Dilini Fernando: Welcome to MBA PodTV. I’m your host, Dilini Fernando. If you’re looking at a clearer
International business, or perhaps, working outside of your home country,
consider applying to INSEAD. INSEAD is one of the top international MBA
programs in the world, and you can earn your MBA in just ten months. Now
getting into INSEAD as you can imagine is highly competitive. So, if you want
to get into that program, you have to put together a solid application.

On today’s show, you’ll hear from Graham Richmond, CEO and co-founder of Clear Admit, an
MBA admissions consulting company. He’s going to give you specific tip on
INSEAD’s application. You’ll also hear from an INSEAD representative, current
students and alumni.

So, stay with us as we share with you how to get in to INSEAD.

Cassandra Pittman: The type of person that we thrive at INSEAD is really somebody who likes intensity,
really likes to work hard, play hard, likes a really intense pace in their work
and in their social life, and also someone who really gets a buzz of
internationalism, somebody who can really adapt to different cultures, wants to
learn from people, wants to sort of open their mind to different ways of doing
business, different ways of looking at the world.

Graham Richmond: The first thing that stands out for me with INSEAD is that it’s a highly
international, more international than, really, any other MBA program in the
world. It’s also mobile in the sense that they have two campuses. One in Singapore
and one in Fontainebleau, France, just about 45 minutes from Paris. And some
respects they also have the third campus at Wharton, because they have an
exchange program with Wharton that all students are entitled to partake in if
they want. And so, on some of it is the school that really is on three
continents, which is a rarity.

Sharon Acheampong: I chose INSEAD for many reasons, but aside form the fact that I knew I was going
to receive a great education, the many things that I thought INSEAD would give
me that I wouldn’t find in any U.S. school was mainly the multicultural aspect,
the international aspect of INSEAD. You have so many people from so many
different countries and I felt that that’s going to you know expose me to so
many different perspectives that I probably wouldn’t get in the other schools.

Veronica Wong: It’s very intense intellectually and academically, but also, all the friendships
that you make because of the fact that, the whole environment is so, I guess,
kind of contracted in a certain sense. And we have that you know the best times
socially and academically.

Graham Richmond: It’s designed for people who have very clear career plans. You don’t have to know
exactly what you’re going to do, but you should have an idea of a couple of
things that are possibilities. Again, because it’s a short program, it’s better
to arrive with a plan so that you can get out the most out of it. I think the
benefits are that fact that there’s a great return on investment and you can
enter the program and get back out into the workforce without to start taking two
years off, which would be the traditional MBA program. So, there’s clearly a
great return. It also – if there’s any sense of urgency associated with your
career plans, so perhaps you’re looking to take advantage of the business
opportunity but you need an MBA to do it, getting in and out in 10 months is
also highly beneficial. I think that the other thing that INSEAD students talk
about a lot is the intensity of the program and the fact that because it’s so
condensed that the bonds that they forward with their classmates are sort of stronger.

Dilini Fernando: It’s clear at INSEAD you would have a unique MBA experience. While all the classes are
taught in English, students are expected to know at least two languages and be
proficient in three by the time they graduate. That’s why it already gives you
a sense of what your classmates and your learning experience would be like. Diversity
is surely one of the strength at INSEAD as well as being the core of their
philosophy. Let’s learn more about how this diversity is integrated into their
program.

Cassandra Pittman: Not only is our class is incredibly diverse, in fact, in typical MBA class you won’t
have a single nationality that makes up more than 10%. So, there’s no majority
in the class at all. There’s all different ways of looking at the world, all
different cultural experiences coming together to solve business problems.

So let me give you one practical example. Throughout your core curriculum, you’re working
in a study group, about five to six different people. This is a pretty common
model for business schools. So you’re studying with five people from completely
different professional backgrounds.

The unique aspect of your study group at INSEAD is that you will also be studying with
five people from completely different parts of the world. In fact, in any one
study group, we will never have more than one person with the same nationality,
never more than two with the same mother tongue.

The idea behind having study groups that are so diverse is really so that you can gain
the skill of being able to communicate across cultures, lead people from
different parts of the world. You might have different motivators than you do,
might look at business differently than you do. And what we have seen is that’s
really a quality that our recruiters value in our students.

Also, you will see that same diversity in the alumni community. So, not only do we have
alumni in over 170 different countries, but actually, in almost 30 countries,
we have a network of at least a hundred MBA alum. Now that’s not just more than
any other business school. That’s more than double any other top business
school.

So, really, the power of that network globally is something that INSEAD can offer in spates.

Veronica Wong: It allowed me to learn to work across different cultures. Suppose INSEAD, I worked
at Barkley’s capital in London
on the trading floor, doing convertible bond sales, and my clients at the time
were quite diverse. I mean, they’re very European-centric in the certain sense,
but I also worked with Indian issuers. So, it was this broad spectrum of people
that you have to learn to resolve issues in a way that is not – I guess that would
not increase the conflict and trying to work to us a solution and I think
INSEAD definitely teach you how to do that.

