How Sandra Won an INSEAD MIM Offer and a €8,000 Scholarship

Updated 2026/10/16

Sandra double-majored in diplomacy and economics at National Chengchi University and went on to win a place in INSEAD’s MIM with a €8,000 scholarship. Her application shows how a cross-disciplinary background can work in your favor. She started from a strong 4.04/4.3 GPA and built a story combining international outlook with practical skills through a consulting internship at a Big Four firm, a part-time PM job at a 4A advertising agency, and a marketing internship at a startup.

In this interview, I walk through Sandra’s whole application: how she planned her school list and timeline, how she scored 327 on the GRE while juggling everything else, how she worked her different internships into her essays, and how she came across confidently in her interview prep. She also shares how careful communication and a few tactics for nudging the school toward a decision helped her stand out and win a scholarship.

If you’re thinking about applying to a European MIM (Master in Management) or another business master’s program, Sandra’s experience gives you concrete, practical pointers that can save you some detours and help you find what makes your own application stand out.

Another INSEAD MiM interview worth reading: From a non-business major to a top business school: how she found her strengths and changed fields

Sandra’s background: (Sandra’s LinkedIn URL)

• National Chengchi University, double major in Diplomacy & Economics, GPA: 4.04/4.3
• IELTS 7.5, GRE 327
• Work Experience:
  • Big Four accounting firm, consulting intern, 6 months
  • 4A advertising agency, part-time ad agency PM, 3 months
  • Education startup, marketing intern, 1 year
• Admitted:
  • INSEAD, Master in Management
• Final choice:
  • INSEAD, Master in Management (€8,000 scholarship)

About the INSEAD Master in Management (MIM)

INSEAD is one of the world’s most influential business schools and ranked 3rd in the Financial Times 2024 global Master in Management ranking. It has campuses in Fontainebleau (France), Singapore and Abu Dhabi, puts weight on international, multicultural and practical learning, and calls itself “The Business School for the World”. The INSEAD Master in Management (MIM, official website) runs 14 to 16 months and is designed for students within 0 to 2 years of graduating. It covers Strategy, Finance, Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Digital Transformation. Teaching centers on case studies and real company work, including a Business Practicum, a Social Impact Project and international Field Trips, so students apply what they learn in real business settings. Students can rotate between the European and Asian campuses, which exposes them to different markets and cultures and builds cross-cultural management and leadership skills.

According to INSEAD’s official 2024 employment report, 95% of students received a full-time job offer within three months of graduating, with jobs spread across 33 countries. The main industries were consulting (32%), technology, media and telecom (30%), corporate (21%) and financial services (17%). Well-known employers include McKinsey & Company, BCG, Bain & Company, Accenture, Amazon, Google, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble and Rothschild & Co.

The median graduate salary is about USD 53,000, and the median signing bonus about USD 5,900. By region, the average salary is about USD 60,000 in Europe and about USD 39,000 in Asia-Pacific. By industry, consulting averages USD 65,000, tech and TMT about USD 63,000, and financial services USD 55,000. INSEAD’s alumni network spans 184 countries with more than 72,000 members, giving students a wide international network and career resources. The MIM combines theory, practice and global learning, and for students who want to build an international career and a management foundation quickly, it is a springboard to the world’s top companies.

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Why MIM, and Why Cross Fields: From Diplomacy to an International Business School

What made you decide to apply for an MIM (Master in Management)?

After graduating I still wasn’t sure what kind of job I wanted, so I wanted to give myself more time to explore. An MIM is less tied to one field, so it wouldn’t narrow my career options.

You studied diplomacy and economics. How do you see the strengths and challenges of your cross-disciplinary background?

I think you should first understand the traits the school prefers, then look in your background for things connected to those traits.

INSEAD, for example, really likes people with international experience or a language-related undergraduate degree. (One of our graduation requirements is speaking a third language, which tells you how much the school cares about this.) So if you happen to have a more international background, it helps quite a bit.

If you don’t, don’t worry. The most important part of INSEAD’s spirit is Diversity, and the school welcomes applicants from other fields because it wants to train us to work with people from different backgrounds. In your application, just stress how your cross-disciplinary background shaped you and what unique contribution you can bring. In short, research the schools first: what they prefer and whether they welcome people coming from other fields.

As for challenges, you need to show what you’ve done to switch fields, such as courses and internships, and explain your motivation clearly: which of the school’s resources you actually need right now, and how you plan to use them to change direction.

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School Selection and Timeline: Getting the Pacing Right

How did you plan your application timeline? How did you schedule tests, essays and interviews?

I wouldn’t recommend copying my timeline… I only started preparing after I graduated.

Roughly: choose schools and line up recommendation letters > take IELTS in September > take the GRE in November > write essays > submit in December and January > prepare for interviews.

If I could do it again, I’d take the tests earlier so I could start writing essays over the summer.

How did you pick the schools you applied to? Which resources or features mattered most to you?

I started with the country. I wanted to go to Europe, so I didn’t apply to any US schools (though if my timeline hadn’t been so tight, I would have tried applying to the US as well). Next I looked at program length, and I only picked one-year programs. Then I checked whether each school’s career resources fit my career goals and how strong the alumni network was. I also looked at how diverse the class was, because I wanted to meet people from different countries.

INSEAD was my first choice because spending the second half of the program on the Singapore campus really appealed to me. You genuinely get to meet people from many different countries here. Also, when I talked with a few alumni while applying, they all said INSEAD students don’t compete with each other much and help each other instead. Two months into the program, I can see that’s true.

