Calling all ISB PGP Applicants: 2024 Intake Class of 2025

Hi All,
I wanted a profile review & clarification. Background: Mechanical Engineering
Class 10: 89% (ICSE Board)
Class 12: 93% (ISC board), got recognized by the state government as well
Graduation: 8.63/10 (BTech in Mechanical Engineering from HBTU Kanpur)
GMAT: Planning to appear by 24th of Aug’23
Work experience - 2 years and 2 months in September’23, Working with Hero Motocorp as Territory service manager in the Sales and After Sales Dept

Started as a graduated engineer trainee and after undergoing Induction for 2 months was assigned to Uttar Pradesh East belt ( Also, my hometown is the same as my work location), worked to deploy an application - A digitized platform for Service Reminders to customers for Services at 400+ Channel Partners. In FY 22-23 catered high volume of networks with max number of achievements in Customer Experience. I deployed the AMC program in my Territory with a growth of 77% over Last Year and also was recognized with 2 awards on customer experience and retention. In FY 23-24 as of now I’ve worked closely with the Channel Partners to liquidate their stock and have managed to liquidate around 30 lacs of stock MTD.
The key skills include - CRM, Data Analysis, Channel partner profitability, Negotiation, People Skills, MS Office, and Interpersonal communication skills

Post MBA Goals
Plan A: Strategy Planning in Automobile Industry
Plan B: Sales and Marketing in FMCG

Planning to apply for R1 Spet 2023

Sept*

Hi Ayushiseth
1.Academics are more than decent
2. Not an IT engineer but still an engineer
3. Sales and network building are hardcore aspects hence an edge
4. Seems to be digital solution savy
5. Need more information about professional achievements or awards
6. Any recognitions in extra curricular activities
7. Have you played any part in socicauses
8. Are you a member of my notable associations

On the face of it your profile seems to be a 6/10, not common but not unique either (assessment based what is shared). Need a good GMAT score 710+ and get that monkey off as soon as possible

you have great profile imo. many strengths. you will get interview calls from 650+ itself...i believe 680 will be fine with your profile for top schools in india

Hi all,
I wanted a profile review.
Background:
Chartered Accountant
Class 10: 89.63%
Class 12 : 90.31%
(State board - Maharashtra)
CA completed in 3 attempts at final.
GMAT : planning to appear by Sept. Planning for R2
Work experience: 3.5 years
1st experience: Worked as quality assurance lead (internal audit) for review of corporate finance functions and reporting it to SVP and global CFO in a BCM company for 1.5 years

2nd experience: Profile : Assistant manager in risk advisory in a big 4. Worked predominantly in auto sector (dealership and distribution) where operations review was carried out for largest auto dealership in south covering 100+ outlets. Handled a team of 5 members. Got individual and team above and beyond awards highlighting the management skills and critical thinking. Received client appreciation for the recommendations given.

Extra curriculars : Volunteer at art of living foundation. Actively involved during covid in conducting online breath and meditation workshops.

Hobbies : Baking.
Have some district levels medals and awards for team sports and karate championships.

Post MBA goals:
Plan A : Get into product management.
Plan B : to start a restaurant. Starting from a cloud kitchen.

Kavita your profile is a rarity as in diversity factory, CA and BCM combination is deadly

If your short-term goal is aligned to current strengths, and deliver the expectation on interview day you should have multiple offers.
Just to be sure and cover the score part 670+
There is a minimum experience cut-off for few 1 year programs of IIMs(but it is not set in stone)

Fi

Hi all,
Please Correct me if i am wrong
This is related to scholarship at ISB.
So the percentage of tuition fee waiver decreases from R1 to R2 and to R3 ?

They don’t give out as much but generally speaking the funds decrease as you move ahead in the application cycle. So depending on availability that argument is definitely true

Hi all,
I wanted a profile review.
Background:
Class X : 9.8 CGPA
Class XII : 79.2% (CBSE)
Btech (IT) : 63% ( AKTU)
GMAT: Planning to give in November.
Work Exp : 4 years.
1st work experience: cyber security engineer @ L&T technology services, where i worked on providing cyber security related consulting to more than 20 customers across industries.
In a short stint i also got a chance to work with the Chief Strategy Officer of L&T technology Services. ( 3years)
2nd Work Experience: Information security manager with Tata consultancy services,
Here I perform information security audits, incident management , repond to information security related business requests for NGM markets ( Middle east, Asia Pacific & India ). ( Supporting as a manager for across 150+ projects and managing 10k + associates.

