INSEAD

Fontainebleau, France · Private · 1-year full-time (10-12 months; campuses in Fontainebleau, Singapore, Abu Dhabi; August and January intakes)

Median base salary: €113,670 (Class of 2025)
Program tuition: €124,878 (full program)

Deadlines

Round 1 (Aug 2027 intake): Sept. 15, 2026
Round 2 (Aug 2027 intake): Nov. 3, 2026
Round 3 (Aug 2027 intake): Jan. 19, 2027
Round 4 (Aug 2027 intake): March 9, 2027

Essays

Job description question 1 (500 words)

Provide a summary of your career since graduating from university, explaining the rationale behind your key decisions and career progression. Include a description of your current (or most recent) role, covering the scope of your work, major responsibilities, employees under your supervision, budget size, clients/products, and any notable results achieved.

Job description question 2 (300 words)

Describe your short and long-term career aspirations, including your target geography, industry, and function. How do you plan to bridge the gap between your current position and these goals, and how will INSEAD help you achieve them?

Motivation essay 1 (500 words)

Give a candid description of yourself as a person and a leader, emphasising the strengths and weaknesses you recognise in yourself. Explain how you are actively working on your development, sharing key experiences that have shaped you, providing specific examples where relevant.

Motivation essay 2 (400 words)

Describe a highly stressful situation you faced and how you managed it. What did this experience teach you about yourself and your interactions with others?

Motivation essay 3 (optional) (300 words)

Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee?

Extra-professional activities (300 words)

Describe the activities you listed above and explain how they have enriched your life (e.g., skills developed, personal growth, community impact).

Editor's notes

Four rounds, and INSEAD says each has the same acceptance ratio. Take that at face value, with one exception: if you need scholarship money, the school itself points you to Rounds 1 and 2. With Round 1 closed, Round 2 on Nov. 3, 2026, is the one to aim for if funding matters.
International motivation is one of the four named criteria, and the essays give you room to prove it. Your goals answer has to name a geography, and your stressful-situation essay can show how you work with people unlike you. Don't declare yourself global. Show where you've already had to adapt.
The Kira assessment is due within 48 hours of your deadline, so don't submit at the last minute and then discover you have no clear evening. Four spoken answers at 60 seconds each reward practice, and INSEAD's own recruitment blog tells you to use the practice questions.
INSEAD sets section-level percentile targets instead of a GMAT average and says it reads every section. A strong total with a weak verbal or quant score is a real problem here, so look at your section percentiles before you decide to retake.