I have serious doubts about the comment “In Europe, it's "INSEAD or Harvard".” This is probably a comment from someone who never spoke to Europeans in their native languages and for whom his classroom is equivalent to “Europe”.
I have stayed in France, Thailand, Australia, Germany, US, Algeria, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia. I can tell you that it is absolutely not possible to compare INSEAD with a Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Oxbridge kind of brand (thank you Nobel Laureates from associated universities).
Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Oxbridge will be highly regarded woldwide (at least by anyone who learned English at some point) and this applies even in INSEAD’s home country: France (where INSEAD is unknown by the vast majority of citizen).
LBS and INSEAD will provide partial brands “where it matters” (banks+consulting). However please note that this whole brand thing does not really affect outcomes, apparently, as salaries and placements are quite similar for the top MBAs as well as M7+Oxbridge.
I do not deny trends such as kids dreaming about consulting will prefer INSEAD, mature future CFOs will prefer other schools but no school in the top MBAs will really close doors. In terms of international brand, however, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Oxbridge are the safest you can go with.
I chose INSEAD over an American school and regret my decision. Am still trying to get my first post MBA job interview. INSEAD is an English as a second language school; the instruction progresses at a snail's pace to benefit the non native English speakers. Native English speakers graduate with less knowledge than competitors from other business schools whereas non native English speakers graduate into job markets with much less competition.
The INSEAD brand is very weak in the US, the network is extremely weak, have been to many events and rarely does the conversation move beyond work visas and accommodation. The US is a transitory place for many INSEADers and locals are treated like localization service providers. One recent arrival even suggested that my kids should befriend his for the duration of their stay! Given the fact that native English speakers are treated like TA's at INSEAD I can see why I am still treated like part of the service.
Am a disappointed insead alum, I spent a year job hunting in the U.S. after graduation; not a single interview. The insead brand has quite a bad reputation; a common reply in the U.S. was 'we tried someone from there in the past and that person did not meet expectations'.
Unfortunately, in the recent past many rich kid brat types landed jobs in the U.S. post insead. These brats treated their jobs like a work holiday program and now the insead brand name is mud.
If you want to work in the U.S. immediately after business school; get an American MBA. If in the future you want to relocate to Europe your most recent work experience will be the most important factor.
One question that I think you need to answer is what is the utility of a MBA to you? You have big4 experience, realistically you are not going to learn much at insead. Why do you think that you need an MBA? Prior to insead I was in operations at an Investment bank on the east coast. At insead I learnt nothing new, met no one and the alumni network is bunk - I just have MBA on my resume. Insead opened no doors for me.
The average inseader wears expensive jeans and polo shirts, has three Apple devices, is from a wealthy family and stands around discussing in accent-less English how diverse they are - just because they are from different countries!
Am also an American graduate from insead I too wish I had done a U.S. MBA. The insead MBA just doesn't 'work'. To me it is a defective product.
Here on the east coast those that know the product generally hold it in poor regard. Insead is known to produce entitled general management graduates, inseaders expect to sit on top of others just managing them. Today a general management qualification is antiquated. Many inseaders think that they are very special and do not need to try, this has unfortunately translated into very poor performance in the work place - resulting in poor brand reputation. The other big dent in insead's U.S. brand is the Wharton exchange. People from Wharton go to insead and report back to their cohorts that it's a party school.
If insead was actually an amazing place producing one thousand elite business people each year, wouldn't you hear the roar it would produce? Wouldn't the business press have insead stories every few days? Wouldn't there be much more success evident?
I have seen no positive impact on my life and the others from my class are on the same career trajectory as they were before business school.
Insead is a stand alone private tertiary school. In other schools one could go to the comp sci, or bio-eng department etc to work on ideas. That just doesn't exist at insead.
My biggest disappointment with insead has to be the network. Am yet to have a single useful discussion. I want to meet people through insead but people are very closed minded and do not want to meet others. For example the up coming insead alumni forum for the Americas, the main networking event is a masquerade party. How is it possible to network at a masquerade party? This is typical of insead culture, it just doesn't make sense.