INSEAD MBA申请经历分享zt

catmice

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am an American citizen who grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia from age 4 to 9. Before and after that, I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I went to an all-girls high school before continuing my undergraduate education at University of Southern California where I graduated with a finance and international business major at the Marshall School of Business at USC. Then, I took a gap year (which I may explain sometime later) before starting work in Hong Kong at a French bank that was recently bought by a Chinese SOE.

At this bank, I was working as a research associate—first focusing in Hong Kong conglomerates, then Hong Kong & Macau consumer and gaming stocks, and finally regional small cap stocks (which is essentially any stock that has less than US$1-billion market cap). While I was working for a certain team, I was getting frustrated at my teammates and to an extent my boss.


That was when I decided I would apply to INSEAD for real. I have been attending the information sessions for the past three years before I got accepted, and my biggest fear was honestly, getting rejected.

catmice

Applying to INSEAD

First, I took my GMAT right out of college because I knew my brain would still be able to take tests then. Whether I decided to apply for my MBA or not, at least I would have the GMAT score out of the way.

Second, I was very worried about writing my essay. I asked a lot of my friends and colleagues to help me read my essays and comment on them, and they were all very supportive and critical of every sentence so I highly appreciated that. I also hired a tutor to do a final proofread of my essays, which I think was a waste of money because these tutors didn’t know me well enough.

Third, I did my research. I met with INSEAD alumni for coffee and asked for their advice. One of the pieces of advice I received was to visit the campus, because it would allow me to realize whether INSEAD was a fit for me, and vice versa. I visited INSEAD using one leave day from work on a Friday, and I had already submitted my application during the first round. I came only a few days before the deadline, but it was worth the visit.

catmice

The Interview

Eventually, I was given two interviews. I find interviews to be very much like acting class—specifically, improvisation. You never know what type of characters you will get to act with, which can be fun but nerve-wracking.

My first interviewer was a senior lady working at a bank, and she was very stern and intimidating. I think she was testing me. I was engaged at the time, and I wore my engagement ring, which I actually lost during the interview. I was so nervous because when I felt my ring, the diamond was missing from my ring setting! When she asked me the first question, “Walk me through your resume” I was not able to speak. But in that split second, I decided, “You know what? I will finish this interview and backtrack my way to find the diamond.”

During the interview, she mentioned she was engaged but she broke off her engagement because she met another MBA student whom she is now married to. She, again, said, you know 50% of MBA students with partners end up not working out. The only thing I could think to say (which I probably should not have said) was: Oh I think I’m pretty confident with my relationship with my fiancé. And she said, oh no I’m not doubting you, I’m just letting you know you should be more open. I just thought, what? But anyway, I finished the interview, and as I looked down under the table, I saw my diamond, which I quickly picked up and zipped in the side pocket of my purse.

The second interviewer was so much better in my opinion because he was working at a pharmaceutical company and was a lot younger than my first interviewer. He was very easy going and knew a lot about me already. He was asking questions like, why do you want to leave finance when everyone who goes to an MBA wants to get into finance? I said I had been there, done that, and basically I wanted to eventually be an entrepreneur, and INSEAD had a great program for that, and I thought taking it one step at a time, working corporate first, then eventually learning all the ins and outs of the company before starting my own. He was very honest as well; he said interviews did not make or break the decision—this is the admissions’ committee’s way of getting alumni involved, by giving feedback on whether a candidate was someone they could work with at school or not. And he said I was more than qualified and wished me the best of luck.

I have an inkling he was the reason that I got into INSEAD, but I think the lady also liked me; she was just testing me with her tricky questions!

catmice

The Call

As I was walking to my usual barre class in Hong Kong, I got a phone call from a European number, and it turned out to be from INSEAD. They had just finished reviewing the first round of applicants and wanted to congratulate me for my acceptance into INSEAD.

I was so excited and happy that I could not contain my voice. It was not official or anything, the admissions committee just wanted to say congratulations and I was shocked that they would call me to do that.

A few weeks passed by and I got an email saying that my GMAT score had not been sent in. It dawned on me that I did not ask GMAT to send in my score, nor did I ask USC to send in my transcript! I only sent them the photocopies. I immediately went online to send my transcript online, but GMAT was a bit trickier. I only had a few days to send in my GMAT score, and they take forever to send in the GMAT score. So, I called the Fontainebleau office many times and they said I just needed to send them the original copy of the GMAT score I received four years ago when I took the exam, but it was all the way in LA and I was living in Hong Kong. So I rushed to call my mom and dad in LA to help me get the official GMAT score in my drawer and have them send it in immediately. The US post office was closing because there was a long weekend holiday and it was just so hectic. But my dad was able to send it in literally a minute before 4pm when they closed, and he rushed it all the way to Fontainebleau so that I was guaranteed my spot at INSEAD.

Talk about a stressful day!

Anyway, the GMAT score eventually reached the admissions office, and all is well because here I am at INSEAD.

catmice

What happened after I quit my job

Prior to quitting my job, I had taken a day of leave to act in a movie that my friend produced called Always. I had a very small role in that movie, so it only took me one weekend and one work day to film my sections.

I quit my job after getting my bonus, which is in April in my case. I took a week to train myself to be a BarreAmped Certified teacher. I realized Barre was something I could potentially bring to Singapore.

I continued to teach at Barre2Barre in Hong Kong, and then organized two pop-up BarreAmped sessions in Singapore, which turned out to be a success! We were fully booked and even had waitlists on the two events. This is when my brain started turning and realized I wanted to bring Barre2Barre to Singapore. It’s still a work in progress because now that I am doing my MBA, it will be difficult for me the teach and manage the BarreAmped studio while going to school.

catmice

First week of school

My first day of school was during Orientation Day on Sunday, August 23rd. Everything happened so fast!

It was a lot of, “HI! My name is Jessica, I was born and raised in LA but I grew up in Jakarta for 5 years and worked in Hong Kong the past four years. How about you?”

We were all at school from 8:30am to 7pm every day, and the whole week was packed full of exemption exams, language evaluation tests, career development meetings, laptop configurations, social club reception, and my favorite: the SPLASH Project!

The SPLASH Project was an amazing experience; I really wish I took more part in it (if not for the social club events) because it was a lot of team work that really made an impact in the lives of children who were once in abusive families. We created this amazing bike path with our bare hands. I was in charge of painting, and even though it was probably the easiest job out of everyone else’s, I ended up getting a blister from painting so much. Ouch.

Real schoolwork started after Splash with classes starting at 8:30 AM everyday. It was tough—three hour classes and 15-minute breaks in between classes. And I would like to point out that the teachers are extremely strict with promptness. If you are on time for class—as in walking in at 8:30—you are not allowed to even attend class and the teacher will mark you absent! (And you are only allowed to miss class thrice; otherwise you fail right away.) Given that I live very far from school (I live with my in-laws 30 minutes away by bus & MRT, and 45 minutes by taxi), it makes it more difficult for me to be social with the class. But for some reason, I was given the responsibility of a social rep. My point is, anything is possible! I’m going to make the most out of my INSEAD experience, and I will keep you all updated with my experience here.

ljy1902

谢谢分享

liushiyusha

thanks for sharing

欧罗巴

thanks for your tips

redbus

thanks for sharing