How to Successfully Complete the INSEAD Video Essay

UPDATE: This article was originally posted on July 4, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

With applications to European business schools soaring, INSEAD has become the top choice MBA program for a rapidly increasing number of applicants. 

Driven by their interest in attending the world’s most global MBA (with more than 94 nationalities represented), many applicants dedicate countless hours writing INSEAD’s numerous admissions essays then rush through the video essay component. 

This is a huge mistake. 

In addition to giving the admissions committee the chance to “put a face with a name,” the video essay is an essential part of the INSEAD application, as it allows committee members to determine if your communication style and values are a good fit with the INSEAD community. 

In fact, in our experience helping 98% of all our INSEAD applicants secure a place at the school, we have noticed that the video essay is much more influential in an applicant’s admissions decision than the admissions interview. 

That’s why we’ve prepared this guide to help you understand how the INSEAD video essay works and have shared our best tips to ensure you record an outstanding video essay that ensures you pass through to the interview round. As a bonus, we’ve also included a downloadable list of potential video essay questions to ensure you put your best foot forward! 

 

Why does INSEAD require a video essay?

When we first started working with INSEAD applicants many years ago, the video essay component had not yet been introduced. However, since its launch in mid-2016, the video essay has quickly become a critical part of the application. 

That’s because it gives the admissions committee the chance to truly “meet” candidates — as well as identify red flags in potential members of the INSEAD community. 

According to INSEAD’s admissions committee, “The video should be seen as a unique opportunity for you to share your passions, your motivations and who you truly are. The MBA Admissions Committee is interested in obtaining an authentic view of you as a person, to see how you think on your feet and how you convey your ideas.” 

With that in mind, it’s extremely important to make sure you fully understand this component of the application. 

 

How does the INSEAD video essay work?

The way the video essay works is very simple. 

After submitting your application, you will receive an email from a company called Kira Talent. This email will contain a link that allows you to access the video essay platform. 

After signing in and starting the session, you will get four questions in total, one at a time. 

After receiving the questions, you will have 45 seconds to think and then 1 minute to answer. There are no opportunities to redo the question, and you only get one chance to speak and provide your answer.

The questions are random, yet tend to focus on a few key areas. We’ll go more into detail about the types of questions you can expect below. 

 

The format

If you’ve taken the TOEFL exam, you’ve already practiced for the type of format you can expect in the INSEAD video essay! 

After signing in and “starting” the session, a video will appear on the screen. This video will show a member of the INSEAD community, who will read the question you are tasked with answering. The question will also appear in written form under the video. 

After the time runs out, the screen video will disappear and your image will be visible on the screen. At this point, your 45 seconds to think will automatically appear. 

After the preparation time runs out, the clock to answer (60 seconds!) will start, and you will need to give your answer during this period of time. Remember: you cannot redo any of the questions. 

After you answer the question, the system will upload your answer to the server (depending on your connection this can take a while) and will present you the next question. 

DO NOT leave your computer during the upload time, even if it’s taking a while. You cannot pause the process, and you may end up missing questions!

 

Technical requirements

According to INSEAD, “You will need an internet connection, a camera and a microphone. You can test your devices before starting the exercise.” Though the platform states you can complete the video essay on your mobile device, we have found that this does not consistently work. 

Furthermore, given past applicants’ issues with the iPad version of the application, we strongly suggest you record your answer on a computer. 

If you do end up experiencing technical issues, access the support page here. 

 

Deadlines

Regardless of when you submit your application, you need to submit your video essay response within 48 hours of your chosen round’s deadline. Find INSEAD’s most current application deadlines here. 

If you submit your application early, you can submit the video essays at any time, as long as you make the final deadline.  

 

Which types of questions are asked?

Though the questions asked by INSEAD are technically random, in helping numerous candidates prepare for their successful INSEAD video essays, we have noticed certain types of questions tend to appear more than others. 

As such, we’ve grouped the questions into 4 categories to help you prepare. Keep in mind, however, that these are unofficial groups and the questions you receive may or may not fall into these categories. 

 

Group 1: INSEAD Questions

The chance of getting a question related to your interest in INSEAD and your perceived benefits of their program is high. In the most recent application rounds, the majority of our clients reported receiving one of the questions below (or a very similar question). 

