INSEAD Recommendation Questions
The recommendation questions for the MBA program at INSEAD are available below. Two recommendation letters are required, and should ideally come from the workplace in order to say something about your leadership and management potential. Current supervisors or managers are preferred, but alternatively, it can be from someone who has had an opportunity to evaluate you in a professional setting, such as a client, a former supervisor, or a colleague from your community service or extracurricular activities.
INSEAD allows a third recommendation if you feel it will add value to your profile. There is no imposed format for this additional reference, and you can choose to upload it in your supporting documents section of the application or email it.
2025-2026 INSEAD MBA Recommendation Questions
Relationship to Candidate
After some personal identifying information, the form proceeds to inquire about the recommender’s relationship to the applicant.
Please, specify your relationship to candidate:
- Professional
- Educational
- Personal
How long have you known the candidate? Define your relationship with the candidate and the circumstances whereby you met.
Candidate Rating
How do you rate the candidate on the following criteria? (Using the following scale: Outstanding (top 2%), Very Good (top 10%), Above Average (top 25%), Average (top 50%), Below Average (bottom 50%), Unobserved
- Competence in his/her field
- Professionalism
- Focus on the task at hand
- Readiness to use opportunities for achievement
- Creativity and resourcefulness
- Intellectual curiosity
- Energy and drive
- Personal integrity
- Ability to work in a team
- Organizational ability
- Oral communication skills
- Written communication skills
- Excellent (top 2%)
- Very good (top 10%)
- Above average (top 25%)
- Average (top 50%)
- Below average (bottom 50%)
Recommender Questions
Please give your answers to each of the following questions.
- Comment on the candidate’s career progress to date and his/her career focus.
MBA Applywire
Orthopaedic surgeon with cross-border training/work exposure i.e. UK, HK & Pakistan
• Strong involvement in research, publications, and innovation-related work
• Interested in the intersection of clinical medicine, healthcare systems, digital health, and business
• Long-term goal is to move from being a clinician to a broader leadership role where I can help build, scale, or evaluate healthcare solutions
African female - after 7 years at an international engineering consultancy and 3 in public sector, looking to get into infrastructure finance through an infrastructure focused MBA and internship pipeline. Certified PPP practitioner but not ao much leadership experience. Hoping to join a big 4 infrastructure advisory or infrastructure fund post MBA.
Only applying to Wharton "Deferred" Program (Due to eligibility)
Demographic: Asian Male, 26
Academic Background: B.S. & M.S. in Nuclear Engineering @ Top school in S.Korea
GPA: B.S.(3.76/4.30), M.S.(3.93/4.30)
GMAT Focus: 675 (Q-96th, DI-95th, V-56th)
Pre-MBA Employer: Recieved FT Offer @ Bain (expected start: July 2026)
Post-MBA Goal:
- Short: Banking
- Long: Infrastructure PE
Internships: Internship @ BCG
Research Experience:
4 conferences and several papers under review about Nuclear Fuel Materials, Nuclear Plant Economics & EPC, Nuclear Reactor Core Design
Extracurricular Activities/Leadership:
- Led a consulting project for a nuclear energy company in S.Korea
- Honor Society, College of Engineering
- VP of the student council @ UG department
- Soccer/Baseball team(non-varsity)
Awards:
- 2 x Minister's Award (1st place in Nationwide competition in Energy Sector)
- 5~10 x Minor Awards mostly in Energy & Nuclear Engineering
Honors:
- U.S. Army Commendation Medal
- Presidential Science Scholarship(Awarded by the President of the Korea, one of 25 recipients nationwide) - Fully funded during UG
- Korea Defense Veteran's Association (KDVA) Scholarship
- Honor Society of the College of Engineering
Hi All,
Location: India YOE:2.8 yrs Industry: Software Role: Senior software developer
I have been working in a software Mnc and recently got fired. I had initially planned to apply for MBA programs for 2027 intake. But given the recent layoff I'm not sure what to do next. I didn't yet take the gmat. And confused if I should do a job hunt now or prepare for gmat, since I wanted to apply for round 1s by sep.
I definitely want to go for a good International MBA for 2027 intake.
What should I do next, follow are the choices I can think of-
1. Prepare for a good gmat score, finish it in next 2-3 months, I also have a small startup idea that I would like to in parallel experiment/try out, not sure how far it will succeed.
2. Prepare for gmat, complete in next 2-3 months then do job hunt(might or might not be able to get a job by the time I apply for round 1s)
Please suggest what is better for my mba applications.
’m applying for deferred mba. Here’s my app:
Ethnicity: Middle eastern female (international student)
University: T3 Canada with full-tuition scholarship
GPA: 3.75 (will graduate with distinction in CS/Math)
GMAT Focus: 675, all parts above 85 percentile
Work experience: 2 FAANGS, 2 Hedge funds, 1 AI lab, 1 unicorn.
Research: 2 papers under review; 2 years of TAship for math and cs courses; received a grant
Extracurricular: 2 VC-based fellowships in Silicon Valley; I also won a funding for developing my non-profit project in the college which we tested in multiple orgs across our province; some little women in cs things; top Canada in trading competition
Post-grad plan: got return offer from all my internships and currently planning on a startup (very early stage)
MBA LiveWire
Received email. No $$$.