Truly international, world-class experience

Experience during the program

People apply to business schools with different goals in mind. Thus, not every school will be a perfect match for everyone. Having said that, the most important thing to ask yourself when choosing where to get your MBA is if you'd be happy in that school, and if it will provide good enough opportunities for you to be successful afterwards. And those were the reasons why I chose INSEAD.
Being older than the typical MBA applicant, and already having a family, my main goal was to lower the costs of getting a top MBA as much as possible. I did not want to stay 2 years out of the job market and graduate almost in my mid-30's. And I still wanted a top-ranked MBA that could give me access to the best career opportunities. INSEAD fit all these criteria and more. I was amazed by the caliber and diversity of the student body (true diversity, almost 100 different nationalities and no dominant culture). By the sense of camaraderie and support amongst the students. And by how much people can do in only one year (internships, studying, networking, recruiting and LOTS of fun and traveling).
Of course that does not come without a price. I'd say that if you want a deep academic experience, maybe INSEAD is not your place. The faculty and the classes are amazing, but given the fast pace of the course, I felt that sometimes we would rush through some of the contents. If you like a particular topic, than it's up to you to prioritize and dig deeper into that, knowing that it's hard to do everything, especially during recruiting season.
Since I was there for the professional opportunities and the personal experience, I was 100% satisfied with the school. Amazing teachers, talented and humble classmates, great ROI, and my dream job. What else could I ask for?

About professors, classes and curriculum

Like I said before, quality is not an issue at all. The only aspect that might not be great for some people is time. Especially during the first 4 months, lots of things to cover in class and not enough time to do everything. So time management is key, but still, you can get frustrated if you want a deeper academic experience.

About job placement process

It might not be fair for me to evaluate the Career Developmet Center since I did not use much of their services. I knew what I wanted before I went to school, so I just went for it during recruiting season and got my MBB internship and full time offer. Having said that, CDC offers many counseling sessions, industry panels and helps you with résumés and interviewing skills. On-campus recruiting is stronger in consulting and industry jobs, less so on tech and investment banking, although lots of people got jobs in such industries. All big companies come to campus (MBB, GS,BAML, Google, Amazon, etc) and it is not true that you cannot get a job in the US after graduation. Yours truly, for example, is moving to the US (I'm not a US citizen nor have permanent residence status) and many people were in the same situation, so don't think you are geographically limited to Europe and Asia just for being in these two continents. Opportunities are plentiful, but just as it is in any US school, it's up to you to close the deal and get the job, the school can only do so much to help.
If you want banking, go for the January intake, most of the top banks recruit only for internships, which you can do if you start in January. The September intake has more difficulties, although obviously many of them also get jobs there.
One last advice, recruiting season starts very early at INSEAD, so be prepared to hit the ground running once you get there! But I can promise you it will be rewarding.

Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)

Strengths of the program:

Student body, diversity
Career opportunities provided by school
Culture & Student Support

Best fit at this program:

Consulting
Entrepreneurship
Management

Can be improved:

Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Career Services