INSEAD MBA 2009-2010年面试汇总

sisi100

申请了insead  2011年1月入学，刚结束了两轮的面试。总体上感觉INSEAD校友非常友善，总结一下，希望会对大家有用：
R1:
时间：5月10日
地点：新加坡
面试官：02’校友，中国人
时间：40分钟；
面试问题：
·        Why MBA / Why INSEAD;
·        另外就没有什么特别的问题了，一直围绕简历上的一些细节问了很久；没有问一些很程序化的问题。感觉很随意。更主要的是跟我分享了很多INSEAD学校的生活。比如作为学生，一定要懂得makefun，不然其他学生不会喜欢你滴。。。最后送我至电梯口，并祝我好运。

R2
时间：5月17
地点：新加坡
面试官：05’校友，意大利人
时间：90分钟（讲地我那个口干舌燥啊）
面试问题：
·        Walk me through your resume; why University? WhyMaster? Why company 1? Why company 2? Why company 3? （本人有一个Master,还在三间公司工作过）
·        Why MBA? / Why Now? / Why INSEAD?
·        Does your company support your MBA initiative?Have you think thoroughly about the ROI of MBA? How do you fund your MBA?
·        Short /long term career goal? Why career goal?
·        What would make your goal likely to fail or succeed?
·        How do you think of your current company?
·        If I am a client, how do you sell yourconsulting service to me? (俺是做consulting的)
·        An experience of cultural shock?
·        The most challenging part of working in a team?How do you reconcile conflicts in the team environment?
·        Your former interactions with INSEAD? Use threewords to describe the INSEAD alumni? Why do you think so? Do thesecharacteristics differentiate INSEAD from other schools?
·        Have you applied other schools? (interestingly,the interviewer did not ask why other schools…)
·        Your extra-curricular activities? Why theseactivities? (汗一个，喜欢就是喜欢啊。。。后来一琢磨，他其实在问，你有没有利用一些课外活动进行社交)
·        If you do not proceed with MBA, what would youdo in your career? (这个有点晕，开始还以为他问ifyou were not admitted into INSEAD…)
·        Use one word to describe your passion?
·        Recently, what news captured your attentions?Why?
·        Do you have any questions for me?

·        这位insead 校友非常严谨啊，时不时还跟我来两段逻辑推理，凡事必定会问why。我那个口干舌燥啊，不过最让我感动地是这个校友写了满满4页多。没有听清楚的，必定会继续问，直到完全问清楚为止。面试完了之后，他说自己也没有意识到会聊这么久；还说通常他不会聊这么久的。最后祝我申请好运。
最后祝大家都能种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆，申请到自己心仪的学校。

http://forum.topway.org/redirect ... o=lastpost#lastpost

s

辛苦

myice

INSEAD MBA面试--北京

拿到pre selected的邮件之后三周才拿到两个面试人的联系方式， 还能再慢一点吗……等死了。 两个面试人倒是都很奈斯的想要把面试尽早的做完交报告到学校。 我28号发了一个邮件给两位校友， 第二天早上就接到了其中一位法国校友的回复，约好在3号面试。

法国校友是在一个德国的做高铁的公司工作，约好在办公室面试。 话说那天我装着西装衬衣皮鞋人模狗样的去校友办公室面试了， 那天的办公室里空空荡荡没有一个人工作， 就校友在那儿，穿着拖鞋T恤， 对比之下我很overdressed的样子，汗。 校友一进们就开始说让我别紧张， 说校友面试就是看看大家气场和学校合不合， 还一个劲的自己调侃法国人如何如何， 其实我开始还有点紧张，但是一看到拖鞋真就一点都不紧张了……

校友自己先自我介绍了一番， 然后让我自我介绍， 我说我是长沙来的， 还让我到办公室里面的大地图上指出长沙，然后很自豪的告诉我他们在长沙也有办事处。 接下来就是拿着他打印出来的申请材料短文一点点的问。 问我大学为什么不去上海读而要去北京读？问我接下来为什么想到去日本读研究生？然后毕业后为什么不在日本留下来工作？觉得日本人怎么样？和中国人有什么区别？为什么想去挪威工作？在挪威的娱乐活动是什么？最不喜欢和哪国人一起工作？为什么最不喜欢的那国人 不是法国人？（我汗！）工作的具体内容是什么？我们公司是做什么事情的？我的具体职责是什么？然后看着短文让我重新口述了一遍自己的那个失败和成功的经历。 然后说到其中的email来来往往， 说他也很受不了这种讨论技术细节的email，总是没完没了浪费很多时间。为什么想读mba？还申请了什么学校？这样来来去去，加上闲聊就过去了一个半钟头， 然后校友留了半个钟头给我提问。

