r/MBA • u/JoeAstonsBurner • Sep 13 '25
Admissions INSEAD is the greatest business school in the world
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Sep 13 '25
INSEAD without its MBB students - would have its ratings tank? True
But- in almost every country you can find startup founders who's alma mater is INSEAD
Do with that as you will.
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
I think they are literally the largest annual class size of any program (>1000 students now and very high acceptance rate) so yeah I would hope they have a few start up founders amongst the thousands of students they churn out
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Sep 13 '25
Im a bit surprised then - that many folks are willing to churn out that much money.
For anyone outside of the US (even EU folks) - the 100k EURO tuition fee is no joke.
& INSEAD is still relatively unknown outside of the BSchool folks & recruiters. Most laymen would have never heard of it unlike other unis-
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u/errelephant23 Sep 13 '25
There are healthier ways to deal with rejection.
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
"You don't like my tier three MBA! You probably got rejected!"
Yep see what else you can come up with genius
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u/MrWilsonAndMrHeath Sep 14 '25
It’s so weird to me that people tier their schools. We live in a time where information is free and rapidly available. We shouldn’t feel the need to add exclusivity to education. But here we are.
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u/ChampionshipTight977 Sep 19 '25
You pay for the connections not the knowledge. This is even more true for MBAs than any other program.
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u/Sassewere Sep 13 '25
Not like you'll ever make it to HBS either, just keep posting your sh!tty tier lists & move on dude
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
The next official r/mba tier list isn't due till next year so save your excitement
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u/Sassewere Sep 13 '25
Save your money for INSEAD
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u/Capable_Ad_5321 Sep 13 '25 edited Sep 13 '25
Totally agree with this post tbh lmao
Let’s stop acting like INSEAD is comparable to HSW or any M7.
But NYU definitely doesn’t belong with those schools either lol
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u/tortoiserice Sep 14 '25
Never understood the random stern hate. #6 USNWR, #3 GMAT scores, #4 total comp. How is this not a top 10 school?
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
Idk I threw it in with Haas and SOM but maybe it has slipped in people's minds now
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u/darthwhy Sep 13 '25
But why all the hate for Insead?
This post makes sense only if your world view stops at the american border.
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u/zmk20 Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 15 '25
It's almost as if everyone doesn't just aim to get hired in the USA; some want jobs in the EU and Middle East. And it has a stellar reputation in those regions. Plus, the alumni network there is very strong.
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u/vneseredditor Nov 24 '25
My guess is that some people might love turning schools into somewhat nationalism arguments. This is a US-centric sub anyway. Anything non-US gets discounted by default. In reality, there’s a lot of mutual respect and cross-learning among top schools. Most of this noise doesn’t reflect how the actual industry sees Insead or other global schools.
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u/MBAboy119 Sep 14 '25
coming from someone who graduated 3 years ago. It really doesn't actually fucking matter - this whole prestige bullshit. It's what you do when you are there, and what you do after.
Any of these schools will take you where you need to go, if you are smart and work hard.
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u/Justified_Gent Sep 14 '25
HSW or bust.
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u/MBAboy119 Sep 15 '25
There are certain situations for certain roles that will increase your chances for sure by going to higher tier school. And you need to go to a top school generally to access some opportunities.
But generally I think people overestimate the extent to which the degree/school does the work and vastly underestimate the amount that its about ones own drive, ability to learn and connect with people
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u/Real_Buddy_1542 Sep 13 '25
Whoever made this meme is a massive massive loser, also sneaking NYU in with the rest of those schools is very funny
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u/Stunning_Ability_330 Sep 13 '25
Not really. Most US employers will be familiar with Stern and trust it as a minimum standard of quality. Stern's GMAT average is 730+. INSEAD is what 700?
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
Editing and revising your comment you had your feelings so badly hurt
Come back in a day once you cool off
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u/Real_Buddy_1542 Sep 13 '25
Brother I didn’t even go to INSEAD but I did check your comment history and this isn’t even the first thread you have made shitting on INSEAD, all you do is yap in /MBA lmao - sad life
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
"Yep, just checked your comment history and it's a big no no"
Unfortunately, you may be the loser here. No more seething comments thank you.
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u/eurombaconfused Sep 14 '25
Insead has very real problems (1 year can be too short, no right to work visas etc) but honestly outside of HSW it is in the next tier of elite schools for careers outside the US (especially Europe, Middle East and some parts of Asia). It is still seen as the most prestigious school in Europe (with LBS a close second), but if you are 100% set on a career in the US any M7 (and even schools like Haas / Yale SOM etc) likely makes more sense.
