Essays
We advise you to spend a significant amount of time on your application essays, as they are a critical part of our evaluation process. Your responses to our essay questions provide the best opportunity to be creative and tell us about yourself. We would like to get to know you, to find out what motivates you, so avoid repeating information given elsewhere in your application. The essays are not meant to be academic articles or business memos, but rather your personal stories.

Job Description
See the application brochure

Letters of Recommendation
The two letters of recommendation, to be sent attached to the INSEAD rating form, should provide us with information about your demonstrated leadership and management potential. For this reason, we prefer that at least one recommendation comes from the workplace: Your current supervisor or manager is usually a good choice. The other recommendation is likely to be from someone who has had a chance to evaluate you in a professional setting: A client, a former supervisor or a colleague from your community service or extracurricular activities. If you have a particularly insightful academic recommendation, please feel free to submit it. However, it is less likely to address our priority: Your ability to work with and manage others and your potential for senior management.

Official Transcripts of Grades and Diploma
PHOTOCOPIES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE UNLESS OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED
You must include academic transcripts (indicating both diploma and grades achieved) from each college or university that you have attended. We accept transcripts in English and French; All others must be accompanied by a certified English translation. Each transcript must bear the official seal and signature of the institution, and should be submitted with your application. If the institutions will not provide official transcripts to you personally, they should send them directly to INSEAD. Photocopies are not accepted unless officially certified by a public or professional body.

TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS or Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) Score
The INSEAD MBA is taught exclusively in English and is highly participatory, requiring well-developed written and verbal skills. Accordingly, if your native language is not English you must take a test for English proficiency, unless your university degree is from an institution where the curriculum was also taught exclusively in English. We accept TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS and the Certificate of Proficiency in English test. For INSEAD purposes, tests are valid for two years (end date refers to the time the candidate applies).

Please arrange to have ETS report your test scores directly to INSEAD, code 0970 (a copy is acceptable to begin your evaluation, but please note that no final decision can be taken without your original test score report from yourself or from ETS).

Second Language Certification
This is required if English is your native language. For more details, please check our language policy Please note that the certification must be received no later than 1 June for the September intake, and 1 November for the January intake.

Application Fee of ?200
YOUR APPLICATION WILL REMAIN INCOMPLETE AND WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED UNTIL THE
CORRECT FEE IS RECEIVED
A non-refundable application fee of ?200 is required. The application fee can be paid by:
? cheque, postal order, traveller's cheques made out to INSEAD
? VISA network or American Express card (please use the coupon of the application brochure)
? Bank transfer (please include in your file the proof of payment to facilitate identification of the transfer)

The deadlines for JANUARY 2005 intake are:

* Not eligible to apply for INSEAD scholarships

The deadlines for SEPTEMBER 2005 intake are:

It is always better to send an application once it is complete, but we also accept separate items. However, the file will be reviewed only when it is complete. If this happens after the application deadline, we will review it for the following stage, or for the following intake (for 3rd round applicants).

* An intake is the entire population of participants beginning the INSEAD MBA programme at the same time regardless of campus location. Thus, the intake comprises of all commencing MBA participants, both on the campus in Europe and on the campus in Asia.

The admissions process
We operate a staged admissions process: this implies three specific stages of application for admission to each class.
You may select your stage according to when you have your complete application pack assembled and ready for submission.

What is staged admissions?
A staged admissions process means that the competition for places is between all of those applicants who have applied within the same stage for the same class.

Why staged admissions?
The staged admissions process allows you greater transparency than was previously available with rolling admissions with regard to when you can expect to hear from us, and allows you to plan your life around the MBA dates supplied.

How strict are all the dates listed?
The deadline for application is the date by which we need your complete application. If we do not receive your complete application by this date, we will process all other applications first, and then may be able to consider your application, but cannot guarantee it.

The dates for TOEFL and GMAT are guideline dates, which we have had to generalise for a global audience. We recommend that you abide by these dates, as we cannot be sure to have your scores on time if you do not.

In general, you will hear from us the week of the interview decision deadline, and the week of the final decision deadline.

Is one stage more competitive than another?
There are approximately the same number of places allocated to stages one and two. However, there are fewer places allocated to stage three.
The most important thing is to ensure that you submit a complete, well-prepared application, irrespective of within which stage you are applying.

Within a stage, there is no difference if you apply early or late.

Is one class more competitive than another for places? Is one campus more competitive than the other?
We receive almost identical numbers of applications for both intakes, so neither intake is more competitive than the other.

There is a centralised admissions process, with applications considered purely on the basis of merit. As such, campus choice only becomes relevant once a candidate has been admitted to the programme overall - we then assign campus according to preference, class mix and places available within that stage.

Can I defer admission?
If you change your mind about the class for which you wish to apply, you must reapply - we do not defer applications with staged admissions except in truly exceptional circumstances. The Admissions Committee examines requests on an individual basis.

Can I reapply if I've been turned down?
Unless specifically communicated to you, INSEAD does not encourage reapplications.

Do interviews take place on campus?
Interviews take place, as much as possible, in your country of residence, or as close as possible. Our interviewers are INSEAD Alumni.

INSEAD makes offers based on merit. We do not take your financial situation into account when making our admissions decisions. Some of our participants are sponsored by their company or receive scholarships, but the most use their own funds or take out bank loans.

Scholarships

INSEAD Scholarships are the most sought-after form of financial assistance. They are limited in number and there is always significant competition for each award, which may be either based on merit or need.

HOW PARTICIPANTS ARE FINANCING THEIR MBA IN 2004