(Photo courtesy of INSEAD) 

This might take the form of “Why INSEAD?”, or “What are expecting to learn at INSEAD?”. Conversely, they may also ask what you can contribute to the community or what types of activities you’re interested in pursuing outside of class. They obviously want to be sure that you have researched INSEAD and have good reasons for applying.

For this section, refer back to your goals essay, reflect, and be honest with yourself about why you’re applying to INSEAD. Maybe you like the international nature of the program, maybe the timing of a 1-year program works well for you, perhaps you have colleagues who attended and spoke highly of INSEAD. 

The curriculum should also be a selling point for you, as well as the clubs and campus life, the diversity of the students, the experience of the teachers, and the internships and alumni network.

Now, please don’t reel off that list! It won’t be personal enough to you. 

Instead, clearly articulate your top three or four reasons for applying to INSEAD, and speak about them.

You don’t need to spend much time introducing this topic, saying “There are three main reasons why I want to attend INSEAD” and then giving us the reasons is more than enough.

It’s always good to include something that shows you’ve researched the program, so mentioning something specific, be it the academic modules or a specific club you want to join is a must for a winning video essay. 

 

Group 2: Collaboration and Teamwork Questions

INSEAD is a highly-diverse community that values open-minded, adaptable people who work well in teams and are strong communicators. After all, if you’re going to bring together a varied pool of candidates from all over the world, you need to make sure they can work together and learn from each other! 

For that reason, INSEAD often asks questions aimed at determining if you work well with others and will be a positive addition to the INSEAD community. 

These questions won’t specifically ask “do you like working in a team,” but if you can keep in mind that this is a chance to show how you interact with others, you’ll have a good starting point for this question.

Typically questions range from how you help someone who needs advice, to your management style to how you handle conflict.

To do well in this question, it’s great to draw on examples, and to be clear and to the point. 

Furthermore, make sure to show your human side and demonstrate that you genuinely care for others and want teams you join to succeed. It can be easy to answer in a very conversational way, but doing so can often lead to an answer without a point, so make sure you use your 45 seconds of planning time to structure the key elements of your answer. 

For this question, you want to make sure you’re showing what you do, and use active language.

Your answer will want to show that you’re mature, that you’re emotionally intelligent, that you can see the bigger picture, that you’re empathetic and that you make a positive contribution to those around you.

If the question is about helping someone with a problem, tell us what you do. Perhaps you first like to listen, then help them get clear on what they really want, and then decide together on some next steps.

If the question is about your management style, be precise. Tell them how you manage people and why. Maybe you’re very hands-off, and like to give everyone the opportunity to take responsibility within their role, as you think this empowers them the most to learn and develop. Maybe you’re more hands-on and like to make sure your team knows they can come to you with problems, as giving people too much freedom too soon can actually be overwhelming to them.

Regardless, make sure to show your reasons for your actions and demonstrate that you’re a person who embraces diversity and collaboration.

 

Group 3: Diversity and Culture Questions

More and more universities are striving to have diverse campuses, with people from all different races, nationalities, sexual orientations, backgrounds and experiences. With 94 nationalities represented, INSEAD is at the forefront of promoting diversity. 

For that reason, INSEAD often asks questions that allow you to express your enthusiasm and desire to go outside your comfort zone and meet people from all different walks of life. (Conversely, if answered poorly, this type of question can also show you definitely don’t belong on campus). 

Questions here can range from fighting stereotypes to culture shock to interacting with people who speak different languages than you, to understanding different perspectives.

There’s a high chance you’ll need to provide an example in this section, so spend some time thinking about your experiences; times you’ve traveled, or worked in multicultural teams. If you don’t have anything that obviously springs to mind, you might like to think about times you’ve worked with people from a different background than you’re used to or people from a different part of the country.

What you want to show here is that you are interested in moving beyond your own perspective and that you are able to take other people’s experiences and points of view into account, and adapt where necessary to cultural differences. 

Maybe you went to a far-flung part of the world and had to adapt to a different culture, maybe you worked on an international project and found that the team members worked in very different ways which could cause misunderstanding, or maybe you were part of the corporate team and had to explain changes to the people on the ground who might have been more technical and quite far removed from the head office’s ideas. 

Regardless of which example you choose, show your empathy and ability to understand, appreciate and work with different points of view and you’ll do well here.

 

Group 4: Miscellaneous questions

These questions are much more general and have a higher potential for curveballs. 

