEAD. (100 words maximum) *
This is your classic goals essay. With just 100 words, you don't have much space to capture a lot of context. The focus should be the post-MBA industry, function, and location. You don't have to list employers unless there is an offer to return to your employer post-MBA. Then it makes sense to mention it clearly here. In many cases, the employers might sponsor the applicant. Mention why you are returning to the employer. Otherwise, mention the preferred size of the company, like Fortune 500, a startup or mid-sized company, or a boutique consulting firm to offer a specific goal. It reads well compared to a generic career aspiration essay and shows that you have done your research.
There is also an optional job description essay. The question is:
If you are currently not working or if you plan to leave your current employer more than 2 months before the program starts, please explain your activities and occupations between leaving your job and the start of the program. (optional)
There are applicants who transition from a job to a startup pursuit when they get an offer in hand. And for those applicants, mentioning the activities that are part of the new engagement will help the school understand your motivation. It also filters out certain applicants who might get admitted but might not be employable in the short term. So this question should be handled very carefully if you faced layoff or you had other circumstances that led you to apply for an INSEAD MBA program, like a business not working out. An extremely useful skill set that you can develop during the transition is the acquisition of language skills. INSEAD has a 3-language requirement - fluency in English, practical level knowledge in a second language, and basic level knowledge in a third language. So if you can highlight the efforts in developing proficiency in a language, mention them here.
Now let us look at the Motivations Essays. INSEAD has three mandatory motivational essays and one optional essay.
The first question is:
Motivation Essay Question 1: Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary (maximum 500 words). *
The biggest challenge for applicants is whether they should highlight their childhood experiences or is it about their engagements outside work or they can you include professional experiences to highlight their strengths and weakness. I get this question a lot. You have to remember that there is an additional motivational essay about extra-professional or extra-curricular activities that cover a broad set of experiences from student-led clubs, sports, music, and arts. So this essay should be about your values. How you acquired certain unique personality traits. Is it through a childhood event, a trauma, a triumph, or an experience that reinforced a value or perhaps a passing of value from a mentor/role model? A classic mistake I see is when applicants in their first draft make the role model the protagonist. This is a big error. You should transition quickly to you - the protagonist.
The second part of the question that asks about the applicant's weakness requires careful examination. It should be something that you are aware of and worked on it. Don't spin a strength or work ethic, or perfectionism as a weakness. Look for authentic weaknesses that came from your socio-economic background, your industry or function, or your focus on a few skillsets. But don't highlight any weaknesses in communication or a lack of understanding of international cultures.
I always ask my clients to read the question again. The second part of the question, if you read it, is "stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development ."Weakness can't be an isolated trait. It has to be something that you are currently working on or that you have overcome.
The second question is:
Motivation Essay Question 2:Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In addition, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned(maximum 400 words). *
The question looks very similar to the first question. But unlike the first question, where you are expected to list your weakness, the example of failure is a reflection of a one-off event. It could be from your weakness but it could also be from external circumstances or an issue with group dynamics, or a decision-making process that you hadn't fully understood. It need not be related to your weakness at all.
On the proudest achievement, the example could be professional. It could also be personal if the milestone is truly unique. For example, a client who struggled with weight gain decided to prioritize fitness and began running marathons, and took up cycling. This looked like a standard narrative, but when the person offered context on the struggles with food addiction and the roadblocks he had to overcome to prioritize his health suddenly made a trivial example a really standout story. So it is not just about the example. It is how you capture the story behind the example that will influence the admission team.
The third question is:
Motivation Essay Question 3: Describe all types of extra-professional activities in which you have been or are still involved for a significant amount of time (clubs, sports, music, arts, etc.). How are you enriched by these activities? (maximum 300 words) *
Extra-professional activity is different from volunteering, but you can include volunteering experience if you were part of a club. But ideally, include sports, music, or arts if you had a phase in your life where you invested in developing that skill. It need not be current or something that you did recently.
It could also be an activity for which you invested significant time that is at least 2-3 months. But if it is between a recent 2-3 month engagement or an impressive brand experience a few years back, I could choose the recent engagement because it shows how you are able to manage work with extra-professional activity - an intensity of experience that will be very similar to your experience at INSEAD.
INSEAD also had a fourth optional question: Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee? (maximum 300 words)
This is your classic optional essay where you highlight gaps in employment, a GMAT score that is below 700, and GPA that is below 3.4.
And the final but important POINT for INSEAD MBA Application is the International Experience Part.
International Exposure: Typically, an INSEAD MBA candidate is expected to have worked or traveled to at least 2-3 countries. They even have a section in their Online MBA Application called International Exposure where the applicant is expected to mention countries where they have been and the corresponding activities that cover Business Seminar, Business training, Growing-up, High school, Holiday, Internship, Language courses, Military Assignment, Part-time work, Pro-Bono work, Project assignment, Research, Seasonal work, Sports competition, Study abroad, Summer holidays (childhood), Summer school, Visiting family, Volunteering, Workshop, Exchange program, and Full-time work.
