INSEAD
ADMITTED STUDENT PROFILE
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Copyright © 2013 by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Inc, Los Angeles, California, USA. www.StacyBlackman.com Cover design by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Inc No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. Contact Stacy Blackman Consulting at
[email protected]. ISBN-13 978-1-61755-929-7 ISBN-10 1-61755-929-6 Visit www.StacyBlackman.com/store for the latest Stacy Blackman Consulting ebooks.
DISCLAIMER: This guide is designed to assist in your MBA Admissions application, but does not guarantee admission to INSEAD.
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INTRODUCTION MBA program applications require you to present your career progress, career goals, accomplishments, and potential contributions to the program’s student community through essays, recommendations, resume and application data. Before putting fingers to keyboard, it’s a good practice to first consider who your reader will be, what the subject matter is, and your objective for the writing assignment. The answers to these three questions are fairly straightforward:
WHO IS MY READER? The Admissions Committee
WHAT IS THE SUBJECT MATTER? My attributes, strengths, achievements, and goals, which combine to form a complete picture of me
WHAT IS MY OBJECTIVE IN WRITING THESE ESSAYS? To earn an acceptance letter The next question isn’t so easy to answer:
WHAT IS THE ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE LOOKING FOR? If they only knew what the admissions officers were looking for, then they’d have a much easier time selecting essay topics and stories that will feature those relevant attributes and talents. It would be helpful if each school’s admissions committee told you exactly what they were looking for. Representatives of the program from admissions officers to current students certainly offer plenty of clues, but there is no definitive source of reference. The dean of admissions for one of the top programs responded as follows when asked what his program was looking for:
“We look for people who will contribute in a meaningful way to our community.…We don’t just look at one thing – we look at the whole picture and think about the fit.” When reviewing your application, the admissions committee is trying to determine if who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and what you hope to achieve in the future is a good fit for their institution. With this in mind, we can refine our answer to the question above about your objective for this essay writing “assignment.” Your end goal is, of course, to earn an acceptance letter, but the way you do so is to persuade the admissions committee that you fit. You must look at your strengths and achievements through the lens of the admissions officers. Your MBA application is your opportunity to communicate those strengths and provide multiple reasons to believe that you will fit in next year’s class. Based on over a decade of experience with the admissions offices of the most competitive MBA programs, we will offer some insight into what constitutes “fit” for the program being discussed. By listening carefully to the admissions officers over the years and by paying close attention to the profiles of successful applicants, we have assembled a list of the fundamental qualities and attributes that each program values. By reviewing these key attributes you can tailor your MBA application strategy to ensure that “fit” is coming through loud and clear. © 201 3 STACY B L ACKM AN CO NS ULT I N G I NC. w ww.Sta cy Bla c kman.com A LL RIG HTS RES ERV ED.
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PART ONE:
WHO is INSEAD looking for?
“We welcome applications from around the world regardless of race, religion, gender, colour or financial status. Our aim is to build an exciting, dynamic and diverse student body. – INSEAD Admissions INSEAD is known as one of the best MBA programs outside the United States. With two campuses, in France and Singapore, and a highly international approach INSEAD is a popular choice for MBA applicants. Most of the over 4,000 annual applicants to INSEAD are qualified, with above average GMAT scores and undergraduate GPAs. When INSEAD is choosing amongst a highly qualified group of candidates, who does the admissions committee actually admit? The class of 2014 had an average GMAT score of 702 with most GMAT scores in the range of 600-790. INSEAD is open to applicants with a wide range of ages and experience, with the most recent class averaging 29 years old and ranging from 23 to 36. The majority of INSEAD students are between the ages of 26 and 31. Beyond the statistics, what does it take to be INSEAD material? A “TYPICAL” INSEAD STUDENT INSEAD students have a wide range of backgrounds, yet most possess undergraduate degrees in engineering or business. Other undergrad majors include law, sciences, economics and the arts. INSEAD students are more typically from corporate and operational backgrounds than consulting and finance. Almost half of the class comes into school from industry while 25 percent are from consulting and 23 percent from banking. A typical INSEAD admit may have a background in Strategic Planning at a major European telecom firm and is entering school with six years of work experience in her field. She is likely looking to the INSEAD MBA program to enhance her ability to lead and progress in her career, without interrupting her trajectory for the full two years a US MBA would require. She was considered high potential by her prior management and additionally has a significant personal and extracurricular track record of promoting education for girls in developing countries. A “UNIQUE” INSEAD STUDENT INSEAD students arrive from all over the world. The majority of students are European, with the majority of European students from Northern and Western Europe. Another 30 percent of INSEAD students arrive from Asia, and 15 percent are from US and Canada. The remaining number in the INSEAD class hails from the Middle East and South America. A unique INSEAD student may be arriving with a background in non-profit. He was most recently working at an NGO focused on technology development and also has experience in consulting immediately after undergrad. He is pursuing an MBA at INSEAD to develop the skills to lead his own non-profit and was attracted to the opportunities for networking in Asia and Europe that INSEAD offers.
