Calling ISB 2012 Applicants - Let's Roll

Hi ThinkISB,

I gave my GMAT today... I don't know if this is the right place for profile evaluation. Anyways here is my brief profile (I am a little skeptical about my less than average work experience):

GMAT: 720 (Q49, V39)
Work Ex:
GE Consumer & Industrial (US) - Advanced Manufacturing Engineer - Jan 2010 - present
GE Consumer & Industrial (US) - Advanced Manufacturing Engineer Coop - May 2009 - December 2009

Academics:
MS Industrial & Systems Engineering - Virginia Tech GPA 3.90/4.00 Graduation: Dec 2009
B.Tech Mechanical Engineering - NIT, Trichy GPA 8.78/10.00 Graduation: April 2008
12th Board 2004 (CBSE) - 92.2% 10th Board 2002 (CBSE) - 95.6%

By the time I apply, I will have 1.5 yrs of work exp (0.5 years as coop). I am planning on applying in R2 for the academic year of 2011. I would like to know my realistic chances of making it through. Do you think an international Masters degree and 1.5 yrr US work exp would make up for an overall below-average work exp? Further, if I can justify my case strongly on the essays, do you think that should be good enough to get me an admit? Kindly advise...

Thanks in advance...

Hi,

It would be great if you can evaluate my profile for ISB.
I'll be applying in Round 2.. My basic profile :

Indian IT Male (25 Yrs)
Work-ex : 3 years at the time of admission (for a international telecom service provider. Worked in a pre-sales assignment too and Landed a deal for the company . A couple of months internatinal experience

Undergrad : 7.35 \10 (Enginnering from a college under the IIT-JEE umbrella but not an IIT)
GMAT : 760 (q 49, V44)

Extra-Currics : Co-founded a non-profit while a sophomore (President at present) and currently partnering with government to help a few thousand kids and a couple dozen jail inmates gain IT literacy.
-Represented the class in literary society.

Post-MBA goal : Want to do management consulting for Tech firms, specially in developing economies.

essays are very important in context of career goals.

Dear akshayram86,

Your academics are excellent, no doubt about it. But your work-ex is very less. For your own benefit, we advise you to gain some experience before applying to ISB. Also try and engage yourself in some community activities and show some active participation in activities outside of work.

All the best.

It is good that you are thinking about an MBA so well in advance. Plan ahead and try to take more responsibilities at work where you can demonstrate and refine your leadership and team skills.

Dear ashu2020,

Your academic performance is good and 760 is the top 10% of the average class at ISB. Your experience is a bit on the lower side, but you seem to be involved with pre-sales and business development. It would be a challenge to show the effectiveness of business development from your personal contribution with just 3 years of experience. But if you can show good professional maturity and clarity of goals in your essays, it would be good.

Dear Applicants,

ISB made a change in the ISB application midway, so we thought we should let you know about it. In the ISB application, all 3 essays are mandatory. When the application was opened up, the 3rd essay was optional, but now the website reads:

“ Essay 3 is also mandatory and could be used to highlight significant achievements / value add and also discrepancies if any, in any of the areas of your application.”

Please go through our analysis of the essays: https://www.thinkisb.com/blog/2010/06/04 ... -analysis/

Hope that helps.
All the best for your application.

Dear Applicants,

As we review applications this season, we are seeing that many applicants are facing difficulty in writing the re-applicant essay, which is of course very critical for all re-applicants. So we thought of writing an article and advise a larger audience. Please read the following post on "how to approach the re-applicant essay"

https://www.thinkisb.com/blog/2010/08/11 ... ant-essay/

Hope that helps.

Hi,

Can someone please shed some light on R1 vs R2. I know its a much-discussed topic but from everything ive read on it.. im still not convinced if it has been addressed fully. So my analysis goes this way

ISB clearly states "We strongly urge you to apply in the first cycle to avoid last minute rush of applications. Though both cycles carry equal distribution of seats, it is always advantageous applying in the first cycle since it will give candidates more time to arrange for their financial aid, visas, and relocation"

So if the number of seats are equally allocated... is there any other advantage of applying in the first round apart from aid, visas, relocation etc. that ISB mentions?

