In our continuing series of interviews with admissions directors at the world’s top business schools, we were fortunate enough to connect recently with Jake Cohen, who in September 2008 replaced Antonio Fatás as dean of INSEAD’s MBA program.
Cohen, a professor of accounting and control and business law at INSEAD for more than five years, also served as director of the INSEAD-PricewaterhouseCoopers research initiative on high performance organizations, overseeing the school’s largest research center. Prior to joining INSEAD, Cohen was a senior teaching fellow in the accounting and management group at Harvard Business School.
In the transcript that follows, you’ll hear from Cohen about some of the exciting things to expect in the year ahead at INSEAD’s Fontainebleau and Singapore campuses and get some practical tips on how to make your application stand out.
Clear Admit: What’s the single most exciting development, change or event happening at INSEAD this coming year?
Jake Cohen: We are preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of INSEAD. We’ll be running some landmark events that will celebrate the achievements of the visionary founders of the school and those that have contributed to the tremendous evolution of our institution over the years.
CA: Walk us through the life of an application in your office from an operational standpoint. What happens between the time an applicant clicks ‘submit’ and the time the committee offers a final decision (e.g. how many “reads” does it get, how long is each “read,” who reads it, does the committee convene to discuss it as a group, etc.).
JC: Applications are reviewed by round. When an application deadline passes, all the files are checked for completeness (i.e. to be sure they include an online application, 2 recommendations, GMAT score, TOEFL if non-native English speaker, university transcripts, application fee).
The files, in their entirety, are then reviewed by the admissions team. A selection of the candidates to be invited to interview is made. The candidate is then informed that he/she is being invited to interview and is provided with the contact details of the interviewers.
Our interviews are conducted by our alumni, normally in the country of residence of the candidate. We work with 1,500 alumni interviewers around the world – we are fortunate to have a very strong worldwide network of alumni who are very committed and engaged with the school.
After the interviews take place, each interviewer sends the admissions team a report, and then the candidate’s file is reviewed in its entirety, this time with the addition of the interview reports, by two separate members of the admissions team. The file is then presented to the admissions committee, composed of faculty and alumni, who make all final decisions on who is admitted to the program.
CA: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read the essays? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? One key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write them?
JC: From the essays we are looking to get more insight into what makes the candidate tick. We are looking to get a sense of their personality and to understand what makes them different from other candidates. A common mistake is to give a formulaic response that the candidate thinks we want to read – whereas we are looking for authenticity. We greatly value honesty.
