The Moment !!

INSEAD decision deadlines are usually Friday. For J09 applicants, the deadline was Friday 29th August. Going by the trend most admit calls/ emails were expected by Wednesday 27th August, a mix of admit and waitlisted on Thursday 28th August and mostly dings for 29th.

I was following the action on BW forums (have to say it is the most active MBA forum). On 27th, quite a few people got admit calls. My heart sank a little. But the saving grace was that no one heard anything from my admission coordinator. On 28th, I was hoping for news to start pouring out by 10 am Paris time, but nothing happened. It was very quiet. By around 3pm Paris time I had kind of given up and was preparing for a formal dinner with German colleagues. Throughout the dinner I was looking at my phone hoping to get the call anytime.

By 4pm, waitlist emails stared going out. The next 20 mins was mostly one waitlist after another. I reached home by 4.40pm. Still no news and I was losing it. I knew I was going to be dinged as I should have definitely heard back if I were either accepted or waitlisted. By 4.50 pm, I tried calling my admission coordinator only to reach her voice mail.

Finally by 5 pm, with a gloomy face I logged onto BW forum to bid my farewell. As I was logging in, my iMail beeped with a new email. It was "INSEAD Confidential Final Decision". I MADE IT !!! The next 3-4 hours were just frantic calls to all my friends and dear ones. Lots of drinks and sleepless night. I dont think I am going to forget that evening for a long long time !

The thing with INSEAD application was that I knew that INSEAD was a perfect fit for me. Plus I also believed I was a natural INSEAD candidate (one interviewer mentioned this) and therefore it was the only MBA application I made. It was one of those moments where you know that you really deserve something but its the fear of an unknown factor which could turn things the other way.

Fortunately it all worked out well !!