11 am zoom call with 3 alumni and one adcom. Started at 11.30 am. I was not given any intimation of delay (which is not normally the case), so I was staring at the screen for 15 minutes, waiting. Then I called the number on the email. He seemed to be an overall supervisory person and not the mentioned adcom. He mentioned that the delay might have happened because the panelists may be reviewing my profile. Got a call at 11.25 am from the adcom that the call will start at 11.30. All this is to say that such things can and will happen. Don't be unnerved. Think of other things (food, what will you do later etc) to keep you calm. The interviewers - 3 panelists - 1 from consulting, 1 working in culture experience in Singapore and 1 more (which I don't recall - he was the first one to introduce himself and I was a bit hassled by the delays myself) Questions: 1. Tell me about your life story 2. Why ISB - I mentioned academics, experiential learning opportunities, club culture and alumni network 3. Why not get into IIM executive education programs - you will get the same if not better experienced cohort and all other points you mentioned? Also, you are at the higher end of the spectrum in terms of work experience for ISB while you will be around average there. (I did not expect to be asked for such a direct comparison with another school) I mentioned good qualities of ISB first (similar to the previous answer). I mentioned that I have not heard good reviews of the IIM course. Also, I don't want to be in a learning zone and performance zone at the same time and want to upskill in a structured way. Plus, all my connects I spoke to had similar length of work experience as me when they joined ISB, so not sure why the work experience is a problem. 3. Further deep dive into Current work experience 4. Biggest deal in current job - Challenges, value add, what did you do there? 5. Why did your company get the above deal (Grilling over this)? 6. Show example of conflict at work - Here, the panelist wanted to hear of IB-like conflicts over mandates. I had to be frank about it and mentioned that it doesn't happen in my firm. We are not at each other's throats for stuff like that and work as a strong team. I said that I can provide you with examples of other conflicts that I have handled and proceeded to do the same. 7. Some questions on the sector - Cross questioning on the same 8. Any questions you have - I asked 3 questions on their ISB experience and careers. Few things to note: 1. Sometimes I had to answer the same questions twice to get the point across. I did not say something different from what I said the first time and just went about explaining the same thing in detail. 2. I did feel like they were trying to look at my work through their own preconceived notions of what it might be (may be it was an interview tactic). I had to go to deep lengths to tell them how it is different from what they are thinking it may be. I did not change the narrative as it would lead me to a hole that I would find difficult to come out of. 3. I would call my interview tough and a "grilling". They did not ask questions about goals, prior work experience, leadership qualities, team work qualities etc. They grilled me on my current work ex with a lot of counter questions. My wife (also admitted) had an interview in October and her's was a bit more conversational and like a general MBA interview with questions on leadership and teamwork. 4. I worked really hard on interviews and have a word document with more than 80 fully answered questions that I have read on GMATClub debriefs or thought of myself based on my work ex. It helped me a lot with my interview but this approach of writing full answers to questions can sometimes make you sound like you are reading from somewhere, rather than speaking from the heart. I had to practice a lot to remove that quirk out. 5. Be ready to defend your decisions and answers without changing your stance. It is not that difficult if you have various things to talk about to complement your answer. 6. One technique that really helped me was to create situation banks - Pick a few situations in your life that you can speak of. Write them out in detail using SCAR framework, ensuring that you don't get technical with your terminologies in case your interviewer is from a different background. You can use these situations for answers to various questions. I got this idea from a youtube video of a guy who got admits from Wharton, Booth and MIT. He advised to have 5-6 situations. I had 12-14. I also classified them in order of importance. 7. Constantly think about your profile as to what questions they can ask you, apart from the common ones (why mba, life story, why isb, example of team conflict, example of leadership etc). Note down these questions in your own word document and then formulate answers as and when you arrive at them. All in all, your interview can go in various ways - friendly and conversational (like my wife's) or tough and grilling (like mine - although I must say that at any given point of time there was at least one panelist who was smiling and being nice). Enough prep and you can do well in any scenario. I got my admit email 6 days later.