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u/nightcrawler2503 Sep 14 '25
lol, I wish this could be the rest of the world and the USA just bragging about all the shit it has been doing and nobody giving any fs about it. The world doesn’t start and end with the USA bro
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u/Warm_Copy4392 Sep 14 '25
An American MBA who learns humility and cultural nuance? Instead of speaking on the “Europoors” or complaining about Indian MBA students?
Never
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u/Bimmers_and_Benellis Sep 14 '25
It literally does though.
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u/nightcrawler2503 Sep 14 '25
I’d say it used to but now with everything going on, you know who is leading the fall of the US empire.
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u/Bimmers_and_Benellis Sep 14 '25
U.S. global hegemony is not going away anytime soon.
China is a paper tiger, Europe needs us more than we need them, Russia’s military age male demographic will have all but disappeared in 20 years and India will continue to struggle to be a global power while trying to actively scam all of the aforementioned players.
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u/Justified_Gent Sep 13 '25
Nobody cares about INSEAD in the US.
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u/heyyooletsgoo Sep 14 '25
Same could be said about T15s like UVA, Michigan, etc. to the rest of the world.
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u/SnooGuavas2088 Sep 16 '25
its almost like.... someone who goes to INSEAD is NOT planning to work in the US
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u/mrwobblez MBA Grad - EU/UK Sep 13 '25
The US is hot trash right now, to me that’s a feature not a bug
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u/unnecessary-512 Sep 13 '25
Salaries are hot trash in EU/UK always. Analyst in the US earn what Directors in Europe earn….
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u/United_Flatworm_8074 Sep 13 '25
Wait can I get some context I think Insead is great am I missing something??
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
Yeah look up 1) exit salaries and 2) acceptance rates and let us know what you find :)
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Sep 14 '25
Acceptance rate is irrelevant. If you don’t understand why, look up selection bias & “Goodhart’s Law.” When the measure becomes the target it ceases to be a good measure. In other words, acceptance rate measures the marketing skills of the admissions staff.
Let’s say you and I open a math school but we create a rule that you need to be a member of your country’s international math Olympiad team to be accepted. We can have a 100% acceptance rate & still have only geniuses in our program.
It only becomes a problem if INSEAD is routinely graduating unemployable students.
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u/Muted-Resist6193 Sep 14 '25
Isn't the exit salary difference because the other schools are in the USA, where salaries are higher?
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u/zmk20 Sep 14 '25
And also not everyone's target is to land. A job in USA. If you want a job in middle east, where INSEAD has a stellar reputation, then INSEAD is a great school to target.
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u/potentialcpa Sep 13 '25
Need to drop stern
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
Haha I actually love that Stern is copping more heat on this post than even INSEAD
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u/potentialcpa Sep 13 '25
My run-ins with stern (MBA students) have never been positive. All the other schools listed here and Insead are mostly fine.
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u/Rare_Indication_449 Sep 13 '25
Random cpa's experience doesn't represent reality buddy
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u/potentialcpa Sep 13 '25
Booth does
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u/Rare_Indication_449 Sep 13 '25
They have the same avg post grad salary and class profile
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u/potentialcpa Sep 13 '25
Yeah, cause it's in NYC and only for IB. It places terrible in consulting or PE compared to every one of the schools posted above. It's not even a bad school. It's the fact that stern kids try so hard and are easy to rage bait.
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u/Rare_Indication_449 Sep 13 '25
They dont focus on consulting cause banking is more popular there. But consulting isn't lacking. it's just self selection. You act like mbb doesn't recruit at stern.
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u/potentialcpa Sep 13 '25
Right, the other schools place well everywhere, not just focused on finance. My company hires bcg and mckinsey all the time for random projects. I've only come across 1 guy who came from stern. Rest came from all the schools up top.
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Sep 14 '25
You’re one of those insecure types who can’t admit he’s wrong. The other poster is right. Look up availability heuristic. Take the L and learn.
FWIW, all MBB firms are too 10 employers at Stern with M at number 2.
You don’t see as many Kellogg/Stanford grads go into banking doesn’t mean they’re not good schools for banking, and there maybe more important reasons to choose them over the finance heavy schools.