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PART TWO:
WHAT is INSEAD looking for?
“Our aim is to build an exciting, dynamic and diverse student body.” - INSEAD Admissions With representation from over 70 countries, INSEAD is a unique global program that allows MBA students to obtain a degree in ten months of study. The program has campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, with an opportunity for students to study at Wharton as part of an exchange program. The ideal INSEAD candidate has a diverse background and enough work experience to bring maturity to the group learning experience. INSEAD students are required to speak fluent English as well as one other language, infusing the culture with a global mindset. Along with a global mindset, INSEAD values flexible and creative leaders. Successful applicants hail from every kind of background and nationality, yet share the ability and desire to be global business leaders and manage across cultures and personalities. Flexibility and the ability to solve problems with a range of soft and hard skills are a necessity in this environment. Applicants to INSEAD have to be prepared to make the most of the one-year program, because the time to learn the skills you need from your MBA is limited. As the admissions committee says, “Life at INSEAD, whether inside or outside of the classroom, is stimulating and intense.” INSEAD is looking for students who know where they are going and how INSEAD will make their goals a reality. Based on over a decade of experience helping our clients garner admissions letters from INSEAD, we’ve assembled a comprehensive list of the qualities that interact and overlap and combine to form candidates who fit with the culture of INSEAD. Global Awareness
Analytical Skills
Collaborative Leadership
Self-Awareness
Maturity
Creative
Intellectual Curiosity
Entrepreneurial Mindset
An effective set of INSEAD essays will convince the admissions committee that you possess the strengths they are looking for. In the following section of the guide, we discuss these qualities in more detail so that you can decide which of your strengths to feature and what stories to tell to convince the INSEAD admissions committee that you fit at INSEAD.
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GLOBAL AWARENESS “I thought I knew what diversity was before I joined INSEAD, but once I got here, I realized I had never experienced anything like it before. INSEAD is like a small United Nations.” - INSEAD Professor With three campuses in France, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, and a popular exchange program with Wharton, INSEAD is literally a global educational experience. Approximately 70% of INSEAD students spend time studying at more than one INSEAD campus. Consequently, the admissions committee prizes an awareness and appreciation of other cultures and a demonstrated ability to connect with a diverse community of people. Candidates should emphasize concrete experiences outside their home country and highlight an ability to find common ground and form effective relationships with people different than themselves. Those applicants who can provide evidence that they not only survive, but thrive in a diverse and global environment, will be of particular interest to the admissions committee. Global awareness isn’t just a matter of fitting in during your time at INSEAD. It also relates to your past experience and future career goals. INSEAD graduates will lead in a global marketplace; so experience with the challenges of doing business globally, and a natural curiosity for learning more about other countries and cultures will be valued by the admissions committee. If possible, your career goals should not be limited to the borders of a single country. ANALYTICAL INSEAD values rigorous, data driven analysis. This approach goes beyond running models in finance class; every discipline at INSEAD is approached with a strong analytical basis. Prospective students must exhibit the ability to handle the rigorous quantitative demands of the program. Even so, the school wants to attract applicants from a variety of professional backgrounds. Those applicants who do not have academic or professional evidence of analytical aptitude will probably want to take a college-level calculus and possibly a business statistics course to prove they possess analytical prowess. Scoring in the high percentiles on the GMAT’s quant section will certainly help. Furthermore, the admissions officers will read your essays to glean your analytical approach to problem solving. In your essays, it’s critical to describe what you did but it’s equally important to share what you thought – the decision making process that provided the basis for your actions. Proving that you made the best choice generally requires some discussion of the paths you didn’t chose. Where possible, feature your ability to analyze and breakdown a complex problem, weigh the alternatives, and select the one that best achieves your objectives. By doing so, you will show the admissions committee that you have the analytical aptitude to do well at INSEAD.