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GRE Prep: How I Got to 327 Efficiently

What was your biggest challenge when you started preparing for the GRE?

My schedule was too tight to give me enough prep time, and everyone around me had already sent off their applications, so I studied with a lot of anxiety. Looking back, I don’t think you need to worry about other people. It matters more to go when you’re ready.

Which study resources or methods helped you raise your score most?

Since time was limited, my strategy was to get as close to a perfect quant score as possible and pick up some extra points by cramming vocabulary. I’m really bad at math, so I made sure to drill practice questions every day.

For vocabulary, the important thing is to review the previous day’s words every day so they stick, and to use spare moments to study words. For reading, do as much as you can. Doing a practice test every day is important; on the real exam I actually got a few questions that were exactly the same.

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Essays: Turning Different Internships into One Strong Story

How did you bring your varied experience (Big Four consulting, a 4A ad agency, startup marketing) together in your essays?

I listed the traits the school wanted to see and then found an example for each. For instance, one experience shows leadership and another shows teamwork. Then I explained how those experiences shaped my career choices.

What elements of an SOP or essay do you think you can’t afford to leave out?

Like I said earlier, you need to understand the traits the school prefers and connect every paragraph to those traits wherever you can. For INSEAD, the keywords are International, Diversity and Contribution.

With international experience, the school wants to see whether you can adapt to different cultures. Plenty of my classmates hold two or three nationalities, speak three or four languages, or have lived in six or seven countries. Of course that comes from family background and isn’t something you can just acquire, but you can still write about exchange programs or international clubs. Experience working abroad or with colleagues from other countries helps even more.

For Diversity and Contribution, the school wants to see whether you can bring something unique. One essay asks about your extracurricular activities or interests, which tells you the school wants interesting people. It wants to know how the things you care about have shaped you and what particular contribution they let you make.

From the first day of the program we kept hearing about the “give, give, get” spirit, so I think showing in your essays that you’re someone willing to contribute, with examples, helps quite a bit.

Interview Prep and Performance: Showing Who You Really Are

What does the INSEAD interview process look like? Was it what you expected?

INSEAD has two interviews. The first is the Kira interview, which you do right after submitting your application. Mine had four spoken questions and one written one, all behavioral. The written question asked whether someone had influenced my decision to apply.

Then comes the live interview, usually with an alum. Mine was a Korean INSEAD MBA graduate who was really nice. I remember it lasting about an hour (I’ve half forgotten), and the whole thing felt like a chat rather than a serious question-by-question session. The interviewer didn’t interrupt, and there was no time pressure. It was the smoothest interview I had.

Were there any questions in the interviews that stuck with you or were especially challenging?

Lots of people share Kira questions on Xiaohongshu (RED), but you’ll find everyone gets different ones. Some people get questions that test how you react on the spot, but most are behavioral. I didn’t get anything especially strange.

The live interview was pretty standard too: a self-introduction, then Why INSEAD and Why MIM, followed by questions about my career, my leadership style, where I see myself in five years and so on.

How would you suggest preparing for the INSEAD MiM interviews?

Don’t get too nervous about Kira. The other admitted students and I all thought we did terribly at the time, so I’d say just keep talking and don’t go silent. For preparation, the most important thing is knowing each of your stories well enough that you can tell which one to use as soon as you see a question. That’s enough, and the same goes for the live interview.

Also, always practice out loud. Don’t assume a finished script is enough.

Beyond that, before the interview, set up coffee chats with alumni. You’ll learn a lot that only people who actually studied there know, and you can bring it up in the interview. I also submitted INSEAD fairly late, so I’d already had interviews with other schools to practice on, and the INSEAD one felt smooth. That’s just my own experience, though. If you’re ready, you can of course apply to your top school first.

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Nudging for an Offer: How I Got the Scholarship

How did you follow up politely and effectively? What did you put in your “love letter” to the school?

I submitted on 1/27, interviewed on 2/27, and sent the school a follow-up email on 3/27. It covered what I’d done in the past two months. I picked two of the more important things, stressed the skills those experiences gave me, and explained how I could contribute them to INSEAD.

The school replied that it had passed my update to the person in charge, but I still didn’t get the offer until 4/18. I’m not sure whether the follow-up made a difference, but if the wait is making you really anxious, it at least shows you’re proactive.

Any tips from the process of nudging for an offer? What strategy did you use to get a decision?

Other schools’ deposit deadlines were coming up, so on 4/18 I emailed the INSEAD admissions officer I’d spoken with before. I asked whether the final decision date on the website meant all results would be released that day or could come any time before it, and told him my other deadlines were close. He replied right away asking me to send him my other offer letters, and that same afternoon I got the offer call saying I’d been admitted.

I don’t think there’s really a trick to it. Reach out to people you’ve already been in touch with, ask for their help, and keep making it clear that INSEAD is still your top choice.

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Advice for Future Applicants: Work Smarter, Regret Less

Over the whole application, or even all four years of college, what three things were most worth your time?

I’d spend more time on coffee chats. In four years of college I never reached out to anyone, and I often felt lost and didn’t know what I wanted to do.

Once I started applying, though, I pushed myself to talk to older students and alumni, even ones I didn’t know at all. Everyone I reached out to was happy to share. Ask a lot and keep learning, and you’ll get a lot out of it!