Don’t be overwhelmed by the number of essays, including job descriptions, that INSEAD asks you to provide. The wonderful thing about the INSEAD application is that you’ll leave no stone unturned when describing your background to the adcom, including your professional experiences, career goals, and personal and academic background. INSEAD wants to learn all about you, so take its application as an opportunity to really share your full profile.
Firstly, the job description section is incredibly straightforward – no need to agonize here about what to write. Be direct and succinct when INSEAD asks you to (1) summarize your job, providing relevant details, (2) describe what your next step would be if you stayed with your current company, (3) write a full description of your career path, and (4) discuss your short- and long-term career goals for after you have earned your INSEAD MBA. Ther word counts for all these responses are limited, so it benefits you to answer in simple, black-and-white terms. You do not need to do a lot of brainstorming or research here. Simply answer the questions.
Secondly, INSEAD asks you to write reflective essays – and to do so succinctly. In addition, a video component balances this emphasis on written communication. INSEAD’s adcom wants to see you articulate your thoughts in a spoken, interpersonal style as well. Check out some of Accepted’s tips on how to prepare for a video interview. Ultimately, verbal acuity really matters in the INSEAD program, because the ability to comprehend, synthesize, communicate, and act on complex ideas across cultures is central to global leadership.
Motivation is a key driving interest of the INSEAD adcom. Its core application essays are even termed “motivation” essays. Keep the word “motivation” in the forefront of your mind as you draft your essays. You should express not just what you’ve done but why. What drives you? What propels your choices, decisions, and actions? These written essays are the “getting to know you” element of INSEAD’s application. Taken together in both form and content, the written and video components should portray both your sophisticated communication abilities and your awareness of who you are and what inspires you, moves you, and propels you forward.
Ready to get to work on your INSEAD application? Read on.
INSEAD application essay tips
Job Description Questions
Job Description 1: Briefly summarise your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work, major responsibilities, and where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, clients/products and results achieved. (200 words maximum)
Job Description 2: What would be your next step in terms of position if you were to remain in the same company instead of going to business school? (200 words maximum)
Job Description 3: Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. Describe your career path with the rationale behind your choices. (300 words maximum)
Job Description 4: Discuss your short and long term career aspirations with an MBA from INSEAD. (100 words maximum)
Optional Job Essay: If you are currently not working or if you plan to leave your current employer more than 2 months before the programme starts, please explain your activities and occupations between leaving your job and the start of the programme.
Treat these questions as straightforward statements that need to be answered directly, and be sure to honor the word count! This will help you stay on track.
Motivation essay #1
Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary (maximum 500 words).
Here, INSEAD really wants to get to know you as a person, so focus on who you are versus what you do. This question gets to a key point: How well do you know yourself, and are you able to openly acknowledge your motivations and shortcomings? (Perhaps one could interpret the question as “Are you mature?”) Note that “strengths” and “weaknesses” are plural – and they should be personal, not professional, characteristics. A personal weakness, such as “impatience with detail,” could certainly have professional impact, but don’t cite a weakness that is purely work related.
Also, don’t make the mistake of trying to portray a weakness as a strength (“I’m just too dedicated to work!”). This isn’t the time to try to spin negatives into positives. Instead, be honest about yourself, and be sure to brainstorm before getting into the nitty-gritty of writing. How would you describe yourself to a friend or family member? How would they describe you? Provide examples. These examples can vary in length – sometimes, just a sentence will suffice.
The main formative factors you choose to cite could be related to and integrated with your strengths/weaknesses. In addition, you can discuss key elements of your background that differentiate or distinguish you and are truly key to your personal development.
Be aware that there is potential for some overlap between this essay and Essay #2, so consider both questions together, and organize your content accordingly before you start writing.
Motivation essay #2
Consider a situation where you failed to achieve your objective(s). How did you handle failure? What did you learn about yourself and/or your interactions with others from this situation? (maximum 400 words)
This is another situation where you want to avoid spinning a negative into a positive – though you might certainly have had a positive learning outcome from having made a mistake. Be honest here. The committee is asking you to reflect on a time when you truly failed. Describe what happened (succinctly, of course) and how you navigated the failure. Spell out what you learned about yourself and from others. This is really the time for self-reflection.
Optional Essay
Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the admissions committee? (Maximum 300 words)
Use the optional essay to explain anything that needs clarification and/or to give the adcom one more reason to accept you. Do not use it to provide just a superficial summary, a restatement of your other essays, or anything similarly boring and trite. If you choose to write an optional essay, that reveals something you haven’t yet discussed.
Video
After you submit your application, you will receive a link, inviting you to provide a video interview. Your application will be deemed complete only after you submit . Without any indication of the topic from the adcom, you should be ready for anything. Resubmission will not be possible.
For this application component, presentation matters. If INSEAD only wanted content, the adcom could have written essays only. The committee is looking to see how you respond in “real time” as part of its initial assessment of you. Find that balance between being yourself and being professional. You want to be polished, but not slick or contrived. This “perfect balance” will be different for everyone, depending on their culture, personality, profession. My advice is always to prepare for this video as you would for a job interview (so many are virtual these days!). Treat INSEAD’s video interview with the same level of professionalism and preparation. If you haven’t had formal training in giving a presentation, it would be a good idea to try recording some videos of yourself responding to random questions. Then, analyze the videos, looking as well as listening.
INSEAD application deadlines
| January 2026 intake | Deadline for completeapplication | Interview decision notification |
| Round 1 | March 11, 2025 | April 11, 2025 |
| Round 2 | April 22, 2025 | May 23, 2025 |
| Round 3 | June 17, 2025 | July 18, 2025 |
| Round 4 | August 5, 2025 | September 5, 2025 |
Source: INSEAD website
**Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with INSEAD directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***
INSEAD class profile
Here’s a look at a typical INSEAD MBA class (data taken from the INSEAD website).
Admits: approximately 1,000
Average age: 29
Age range: 23-35
Range of years of work experience: 3-8
Work or home countries: 75
Different nationalities: 110
Women: 38%
Primary student backgrounds
- Management consulting
- Financial services
- Corporate sectors
- Technology/Media/Telecom
You’ve worked so hard to get to this point in your journey. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your INSEAD application. In a hotly competitive season, you’ll want a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you. Schedule a free consultation today!
Kara Keenan Sweeney has more than 15 years of experience in MBA admissions, having worked for some of the world’s top business school programs, including Columbia Business School, INSEAD, and The Lauder Institute’s joint degree MA/MBA program with The Wharton School and the MA/JD program with Penn Law at the University of Pennsylvania. Kara has guided, coached, and counseled thousands of MBA and EMBA applicants, reviewed innumerable applications, sat on admissions committees, and interviewed countless applicants, including while running Wharton’s Team Based Discussions both virtually and in person. Want Kara to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!
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