Graham Richmond: With INSEAD, it is important to show you know an international focus and openness to
different cultures and ways of doing business. The answer from INSEAD directly
is that there’s no requirement, but they do have a strong preference for people
with international experience. And to be honest, I don’t – I haven’t seen many
people get in to INSEAD who have not worked outside of their home country. So,
it’s usually not enough to just work for you know a global company in your home
country or something. There are exceptions, though, and I think it really does
depend on the candidate. I would say that if you’re American applying to
INSEAD, or if you’re Indian, maybe an Indian engineer or something, you
absolutely need to have international experience. And there are different
reasons for that. So, on the American – in the case of the American, it’s that
there’s an employee ability issue. So, INSEAD has found that when Americans
graduate from INSEAD, if they’ve never worked outside of America, a lot
of the recruiters are reluctant to hire them. And again, INSEAD having
predominantly European and Asian recruiters on their you know France and Singapore campuses, right? So that’s
important. And then on the Indian candidate side, the reason international
experiences are important there is just because that portion of the applicant
pool is so competitive that you know you just have to have it all. So they look
for international experience.

And even beyond that, I’ve worked, Clear Admit has worked with clients who had no
international experience, and applied and were interviewed, and then receive a
nice letter saying, “Thanks, but no thanks, but please reapply. We’d like for
you to take a year or two to go work outside of your home country and then
apply.”

So they pretty are overheard about you know expressing that preference, if they see
someone that they like but who doesn’t have international experience. So I
would say, the short answer is, you need international experience. INSEAD may
not say that on the record. They usually just say we prefer it, but I think the
reality is, is you should really have international experience.

Lee Hudson Teslik: When I graduated from college, I got a job working as a speech writer for the Queen
of Jordan, Queen Rania, which was a fun and wild experience, and I did it for
about a year and a half and then segued from that to a job at the Council on
Foreign Relations, again, writing for them. So everything had been writing. No
business experience, really, to speak off. I applied to INSEAD for a couple of
reasons. One, I was really cane on Singapore. I had always wanted to
work in Asia and I’m planning to work in Asia
afterwards. So being able to recruit on the ground, I think, will be a useful
thing in that respect. Also, I just like that it has a really, really
international student body, much more so than U.S. schools that I was looking at.

Dilini Fernando: As you probably heard before, it’s about passion and fit. Showing a strong
interest and sincere passion in working on the global level is one key aspect
that INSEAD admissions will be evaluating in your application. Now, let’s hear
more tips on how to create a strong application.

Graham Richmond:I would say that it’s very important at INSEAD to be consistent as well. They
look for consistency across the application. And what I mean by that is that,
your recommenders are saying you know things that fit with what you’ve said in
your assays in terms of your potential or your goals or what you’re striving to
do. It’s also important to demonstrate fit and kind of an understanding of what
INSEAD has to offer.

And that doesn’t mean that you need to read the school marketing catalogue back at them
when you’re writing your assays or interviewing. But they do want you to serve,
demonstrate an understanding of how the curriculum works, how you sort of see
yourself going through it and just you know showing them that you sort of thought
this through, that you know what you’re going to do when you get there, that
you’re going to hit the ground running.

One last thing I would say that’s important to them is quantitative ability. And that is
because in such a short program, it’s hard to catch up, right? So you need to
show up ready. So they do focus on looking to be sure that candidates have achieved
above the 70-F percentile on the GMAT quantitative. In fact, they prefer that
it’s above the 75th percentile. And so, you have to show, you have to
demonstrate quantitative aptitude. They’re very concerned that candidates –
that it moved so fast that candidates might sort of struggle if they’re not
ready.

Dilini Fernando: That’s it for this time of MBA PodTV. I’m your host, Dilini Fernando. Visit us at
mbapodcaster.com where you can register for weekly audio and video shows. Visit
us in Facebook and Twitter where you can get the latest news and insights on
your MBA application process.

INSEAD MBA Programme

We invite you to learn more about how INSEAD can help you to achieve your desired success.

With two fully-integrated campuses in Europe and Asia and over 70 different nationalities in the classroom, no other business school offers such a multicultural experience. The accelerated 10-month curriculum develops successful, thoughtful leaders and entrepreneurs who create value for their organisations and their communities. Our alumni often say that their year at INSEAD was life-changing.

At INSEAD, you will have one year to challenge your thinking, change your outlook and choose your future. We invite you to learn more about how INSEAD can help you achieve your desired success by visiting this site, downloading our brochure, or connecting with us at one of our many on or off-campus events.

Our Dean's message

"When you pursue an INSEAD MBA, you'll have a unique learning experience..."

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One School, three Campuses

The MBA Programme runs in parallel on our campuses in France and Singapore. Students also have the opportunity to visit our campus in Abu Dhabi to take part in an elective course, as well as take advantage of our alliance with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. All of these environments provide a stimulating learning platform for the next generation of transcultural leaders. Join us!

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