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If you attended our recent conversation with INSEAD‘s Kara Keenan and Melissa Jones, Assistant Directors of Marketing, then you know what a success it was. You can review the Q&A by reading the whole INSEAD Q&A transcript, by listening to the full audio clip online, or by subscribing to our podcast in iTunes and catch as many of the MBA Admissions Q&As as you want.
Here is a particularly noteworthy clip from the INSEAD Q&A about the method of instruction at INSEAD:
Linda Abraham: Visalakshi asks, “Does INSEAD follow the case study method, or are professors free to choose their method of instruction?” And I’ll add a follow-up question — Is there a dominant method of instruction?
Kara Keenan: They don’t have to follow the case study method. It really is at the discretion of the professor how he/she would like to instruct the course. Having said that, there are certainly quite a few case studies, but there is also mix of lecture and group discussion, so it really varies depending on the nature of the course. I would say maybe in the core courses when you are doing more of the quantitative stuff, it would be more case studies and maybe a bit of lecture. And then when you move into electives, maybe it’s an elective on entrepreneurship or social media, then there is probably a bit more of discussion and group work and that sort of thing. So it really depends on the professor and the subject of the course.
Melissa Jones: I just want to add that there are lots of interesting ways that the teachers can teach. There are some business simulations. There is a lot of role playing that can be done and game theories. One course that I think is great, and it’s probably one of the most popular, is an entrepreneurship course called “Your First 100 Days”. You are actually managing a company with four or five other people for a total of two weeks. You are managing that company seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. So you might be the CEO of the company, your group-mate might be the Vice President of Marketing or the next person in operations or what have you. And then it’s up to you how you manage that company. So you might get just a random phone call in the middle of the night from someone from your company that your factory is burning down asking what they should do. These real-life scenarios can take place in courses too so it makes for a really fun environment as well.
And here’s another question on INSEAD’s focus on international experience:
Linda Abraham: Abhisek asks, “INSEAD invites a lot of emphasis on international experience. What counts as international experience? If someone goes to graduate schools and works outside of their home country, is that counted as international experience? Or do you have to work in many different countries?”
Melissa Jones: Any and all international experience counts. Go to the website and download your application. You’ll see that on the application there is a section there where we ask the applicant to list out all international experience. So if you’ve travelled outside of your home country for a couple of weeks for fun, with friends, or with family, put it on the application. If you took a two-week language course in Spain, you can put it on the application. Absolutely having done your graduate degree outside of your home country is great experience. Certainly immersion experience is always great to have. And international work experience is ideal but not required. As far as what counts, any and all international experience counts. We certainly have a lot of people in the program who were born in one country and were raised in another. Any part of your profile that is international, you want to include on the application.
View the full INSEAD Q&A transcript or listen to the mp3 recording of the event now or subscribe to the Apple iTunes MBA Admissions Podcast. If you like the podcast, please leave a 5-star review.