Meet INSEAD’s MBA Class of 2017

Jacquelyn Vanos

INSEAD

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: I’m an adventurer who loves taking on new challenges and traveling the world.

Hometown: Toronto, Canada

Fun Fact About Yourself: Recently learned how to kitesurf, after years of failed attempts.

Undergraduate School and Major: Queen’s University, Bachelor of Applied Science in Mine Engineering

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Chief Mine Engineer with Barrick Gold, Strategic Engineer with IamGold, Business Analyst with Gemcom Software

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Developing and leading a strong team of young National engineers in the Dominican Republic.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? Don’t rush into going back to school. Give yourself time to develop as a professional before getting your MBA. This gives you an opportunity to figure out what you love and what you’re good at. In my experience this makes your essays and interviews a lot more honest and interesting. As for the GMAT- I focused my studies a lot on sentence correction, and it really paid off.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? INSEAD offers a 10-month program which was perfect for me. This way I get a chance to move to France, meet new people, learn so many new things, and change my career, all in less than a year. I also love that there is a lot of diversity in the people you meet at Insead.  

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? I would love to work in investment management, focusing on natural resources. This would let me stay in my field of expertise but experience a completely new side of the business.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? I hope they say that they will be seeing me again soon! Or at the very least that we learned something from each other.