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COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP “All group work and group-generated grades come from [your study group] collaboration, so it is in your interest to create an effective team dynamic as soon as possible.” - INSEAD Student When reviewing your application, the admissions committee will assess both your capacity to play on a team but also, when called upon, to lead it. INSEAD admissions officers are not only concerned with your achievements; they are also interested in the connection between those achievements and who you are, the means you used to reach the ends you achieved, and the value of your achievements to the organization or community. Leadership stories in which you’ve enriched the team and helped your teammates grow will be compelling to the INSEAD admissions committee. Since the first thing that happens at INSEAD upon arrival is assignment to a study group, your capacity for working in a fluid, dynamic team environment, taking the lead when necessary, capitalizing on the strengths of others, and handing over the reins when the time is right, are important to earning an acceptance letter from INSEAD. SELF-AWARENESS Self-awareness isn’t a quality that you demonstrate by telling a story. Rather, it has to do with how you tell the story and your ability to communicate what you learned. Being able to explain to the admissions committee why you value one accomplishment above others, what you learned from a setback, or the deeper meaning of your career goals, is evidence of self-awareness. Furthermore, the self-aware individual has insight into his or her strengths AND weaknesses. When writing your essays go beyond just rattling off the plot, “I did A, then I did B, and we accomplished C.” The admissions committee also wants to know what you were thinking and feeling, why you made a particular choice given the alternatives, what you value, and what is meaningful to you. Look for opportunities in your essays to demonstrate self-awareness. MATURITY Unlike many programs based in the United States, INSEAD likes to see applicants with a wealth of experience in your career. As you have interacted with teams and leaders, you have inevitably matured in your approach to life and career. While years in your career can naturally build maturity, the quality and extent of life experience and how you have matured, crystallized values and passion, and formulated a worldview as a result, are all more important than the years that have elapsed since you graduated from college. Maturity isn’t a matter of growing older - it’s a matter of growing wiser. The fact that the admissions committee is looking for evidence of maturity suggests that you should find opportunities to share defining moments in your life. These moments are often found in challenging experiences, sometimes in our lives outside of work. Try to balance the personal and professional, and share a portfolio of experiences that reveal your human side, not just your business persona.
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CREATIVE “We are willing to experiment and innovate; we are ready to take risks and manage the results of our actions.” - INSEAD Admissions Committee One of INSEAD’s core values is entrepreneurial spirit, and the INSEAD admissions committee seeks students who have a creative approach and flexible attitude. Creative spirit infuses the curriculum with centers like INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute, The INSEAD Innovation and Policy Initiative, The INSEAD Social Innovation Centre, The Rudolf and Valeria Maag International Centre for Entrepreneurship and The INSEAD-Wharton Center for Global Research and Education. As an applicant, demonstrating your own ability to think outside the bounds of your discipline or background, or even country of origin, will demonstrate your fit with the INSEAD creative spirit. INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY “Our participants bring to campus globally diverse backgrounds and work experience and bright and curious minds. When combined with the structure of our curriculum, it makes INSEAD an intense and magnificent learning environment.” Subramanian Rangan, Professor of Strategy and Management INSEAD INSEAD students are drawn from a diverse array of professional backgrounds, which makes for a lively discussion with many different perspectives. You will be expected to defend your opinions, while listening carefully to and respecting the opinions of your fellow classmates. Keep that in mind, whenever your essay or story relates to a situation in which teaching and learning from others was essential to success. Demonstrate that you can be persuasive but also that you can be swayed by reason. The best fit for INSEAD are applicants who are clearly well-read, have a history of demonstrated academic achievement, and who have investigated topics beyond their college majors or career paths. Also be aware that every essay is an opportunity to share your point of view, convey points, provide examples, and build your “case.” The admissions committee will be evaluating these abilities, which is why the quality of your essays is critical to proving that you are cut out for the academic environment at INSEAD.
