Pavel

My name is Pavel Gloukhav. I will start my MBA at INSEAD in January 2016. Before that, I studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University), where I did my bachelor's and master's. I have a double bachelor's degree from the College of Europe and Moscow State Institute in international relations and political and administrative studies. I have worked for more than seven years at EPPA as a partner and EU Focus consulting company, promoting clients to work for open commission. I like to play tennis outside of work, and I am a polyglot who can speak Spanish, Italian, and French, with my mother tongue being Russian. 

My international law and politics training at an associate level was insufficient to conduct my work. The owner of EPPA, my employer, wants me to climb the ladder to be in a senior management position within the company. I don't know much about marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, etc. I thought that it was important for me to have a broader scope. An MBA can provide me with all these within the shortest time frame. 

INSEAD is the only school that I applied to because I wanted to have a fast-track MBA, and INSEAD could give me the one-year MBA program that I need. The CEO of EPPA made it clear that he would not let me go for more than a year from my work. I wanted to have my MBA degree from a top B-school, and INSEAD is a very international school. I know that I will be able to study with students from 60+ different countries, and the school's internationalism is something I have been looking for. 

What advice would you give to someone who wants to study at INSEAD?

Since I'm a very specific person because I have a social science and liberal art background, the GMAT was the key here. If you are in my situation, you have to plan a lot of time (6-9 months) to be prepared to get a score that INSEAD accepts. Don't underestimate the time needed for the GMAT. Secondly, target the schools that you want and work accordingly. 

I want to thank Dr Hubert for what he has done for me. I met him at an MBA event in Brussels and am very grateful that I made it to my best-fit school with the help of the MBA Center.

It was such a nice conversation Pavel, thanks a lot for taking the time.