The interview was taken by three alums. They did not introduce themselves, so I could not figure their background. The interview started with the standard " take us through your profile". This was followed by in detailed discussion about my work. After which they asked me about the future of healthcare in India ( I'm from that domain). I was also given a case study for planning the distribution of covid vaccine in india. Then I was asked about my expectations from the program. They then shifted gears and discussed in detail about my hobby ( running). This interview was the most cordial interview I've ever been a part of. They were genuinely interested to understand where I come from and what I expect. I took help from preppie for my interview preparation. They not only helped me improvise my intro, but also helped me in keeping my answers to the point and crisp. Their feedback is very detailed and actionable. The mocks were very close to the actual interview. I was also connected with an alum from my field which was extremely helpful.

I was interviewed by 3 alumni - of '02, '03 and '10 batches. Two of them were consultants and the third was from the manufacturing industry. An ad-com member was also present but with video off and muted. The whole interview was very cordial and pleasant. I felt like they were genuinely curious to know more about me and my aspirations. They started by directly diving into my current role and asked me to describe a challenge I faced and how I tackled it. A few follow-up questions later, we talked about why I wanted to do an MBA, and what I was expecting to gain from the program. They also asked me why I wanted to move to larger companies after having worked in startups until now; and what I would do in case the MBA did not happen. They also asked me about a stock markets certification I had done from NSE a long long time ago, what it was and why I had done it. So the lesson here is to be completely thorough with everything you've mentioned in your application. The interview ended with them thanking me for my time and effort in the application process. Got the admit a week later :) I would recommend Preppie and Hash MBA for the interview prep.

Interview started 20 minutes late as I was informed the Panel was discussing my profile. It was a very conversational, relax discussion which didn't feel like an interview. It was like they were getting to know me. There were total 4 people; 3 panelists and 1 Adcom member. Only one panelist was on video rest everyone on audio. It started with a quick - tell me about yourself question. Post that they started discussing about one of the major projects I had mentioned in my application. this discussion went on for another 20-25 minutes. then I was asked to talk about a conflict I have faced in my career. Post that I was given a case question and spent another 5 minutes on it. After this, I was asked, Why me or what will I bring to the class. Then another 10 minute discussion on my hobbies and extra curriculars post which I asked them questions and interview was over after around 40 minutes.

There were 3 interviewers + 1 Adcom person. Most of the questions were around my workex, examples when I have shown leadership qualities. Was asked why MBA, why now. Also what changes would I make to my last venture if I was given the option. For interview preparation, I took 2 mock interviews from preppie. Nishchay has been really helpful to answer my queries as well.

About me - An engineer with 4+ years of experience in analytics consulting (banking and pharma industry). Extracurriculars: Quizzing, Cricket, Club lead and Events host ◙ Invite received on Nov 17 night. Scheduled for 12:00 PM IST Nov 20. Started 45 minutes late (was informed before about half an hour delay). 2 alum with background from the two industries that I have worked in- one from the founding batch (currently in UAE, could be the reason for Friday interview) and the other one from the class of 2011. Total time: 45-50 mins. ◙ Overall experience: Conversational. About work, a lot of behavior questions regarding challenges/conflicts/situation in work or as a leader, what after MBA. Basically, they want to know you as a person and your story. - Started off with an ice breaker which actually turned the other way round. Asked 3 quiz questions which were not answered correctly - Question about my work experience. Little more about the work and then how many I manage and whom do I report to - How is my performance rated Situational questions followed after this: - Challenges in work - Conflict in a team - How do you manage people with different personality - Plan after MBA. what do you know about strategy - Small case study on improving revenue for a mid-size bank - Digitalization of banking - how to sell that to upper management - If someone is not doing well in the team, how will you manage - How do you adapt to change - Backup plan after MBA. The second interviewer took this one step back, asked what if not admitted to ISB - At the end, any Q for the panel ◙ Tips: - Should know your application in and out - Be prepared for basic questions - I had an example/story to quote for each question asked - Appear for a mock interview I took help from Preppie and received very detailed feedback which covered shortcomings and improvement areas