They can range from your favorite book to who inspires you to how you handle ethical dilemmas. 

The best advice for this section is to think about what it’s asking you and what you can show about yourself and your values.

If the question asks about your favorite book, the admissions committee will get a certain impression of you based on what you choose. If you choose a book that’s all about adventure we’ll assume that’s important to you, if you choose a book about economics we’ll assume that’s a key part of your life. 

So think about how you want to show yourself, and be prepared to answer why. 

If Gandhi inspires you, tell us why. Maybe because he made huge changes without using violence. If your father inspires you, tell us it’s because of his dedication to his family and how hard he worked to build a business from scratch, and tell us how you hope and work to emulate this person. 

Regardless, be careful about what you choose to show here. Keep in mind that INSEAD prefers globally-minded leaders who embrace diversity, so don’t miss an opportunity to reinforce your personal brand and your fit with the school’s values. 

 

The difference between a good and great video essay

Given the importance of the video essay in your INSEAD application, it’s crucial to make sure you don’t just have a good video essay but that you have a great video essay. 

Now that you’ve learned how the video essay will work, we’ve gathered our top 6 tips to ensure your video essay performance brings you one step closer to reaching your goal of attending INSEAD. 

 

Tip 1: Be personable on camera

This is quite a specific skill to master, but with a bit of practice, it will get much easier. 

My best tip for you is to practice recording yourself and time yourself as well. Go through the questions you have, take 45 seconds to think and plan, and then record yourself for one minute. 

If you mess up, keep going. You can’t stop and try again in the real thing, so don’t do it now. Continue your answer and fake confidence if necessary!

Then watch yourself back. Were you making eye contact with the camera? Did you smile? Did you look friendly? Bored? Annoyed? Scared?

Chances are the first few you do won’t be great but keep going. Remember that INSEAD is looking for friendly people to join their community, so make sure you’re showing your true colors on camera. 

You might also like to pretend you’re something of a TV presenter. This can help you to bring your personality forward and be more engaging. You don’t want to seem flat in the recording, so be a little bit brighter and friendlier than you think you need to be, and see how big of a difference it makes to your recordings.

Furthermore, be extremely careful with your tone of voice and body language. If you’re slumped over or look bored, the admissions committee will get the impression you’re not engaged with the task or, worse, that you’re not passionate about INSEAD! 

This also goes for your tone of voice. Passion is contagious, but the last thing we think of when imagining a passionate person is a monotone, bored voice. So vary your tone of voice and make sure to project your passion for your interests and for INSEAD. If you’re not naturally good at this, you may want to seek out help from friends or record yourself multiple times until you’ve nailed the brief. 

You’ll also want to be strict with yourself about timing. Don’t go over, you won’t get to do that for real. If you find you’re running out of time, a good place to look is to see if you’re taking too long to get started with the answer, or if you’re trying to say too much.

Cut out long introductions, and stick to a few points per answer.

But most importantly, don’t forget to smile! Though this may sound cliché or outdated, smiling really is one of the best — and easiest — ways to be memorable and to create a positive first impression. 

 

Tip 2: Be prepared to think on your feet

With the timer counting down and no option to check your interviewer’s body language for subtle clues about how well your answer is being received, video essays can be incredibly challenging. 

Even more so when you receive a question you weren’t prepared for!

Yet receiving a curveball question is no reason to panic, since the best way to handle this situation is through a mix of preparation and being spontaneous. 

A good way to avoid completely drawing a blank is to have a few solid examples you’re ready to speak about and adapt.

For example, let’s say you recently worked on a project in a foreign country. You experienced culture shock while trying to adapt to the new city, faced linguistic challenges both in the office and in your daily life, and also had to mix up your work style to align with local expectations. This experience would be a fantastic “stock” answer to have ready since it brings in so many different topics that you can adapt the focus based on what the question asks. 

So, in addition to preparing your answers to the list of questions we’ve prepared for you below, think back on your life and career and write a list of defining moments that are broad enough to be adapted to various questions and that show your fit with the INSEAD community and its values. 

Then, during your 45 seconds of thinking time, take a deep breath and plan out your answer. 

While delivering your answer, don’t let the admissions committee in on the little secret that you got caught off guard! Answer confidently, using your tone of voice and body language to show off your winning personality and you’ll have successfully overcome the challenge!