其实我还没有提问， 校友就又问我， 我看你这个上面写的是去枫丹白露， 为什么不去新加坡呢？我说是因为我和老婆去枫丹白露的校区看了， 老婆很喜欢那种法国的乡村生活的感觉， 那我当然就听老婆的话填了枫丹白露了。 然后校友开始花大力气说新加坡校园的各种好处， 比如校园小人少，同学之间的感觉和关系更加亲密之类的。 然后说了一个最重要的理由就是法国大家住的很远， 开party的时候大家都要开车开个十几二十公里， 然后没有车还要拼车很麻烦， 最麻烦的是喝了酒还不能开车。 但是新加坡都不同， 大家都住在相聚很近的两个公寓里， 喝醉了酒可以直接走回家， 如果真不能走了， 被抬这回家也很容易的……说得我真是想去新加坡校区了！当然最好还是给我机会问问题， 我问了问这段学习经历对他的影响。他说现在在工业界的公司里面， 其实这个学位并不象在咨询界里面那么的被value，然后回忆了一下自己这些年的经历。

于是面试就结束了， 总共两个小时， 临走的时候还跟我说， 不管你录取不录取到时候有结果了给我发个邮件告诉我一声把， 我说一定一定！

第二个面试的校友是一个在金融业工作的中国同胞， 他在我面完法国校友的第二天也就是5月4号青年节给我打了电话， 说是房价的时候没有看邮件，今天才看到。 也是非常奈斯的想要把面试尽早做完，问我什么时候有空， 我说我还在吃饭呢， 吃完饭就有空了。 校友说那好， 吃完饭就来我办公室面试吧。 于是我两点钟就出现在他的办公室了， 当时由于从宾馆退了房，还拖着我的拉杆箱就到了校友的办公室。不过真是喜欢这样快速的搞定！

到了之后校友先自我介绍了一下， 然后让我用英语在白板上画画公司的组织结构图， 让我介绍自己的工作内容， 职业发展， 以及为什么不想工作了想读mba。 我说其实最主要的原因还是这个工作总是需要我离开陆地到海上去， 我受得了我老婆也受不了。 校友表示说是啊，家庭还是最重要的。 介绍了大概半个小时之后，  校友就说我们还是用中文聊吧。

于是开始聊天了， 校友问我喜欢看什么书， 最近看了什么书？于是我就开始说我最近一年来看过的书， 聊到了其中的一本是黄仁宇的长沙白茉莉，然后校友也喜欢看黄仁宇的书和历史方面的书。 我介绍并且推荐了一下长沙白茉莉（我和黄仁宇都是长沙人嘛）， 并说这是黄的唯一一个小说， 校友说不是的， 黄有两个小说， 长沙白茉莉是其中一本，他没有看过， 不过另外一本他看过，是叫汴京残梦，是看着一个清明上河图写出来的故事…… 然后还聊到了其他的书。 后来又问到了我来北京玩什么， 喜欢和什么人玩， 因为校友以前读过phd， 所以还聊到了学术圈，最近我在玩twitter， 于是我还介绍了一下twitter圈， 因为感觉两个圈子还是有共同的地方。 这样不知不觉就聊到了四点，于是校友说留些时间给我问问题。

我也问了和上一个校友一样的问题， 他说其实很多东西还是看运气的， 比如如果毕业的时候遇到经济危机， 很可能就很不好找工作，而平时都是很轻松的一个人可以拿两三个像样的offer的。 然后同样的也说到了法国和新加坡校区的区别， 同样是推荐去新加坡校区。 然后还推荐了CFA的一级notes，说这个在上学前看看对没有任何财会经验的人会很有帮助， 让一年的学习能轻松不少。 最后也是让我通知他最后的结果是怎么样的。 还问我本来是申请九月的为什么到一月了， 我说主要是开始没有考托福， 后来又要我考， 我运气很好的正好打了105分， 于是就有了现在这个面试…… 校友倒是觉得这个是因祸得福， 因为他觉得一月份的有个实习，比九月份的要好。 最后还说之所以觉得一月份好其实主要还是因为自己也是一月份入学的，哈哈。

