ISB applicants - Ask GyanOne!!

Hi JP

Thanks for posting.

- Your work experience and your overall academics are quite strong.
- The GMAT score lets you down somewhat. However, you are from the manufacturing domain and from a PSU, so if you leverage your strengths and unique experiences well, you could very well make it to ISB with your current score as well
- On other schools, Nanyang is a possibility, but NUS is not (will need 700+)

You might also find the following articles helpful:
ISB Admit with 660 GMAT
ISB Admit with 670 GMAT


Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

Hi GyanOne,

It'll be great if you could help me with my application.

I have GMAT score of 660 (q50 v28) i'm writing GMAT again in Nov. I am working for a B2B commerce startup as Product Manager and previously worked for ZS Associates, sales & marketing consulting firm, as Technology Associate. I will have 3 years and 8 months of experience by the time i join ISB next year.

Academics -

Graduated from IIIT Allahabad with CGPA 8.08/10.
XII - 85%
X - 90%

Extracurricular -

Most innovative employee for the year
Treasurer Music Club - Best club for that year
Member of placement committee
Won inter college Rock Band competitions
Member of basketball team and winning team of football tournament
Best swimmer in school

Interests -

I am mostly interested in technology. Developed liking towards product management, data analytics and building products/services that have an impact and contribute in solving practical problems.

Target schools -

ISB
Top 20 global MBA schools

Questions -

1. Should i work on getting a good GMAT score or on application & GMAT parallely?
2. What would be a safe GMAT score? (for ISB)
3. How are my chances if i achieve/do not achieve safe score? (for ISB)
4. What additional schools do i apply to?

Really appreciate you guys helping. Let me know if any other information is required to evaluate my profile. Thanks!

Pranav

Hi Pranav

Thanks for posting. Here are the answers to your queries:
1. For ISB, a 660 GMAT score is right on the margin. For many top 20 global schools, a 660 might be insufficient. Therefore, you should retake. For a while, this might mean working on your GMAT and apps in parallel. Perhaps look into moving some schools to R2 to reduce the pressure, thus ensuring that you put in strong apps for a fewer number of schools in R1 and can also do well on your GMAT retake.
2. Even a 660 might work for ISB, but ideally, if you can raise it by another 20-30 points, that will help.
3. Your chances at a 660 are decent but not outstanding. You might like to look at the posts above for links on our former clients who made it to the school with sub-680 scores as well. With a strong app, you will have a chance as well. With a score closer to 700, of course that chance will be higher.
4. With a 660, not too many. If you can raise this to 700+, some options might open up. Which regions are you looking at?


Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

Hi GyanOne ,

Please evaluate my profile.

10th (2007): 84%
12th (2009)73.87%

Graduation : Completed B.Tech in I.T. from SGGS Institute of Engineering and Technology (Autonomous) , Nanded.
CGPA (2013): 7.46/10

Work Experience : 3 years of work Experience in Cognizant Technology solutions, Pune.

1)I am part digital initiative lead by leadership in cognizant (Kind of a R&D lab for BFS domain).
2)My primary role is to co-innovate with customers and partners to boost their business, and leverage new advancements in technology to develop sandbox solutions.
3)Worked on many POC's and RFP's for many leading European, American and Asian banks/financial institutions.
4)Successfully converted 3 POCs into business for Cognizant.
5)Playing a role of tech lead, managing a team of 7, in a recently started practice/department in Cognizant.

Awards and recognition :
1)Awarded "Innovator of the year in 2014", for my collaboration,as a part of innovation lab,with multiple clients.
2)Client recognition for successfully developing a new prototype for the solution for their existing problem.

Extra Curricular :
In School :
1) Each year took part in school level Marathi theatre competitions.

In graduation :
1)University level Baseball champion for two consecutive years, and Runner up for one year.
2)University level Softball champion for two consecutive years.
3)Coordinator of Food and Accommodation committee in national level technical event of our college.
4)Active participant in IIT Powai's technical event for two years.
6)Member of student's placement cell in college.

In my current Organization :
1)Part of CSR program of cognizant.
2)Teaching students in Municipal corporation's school one weekend each month.
3)Hosting a mass book donation drive each year for under privileged students.
4)Teaching the basics of computer to the house-keeping and security staff in the organization.

Took my Gmat a day ago, and got 670 (Q49,V31)

I know it is a low score but do I stand a chance, if I show case properly, my achievements at workplace and at graduation level.

Hello,

Please help by evaluating my profile.

GMAT Score - 660 (Q45, V36).

10th (CBSE) - 78%
12th (Science, CBSE) - 77%
B.Tech (Computer Science) - 70%

work experience: 9 Years
Employer Organizations : wipro, Orange Business Services, American Tower Corporation
Job Role: Design, Implementation & Support for Network-Security Infrastructure. worked remotely for several Global customers/projects.
Onsite: 1 month in US for project Implementation. Have US Business Visa (B1) valid for next 10 years.

Awards/Recognition:

1) Several awards and recognition certificates for State level / Inter-school GK competitions
2) 3 Recognition certificates during job for Project Implementation etc.



I have worked on various roles - technical and managerial. Have 3 years experience of handling team of 5 persons.

I understand my GMAT scores are on the lower side, will give my second attempt in 3-4 weeks with a target score of 700.

Let me know your thoughts about my chances for ISB and whether I can hope for IIMs as well.


