About INSEAD

“The Business School for the World” is how INSEAD positions itself, and it lives up to the promise with on average 80+ nationalities its MBA program, and an equally diverse faculty and alumni network. International diversity has been part of the school’s DNA since its inception (1957), when it pioneered the one-year MBA. Today the school has the largest MBA program in the world, with more than 1,000 students per year, spread across two intakes (one class starts in January and another in September) and across two campuses (Fontainebleau, a small town 70km from Paris, and Singapore). MBAs also have the option of taking electives on the school’s Abu Dhabi campus, and in exchange visits to top US schools. The school is also proud of providing an international platform for recruitment, with graduates taking up positions in over 50 countries around the world each year.

The program is very much a general management degree, but has a strong menu of elective offerings, enabling students to deepen their knowledge in a wide range of areas. Entrepreneurship is a particularly popular academic area, with on average 80% of students taking at least one entrepreneurship elective and on average 5% starting an entrepreneurial venture upon graduation. INSEAD has also strengthened their programme focus on sustainability where they offer 14 core curriculum courses in sustainability and promote themselves as leading the way in sustainable and socially responsible business education as a “force for good”.

Strengths and Specializations

General management, finance, strategy, impact investing, energy, sustainability, and entrepreneurship including family business with their Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise

Graduating Classes of 2023

MBA Class Size: 875

Avg. Age: 29

Avg. GMAT: 710

International Students: 95%

Female Students: 36%

Tuition: €103,500

Post-MBA Careers

Career Sectors: Consulting 61%; Corporate Sectors 16%; Technology, Media & Telecommunications 9%; Finance 14%; Starting Own Business 4%

Top Recruiters: McKinsey, BCG, Bain & Co., Amazon, Eli Lily, Strategy&, Accenture, Kearney, Roland Berger, EY-Parthenon, Oliver Wyman, Samsung, Alix Partners, Alvarez & Marsal, Amphenol, Morgan Stanley, Restaurant Brands International

Avg. Base salary: €113,400; Salary Increase: 110% (source: FT Rankings 2024)

Employment offered within 3 months of graduation: 88%

INSEAD Rankings

Admissions

August 2024 intake Deadlines (class of July 2025)

	Deadline for complete application	Interview decision notification	Final decision notification
ROUND 1	12 September 2023	13 October 2023	17 November 2023
ROUND 2	07 November 2023	08 December 2023	12 January 2024
ROUND 3	16 January 2024	16 February 2024	22 March 2024
ROUND 4	05 March 2024	05 April 2024	10 May 2024

January 2025 intake Deadlines (class of December 2025)

	Deadline for complete application	Interview decision notification	Final decision notification
ROUND 1	12 March 2024	12 April 2024	17 May 2024
ROUND 2	23 April 2024	24 May 2024	05 July 2024
ROUND 3	18 June 2024	19 July 2024	23 August 2024
ROUND 4	06 August 2024	06 September 2024	11 October 2024

Essays

Career Questions:

1. Briefly summarise 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 word limit)

2. What would be your next step in terms of position if you were to remain in the same company? (200 word limit)

3. Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. Describe your career path with the rationale behind your choices. (300 word limit)

4. Discuss your short and long term career aspirations with or without an MBA from INSEAD. (100 word limit)

(Optional) If you are currently not working or if you plan to leave your current employer more than 2 months before the programme starts, please explain your activities and occupations between leaving your job and the start of the programme.

Motivation Essays:

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. (500 word limit)

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. (400 word limit)

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, politics, etc). How are you enriched by these activities? (300 word limit)

(Optional) Is there anything that you have not mentioned in your application that you would like the Admissions Committee to know? (300 word limit) This section is optional.

Video Essays:

After submitting the INSEAD MBA application, applicants will receive a link to a video interview. This component is mandatory in order for one’s application to be considered complete. You have one week after the relevant application deadline for the completion of the video portion.

Note from the INSEAD admissions committee: “We are keen on getting to know you better and believe that through a video you can come to life, so be spontaneous, be creative and be yourself! We look forward to virtually meeting you!”