Duration: ~ 40 mins; I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mr. Ankur Warikoo, founder of Nearbuy and Groupon and whose video on entrepreneurship I watched a day before! Another senior alumnus Mr. Rajesh Dhadiwal (works in MediaKind - a spinoff of Ericsson) was there from the founding batch and 1 AdCom member who was always on mute with no video. They made me feel comfortable and asked about where am I located and do I work from home or travel to office. Then started with the following questions (not verbatim): 1. You work in the Govt/public sector so was it a conscious choice you made? 2. How will MBA help you in your job? (I had mentioned in my essay that I would like to go back to my organization) 3. Do you have any ideas or plans for the development of the sector? (had mentioned about it in my essay and in an answer) 4. What if you don't make it to ISB? 5. How did your evaluator react when you informed her about your plans? 6. Tell us in detail about your journey from your foundational years. 7. How did you develop interest in financial sector during your Engineering? (had mentioned this in one answer) 8. Rapid fire kind of Qs: choose between speed & power, speed & perfection, and money & perfection 9. What do you think leadership is and tell us something about your leadership experience 10. Lets say you have some enemies. If I were to go to them and ask about what they think about you, what would they say? 11. What do you do outside of work? 12. Questions for us? (asked 2 Qs: tips to maximize the learning and overall experience if I get admitted and how ISB experience has changed you as person and as a professional over the years) My connection got lost and the call ended in between but they re-connected soon and were totally cool about it. Overall it was a very relaxed kind of conversation, I tried to present my answers in a structured way and cover all the relevant points but I feel I might have still missed out on a few points. PS: I appeared for a mock interview through Preppie.com and found the feedback to be good and actionable.

◙ Brief about me: • Mechanical engineer • 6+ years of work experience in Oil and gas industry • Extracurriculars: Start-ups and a few participations ◙ Overall Interview experience: Chilled one, Casual. It was more conversational than interrogative. Nothing asked out of my essay/profile/from what I said. ◙ Advise & Gist of interview: • Listen carefully. • In tough questions ask for a few seconds to channelize your thoughts and then respond. • Be clear about what you have written in your profile, essay, work experience & extra curriculars. • I did not ask about current affairs. But advisable to know at least what is happening around in your field. • Thoroughly prepare and practice Why MBA? Why from ISB? • Do research on ISB as much as you can. You will have cutting edge in an interview. • If possible do ask one question at the end. Maximum two. But keep in mind that those questions shall be answerable by the alumns. • Don't ask silly questions such as: About the results and all. ◙ Interview scheduled on 08-11-2020 on 12:00PM IST, Started 10 minutes late i.e @ 12:10 PM. 3 Alumnus and one from ad com. Total interview time: 50 mins. • Q:1 - Tell us about your recent work ○ I answered it by telling about my work exp and start up. • Q:2 - Let's go deeper in your start-up. Explain us everything from scratch ○ I answered it, It took around 5-7 mins. • Q:3 - Tell us what was your biggest mistake in it • Q:4 - Why MBA, if you have already dived into ventures and learned a lot? • Q:5 - Again why spending too much on MBA and not to invest in your start-up? • Q:6 - What would you change in your concept if you would start again? • Q:7 - Why ISB and full time program? Why not online courses out there? • Q:8 - How you will manage to face competition in your business? A few more questions on my goals and start-ups. ◙ For my preparation I took help from Preppie. Nishchay is really helpful. He has managed to arrange my interview from the start-up background alumnus, helping me to get the real experience. I hope this helps to the students who will have their interviews ahead.

