INSEAD candidates must respond to two career-focused queries and provide three motivation essays. In addition, applicants are tasked with completing a video component in which they answer four questions—the first three as separate video recordings and the fourth requiring a written answer. Given the total number of prompts, tasks, and questions involved, some candidates could find INSEAD’s essay gauntlet a bit intimidating and likely arduous as well. Read on for our full analysis, which we hope will make the process a little easier to manage.
Table of Contents
Job Description 1
Provide a summary of your career since graduating from university, explaining the rationale behind your key decisions and career progression. Include a description of your current (or most recent) role, covering the scope of your work, major responsibilities, employees under your supervision, budget size, clients/products, and any notable results achieved. (500 words maximum)
Job Description 2
Describe your short and long-term career aspirations, including your target geography, industry, and function. How do you plan to bridge the gap between your current position and these goals, and how will INSEAD help you achieve them? (300 words)
With these two job-related mini essays, INSEAD wants to understand your career to date, with an emphasis on your current (or most recent) role, as well as your reasons for seeking an INSEAD MBA. The first prompt demands that you detail the various stages of your career. Make sure to respond to the “rationale” aspect of the query. The school wants to know that your progression has not been passive, with you simply accepting the next good thing to come along, but rather that you have made thoughtful decisions with clear motivations and intentions behind them. Thanks to the ample word count, you should have sufficient space with which to explain or clarify why accepting each new role made sense for you.
The latter part of the first question requests that you detail your current (or most recent) role, outlining six key aspects of the position (scope, responsibilities, employees under supervision, budget, clients/products, and notable results). Make sure to address each element; do not skip any just because you would rather write more about some than others. You might also provide a very brief description of your company or industry, if the nature of either might not be readily clear to an admissions reader. This is your chance to highlight the most impressive aspects of your company and your role within it, but you must be able to support your claims with facts. Avoid using any acronyms or abbreviations that would not be easily recognizable to most people. Using shortcuts (in the form of abbreviations/acronyms) and skipping basic contextual information could make your answer less understandable and therefore less compelling and useful to an admissions reader, so do yourself a favor by depicting your situation as clearly as possible.
The second prompt asks you to discuss your professional goals and why you need the INSEAD MBA program to reach them. So, thoroughly research the school to identify specific resources it offers that relate directly to the skills and experiences you need to be successful in your career. Above all, be sure to show determination and direction, indicating that you are focused firmly on your intended end points and will not be easily deterred. This question covers several elements of a traditional personal statement, so we suggest downloading a free copy of our mbaMission Personal Statement Guide. In this complimentary publication, we provide a detailed discussion of how to approach such queries and craft effective responses, along with multiple illustrative examples.
Motivation Essay 1
Give a candid description of yourself as a person and a leader, emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses you recognize in yourself. Explain how you are actively working on your development, sharing key experiences that have shaped you, providing specific examples where relevant. (500 words)
This prompt asks you to focus on your strengths and weaknesses as both a leader and an individual. This is the most open-ended of INSEAD’s questions and, as such, might require you to do the most brainstorming to create a sincere and compelling response. Be sure to explore all the different areas of your life: personal, community, and professional. You could even consider discussing your initial ideas with others who know you well (ideally, with individuals who have witnessed your leadership). As always, do not try to tell the committee what you think it wants to hear, and instead, truthfully describe who you legitimately are—both the positives and the negatives. Also, avoid the temptation to disguise a weakness as a strength; this approach will not fool anyone and will only reveal you as someone incapable of critical self-evaluation.
Of course, simply listing your strengths and weaknesses will not convince the school of their merit; you must present anecdotes to support your assertions. That said, make sure that your essay does not end up being a hodgepodge of unconnected stories. Focus on just two or three strengths and one or two weaknesses in the mere 500 words allotted. The admissions committee wants applicants to address their strengths and weaknesses as a leader as well as a person, so your examples need to fit that context. Fortunately, leadership can take many forms, so you do not need to have actually managed others to be able to describe a leadership experience. With respect to your weakness(es), INSEAD demands that you take an extra step and “explain how you are actively working on your development.” This will require offering a clear and illustrative example that proves you are making an effort to mitigate your shortcoming(s).
