Background - 3 years of Work Experience at a Fintech start-up (As of August). BCom Graduate. Cleared CFA Level 3. 1) Tell us about your role at work A) Explained in Detail 2) You have said in the application that you Invest in the Unlisted Space. Tell us more A) Explained in Detail. Was asked about the process, risks, projections and other information I considered while Investing and how I exited the Investment. The discussion went on for some 15 minutes or so. Lot of Cross questioning from the panelists. 3) What has been your biggest professional challenge? A) Explained the situation 4) What was your learning and what corrective action did you take? A) Answered in detail. 5) How do you think the PGP will help you with your goals? A) Talked about my goal and where I stand right now and how the PGP would add a lot of value in terms of where I aspire to be. 6) What is your biggest Professional Achievement? (They asked me to keep the response to one line because I was answering other questions in detail) A) Briefly explained it in one line. 7) Do you have any questions for us? A) Asked them about the bidding system for electives and what will happen if we run out of the 4500 credits? They all laughed and smiled. And said "You'll figure it out" and then collectively laughed. Then they briefly explained their experience. Overall, it was structured as a very friendly conversation. I thanked them at the start and end for taking their time out to interview me and I wished them well

Background - Investment Banking professional with more than 5 years of experience. CA and CFA by qualification The interview started 20 mins late. When I contacted the Admission team about the delay, she mentioned that the panel were having discussion about my profile and would start in a few mins. The Panel-9 consisted of two alums from Class of '13 and one adcom member, who was on mute and with camera turned off.One was from sales & marketing background in healthcare industry and the other was from an ed-tech startup background (and was also a CA by qualification) Call Length: 35 mins Conversation began with both of them giving a quick introduction Q1- How did COVID treated you and what you did in the COVID period? (this was part of my application and hence they picked this up and drove the conversation towards this) A - I alluded towards the recent learnings I had in the Fintech & HealthTech sectors in India and abroad Q2- Can you elaborate about any emerging trends in HealthTech in India? Q3- Where do you think India stands in terms of Fintech? Can you provide a contrast with the Fintechs in developed countries? What is the reasons for the contrasts? Q4 - Why not Edtechs, why did you restrict yourself to just HealthTechs and FinTechs? Spent good 12-15 mins until Q4 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q5 - A Resume Based question - How did do crafted compelling investment thesis for investors? Q6 - Can you walk us through any of the transaction where you would have done this Q7 - Your recommender mentioned that you have handled complex transactions extremely well? Can you throw some light on that? Q8 - Can you talk about any transaction where you played a key role? What was your contribution for that assignment? Spent another 12-15 mins on resume & recommendation based questions ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q9 - What do you like to do when you are not working? A - Football matches and Bike ride Q10 - Which Bike do you own? Q11 - Which Football Club do you follow? Spent another 3-4 mins on hobbies ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q12 - Why you chose these short term and long term goals? and Why ISB? Spent another 3-4 mins on this

Three alums, two sirs (S1 and S2) and a mam (M) joined alongside an Adcom person who remained on mute and camera turned off. The interview went for about 50-55 minutes. I'm not able to comment on whether it went well or not but posting the questions to help others. Most of the questions were same as what you expect them to ask. However, the way of asking was slightly tricky, and I struggled to understand the questions on two occasions, so much that one of them had to correct my understanding in between. Here are some key highlights: S1: We’ve seen your profile and essays. Just walk us through your achievements in past two years. A: Started with talking about the work profile and the achievements, stopped in between. S2(interrupted): We’re not interested in your team’s performance. Just tell us what you did and achieved. A: Talked about personal tasks and achievements, and how it helped me transition to Product Management from the Marketing team. S1: Picked two specific achievements from my Marketing tenure and asked in detail. A: Walked through each of them granularly, and he seemed satisfied. M: Tell us an example from work where team-work has helped you. A: Picked a situation which wasn’t there in my application. S2: What’s the challenge in this? It seems straightforward. A: Explained how different members had their priorities and we strived hard to work as a group. S1: What was your learning from this? A: Explained that it was to translate my thoughts in the language of the listener. M: Do you want to have your own venture or are you targeting specific companies after MBA? (since I had mentioned my short-term goal of being a Product Head in a tech company) A: Explained how the journey is more important and that I’m more interested in solving problems through technology, and haven’t fixed my mind on startup, tech giants, or own venture. M: Tell me three things in Google Pay which you want to change (since I am a fintech PM) A: Started with explaining why G-Pay is my favourite product and talked about two problems, but interrupted before the third one. M: What’s the rough penetration of G-Pay in India? A: Performed guesstimate and she seemed convinced. S2 (mentioned two achievements in the current role): Pick any one of them, and tell me the end-to-end process. A: Picked one, which is under implementation, and talked in detail. S2 interrupted to ask about the results and when I said it’s under implementation, he asked whether I’d be able to talk about details of the other achievement. I mentioned that it was a team effort and not just my achievements. He asked me to think of any of my own achievements, and I gave a quick thought. S1 (picking one ECA, which is about building a community of movie lovers): Why not talk about this one? It seems to be your brainchild. A: Talked about the inception, objective, process, results, etc. S1: Do you want to monetize it moving forward or is it just a hobby? A: Not given a thought, and want to focus on building the community for now. S1: You seem to be a movie fan. Talk about a movie which has inspired you the most? A: Talked about Anand and his selflessness. S1: Would you call your movie community a part of your selflessness? A: Denied explaining how it’s my objective to grow it for the benefit of cinema. S2: How are others getting benefitted? How can a movie community help people? A: Talked about the values we get from movies, and how it makes us forget our problems, quoting examples. S2: What’s one thing in your career path which you’re missing? A: Talked about how I want to get an understanding of business functions to create strategies comprehensively. S1: We’re done now. Any questions for us? A: Asked about foreign exchange (S1 explained briefly). Asked about their stories post-MBA (S1 said no time left, but we can connect over a coffee chat). Asked about result dates (Stupid question, M said to check with admissions team) Overall, it was a calm interview, not stress questions thrown at me. Basically, they just want to know about you as a person. They already know from your essay and application, but need details about some of them and test your thought process. The informal conversations about movies in my interview gave positive signals, but I’m not sure. Few tips: - Always ask 2 questions in the end, but never ask the logistic ones as I did - Don’t wait for them to ask for your strong points (ECA or projects). Fit those wherever you can - Try bringing the perspective of why you desperately need this MBA in some places - Don’t try to make up stories as that’s not sustainable - Prepare well, at least for these questions