Thanks,
Nitin

Hi Onkar

- Your acads overall are pretty good, and your ECA are excellent. Good awards at work too.
- You have some social contribution and leadership in your profile which is great.
- You work in a very interesting function in a very interesting company, Onkar. If you can leverage this well, this itself can be your ace.
- A 670, with a strong app, could work very well for you. It did for many of our clients who created strong apps last year.

In case you are looking for help, please contact/call us directly.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

How many people should be evaluators (recommenders) for ISB applications?

Cheers
Balaji

For those keen to connect to current class students at ISB, the School has a new "Brand Ambassadors" page at https://www.isb.edu/pgp/student-connect
You can filter for your specific function and experience range and connect with one of the Ambassadors, who would be more than happy to guide you.
Please note that they may not be in a position, however, to assist with prep, resume/ essay review etc, due to the hectic schedule they grapple with at ISB!
Just a heads up to all those looking to crack ISB!
Good luck!

ISB allows just one recommender for the PGP application.

Thanks for the heads-up

ISB Reapplicant Chances | ISB Reapplicant Essay | ISB Reapplicant Success

ISB Reapplicant Strategy
Applying to ISB once again? Its not simply a matter of rearranging your essays, or ‘giving it another shot’. Successful ISB reapplicants take a hard look at what they could not succeed in doing the previous year, and try and fix the problems. Understanding ISB and one’s own profile is critical, but so is making sure that the quality of your next application leaves nothing to doubt. Here are the stories of some applicants who surmounted the reapplication challenge successfully.




Success Stories for ISB Reaaplicants
Working in the banking sector, Tripesh was a reapplicant to ISB in 2015. He had a work experience of two years at The Smart Cube as an analyst and two years at American Express, as a manager, before he decided to pursue management....ISB reapplicant chances

This post was frist published on the GyanOne Blog

Hi Nitin

Somehow missed this earlier. Apologies. Here is our assessment:

- A GMAT score of 660 is not the highest, though it may well work. As a technology applicant (though you are not a typical IT applicant), it will weight against you. Would recommend you try and raise your score.
- Chances for the top IIMs (A,B,C) with this score are not very high either.
- Cannot comment on your ECA as you have not mentioned much on that dimension. Please include more information. The GK competitions help to a limited extent.
- Your onsite experience helps, though the visa may help only in terms of finding a job post-MBA, not really for admissions.

Hope this helps. In case you have taken the GMAT again and have a fresh score to report, please do.

ISB PGP Placements 2016: Its Best Ever Till Now!!

In all, ISB students of the Class of 2016 received 1151 offers made by 297 companies, including top names like McKinsey, Apple, and Amazon. ISB has clearly mentioned this as a success, and in fact the maturity of, its ‘one school, two campuses’ recruitment model, which is a lateral hiring process spread out over several months, and involves students from both campuses. The number of offers made has increased by more than 16% over ISB placements 2015, the number of recruiters by more than 11%, and the average salary by more than 18% (looking at mid 80 percentile figures for the salary).

What is new in ISB placements 2016?
This year, ISB has continued to grow in terms of emerging sectors such as e-commerce, while also adding new ones such as government services. While...ISB Placements 2016

This post was first published on the GyanOne Blog

Kindly evaluate.
I have total 11 years work ex working in financial analytics - bi analytics technologies in india. working for last 5 years in an ibank.
Gmat score 700 49q 35v and toefl 109.
I lead an analytics team of 10 devs and work with accountants on tax/recovery data modelling.
Acads -
X 89.6
Xii 82.6
bachelor in compc. 68.2
Also did an exec course in analytics from iim lucknow and ksb indiana. Grade- good(70-80)
Work ex in uk us and australia - mostly short term for requirement gathering and customer interactions.
I have also cfa cleared level 1.
Numerous online courses on coursera edx from prog, anslytics to bankinv to even tax law (i did it for a tsx project)
My short term goal is to work in fintech - tech innvoation team in an ibank.
If you could please help me selecting 1 year mba programs - location not a constraint but certainly looking at post mba employement prospects.
Extra- football team in college, won 10k in company event, compete and won in office competitions, part of exta initiatives - flood fund collection drive, women in tech, tecahing children football on weekends
My cherry picks
Oxford
Lbs
Tepper - 2 year but special focus on analytics
IIMA pgpx
Isb - i think ill be a outlier due to age what do you recommend.
looking for your inputs.

Cheers

Sent from my SM-G935F using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Hi Shallabh

Here is our assessment:
- While 11 years is high, it may not be too much. Around ~50-70 people in ISB's current class have as much or more experience. So you certainly will not be out of contention because of your age/experience.
- Analytics is an exciting area to be in, and your work here will certainly help your cause. What you need is a clear statement of goals in terms of how an MBA can help you at this stage of your career and what your post-MBA goals are. The good thing is that at your level of experience you dont necessarily need to express a change in industries or functions. Executive growth itself can be a useful plank. A move to Fintech is also possible, but that will need more technical and programming skills, while your recent work seems more data-centric. Plus, the need for an MBA also comes into question there.
- ECA, GMAT score, and academics are all fine
- On other programs apart from ISB, Oxford, LBS, and IIMA are ok, but international experience may be a factor at the first two. If you have it, be sure to highlight it. Tepper is a possibility as well, but not with a FinTech goal.

You might like to look at Analytics MBA Programs as well.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

Thanks for the link and for your inputs.

Sent from my SM-G935F using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Hi everybody!
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