于是两个面试都结束了。 面试还是蛮有意思的， 是整个申请过程中最有意思的过程， 而且和这样的愿意分享的校友聊了这么久的天， 确实也学到了不少东西。 接下来我也什么都做不了啦， 就等吧～～

s

辛苦楼主了

sisi100

Round 1 / January 2010 Intake / 2nd Interview/ Off-Campus / Alumni / First shared by OutOfMyJeans (Published June 16th, 2009)

My 2nd interview was 2 days after my first one, which was incidentally on a Wednesday. This didn’t really leave me with too much time to ruminate over my bizarre 1st interview. I decided not to prepare for this one and instead go in with a relaxed attitude.

The 2nd interview was at a coffee joint at 10 AM. I had taken a half-day leave from office that day. My interviewer this time was the Marketing Director of a well-known technology company.

He arrived in a t-shirt and jeans (this is why I said suits are overkill) and his demeanor in general was extremely easy-going. For lack of a better word, I’m going to call his approach soothing. He was extremely well-spoken, polite and immediately put me at ease. We started off with my background and he asked questions whenever appropriate and had some very nice comments about my varied non-professional experience. We then spoke about my professional experience and my reasons for changing jobs and the kind of responsibilities I handle.

He then had some situational questions for me. I list them here for everyone’s consumption:

When you’re in a gathering, what attracts your attention first?
What makes you extremely angry/ passionate?
What is your style of negotiation?
How do you deal with a person who’s determined not to listen to you even though he/ she knows you are right?
How do you deal with a boss who is not as smart as you?
Additionally, he also had the usual INSEAD questions of why now, why MBA and why INSEAD. He was particularly pleased with me when I told him that one of my biggest motivations in joining INSEAD was to actually experience different viewpoints because I believe that different cultures breed different thought processes.

We spoke for nearly an hour-and-half and then he concluded the interview.

sisi100

Round 1 / January 2010 intake / 1st interview / Off-Campus / Alumni (Published June 29th, 2009)

The interview took place in a Parisian “Café” with an alumnus. The date and place were agreed via email exchanges. Both of us were right on time and we sat at a quiet table. She apparently had read my complete application form, including my essays, which I had decided to send to her. Indeed, I was convinced my essays were strong and since she was willing to have them (although you are not obliged as per INSEAD’s intructions) this could only help strengthen her perception of the quality of my application. The interview, from beginning to end, was conducted in French. It was a quite formal interview and I at least managed to order her a coffee.

Some of the interview questions are listed below. What I can remember is that most of the questions were rather personal and we almost didn’t cover my career or current job. - Speak about yourself, what has been your life so far? - Why an MBA now, - Why INSEAD, - In your essays, you mention you’re passionate about everything you do, describe some of those passions and what drives you - You mentioned an interest for the Energy sector and your motivation to tackle climate change. What do you do in your day to day life to address climate change? Are you engaged in any not-for-profit organisation? - You work in the cellular telecommunication systems. How, as a father, are you dealing with the health hazards coming from radio emissions? - You are a musician; tell me about you and music. How long have you attended lessons, what level have you reached? Do you still play?

This lasted for about an hour. Then she told me she had covered all her questions and was open to answer any of my questions. I had prepared and printed a fair list of questions, since I wanted to demonstrate my motivation to join this MBA and to show I had done my homework. I could engage discussion on some of the famous faculty members such as Chan Kim. I could also speak about business or political leaders that had come on the campus. We spent some time on the accommodation aspects where she described me all the possible options and strategies for INSEAD students in Fontainebleau. I felt this part was more informal and we were both more relaxed. I was much more at ease than during the first part during which I had to answer many unexpected questions for which I had no prepared answers.

But she seemed pleased and at the end she concluded she would support my application 100%. The interview had last for about 2 hours.

Later, when I shared with her the news that I was admitted, she sent a very nice email, saying she was really happy for me. I found the message really sincere.

sisi100

Round 1 / January 2010 intake / 2nd interview / Off-Campus / Alumni (Published June 29th, 2009)

The interview took place at the alumnus’ office in Paris. We had an appointment in the morning and I arrived slightly ahead of schedule. To arrange this appointment, we had exchanged emails and finally phone calls. The interview started on time.