I hope you got value from the INSEAD MBA Application Tips. I am Atul Jose. If you need help from me, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Review Service at store.f1gmat.com/essay-review where I offer end to end support for the application covering resume, essays, and recommendation letters.
If you need help just with the essays, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Editing service at store.f1gmat.com/essay-editing.
If you are struggling to coordinate with recommenders, subscribe to F1GMAT’s recommendation letter editing service at store.f1gmat.com/recommendation-letter
View all episodes
By Atul JoseWelcome to F1GMAT's #askAtulJose series. I am Atul Jose. Today we explore INSEAD's MBA Application.
If you need help from me, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Review Service at store.f1gmat.com/essay-review where I offer end to end support for the application covering resume, essays, and recommendation letters.
If you need help just with the essays, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Editing service at store.f1gmat.com/essay-editing.
INSEAD is a school known for strong consulting placements, with 34% of the latest class entering the industry. INSEAD is also the only top school with a three-campus structure. For the full-time MBA, applicants are expected to choose one of their home campuses - either in France or Singapore.
Unlike other schools where the essays are mostly goal questions or an open-ended question, or traditional goal questions and a creative essay with or without a Video Essay, INSEAD is perhaps the only school with one of the most comprehensive sets of essay questions. It covers three mandatory questions on - strengths, weaknesses, achievements, failure, and extra-curricular as part of the Motivational Essay series. And there is another 3-question section called the Job Description Essay, where you must summarize your current job, mention the next role if you choose to continue in the current organization, and last question about your short-term and long-term career aspirations. On submission of the application, a link to answer the 4-video questions is posted by email and should be completed within 48 hours. The video interview assesses the student's quick thinking, delivery, articulation of ideas, and uniqueness in expressing their thoughts.
For this INSEAD MBA Application tips series, let's start with the Job Description Essay. The first question is:
Job Description Essay #1: Briefly summarize your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work, major responsibilities, and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, clients/products, and results achieved. (200 words maximum) *
If you have worked with F1GMAT, you know that we have something called an IMPACT table. It is a table that summarizes the title of the project, the strengths that you demonstrated in achieving the goals, the weaknesses, and finally, the IMPACT you had on clients, the company, the team, the community, or the culture.
It is a 200-word question. So you have to be careful not to overdo the responsibilities part. Make sure that only the responsibilities or skillsets that gave you the unique edge are highlighted here. The team management skill is especially important for this question because it hints at the employees under supervision. If the word permit allows, you can add a small phrase highlighting the company hierarchy. If you are working in a startup, this information will help you stand out.
The tone of the essay is not like your typical MBA application essay. You can limit the storytelling elements for the job description essay.
The second question is:
Job Description Essay #2: What would be your next step in terms of position if you were to remain in the same company instead of going to business school? (200 words maximum) *
This looks like a simple question, but the school is trying to understand whether you will get a lot of value from the MBA program. If the post-MBA role and the role that you are likely to get if you continue in the organization are similar, the admissions team is unlikely to accept you. This is because alumni satisfaction and an increase in salary are two important criteria for business school ranking. This question is a do-or-die for many applicants.
Does that mean that you soften the potential promotion news or interesting title that awaits you? No.
For someone working in a startup, the titles might not match the experience.
Startups incentivize talent - through the title. But if you are working in a large organization and the tiles post-MBA and the one where you continued with the current organization looked similar, then there should be other motivations captured clearly in the motivational essays. The admissions team refers to this question before checking out the goals and strengths/weakness essay.
The third question is:
Job Description Essay #3: Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. Describe your career path with the rationale behind your choices. (300 words maximum) *
A typical INSEAD MBA candidate already has 2-3 transitions. One transition that I have seen is with choosing to consult after a core engineering or technology degree, some transition within a specialization of a function like corporate finance to investment Banking, Technology Consulting to Management Consulting, or even outside the function like Operations To Consulting.
So anyone with absolutely no exposure to an international culture or work environment will not be a good fit for the program. This doesn't mean that are no exceptions. And it is especially true from 2020 to 2022 because of COVID. Even those who typically traveled were restricted in the past two years. To compensate for this data, the admissions team is likely to evaluate the international composition of your team. If you worked remotely and interacted with an international team on a regular basis spread across multiple geographies, you definitely have some advantages over an applicant working in a homogenous environment.
The fourth question is:
Job Description Essay #4:Discuss your short and long-term career aspirations with an MBA from INSEAD. (100 words maximum) *
This is your classic goals essay. With just 100 words, you don't have much space to capture a lot of context. The focus should be the post-MBA industry, function, and location. You don't have to list employers unless there is an offer to return to your employer post-MBA. Then it makes sense to mention it clearly here. In many cases, the employers might sponsor the applicant. Mention why you are returning to the employer. Otherwise, mention the preferred size of the company, like Fortune 500, a startup or mid-sized company, or a boutique consulting firm to offer a specific goal. It reads well compared to a generic career aspiration essay and shows that you have done your research.