Zoom Meeting with a panel of 3, all alumni ('15, '16, '17 year passouts) Interview started 40 minutes late and went on for about an hour. Questions Covered: - Current role responsibilities. - Business Model of the employer - Few questions regarding my working domain and Indian market - Why PGP? Why ISB? and why now? - Alternate career plan if MBA is not possible. - Discussion on my long term goal, starting my own business, and any ideas I have in my mind. - What if I don't get a product management job from campus? - Brief discussion on my hobbies. Almost 3/4th of the interview time was spent on discussing my current role and domain related stuff. Overall, it was more of a discussion than a stress interview. I was quite relaxed throughout the interview. The interview was completely focused on what I have written in my application, from job responsibilities to essays.

Zoom Interview: 3 Alums - 1 from 2010 (Consulting) and 2 from 2013/14 - Didn't get their backgrounds Interview went for about an hour. Alums seemed interested in what I was saying, but they did grill me in between. I think I was able to hold my own but I could have given more compelling reasons for few times -Asked me about my career journey and to throw light on reasons for switching jobs :Explained how I worked across private, public & social sectors and what value I was able to bring to each work environment and teams in brief -After I completed my transition into social impact and my experience & achievements at Govt and CSR Consulting firm, they asked me to explain the switches in earlier years :Explained the opportunities that presented itself before me at different stages and why I took them up -Asked about where I want to go next and why? :Explained about journey in last 3 years at intersection of corporate, govt and social ecosystem and why & what I would like to work with businesses on. Shared reasons why I felt it was a natural progression -Asked why MBA, why ISB After 45 minutes or so, they said due to paucity of time, we will have to stop. And I asked a few questions which they again answered sufficiently in my opinion. Overall, I had a good interaction, despite the grilling. Suggestion would be to share reasons for things you do, demonstrate what you did and how well you did. Do have a good answer for why you wouldn't get what you want without an MBA Hope this helps. All the best to all for their upcoming interviews and to those who would be waiting for them. Still time to get an opportunity

Interview was on skype and had 2 alumni, one from '10 batch and another from '13 batch. Both were from IT firms. Questions were mostly centred on my profile and essays. 1. Introduce yourself 2. How do you go about influencing people? Do you have any method for it? How do you benefit from it? Quality mentioned -> Influence 3. Why ProdMan and why specifically from ISB? 4. Follow up -> how isb will help in getting you the ProdMan role? 5. What is the most critical feedback you have received? 6. How would you give a feedback to others? Do you think influence and feedback go hand-in-hand? 7. Situational question How would you handle a person who is offended by a negative feedback? Answered it. Follow-up, how will you influence a person who is offended by the negative feedback and is not a rational person? (Couldn't answer) 8. Back to PM. Why do you specifically want to do a PM role? People at your age like to do many things at once. What interests you to become a PM? 9. What happens if you don't get to do an MBA? What happens if you don't get a PM role at ISB? 10. Any questions for us? The interviewers were very friendly and agreed to almost every thing i said (can't say if that's a good thing, though :P ), and interrupted me when i didn't answer in the right direction. No questions around hobbies, or extra-currics (though I had heavily demonstrated them both in essay and profile). They did ask me why IT after chemical engineering, though.

Time: 35 minutes Panel: 2 Alumni (One from 2010 batch working in a biotech firm and one from 2017 batch working in beer manufacturing) 1. Interview started with introductions, after which I was asked to introduce myself. 2. Explain your background in detail? 3. How has the interest in the Operations and supply chain field developed? 4. What skills will you bring from the army to the business world? 5. Explain with an example of how you overcame a difficult situation at work? 6. What role technology plays in the business or military world? 7. Any questions for us. Advice: Be confident with your abilities, take interview as a chance to make it to the classroom of ISB. Smile always. All the best

