Get the inside scoop on jobs and careers with Vault career guides. The INSEAD Buzz Book is your complete resource to jobs, careers, interviews and recruiting.
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The INSEAD Buzz Book Get the inside scoop on jobs and careers with Vault career guides. The INSEAD Buzz Book is your complete resource to jobs, careers, interviews and recruiting. |
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The INSEAD Buzz Book Welcome to the second edition of Vault's INSEAD Buzz Book. In this unique guide, we publish extended excerpts and sample admissions essays from surveys of students and alumni from INSEAD to bring you the inside scoop on its MBA program. The survey comments cover the following areas:
The guide is intended to serve as a complement to other references to business schools currently available that utilize school-reported data. Unlike those guides, Vault's Buzz Books (which also include the London Business School Buzz Book, Business School Buzz Book , Law School Buzz Book and College Buzz Book) are composed almost entirely of information provided directly to Vault from students and alumni.
We received comments from INSEAD, which we have included comments next to appropriate survey sections, offset with a different font and indented to be easily recognizable as school-provided comments. Corrections within the body of the comments are enclosed in brackets.
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Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 8/2006-7/2007
Survey Submitted: December 2007
The application form is very well-structured as a single PDF. There is some overlap in the essay questions with the HBS application. A few questions check for cultural diversity since INSEAD prides itself on being "the business school for the world."
There are typically two interviews after an initial application screen. I am told that the interviews with alumni have a larger bearing on admission decisions than other top MBAs.
The best part about the application process is that both interview and final decisions for each of the first round happen rather fast (no annoying waits like some of the U.S. programs).
Academics: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 8/2001-7/2003
Survey Submitted: May 2007
Students are assigned to groups of four each period (two months). The groups are designed for creative conflict and diversity of experience. The workload is enormous and designed to force students to leverage their groups. The quality of classes is simply amazing. The school operates a points system allowing students to bid for electives and manages the supply and demand reasonably well. The teaching method is a mixture of cases, lectures and simulations. The school has placed more emphasis on entrepreneurship in recent years and holds a business plan competition judged by venture capitalists.
Employment Prospects: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 1/1996-12/1996
Survey Submitted: December 2003
Excellent. What more can I say? All the top employers recruit heavily there, and career guidance is good. One downside about a one-year program is that you don't get the chance to do a long summer internship to find out if you really like something.
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 9/2000-6/2002
Survey Submitted: February 2004
Effective Career Management Service. Alumni have access to it, as well. The alumni network is very effective and has global presence.
Quality of Life: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 8/2002-7/2003
Survey Submitted: February 2004
INSEAD has two campuses, one in rural France (an hour south of Paris) and one in Singapore. Both offer a fantastic quality of life.
In France, you have sunshine in the summer, the chance to learn to appreciate wine, cheese and other continental Europe delicacies like chocolate. You have the chance to go skiing in winter and travel to neighboring regions and countries. Admittedly, it's a bit hard to fit in too many of these activities, but there are three breaks in the year. Only private housing is available (many students share country mansions) and it can be a bit difficult to organize remotely. Finding a nice place within walking distance of the campus is pretty difficult. The best value for money is the houses in neighboring villages. Many villages have their own INSEAD populations and these are good choices for people that like to socialize.
In Singapore, students went scuba diving, traveled to Malaysia, Cambodia, and generally had a great time. Students live in regular apartment blocks with swimming pools. The Singapore campus is much smaller than Fontainebleau (200 students vs. 600); so there is more of a family atmosphere and people get to know one another much better.
Social Life: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 8/2006-7/2007
Survey Submitted: December 2007
Social life in the France campus is one of the school's strong points. There are almost daily small parties and a weekly big one (typically themed). Because the campus is 70 km from Paris and the village offers little to do in free time (which is scarce anyhow), I felt that we bonded more than say those who attend schools in large cities.