I had done my research on the WEB and find out that he was a partner at a big consultancy firm, responsible for the practice on energy sector. I therefore had prepared myself intensively, meeting with friends who were working in this sector to polish my knowhow on this topic, since I had mentioned in my application form that I wanted to move to this sector after graduation. Interestingly enough, he didn’t want me to send him my essays, saying this was private information and that he would only look at the profile and CV part. As a result, the interview was very much like a job interview.

Some of the interview questions are listed below (this part in English): - Walk me through your resume - Why an MBA - Why now - Why INSEAD

This lasted for about half an hour and then it was my turn to ask questions. This second part was conducted in French. As for interview 1, I had come with my printed list of questions and this was a good basis for further discussion. We discussed about various topics such as life at INSEAD, his job, the energy sector and this was the opportunity to use what I had learnt: I could pitch the Stern report about climate change, the Mc Kinsey report about energy productivity and some other points.

Overall the interview lasted for about 1,5 hours and at the end, I decided to wrap-up as I had the feeling it could last even longer but I didn’t want to take too much of his time. It seemed for him the right time to break as well as he told me that, as I might have felt, he would recommend me.

As for interview 1, I shared the decision with him and he also replied quickly with very kind words.

sisi100

Round 1 / January 2010 intake / 2nd interview / Off-campus (Published July 28th, 2009)

This interview took place in a coffee shop towards the end of the day, and was the same day as my first interview. I had deliberately scheduled both interviews as late as possible during the interview period to maximise my preparation time. (I was fortunate that there was an information session for my city during the period so I could use it as a reason to postpone the interviews, as otherwise both interviewers would have been happy to interview me with only a few days notice.)

I felt the first interview went very well and felt confident I would perform in the second interview. My interviewer arrived early (about the same time I did). The first question he asked me was: "Why INSEAD." My response was: "Many reasons…" and he interrupted to ask: "Yeah, like what?". The tone of the interview was much more abrupt and direct than the first interview. Again, this interviewer used to work in consulting (my post-MBA goal). When we discussed my post-MBA goals in detail (incl. geographical region), he floored me by insisting that the companies I was interested in working for had no offices/presence in the regions I wanted to work in. While I knew this to be false (having done my research), I did concede that perhaps I may have been mistaken. However, after my interview, I sent him an email thanking him for his time, as well as pointing out which specific offices existed in my preferred region for work.

This interviewer asked me only a handful of questions - Why INSEAD, which campus and why, describe a time you failed, post-MBA goals. He then asked me to ask him questions, which surprised me because he had asked me so few. I was particularly concerned as he didn't allow me to put forward a lot of the material I had prepared to standard questions and I was worried he was the type to make up his mind in 10min whether I was a good candidate or not. However, I spent 40min probing him with questions (although I could have handled it better in hindsight by linking it with some of my answers).

The interview went for just over an hour. The experience was incredibly draining as I felt he was very combative - the opposite of what I have read about on various forums. I was convinced that I had performed poorly, although after the admission decision (admitted), he gave me feedback that I had managed fine and he was being deliberately difficult. It was also interesting that I felt very confident going into this interview, while he thought I appeared extremely nervous - probably as a result of how aggressive his questioning was. I am very pleased with the result, but believe that he could have come to the same decision without being so aggressive.

sisi100

Round 1 / January 2010 intake / 1st interview / Off-campus (Published July 28th, 2009)

The interview took place in the office. I had sent the interviewer my entire application (it is possible to send just the first 6 pages, but I wasn't able to split the pdf file) to review beforehand. The interview was organised via email and telephone.

I would advise researching your interviewer if possible (via sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook etc.) as it is quite rare that no information can be found. Also, it seems as though INSEAD tries to pair you with interviewers from a similar background to your chosen post-MBA path (although it may just be that a high number of consultants attend the school). This interviewer had spent many years working in consulting before moving to industry. I was quite fortunate as his industry and my current profession are tangentially linked so we were able to establish good rapport pretty early in the interview.

The interview itself was quite relaxed, I was very nervous but he put me at ease very quickly. The questions covered the usual suspects (why MBA, why INSEAD, etc.) and there was a fair bit of probing. For example, in a question about your post-MBA goals it's pretty important to be able to highlight why you have those goals, and link them to how INSEAD is going to help you achieve them. The interviewer was very comfortable about probing me for further detail so it's important to be well prepared.