TOP TIP: The admissions committee knows you’ll be a little nervous during the video essay, so don’t beat yourself up if you feel you portrayed this in your video essay. However, if you tend to get extremely nervous or freeze up, make sure to practice extra hard to make sure this doesn’t happen during your official recording. 

Here at Ellin Lolis Consulting, we also offer video essay training sessions with our team of interview experts who focus on helping you adjust your body language and tone. Schedule your preparation session with our team of interview experts today! 

 

Tip 3: Make sure you’re the protagonist 

Another common mistake we see our clients make while drafting their video responses: maintaining too much focus on colleagues and teamwork rather than their own efforts. Especially because you have such limited time, you want to make sure that your response maximizes the amount of insights that the viewer can learn about you, not your team members.

So, make sure you’re the protagonist of your answer. Of course, you can absolutely include stories involving teamwork and collaboration. However, when detailing your results and actions, don’t talk about what your team did, talk about your specific role within the team’s achievements. What did you contribute to the success, and how did this impact the overall results? What approaches and ideas did you come up with that might set you apart from other candidates? Answering these questions will ensure that you leave a memorable impression in the adcom’s minds. 

 

Tip 4: Choose examples that add value to your application 

Throughout the MBA application process, you’ve most likely brainstormed plenty of examples that illustrate your strengths, skills, and values. 

Of course, you have probably used some of your proudest stories in your written essays already. And while these examples are surely impressive, it’s best to diversify your stories rather than let them overlap. In this context, that means using new examples for your video essay that don’t overlap with ones that you’ve used in other parts of your application.

Try to think of what you have already illustrated about yourself — what strengths, characteristics, skills, and values have you already shown in your written essays? Are you missing anything, or is there anything else that you think needs emphasized, especially when thinking about what the particular school is looking for? 

Ultimately, you want to choose examples for your video essay that add additional value to your application. Use this as a strategic opportunity to show another aspect of yourself and your achievements that you haven’t been able to show in other parts of your application! 

 

Tip 5: PRACTICE

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. And if Barack Obama still practices his speeches, chances are you should practice too! 

For the video essay, we suggest several types of practice to ensure you really nail the actual recording. 

First, by downloading the list of real INSEAD video essay questions below and writing out your answers, you’ll already have a large database of usable responses that can be easily adapted to fit similar questions. In fact, in our experience, most candidates receive at least 2 questions that were on the list below. So make sure to take advantage of this opportunity to practice! 

Second, rehearse delivering your answers. We’ve all experienced situations where we had the perfect answer in our head, only to have it spill out in a disorganized mess when we tried to actually communicate the answer. This is more common than you’d think, so make sure you’ve “test-driven” your answers at least once. 

During this phase, receiving feedback from an expert can help you polish your answers, making sure they show you off and demonstrate you have a strong “fit” with INSEAD. Our team of experts has successfully helped 99% of our INSEAD candidates secure admissions to the school, so you can count on our team of interview experts to make sure you’re camera-ready! 

Finally, INSEAD offers you the chance to go through two practice questions on the platform itself. 

This is a great chance to both make sure your equipment is properly set up and to get a feel for the timing and flow of the real video essay. Though we suggest you prepare extensively before reaching this step, make sure you don’t skip this extra chance to prepare!

 

Tip 6: Download our list of real INSEAD questions

At Ellin Lolis Consulting, we’ve been successfully preparing clients for the video essay since it was first launched and have compiled an extensive list of real INSEAD video essay questions. That’s why clients report that, on average, they received versions of at least two of the questions on the list we have compiled. 

You can download the questions here! 

Make sure you shine

You have stressed about every aspect of your INSEAD application, and now you are ready to record your video essay! With the right preparation, this can be your chance to shine and get a highly-coveted spot at INSEAD. 

However, maybe you don’t know where to start in preparing, or maybe you ramble on and lose your focus while answering. Maybe you’ve even downloaded the sample questions and written out your answers. The problem is, when you try to apply these templates to your own story, it doesn’t quite work.

Our video essay prep focuses on helping you determine how to present yourself to INSEAD while using appropriate, impact-driven language without being artificial, or worse, robotic.

That’s why 98.9% of our clients are admitted, like our client Georgia, who recently secured a place at INSEAD with a €20,000 scholarship. Here’s what she had to say about the preparation process:

Want to put the Ellin Lolis advantage to work for you?

Schedule your preparation session with our team of interview experts today!