Interview time : 55mins The interviewers were quite chill and made me feel comfortable before we started. They were primarily interested in knowing if I can think logically and had a point of view. They were looking for an interesting conversation. The questions I was asked - 1. Tell us about yourself and why you here 2. So you want to be an entrepreneur, do you have any idea or plan to startup 3. Guesstimate : how many contact lenses are sold in India every year 4. Why do you want to do an mba 5. Why isb 6. Why not pgp pro, max or online courses or dlabs 7. Tell us about a unicorn you love and hate 6. What advise would you give a leading edutech founder 7. What do you think of a payment players ipl ads 8. What do you like to do other than work 9. If you had million dollars to buy any car. Which one would you buy, and why? ( Based on hobbies)

Interview time: 11:00 AM IST Duration: 35 min Panel no 2 There were 3 panellists, one a silent observer, I guess from adcom and 2 other alums, one from c018 and another co12. They started with introducing themselves and it was a straight dive into my entrepreneurship and venture. They asked many questions like challenges faced, my learning, given a chance to go back, would I do anything differently, plans of scaling up, a little about my experience as a software engineer. Overall a chilled one, not a stress interview. The last question was as usual " any questions for the panel ". They requested me to drop off from the call.

Interview at 10am IST, 00:30am US time Duration: 35mins Panel 13: 3alumni, 1adcom Started with some jokes about staying up past midnight. Q1: tell us about your current role Q2: a challenge overcome at work Q3: asked about a certain project from resume, asked how I work with teams Q4: why mba? Why now? Q4.1: you have a very technical background, why consulting? why do you think you’ll be good at it? - consulting is my short term goal Q5: how many tractors are used in India? Q6: questions for us Overall easy going and conversational mostly about background and experience

Interview Date - 11th Oct 2020 3 ISB alumni from 2016 and 2018 batches. Interview was over Zoom and it started on time. Brief academic background - B.Com (H) plus CFA and FRM charterholder, GMAT 680, 5 years of work ex in financial services industry Interview started with alums introducing themselves followed by my own introduction Q1 - You have written about automating financial models for MIS. Explain A - Explained. Some cross questions thrown and answered. Q2 - Any benefit from above automation to organisation, team? A - Told. Q3 - Why MBA? Why P.Hd (P.Hd is my long term goal and I had mentioned it in essay) A- Told Q4 - Again why MBA when you are earning decent, working in a good company A - Told. Lot of cross-questions. Answered all. I believe the questions were generic and a mere formality. Q5 - Any leadership opportunity taken? A - Told Q6 - Is ISB the right campus for your short term goals. A - Told ISB isnt the right campus considering placements only (my short term goal is getting into IB). But also told that I will largely be relying on personal connections for a job rather than college placement. So more interested towards pedagogy and brand, rather than placements. Q7 - Asked what if I dont fulfill my short term goals A - Told the back up plan Q8 - Few questions on hobbies (I had mentioned reading books) A - Told (normal conversation) Q9 - Opinion on Indo-China A - Told (I think I gave a balanced opinion and they were convinced) Q10 - Asked to name countries that are supportive of India's civil nuclear plans A - Told (had mentioned in hobbies that I follow international news) Q11 - Asked the correct lending environment in India A - Told about NPAs. Cross questioned on how we can solve the crisis. Answered. (I think I could structure my answer better). Overall the panel was very patient. They were keen listeners. They asked me everything that was in my application and were quite reasonable in their rebuttals. Fingers crossed. All the best to future applicants.