Extra Curricular: Actively involved in raising funds upto 15 Lakhs and supporting in relief care for 2019 kerala floods,kashmir floods &covid pandamic where we provided more than 7K + people with monthly ration.

Hobbies: I am fascinated by the stock markets and because of which I decided to do the mba.
Currently I am managing 1cr + capital in stock markets and I love to eat, sleep and breathe markets.

Post MBA goals:
Plan A : Get in to Strategy consulting for businesses.
Plan B : Come close to my goals of trading and investing like the greats ( Rakesh Jhunjhunwala or Warren Buffett).

Hi all,
I wanted a profile review-

Education -
Class 10- 10CGPA
Class 12- 72.6% ( Science)
Graduation - BBA- Finance : 8.68 CGPA ( From:- BMCC,Pune )

Work Experience -
Note - Will be completing 2 years this August

Current Role - Data Research Analyst at Morningstar ( From August 2022-Current)

About role-
My role is to analyse financial documents carefully and upload it in a structured format on the Morningstar user platform.
I also work with data consultants of the EMEA region to resolve the discrepancy in data visibility issues using SQL and various other technical tools.
I am required to work with the tech team and various other product teams to resolve issues.
I manage relationships between Morningstar and Insurance companies, Fund companies and AMCs.

Achievements-
1. I have reduced the working hour for a particular profile using Excel VBA as a tool, which has saved a lot of manual processing time.
2. I have worked with the tech team to automate many areas of my process.
3. Collaborated with Data Consultants of EMEA region to resolve multiple issues which clients have faced on multiple days.
4. Found a discrepancy in a flow before it was discovered at the clients end, which saved us from losing our client.
5. I am part of the Financial Literacy group in my company, where I manage and take sessions to increase financial knowledge of employees.
6. I have also been a process trainer for new joiners. I have helped them excel in the process within a very short span.

2. Previous role-
Quality Analyst - FinIQ Consulting Pvt. Ltd. (Pune)
Duration - August 2021- August 2022.

About role-
My role was to creating and validating end to end testcases and testplans UAT, SIT and pre-prod environment.
I was also used to perform regression, financial and conformance testing. I used to check FIX connection, API testing as well as ensure email connectivity among Buyside and Sellside banks.
I used to report any issues in the UAT and SIT stage to developers and configurators and help them resolve the issue. I have a financial understanding of Structured products, Derivatives, Options and Bonds.

Achievements-
1. I was awarded with best performance award for my batch.
2. I have handled multiple projects at times.
3. Was part of the demo team on multiple occasions.
4. Set new standards for test cases and test plans.
5. Tested end to end trade life cycles and built connectivity between trading platforms.
6. Introduced the new UI-UX testing scenarios to check the effectiveness of the platform.
7. Used to test the financial product script by manually calculating the results on Excel.

Key Skills-
Structured Product, leadership,
Automation using various tools, MS office, SQL, client communication, Data analysis,

Internship-
1. Car Udyog - worked with a startup where I was Finance and Accounts Intern. I helped it in pricing and costing methodology. Coordinated with the tech team to set the pricing calculation. I also handled the accounts part of the company. I also forecasted break-even point for the business model.
2. Bayside media- I worked here as an intern. Our main product was an education program. My role was to make calls to graduate students and sell them education products which could help them boost their career.

Extra-curricular -
1. Was part of the college annual event as a volunteer. Got maximum entries in one day.
2. I am a marathon runner and organize small marathon runs on weekends.

Social work-
1. Volunteer at Teach for India.
I teach around 41 underprivileged students Maths and English.

Projects -
Final year project was on Comparative Ratio Analysis of 5 Subsidiaries of Adani. Performed ratio analysis and financial interpretation of Cash flow, Balance sheet and P&L.


