Ms. Marketing Supe Latina

Having grown up in America and having the benefit of a close relationship with my immigrant grandparents from Italy, your story resonates with me. Every Sunday, our family sat down together around a big table and had dinner together. Those were special occasions as I am sure your monthly visits to Mexico to check in with your grandparents had to be special to you. So bottom line, if you can land that 700-plus score, you have a good shot at INSEAD. The school often finds it a bit more difficult to attract students from North America so that gives you an edge right there. Having earned your degree from UCLA, widely regarded as a public Ivy, is another plus. Your 3.1 GPA is a red flag, but the fact that you improved it is a good sign. I am going to assume that your grades were impacted by your PTSD. If so, you have a legitimate reason for having a 3.1. So if you offset that with a strong GMAT (and this is something of a necessity at INSEAD where faculty members are involved in admission decisions and take stats seriously), you are in a good position for an admit. I think your work experience is also something that will be attractive to admission folks because digital marketing is a fact of life and few people know or understand its secrets. So focus on getting that 700 plus GMAT score and also diversity your bets. I think you would love HEC Paris or IESE Business School in Barcelona, and I think they would love you, too.

Hi. Ms Marketing Supe Latina! This is Kate Richardson with mbaMission, weighing in on your odds. I’m so glad to see you have international experience (and language skills — those car rides paid off!) as those are very important for INSEAD. I also really like that you have supervisory experience and top performance at your company. Directing a volunteer org is impressive too — great example of leadership and giving back to your community. You seem like someone with a high degree of motivation and a hard worker and I’m glad you’re pursuing an MBA. In terms of areas to improve, with your lower overall GPA, the GMAT is certainly important for you, so I agree with ideally ~730. Especially with your major and industry background, demonstrating quant skills is super important. Otherwise, I like what you wrote about your desired outcome but you’ll want to have a much more specific post MBA goal by the time you apply (target role, function, industry, a few target companies). If you can do those things, I think your odds could certainly go up. Good luck!