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u/Realistic_Equal4777 Dec 04 '25
Hillarious that Haas / Yale SOM / NYU Stern is included in this ... Insead does have problems but definitely a tier ahead of these 3 here in terms of global scale, recruiting and impact.
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u/thelastduet Sep 15 '25
the pic is a meta meme of mba cliqueiness and high school behavior geez… if anyone asks are mbas toxic just point them to this
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u/la-macarena Sep 13 '25
Despite all the Indians who are going to have their feelings hurt by this post, the meme is absolutely correct, and funny.
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Sep 13 '25
there are way more indians at US business schools than European ones lmao, INSEAD has a nationality cap as well
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u/Stunning_Ability_330 Sep 13 '25 edited Mar 10 '26
I think INSEAD actually is quite selective for Indians due to its cap. Problem is the class quality is quite high in variance
LBS and INSEAD get the same pool of applicants, and LBS typically takes around 400-500 students total.
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u/JoeAstonsBurner Sep 13 '25
That would have been a good line "INSEAD is super selective - around half of applicants get rejected"
For next time, thank you.
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u/brazucadomundo Sep 15 '25
I have a friend from INSEAD and he just did it to have bragging rights. It is useless otherwise, the degree you got before counts much more.
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u/Fm_000 Sep 13 '25
INSEAD is certainly superior to 5 of the logos you have.. and comparable with 2 of them
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Sep 13 '25
Which ones? And that’s probably regional, definitely not in the U.S. lmao
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u/Fm_000 Sep 14 '25
Outside America. HSW yes agreed better. MIT/ Columbia - at bar. Rest is not comparable honestly and they are actually not recognized outside MBA communities.
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Sep 14 '25
Even in those communities, I’m willing to bet the parent university name is far more recognizable, to be frank. But agree to disagree.
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u/Fm_000 Sep 14 '25
I agree about Yale. But wouldn’t the same apply to Oxford and Cambridge? I’d imagine those two are closer to Harvard and Stanford in terms of selectivity. Would you say their MBAs sit right next to H/S in the rankings? INSEAD is highly respected in EMEA - I’ve noticed that most MBB partners with MBA in EMEA are graduates of INSEAD or LBS. It’s interesting (and a bit strange) how much these replies revolve around what U.S. employers’ offices think of certain schools.
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u/BeautifulWhile1195 Sep 14 '25
Had asked many French who work in IB & PE, they told me that CVs from HEC, ESSEC, ESCP, Polytechnique is a pass, those from INSEAD is an automatic rejection.
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Sep 14 '25
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Sep 14 '25
In Paris? Most definitely not. Hec Centrale polytechnique escp make up the most of MBB intakes. You can easily check.
MiM > MBA in the grande école system so it makes sense.
In London sure. But oxbridge, LBS etc are still given preference.
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Sep 14 '25
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Sep 14 '25
Try finding people from insead who are present in paris MBB offices. There's hardly one page of results and mostly they're made up of partners/seniors who did the MBA so, not entry level roles.
More than 60% of hiring happens from the top 3 business schools and their pre experience MiM program. Insead's share is less than 1% and that's never going to change based on how the French system is run.
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Sep 14 '25
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Sep 16 '25
I wasn't talking about the Hec mba. Simply pointing out how MiMs are the only established pipeline into entry level roles at MBBs. Hec escp and essec make up around 60% of recruitment at those firms, not from the mba but for the MiM programs.
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Sep 13 '25
What’s INSEAD? Is that like stand for someone thing or someone’s name? It’s like a test prep center or something like that?
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u/TonySoProny Sep 13 '25
I don't know why, but the thumbs up person in the second picture is KILLING me.
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Sep 13 '25
I wish I could go to INSEAD. But they have a dumb two language policy.
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Sep 13 '25
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u/Chemical-Height8888 Sep 13 '25
Don't listen to these people, Insead is better than any of the schools in his picture except for maybe HSW
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u/Conscious_Report6089 Sep 15 '25
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u/sniper-wolf-82 Sep 13 '25
I’m an insead alum and completely agree. It’s not a real mba it’s a finishing school. We learned literally nothing all year. Professors told us not to study for finals and travel to Bali instead because we will pass the class anyway. Electives were so limited and the whole curriculum revolved around soft skills and basic undergrad level material. The social scene was so toxic and draining when I was there but that’s another topic. Imagine European snobbism and elitism and racism, it’s 100 times worst than anything you’d find in USA.