Targeting GMAT attempt on August 18.

Anujgupta2018

Your 10th/ 12th scores are strong, and experiences at big4 and tax consulting can showcase your analytical aptitude and knowledge of finance. Please make sure to differentiate your profile from the other CA's by emphasizing the impact of your projects (and ideally why/ how it matters to ISB), highlighting your ECs (things you are passionate about and that make you unique), why exactly you need an MBA (tied to your short/ long term goals, your past experiences, and indicating the gaps that an MBA would fill) and why ISB (specific resources that the school would provide to boost your career).

Regarding which round to apply - applying in R2 with a stronger profile (i.e. higher GMAT, more impactful essays, promotions if applicable, etc.) is better than applying in R1 with a weaker profile. ISB's GMAT average is around 710-720. Check out my recent article analyzing in detail the pro's and con's of applying in each round:

https://admitstreet.com/blog/mba-application-round/

Regards,
Arvind
HEC Paris MBA alum, Admissions interviewer
W:https://admitstreet.com| E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com

sharathsrambi

Please target a higher GMAT score on your retake: ISB's average is between 710-720. If you would like access to our free GMAT study plan put together by 730+ scorers, feel free to reach out to me.

Your GPA is on the lower side, but the other academics and a higher GMAT score can compensate for it.

Make sure to be clear on your post-MBA goals (short term and long term): target sector, function, geography, ideally also company/ entrepreneurship. The crucial part is to link these and your past experiences to highlight how/ why an MBA and specifically ISB would help achieve your goals.

As the ISB essays this year are quite detailed and involve self-introspection and impactful communication, it's important to have strong anecdotes to back your essay points. For an in-depth analysis of this year's essays with suggested approaches on how to answer, check out my recent article:

https://admitstreet.com/blog/isb-essay/

Regards,
Arvind
HEC Paris MBA alum, Admissions interviewer
W:https://admitstreet.com| E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com

What? 4 years of work experience and you have 1 cr+ invested in stock markets Aiku12?

Do you take loans, to invest in stock markets? Are you investing in derivatives?

At this point, your Plan-B does not look like a candidate to be mentioned in the application.

This goal of product management completely threw me off-guard Kavita_k. In all these years of working with hundreds of CAs, I have never come across product management as a goal.

Believe this would need some serious thinking and introspection, else you could be in for a lot of grilling around this, during the interview.

I started with an initial investments of 10 Lakhs, reinvested in equities, I also manage money for my family members so that’s the total amount I have been managing, in last three years its given CAGR 15.5 %

No I do not trade in derivatives, infact I believe in doing fundamental analysis and holding company for long.

Moreover, I forgot to mention, i have also done a PG Diploma in advanced computing from CDAC ( under the ministry of IT), I secured a rank of 842 among 1 lakh students.

You have done quite well for yourself but this kind of overqualified(lack of better word) will have to answer a lot of questions on what you seek from MBA and ISB, how this path is leading to you ultimate goals.
May be the story has to be retold in softer version. how you convey these pointers in person would make a huge difference

Can anyone please review my profile?
Thank you in advance.

Ayushiseth09

A 710+ on the GMAT would position your profile well: ISB's GMAT average is between 710-720.

Your work experience (~2 years) is on the lower side, however, the projects/ skills you have highlighted and their tangible impacts can potentially differentiate your profile. I suggest having further clarity on your post MBA goals (e.g. target companies) to identify the exact skillset (hard and soft) gaps that the MBA/ ISB can provide. Also identify which of your target companies recruit from ISB from these roles (ref. past 5 years' employment reports) and how exactly ISB's resources (curriculum, clubs, alumni network, industry connections etc.) would help you make this transition.

ISB's new essays this year are quite detailed and involve quite a bit of self-introspection and impactful communication. For an in-depth analysis of the essays and suggested approaches on how to answer them, check out my recent article:

https://admitstreet.com/blog/isb-essay/

Please reach out if and when you would to schedule like a free profile evaluation session.

Regards,
Arvind
HEC Paris MBA alum, Admissions interviewer
W:https://admitstreet.com| E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com