Profile - 730 in GMAT, 2.5 years of work experience with McKC Interview started 55 mins late and lasted around 50 mins; the previous interview ran over and the ad-com person called me in between to intimate that they will take sometime to start and to stay on hold. 3 alums - all from diverse backgrounds - started with introducing themselves and then asked me to introduce myself. Post introducing myself, I carefully mentioned the project that I wanted to talk about in detail to highlight my work experience and they asked me a lot of questions post that. They delved into what I did, what exactly was my role, what all was my contribution, any challenges faced during the project and similar details. (I think the push here was to see my exact role given I had mentioned I worked as a proper consultant on this project and see whether I actually knew what I did or not) Post that, since my work was around a report that talked about large firms, they asked me some general questions to see my thought process: 1) You talk a lot about large firms - but startups have generated considerable employment but large firms have not. How do you explain that? 2) Government recently relaxed labour laws - what are your views on that? (Here first I gave an answer from both perspective but then they really asked me to give my personal POV which I gave) This discussion was a good 25-30 minutes. Post that, they talked about the social work I had done (I had mentioned Enactus and NSS on my application) and they asked where my drive was coming from. Asked a lot in detail about the Enactus project and what my exact contribution was. (Enactus was a big part of my first essay and hence I feel it was discussed in detail) Post that, they asked me what my short-term and long-term goals are cause they were not that clear on my essay. Pushed on the "Why MBA" answer considering my work experience and background. After that, while wrapping up, they asked me a sort of consulting question where-in they said what will by my top two recommendations if I happen to bump into a tourism industry CEO (I had mentioned travelling as a hobby and consultant as short-term goal) Quick tips: 1) Do not get stressed - the interview is entirely conversational and there is no stress testing of any sort (Ofc, do not faff/lie as that can land you in a ditch) 2) Cover everything in your application and have basic pointers ready 3) Very important to guide your interview if you get an open-ended question to begin with - I feel I was at ease because I started with the project that I could actually talk a lot about!