The interviewer's style was very conversational and I was pretty relaxed, which is great, but also potentially a pitfall as you may not be as sharp. Having said that, I felt confident in my preparation and my answers and there was nothing out of left-field. I was reassured by his responses to my answers, which were along the lines of: "yes that makes sense" and "I agree with your logic". The interviewer also asked me where else I had applied (as well as how I had progressed) and I was fortunate enough to be in a position to let him know that I had already been accepted by one school, waitlisted by another and interviewing for 2 others. I think this also helped him decide how valuable I was as an applicant.

Towards the end of the interview, I had the opportunity to ask questions. Questions to the interviewer can be tricky, and I chose to focus on his experience of the school, linking it in with my own research. I was also able to highlight the fact that I was visiting the Singapore campus the week after my interview and I think this was met with favourably.

The interview lasted about 1.5hrs and I left feeling confident that I had performed well (and relatively comfortable that he would recommend me). I sent a follow-up email to thank him for the interview and he responded that he would be happy to answer any further questions. I received the admission decision a couple of weeks later (admitted) and let him know, whereupon he sent me a congratulatory email.

sisi100

Round 2 / September 2010 intake / 1st and 2nd interviews / Alumni / Off-campus (Published March 5th, 2010)

I received the interview notification on the final night of the deadline (INSEAD is notorious) for sending out bulk of the notifications on the final day (or night depending on your location, i was in US). The MBA Admissions Coordinator, who was a really nice and thoughtful lady helped me setup the interview. I received contacts of two alumnus both of whom were working / had worked in the field I was interested in (Alternative Energy / Entrepreneurship). Here I must mention that INSEAD alumni is very impressive and very diverse. One of the assigned interviewer did Law from Stanford after completing his MBA from INSEAD and is not a partner in a major law firm. The other is pursioung his passion for environment and pursuing a degree from YALE. I have to reschedule one of the interviews to India, due to a family emergency and the Ad Com was very supportive and helpful in rescheduling the interview to India.

Well without any further ado, I will get into details of the interview. First some helpful tips:

Prepared to be grilled. Unlike other schools INSEAD choses alumni who have deep experience in your chosen area. Thats why they take upto 10 days to find the right alumni. Therefore its important that you do your homework.
Be global and local at the same time. Know the minutest details and be ready to talk about business problems at a global scale.
Relax and be ready for a conversational interview - you get to drive the discussion as much as the interviewer, but do not overreach
Read your application and resume a 100 times. Read all you can about your chosen area of study and be ready to defend why that area of study.
INSEAD alumni are busy ppl. Expect time delays in email response / difficulties in getting time on their calendars.
Now to the questions:

Why MBA? Why second MBA (I already had an MBA from a school in India)
Walk me through your resume? Why did I join my current company? Why US, SIngapore and India?
Why entrepreneurship - do you think INSEAD will make an entrepreneur out of you? (Really grilled me here, because as we all know 10 months donot maketh an entrepreneur - I defended by saying that I need alumni network, mindset and skills in all sorts of areas - that I am more likely to succeed with an MBA from an international school like INSEAD than not doing an MBA)
Detailed questions on energy - alternate enrergy, my proposed venture - its business model, how to raise capital, whats the market segment I am looking at, how much energy, what kind of source for energy (basically my interviewer was totally into it)
Questions about my family? Is my wife ready to move from US to France? (I talked about how we love to travel and have travelled to all over the world and moving to France will be an excellent opportunity. The alumnus also talked about his family, which I thought was nice to break the ice and make me conformable when the interview got a little too hot.)
General conversation about healthcare, India, US, differences (Here I talked about my international experiences - which I think is a big draw for INSEAD)
Any questions (I asked about his career progression after INSEAD, the INSEAD difference what did he gain from INSEAD)
I shamelessly asked for feedback on the interview !!! At first the alumnus was diplomatic and said there is no good or bad interview but he finally said that he was very hopeful for me.
Although I have extracted questions here, I must mention that the entire interview was very conversational. We were sharing opinions about alternate energy, socialing vs capitalism, US vs Europe vs Asia.

The other interview was very casual and lasted for just 5 minutes. The interviewer told as me:

Walk me through the resume
Why INSEAD? (Why not some other school like MIT or Kennedy School if I want to work in Alternate Energy) - I responded by saying that Energy is not a technology but an economic problem.
The interviewer asked about my background - extra curricular.
Within 5 minutes she said that she would definitely recommend me.
So the good cop bad cope theory for INSEAD still holds true in 2010.

Status: Accepted.