Background: Interview was mostly conversational. 3 ISB Alums and 1 Adcom who remained on mute and not on camera. Questions: 1. Why ISB? 2. Why MBA? 3. Questions about marketing such as a. 5 Changes in consumer behaviour in the recent years. b. Difference between Product marketing and Marketing Managers. This was specific to me because I want a PMM role post MBA and that I don't currently have a lot of experience as a marketer. 4. Questions about my company and my role in the company. 5. Learning from my extra-curricular activities and how I can apply them professionally. 6. Whether I have applied to colleges other than ISB? 7. Favourite technology product? 8. Questions about professional challenge and challenges faced in a team setting. 9. My perspective on marketing for EdTechs 10. Few factors important for EdTechs to succeed (because my company has an EdTech division). 11. What I find annoying about dealing with clients as an Account Manager? After this they asked me if I had questions for them. Interview lasted about 50 to 55 minutes. Felt that the interview went well although it could have gotten better. Tips: 1. Stay calm 2. Ensure that you are aware of your industry and its trends 3. Brush up on basic concepts if you have recently (in the past year) switched jobs. 4. Be very clear on your goals and the examples you use.

Background: - Interview was scheduled for 5pm, but it got delayed by 30 mins - Panel 4, had 4 people- one had his cam off - Duration- 40-45 mins Questions: - Sorry for the wait, how did you spend the 30 mins? - Breif intro of everyone followed by my detailed introduction - Why MBA, as you can achieve your goals without an MBA - How do you prioritize tasks, manage risks? (They had the impression that I was a manager. This was quite odd and disappointing to know. I had clearly mentioned in the application that I am an Individual Contributor. So clarified that) - They asked me about my job role, accomplishments? My role? - Again, they grilled me that seeing my career trajectory I can easily reach my post mba goals. So why invest soo much money - One member in the panel had used the products I work on. So she asked me more about the release plan and roadmap - Any last questions? Conclusion: Overall the interview was relaxed. It went good but not awesome. Reading my application essays before the interview helped me. I felt that they were bored of asking traditional questions like "Why ISB", "How will you contribute" etc, so make sure you weave that information in your other answers. Tips: - Prepare in advance (but dont over prepare and memorize!) - Be ready for unexpected and out of the box questions - If you can brainstorm with any of ISB Alumns/MBA-friends in your connection then that would be great - I took help of https://www.preppie.in/ . They dont charge much and the feedback helped me handle tough questions.

Hey! The interview was pretty stress-free and casual. There were about 3 ISB alums and since this time, it's all virtual, we were asked to join a call 10 mins prior to the time and wait. The questions were pretty standard too, 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. Why MBA? 3. Why ISB? 4. What if not ISB? 5. Discussion about future goals - both short-term and long-term and how ISB fits into that 6. Asked to elaborate on my industry in India - some questions around that 7. Explain a situation where you solved a problem at work and what was your contribution. These were the questions which were asked and the interview lasted for about 35 mins. Be yourself, stay calm, prepare well to the answers, be very clear on your goals and it should be a good conversational chat. All the best to you on your application!

3 Interviewers (Panel Number 5) - Zoom Interview - Hard time limit 45 Mins. No introduction given by the interviewers, directly started off with: 1. Tell us a bit about yourself? Upon answering probed a little about the job aspect. But nothing nerve-wracking. 2. Why MBA? Probed deeply here. Again, nothing unnerving. Casual conversation. And all interviewers were keen listeners. No interruptions or stoppages from them. 3. Why ISB? 4. Why would a consulting firm hire you? What do you bring to the table? (Consulting was my short term goal) 5. In a consulting job, how much importance does subject-matter expertise play? 6. Questions you have for us? I had a few questions about student club activities. The tone of the interview was conversational and not stressful at all. Make sure your viewing angles are alright before the call itself (face is properly lit up). Check the Microphone obviously. Always maintain your calm and it should go well!