Profile – 710 in GMAT , 4.5 years in Cognizant as a mainframe developer, 8 months in Standard Chartered as a Business Analyst. Both roles in payment domain. Future goals is to move towards product management in Fintech space. Wrote an essay about empathy being an important quality for a leader. There were two alums: Alum 1 – 10 years of work ex before ISB, passed out in 2017, working in Coke at present. Alum 2 – Couple of years before ISB, passed out in 2012, working with Amazon. The whole interview lasted for about 45 mins or so.. So it went like this: Q1. Tell us a bit about your career progression after undergraduate Explained in detail – what I was doing in previous company, what I am doing at present, connection between both and their link to my goals. Added some achievements here and there as well. Q2. What would you say your highlight at Cognizant was? Told about a tool I developed and gave some numbers as well on how much I could save etc. Q3. Why do you think others haven’t done it? I am sure others also thought of the idea but maybe they didn’t go for it because of the complexity involved. Even mine is basic and is a prototype. There is a lot to fine tune. Q4. Okay, so why do you want to move towards product management? What is your motivation? Told them the fact that I was able to create business impact and see my work in real time. Was able to understand the big picture and connect the dots. Gave an example of a project I worked on, Explained in detail. Both alums pretty impressed with my explanation. Complimented that even though they didn’t have a lot of background in the area, they were able to relate and the fact that I was able to explain it in that way shows my experience. Q5. At Cognizant you worked for 4.5 years. Was it the same work during the entire time or did it change in between? Told how I tried to lay a foundation in development first and got settled in the job. After 3 years when I figured out what I wanted to do, I tried to take more responsibilities in that area. So went on to play a pseudo functional analysis role by then end. Q6. There is an internship I saw in your profile. I have never heard of it before. Can you tell us a little about it? Explained the whole thing. Q7. People usually tend to take up certifications. Why did you choose this? Certifications can be done anytime. Bu these opportunities come by once in a while. Told them what motivated me to keep going back. Also explained how I was able to develop some soft skills crucial for a leader on the sidelines. Q8. You have talked a lot about empathy in your essay. So how did you help your friend in SCB when you yourself were new there. Explained – I know the struggle she was going through because I went through similar things as a fresher. I had experience in Cognizant that she did not know. I didn’t mentor her about what happens in SCB, but more about the IT sector, Agile, SWL and DB etc in which I already have good knowledge. Q9. Given that you think empathy is the most important characteristic for a leader. What will you do in a situation when you have to fire an employee. Firing someone is not an easy job for anybody. I would try to make the most for that employee. Use my connections or some other role where I can accommodate them. Q10. But will that not affect your own work. You will have so much to do and if you keep talking to 500 ppl, it will eat away your time. Assuming that I have 500 ppl under me then clearly I have a hierarchy of leads under me. Ill try to inculcate the same thing even in them. So I don’t have to interact with each employee individually. An overall level of employee satisfaction should exist If any complaint comes to me personally, Ill take it up. Told them how I believe that companies are made up of teams and people and it is important to keep investing in them. Also mentioned that I am at the position I am today because of the support from my leads and their work never got affected by helping me. So I think it should be doable. Q11. Have you been in a management position before? No. Q12. Then that is why you don’t know that things don’t work like that all the time. I completely understand that. But my observations are drawn from the leads I work with on close quarters and I feel certain things are wrong and certain things cant be avoided, thus my opinion. One of the alums commented - yeah definitely, it’s good that you have an idea of how your ideal team should function and having an opinion is important. Q13. So you are so close to PM in your current role, why don’t you stay there and get there, Why do you need an MBA now? My knowledge is limited to my expertise. Having a concrete understandings of concepts will help me better. Plus there are so many gaps in my current role and I don’t know how to perform them. Need to address those areas. Q14. But if there is no MBA what will you do? Just the way I moved from a developer position to a BA position, I can still get there. It is just that it will take more time. With an MBA, I’ll be able to expedite the process. Q15. So you took a certification in BA and then moved to this position to learn more about your domain. Why didn’t you just take a Fintech course? I did look into that option. There was a course for payments professional for a duration of 3 days. But it is very high level. In 8 months with a hands on, I gotto know more than I ever would have through that course. Hands on is important to know the intricacies of a domain. Q16. Fintech is such a niche area, you are so clear you need to get there, why don’t you take an MBA from other universities outside India. There are some great courses available. Yes, but India is way ahead than other countries. Gave some examples. Talked about NPCI and innovation scope here. And if you can stay in your own country and be closer to your family, then why not? Q17. What are you looking for from MBA? Is it just the ROI or will you be open to work in a startup with no salary? It’s not as straightforward as that. I have family obligation I need to fulfill so can’t take a job that will completely have no salary but concentrated in my domain. At the same time cant compromise on the kind of job I do and just look at ROI. I will take a position through which I can justify my career and obligations as well. Q18. Given that you are so focused on payments and PM, is there any product that you already want to develop or some space that you are excited about. Told them about an idea I had in mind. However also told them I don’t have all the details worked out and I need to look into it more. Q19. Any questions for us Asked them about their time at ISB – triggered off a discussion which was more of a chat and we had some good laughs there. Overall it was a very calm and fun talk with the two alums.

Background: 7+ years experience in software and team management with last 4 years working in Denmark. The interview started 10 mins late. There were 2 alums (one class of 2016 and one class of 2007) and one adcom member who had his camera and microphone turned off. The interview was mostly conversational and casual. 1)They started with a brief introduction about themselves and then asked me to give a short intro about myself. 2)The next question was about my motivation behind switching industries and roles (I have worked in 3 different industries in two different roles). 3)They asked me to give them an example of a problem that I solved, what was my takeaway from it and what I would have done differently if I could do it all over again. 4)They asked what I did in Russia and what was my learning and take from it (I had studied medicine in Russia for 2 years) 5)Few questions about my short term goal and how I plan to transition to new role. 6)Fallback plans if not ISB or not my target role. 7)Casual conversation about my hobbies, triathlon, fine arts and fusion cooking. That's pretty much it. They asked me if I had any questions to which I asked them about impact of age in building peer relationship and a question about bidding points. They both gave their inputs respectively. The whole interview was stress free and lasted about 30-35 mins. One thing I would like to mention that, I had taken help of preppie for my interview prep. And Nishchay was exceptional in his questioning during our mock and also providing valuable inputs later. Would highly recommend Preppie for ISB interview prep. Overall it was very enjoyable conversation. To anyone who is yet to have their interview I would say just be relaxed, know your application well, have clarity about your goal and ISB's role in achieving your goal. All the best!