Motivation Essay 2
Describe a highly stressful situation you faced and how you managed it. What did this experience teach you about yourself and your interactions with others? (400 words maximum)
In this second motivation essay, INSEAD wants to hear about a challenging experience you had and what you learned from it. The school does not stipulate that the situation you discuss must be a professional one, so explore your personal history for possible options, too. As you contemplate different ideas, try to identify one that was demanding but that you were nevertheless able to skillfully manage. You need to clearly convey what made the situation so stressful and that it was not a common or typical circumstance. Then, detail the actions you took and your motivations behind them to illustrate your ability to handle such situations, ideally revealing that you effectively managed the pressure and maintained your composure throughout. If you are able to show that you navigated the experience in a way that others might not have, this will help further differentiate you from other INSEAD applicants.
With the second part of this prompt, INSEAD wants to see evidence that you are capable of self-reflection and growth. Truly contemplate what the experience revealed to you about yourself and others. Go beyond trite and clichéd statements about “takeaways,” and really reflect on the situation to uncover your more profound and meaningful reactions, impressions, and realizations. Self-awareness is key here. Show the INSEAD admissions committee that rather than being deterred or derailed by difficulty, you are edified by such experiences and use what you learn from them to manage future challenges even more effectively.
Motivation Essay 3
Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee? (maximum 300 words)
If needed, you could use this essay to explain a confusing or problematic element of your candidacy, such as a poor grade or GPA, a low GMAT or GRE score, a disciplinary issue, or a gap in work experience. However, check the other parts of the school’s application first to make sure no other opportunities are available to address these types of issues. If you can clarify the circumstances behind any possible concerns elsewhere, do so there, and do not repeat any of that information here in this essay. If you have a problem you want to address that you cannot discuss elsewhere in the application, we encourage you to download a free copy of the mbaMission Optional Essays Guide, which offers detailed advice on how to effectively mitigate any concerning elements of your application.
If you do not feel that your candidacy includes elements that need further explanation, you can use this essay to offer a more rounded, positive representation of yourself. Do not just copy and paste an essay you wrote for a different school here and hope for the best. And because you will have already explained how INSEAD will help you achieve your goals in its Job Description Questions, you do not want to make your profession the topic of this essay. This is also not the place to discuss your fit with the school or pander to the admissions committee. Take a step back and carefully consider what the school already knows about you from the other parts of your application, including, of course, your required essays. Then, develop and convey a narrative that reveals a new and different element of your character. Make sure that you are offering something that is truly additive and would be helpful for the school to know to fully and fairly evaluate you.
Video
After submitting your online application, you will receive an email from Kira Talent with a unique link to complete a video and written assessment. You must complete this step within 48 hours of your application deadline.
You will be asked four video questions. For each, you will have 45 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to respond. The final question is written, with five minutes to submit your answer. The full assessment takes approximately 15–20 minutes.
After submitting your INSEAD application, you will need to complete a video interview consisting of four questions. The first three require you to provide recorded responses, but your answer to the fourth question must be in written form. You have until 48 hours after the deadline for the round in which you apply to complete this element of the process, but we strongly recommend doing so sooner rather than later while your mind is still in application mode and to ensure you do not somehow forget this task or have to rush through it at the end of the allotted time period.
Because all of INSEAD’s admissions interviews are conducted by the school’s alumni, these video questions provide a way for the members of the school’s admissions committee to virtually “meet” candidates and supplement the information provided in the other portions of the application. The four responses, and especially the ones recorded over video, give the committee direct and dynamic insight into applicants’ character and personality, as well as another angle on their communicative abilities. So when the time comes for you to record or write your responses, do your best to relax, answer genuinely, and let your true self shine through!
Learn more about INSEAD’s academic program, elective courses, location, facilities, and other key features by downloading your free copy of the mbaMission INSEAD Insider’s Guide.
The Next Step: Mastering Your INSEAD Interview
Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. We therefore offer our free Interview Guides to spur you along! Download your free copy of the INSEAD Interview Guide today.