Can someone discuss pros and cons of R1 vs R2? For eg. applicant pool in R1 vs R2, advantage of application being read early, while in R2... possibility that some people with similar profiles might have been selected in R1, thus reducing chances in R2... plus stronger applications coming in R2... are these valid points? Or one genuinely possesses equal chance whether in R1 or R2.

Really need help understanding this.

Thanks,
Ankur.

Hi All,

The topic gives you a detail of my GMAT score. I gave it last week and the scores are on their way to the designated univs. I have chosen ISB, IIM-A, NTU,NUS and INSEAD to received my score.

I graduated in 2008 from National University of Singapore and have been working for 2 years in Credit Suisse in Information Technology. My undergrad GPA is 3.6/5 (not sure how it is converted to the generic GPA scale).

One of my primary targets is ISB. I know the average GMAT score at ISB was around 716 last year. Would someone be able to tell me if my current GMAT score would really weaken my application? How probable is it for ISB to reject me on my GMAT score basis?

Since I have to apply by November end to enter class of 2010-2011, any re-take should be before mid of October. Given the tight schedule that all working professional need to put up with, preparing within the next 1.5 months and improving my chances of really making my GMAT score leap by 40-50 points seems to be a challenge.

Can someone advice me on this? Is 670 a definite reject, at least on the score basis, at ISB?

Thanks
Ajay

As per the ISB website the mid 80% range is from 680-760, so it might be a bit of a challenge (not sure of a definite reject)

https://www.isb.edu/PGP/2010Profile.Shtml

thanks!

what about re-taking within 1.5 months? are there any stats on re-take increase/decrease in score?

Some stats on the number of hours and the correlation with score might be of help. Of course it depends on the number of hours you are going to spend in those 1.5 months, the kind of prep material etc.

gmat-study-plan-for-gmat-novices-start-your-gmat-journey-80727.html#p608957

Hello ThinkISB,

I would really appreciate some advice on my chances to get into ISB:
Here's my profile:

GMAT: 710 (Quant 44/ Verbal 42)

Work exp: approx 5 years in a major Indian IT company, with approx 3 years of international work exp in the USA, with about 2 years in an intermediate leadership role.

Educational Background: B.E. Computer Science and Engg. from Nagpur University with 64.6% (Nagpur
University is traditionally a low scoring university)

Extra Curricular activities: Active member of Toastmasters International, which is a public speaking club.

Social service: Was an active member of a social service organization which taught poor children free of cost back in India. Currently only help out during vacations.

Please let me know what you think of my profile and what are my chances to get into ISB.

I still have a week left for R1 and i was wondering if there are any advantages of applying in R1 vs R2.

Definitely retake!!

2 years of work ex is quite less and with 670 score you need stellar application.
Be practical and instead of wasting the application fee, pay for the exam.

definitely

Dear Ankur,

Our view on this topic is that you should apply with your best set of essays. If it's taking time to improve, wait for R2. But try to put in your best till R1 if possible. Our opinion is that there are number equal of candidates that get selected in either round. So it does not make much difference.

The one obvious point would be that if too many people from X profile/background get selected in R1, they may have bias against them in Round 2. However, there is no evidence of the same.

So the conclusion is, apply when you think you are ready. Don't think of R1 vs R2.

Dear spiritualupliftment,

If you do not have your essays ready by now, we'd recommend you to wait for R2 as it would be rushing in and might result in substandard essays.

Regarding your profile, we do not have enough information to comment in detail. But from a cursory level, we feel that your academic performance is average. Considering you are from IT Services industry and your undergrad %, a higher GMAT would have been better. Having said that, your contributions at work and initiatives/involvement outside of work, if extraordinary would make up for it. Your international experience is a plus. It's upto you how you leverage it in your essays.

Your involvement with Toastmasters is good but what is more important is what you learnt and in what capacity were you involved with them. And it seems you are not engaged in community service passionately. So you need to tell more about yourself for us to evaluate you better. Send us an email to proceed with the same.