Panel size : 3 (male: 1 , female: 2) All alums. Interview duration : 30 mins Interview type : Non stress Personal background: Engineer..Male..IT… aspiring Prod Manager ..gmat 710…work ex.- 4 yrs 3 m Annotations used : Interviewer 1 - super senior alum,male,friendly ( M), Interviewer 2 - 2015 batch alum,female, cold expression throughout(F1), Interviewer 3 - 2018 batch alum, female, supportive (F2) Interview questions: M : What is Ranchi famous for, apart from Dhoni? This was followed by discussion on Jharkhand being a mineral rich state and what Madhu koda did to Jharkhand. Madhu koda came into the discussion because I talked about his 5000 cr scam first. Overall, this discussion went for a minute. M : Any instance of your formative year where you showed leadership skill. Talked about an instance from my professional career. M wanted some other example. Talked about me being the school house captain. M : Why ISB and also, mention the biggest achievement of your life. Talked about my interest in product management and how ISB provides a good platform. Talked about ISB's strong prod management community. Talked about the kind of diversity that I have at my work place and related it to ISB. Talked about strong ISB alum network. Also mentioned how my experience fits well with ISB's batch average experience. F1 : Tell me more about the Cricket example that you have mentioned in your leadership essay. Explained it. Follow the STAR method. F2 : Tell me about the projects that you have been working on. Elaborated the projects. Told about the developemt and customer focus experience. F2 : Is it a direct interaction with the customer or is it an interaction with your extended support team which further coordinates with the customer? Explained about the kind of interaction. She was convinced. F1 : Tell me more about the customer escalation example that you have mentioned in your leadership essay. Explained. F1: Was there any appreciation for the work ? Told about the award that I had received. Had forgot to end my previous answer with the appreciation that I had received. So, try to include the achievements in your answers. M : In your LOR , your prod manager has mentioned that there was an instance when he gave you a feedback to holistically view a project before starting it. What was this instance about? Tried to explain why was the feedback given and how I took it in a constructive manner without being bogged down by it. M : Also, in your LOR, there has been a mention of you co-ordinating the tasks well. So, what kind of interaction do you have with your product manager. Do you guys discuss about product management roles or are these just coffee corner discussions. Explained my work related dependencies on my prod manager. Also discussed about how he helps me with my customer related escalations. F2 : I do see you have really good exposure on development and customer enablement fronts. You already interact with your prod manager and work with him. Don't you think working in the same role will lead to your short term goal of being a prod manager. Why is an MBA required. Started with how my current role has provided me the required progression in terms of engineering driven perspectives. Talked about the limitations of my role in terms of opportunities to develop business acumen. Told her that even if I continue in this role, I might get an entry level prod management role after 4-5 years but my knowledge of functional know how of things will still be very limited. So, instead of waiting for 4–5 years to develop this knowledge, would like to go ahead with formal business education and that is why an MBA and would prefer to use the post MBA 3-4 years to hone the business skills gained through MBA. She said that it does make a lot of sense. M: Since we do have some more time left. Let me put you in a situation. Imagine you are a product manager at Amazon and you have to come up with an app that elderly people can use to take their thoughts away from corona. What will you think of. I took some time to think and did a lot of cross questions. Then came up with an idea of selling virtual experience on Amazon. The experience can be of Selling a subscription for live Ganga Aarti for the religious people. M: How will you ensure that elderly use this application without any help. Took some time and told them that may be a simple UI can help..he himself suggested that let us drop this. Seems a difficult one. F2 : What are some life lessons learned from cricket. How have you used these lessons in your personal and professional life. Answered .. M : Any question for us…. Did ask one and always do ask atleast one. If nothing comes into your mind, ask about their experience or learning that they feel remained till date even after so many years of graduating from ISB. Verdict: Don't know. Need to wait.