Ms. Humble Auditor

There’s a really key component of your story that is missing: it’s international experience. While you say you are fluent in two other languages, it’s not entirely clear to me if you have lived and worked abroad, other than perhaps the U.S. International experience is highly valued at INSEAD. Your 710 GMAT is right on target with the school’s current 709 average and that also is crucial. Because INSEAD is a ten-month program, the schools takes GMATs seriously. It wants to make sure you can handle the quant work without much difficulty. INSEAD looks for candidates who score in the 75th percentile on both the verbal and the quant. That split tends to be more important than the overall score. they look more at this breakdown than at the total score. Your work at a Fortune 500 seems solid, but of course there are Fortune 500 firms that are well known and highly admired and other Fortune 500 companies that no one has ever heard of. If your employer is a big brand that would count for a lot. I am sure you have a few big win sunder your belt, especially if have proven leadership potential, as you say. Think hard about that because it would really help your application at INSEAD. Your post-MBA goal makes sense and it lines up well with INSEAD’s employment outcomes. The school accepts slightly more than 30% of its applicants and I think you are right on the cusp, dependent on some variables that are unclear to me in your description, including where you work, how much international experience you have, and how well you present yourself to the school.

Hello Humble Auditor, this is Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange team. Starting on a lighter note – the world needs more humble auditors so you should be welcome at all schools you apply to! Though on a more serious note, one has seen profiles like yours make it to INSEAD especially if you are currently based in the US and if you work at a firm INSEAD would have heard of. You seem to have had roles on the (financial) consulting and client side and now want to make a move to management consulting and eventually to becoming a social entrepreneur. How you tie this up in the goals essay will have a big impact on your admissions chances in my opinion. INSEAD likes to see clarity and conviction in essays (especially when it comes to career decisions), so if you can connect the dots for them, they will be genuinely interested. Also if you have spent some time working in different countries, that too increases your chances at INSEAD. Your GMAT is in range largely and INSEAD will deem your GPA as “decent”. A lot of people look at INSEAD’s 30% acceptance rate and deem that its easier to gain an admit at school as compared to many of top 10 US programs. Am not so sure as INSEAD gets interest from a very focussed pool and therefore competition for a spot in class is an intense as for a US school ranked 5-10 (non HSW if you may). So if you can tie your pre MBA life with your future goals and show that you have an international orientation, INSEAD would love to welcome this humble auditor !

Hello Ms. Humble Auditor! Krista Nannery from mbaMission here. Thanks for posting.
At this very moment, I am working with a female candidate whose stats are not as strong as yours and she just got an INSEAD interview. So while you’re probably very different people — one thing you have in common is quantitativeness — this is making me feel optimistic about your chances. I have the same question as one of the other posters on what you mean by “Basic fluency in two other languages”…what does “basic fluency” mean? And what is your international experience? For a school like INSEAD, please play this up!
Another observation…I get nervous when I read things like “Not sure I have any really impressive big life wins.” This is the one time in your life where you are totally allowed to humble brag. Dig deep and do some self-reflection…ask your friends and family what makes you interesting. I’m sure you have an interesting story to tell and some great life wins! Make these things clear to INSEAD.
Lastly, I am not a huge fan of one-school strategies. They are very risky! Please widen your school selection….if international programs are your bag, look at HEC, Oxford, Cambridge, LBS…
I hope that helps!
Krista

Hi Ms. Humble Auditor, this is Donna Bauman from Stratus Admissions weighing in on your profile. I have a client right now with some similar stats and she is currently in the interview stage with INSEAD so I think you have the potential to be successful at INSEAD. However, I agree with the other experts here who have asked you to proudly share your accomplishments in your application. Humble is good but you can still share your wins by sharing data and results without editorializing. For example, if you found a way to save X dollars or X amount of time in how you review documents, share the data and leave out the editorial comments that it was a “huge help” etc to your team. I would also encourage you to emphasize your international experience if you have it—and if not this could be an issue as well. I agree that the 1 school strategy is not a good one for anyone. If you truly want to be in an MBA program in the next cycle, you should apply to a mix of safety, target and stretch programs. If gaining a scholarship is part of your goal, then you should build that into your strategy as well. I have seen my clients get over $2million in funding over the past few years so it is possible—but if that is something that matters it should be built into your application strategy. I’m happy to do a consult with you to discuss how that could play out for you if that is of interest. Best wishes to you!