There is also an optional job description essay. The question is:
If you are currently not working or if you plan to leave your current employer more than 2 months before the program starts, please explain your activities and occupations between leaving your job and the start of the program. (optional)
There are applicants who transition from a job to a startup pursuit when they get an offer in hand. And for those applicants, mentioning the activities that are part of the new engagement will help the school understand your motivation. It also filters out certain applicants who might get admitted but might not be employable in the short term. So this question should be handled very carefully if you faced layoff or you had other circumstances that led you to apply for an INSEAD MBA program, like a business not working out. An extremely useful skill set that you can develop during the transition is the acquisition of language skills. INSEAD has a 3-language requirement - fluency in English, practical level knowledge in a second language, and basic level knowledge in a third language. So if you can highlight the efforts in developing proficiency in a language, mention them here.
Now let us look at the Motivations Essays. INSEAD has three mandatory motivational essays and one optional essay.
The first question is:
Motivation Essay Question 1: Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary (maximum 500 words). *
The biggest challenge for applicants is whether they should highlight their childhood experiences or is it about their engagements outside work or they can you include professional experiences to highlight their strengths and weakness. I get this question a lot. You have to remember that there is an additional motivational essay about extra-professional or extra-curricular activities that cover a broad set of experiences from student-led clubs, sports, music, and arts. So this essay should be about your values. How you acquired certain unique personality traits. Is it through a childhood event, a trauma, a triumph, or an experience that reinforced a value or perhaps a passing of value from a mentor/role model? A classic mistake I see is when applicants in their first draft make the role model the protagonist. This is a big error. You should transition quickly to you - the protagonist.
The second part of the question that asks about the applicant's weakness requires careful examination. It should be something that you are aware of and worked on it. Don't spin a strength or work ethic, or perfectionism as a weakness. Look for authentic weaknesses that came from your socio-economic background, your industry or function, or your focus on a few skillsets. But don't highlight any weaknesses in communication or a lack of understanding of international cultures.
I always ask my clients to read the question again. The second part of the question, if you read it, is "stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development ."Weakness can't be an isolated trait. It has to be something that you are currently working on or that you have overcome.
The second question is:
Motivation Essay Question 2:Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In addition, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned(maximum 400 words). *
The question looks very similar to the first question. But unlike the first question, where you are expected to list your weakness, the example of failure is a reflection of a one-off event. It could be from your weakness but it could also be from external circumstances or an issue with group dynamics, or a decision-making process that you hadn't fully understood. It need not be related to your weakness at all.
On the proudest achievement, the example could be professional. It could also be personal if the milestone is truly unique. For example, a client who struggled with weight gain decided to prioritize fitness and began running marathons, and took up cycling. This looked like a standard narrative, but when the person offered context on the struggles with food addiction and the roadblocks he had to overcome to prioritize his health suddenly made a trivial example a really standout story. So it is not just about the example. It is how you capture the story behind the example that will influence the admission team.
The third question is:
Motivation Essay Question 3: Describe all types of extra-professional activities in which you have been or are still involved for a significant amount of time (clubs, sports, music, arts, etc.). How are you enriched by these activities? (maximum 300 words) *
Extra-professional activity is different from volunteering, but you can include volunteering experience if you were part of a club. But ideally, include sports, music, or arts if you had a phase in your life where you invested in developing that skill. It need not be current or something that you did recently.
It could also be an activity for which you invested significant time that is at least 2-3 months. But if it is between a recent 2-3 month engagement or an impressive brand experience a few years back, I could choose the recent engagement because it shows how you are able to manage work with extra-professional activity - an intensity of experience that will be very similar to your experience at INSEAD.
INSEAD also had a fourth optional question: Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee? (maximum 300 words)
This is your classic optional essay where you highlight gaps in employment, a GMAT score that is below 700, and GPA that is below 3.4.
And the final but important POINT for INSEAD MBA Application is the International Experience Part.
International Exposure: Typically, an INSEAD MBA candidate is expected to have worked or traveled to at least 2-3 countries. They even have a section in their Online MBA Application called International Exposure where the applicant is expected to mention countries where they have been and the corresponding activities that cover Business Seminar, Business training, Growing-up, High school, Holiday, Internship, Language courses, Military Assignment, Part-time work, Pro-Bono work, Project assignment, Research, Seasonal work, Sports competition, Study abroad, Summer holidays (childhood), Summer school, Visiting family, Volunteering, Workshop, Exchange program, and Full-time work.
I hope you got value from the INSEAD MBA Application Tips. I am Atul Jose. If you need help from me, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Review Service at store.f1gmat.com/essay-review where I offer end to end support for the application covering resume, essays, and recommendation letters.
If you need help just with the essays, subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Editing service at store.f1gmat.com/essay-editing.
If you are struggling to coordinate with recommenders, subscribe to F1GMAT’s recommendation letter editing service at store.f1gmat.com/recommendation-letter