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ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET A person who is “entrepreneurial” initiates change and creates something that has not existed before, whether it is a new product, process, or way of seeing the world. Entrepreneurially minded people know how to recognize and capture opportunity, navigate risk, and make the best decisions possible with inadequate or incomplete information. INSEAD is on the lookout for entrepreneurial qualities but does not define entrepreneurship narrowly – you need not have started a business or want to start one in the future. Rather, the school is looking for individuals who are not afraid to challenge the status quo and effect change in some way. If you are having trouble coming up with ways to feature your entrepreneurial mindset, consider a situation in which you have taken initiative versus waiting to be assigned a task. Consider times that you have stepped forward to address a long-standing problem in your organization or community, or an instance in which you volunteered for additional responsibilities outside of your job description. Early in your career your superiors may be reluctant to entrust you with major leadership responsibilities because your ability to lead is untested; therefore, candidates who have actively sought out opportunities to make an impact above and beyond the call of duty will have demonstrated the entrepreneurial mindset the admissions committee is looking for. The following is a list of entrepreneurial activities our clients have engaged in: • Revamping an outdated template or spreadsheet • Spearheading a public speaking club • Launching an organization to support an important cause • Organizing a group to facilitate learning a new language • Creating a team to raise funds to support a cause • Organizing a fund raising event • Developing a website to help job seekers from alma mater
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CONCLUSION In this guide, we have provided guidance that will help you to craft the best set of essays possible:
We have armed you with a list of the fundamental qualities and attributes that the admissions officers are looking for as they review your application, so that you can be sure to emphasize and accent these characteristics in your essays. The intention here is not to give you a cheat sheet or a list of buzzwords to paste into your essays. Rather, you should study this list closely and feature the qualities that describe you, and use your essays and stories to supply the admissions officers with convincing reasons to believe that you possess these characteristics. Most applicants are surprised by how demanding the business school application process turns out to be. The truth is that there are no shortcuts to crafting an excellent set of essays. It is helpful to keep the advice of two very experienced writers in mind while you are embroiled in the fight to pen your application magnum opus: “The first draft of anything is [expletive deleted].” – Ernest Hemingway “The best writing is rewriting.” – E.B. White, author of The Elements of Style Hemingway’s words are a reminder that after all the soul searching, brainstorming, and navel gazing, you must eventually sit down and write something. If you set your expectations that the first draft you write will probably be absolutely terrible, then the pressure is off. Some candidates read examples of “successful” essays and become so intimidated that they become terrified about facing the blank page and wait around hoping that the perfect essay will somehow spring from their finger tips. They procrastinate, waiting for inspiration that never arrives. Budget plenty of time for the process of writing, rewriting, and more rewriting. The essay process is a marathon, and trying to sprint a few weeks from the deadline will usually not work well.
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HERE ARE A FEW FINAL TIPS: • Make sure that the question asked is being answered – no more, no less. • Take advantage of all the essay questions on an application. An essay cannot be evaluated in isolation. How the application essays work together to provide a holistic view of you is critical. • “Why you made a choice” and “what you learned” from an experience are just as important (perhaps more important) as “what you did.” • Show personality and be a little daring – but within reason. Use judgment here, and if you are questioning a particular story too much, it is probably best to omit. • You can’t tell them everything; so tell the admissions officers the most important things. We believe that if approached correctly, this can be a fun and enlightening experience. Of course, if you feel you need more inspiration, guidance, and advice, we will be happy to match you with one of our experienced application strategy consultants. Learn more about the editorial and comprehensive business school admission consulting services we offer at www.StacyBlackman.com.
BEST OF LUCK!
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ABOUT STACY BLACKMAN CONSULTING Stacy Blackman Consulting's mission is to help our clients achieve their most ambitious educational and professional goals by making the MBA application process less stressful and more successful. Since 2001, we have helped hundreds of candidates with their applications to top business schools; our clients have been admitted to every top MBA program worldwide. Stacy Blackman Consulting offers Comprehensive, Hourly and Editing services. Services may include: • School selection • Strategy development • Assistance with essay writing: coaching, review and feedback • Interview coaching • Planning for school visits • Reference selection, preparation and editing • Developing resumes • Review of data forms • Wait list and deferral strategy • Assistance with extracurricular involvements • Coordinating school communications In addition to our consulting services and our online essay, interview and application basics guides, we have published a book on the MBA admissions process entitled The MBA Application Roadmap. To learn more about our services and resources, or to schedule a free consultation, visit our website (www.StacyBlackman.com).
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