Interview Debrief: Nov 2016 (R1), Evening slot, New Delhi Academic Profile (WEAKNESS): X (CBSE 84.6%), XII (CBSE 76.0%), B Tech ECE (GGSIPU 72%), 5 and a 1/2 years of work-ex in client-facing Technology Consulting (Presales) GMAT- 700 (Q49, V35, AWA 5.0, IR 8) Extra-curriculars (STRENGTH) [Travelling / Photography, Reading (non-fiction), Competitive Gaming (FPS)] Interview went great as well. I willingly reached just 20mins before the slot. However I should have reached 30mins before as we need to write an essay too. Essay topic word: Artificial (Damn! That's so boring. I barely wrote 3 sentences in there.) Things were pretty rushed for me but that was a planned advantage to not be intimidated by the tense environment in the waiting room. Panel had 3 members (a woman and two men) *I would like start off with a mid-interview moment that tipped the scales.* { "What is your biggest failure?" Personal or professional? "Tell us both." Professional - I talked about losing an RFP Bid by less than 0.5% of the deal value. Personal - "Well.. I am single aaand.. Hashtag #ForeverAlone!" :D } We all laughed for 30 straight seconds; twice! It broke my nervousness, and brought in a positive touch to the overall experience. On the way to the interview room, the interviewer escorting me initiated some casual talk and asked where I lived in Delhi. "On weekends at Pitampura, weekdays with MBA aspirants at Saket, as it is nearer to workplace in Gurgaon." Are your roommates applying to ISB as well? "Oh Yes. He is awaiting his interview call." - Introduction I did a well prepared "tell me about yourself" speech. (Because this part was well prepared, I had the mental bandwidth to analyse the interviewers as well.) * I was nervous for the first few minutes.* - Do you want me to draw curtains if that's uncomfortable. "No, I just wish to have some water from this bottle on the table." "Sure. Please make yourself comfortable." * followed a couple of nervous audible gulps in the awkward silence* - Why MBA? Explained my need to learn more on the business facets, specially for technical client engagement. - Why MBA at this time? Explained about decent industry exposure working at the interface of business and technology, and the identified areas where an MBA could have helped. Also that further delay will clash with plans of getting married. - What would you do if you don't get selected? Answered about global exchange projects lined up on the job. I called them a "consolation prize". Also mentioned an MBA application for a US School which would be a"costly Plan B" though. - Work experience related discussion. Explained my contribution to the team (in terms of account management initiatives) and my unique approach towards a client. {the earlier mentioned moment where I saw God's humor particle take over my brain} - Hobbies related discussion. Confidently shared the vast experience and gains from it. This is a STRONG area for me and I could defend it splendidly. They asked me about technicalities of photography; I described some terminology but then shared my honest opinion that I prefer shooting in Auto (simple) mode. One of them asked me that what would I click within that 4th floor interview room - I looked around and mentioned, "the sunlight is bright here and there are dried watermark trails on the window. I'll focus on one of those trails and overlap it with the pavement on the ground outside." - Questions I asked to the panel. 1) Apart from academics, how are the parties in ISB. They discussed within them self and mentioned that now some city regulations have reduced the outside-the-campus fun. 2) Generic profile-centric question - how many candidates from presales domain apply here. One of them said, "Quite a few infact". I gave my best shot. Would have had no regrets on rejection; only disappointment. The result - Roommate and I, both CRACKED it! (got Mohali campus) At this point I would like to heartfully thank ISB for letting someone like me with a medicore academic profile, demonstrate my strength during an interaction. Notes: - Questions may not be in correct sequence. - There was a LOT of interaction during 20-25 mins of my interview. - Most of the interview questions originated from my prior answers itself. - I took no help from any consultant for essays and application. (Handful of intellectual friends did help me thankfully.) - I took no classes for GMAT Prep. (GMATClub forum questions and mock tests proved sufficient)

My Interview Debrief for your reference : It started with a one word essay, word being nightmare. Then they asked me what kind of nightmares do you have. I said mostly the ones where I have failed to achieve my goals. They asked me what was the last nightmare you had. I said a couple weeks ago, I had a nightmare in which I didn't get an interview call. It was pretty scary, they laughed it off. Then the real interview began, they asked me, you had interviewed previously for YLP , what has changed since the last time. I said I have got more clarity on why i need this mba from isb,I have matured as a professional and acquired new skills in the last three years. I have also got a better gmat score this time and most importantly I am a lot more confident . Then they asked me why ISB, i told them , ISB has the right mix of repute, faculty, infrastructure and alum network to help a budding entrepreneur. Also talked about how ISB can get me the kind of exposure and job i want. They asked me what's the kind of job you want after mba, i told them business technology industry me product development /manager role. They then asked me what kind of companies would you be targeting, name some... i said hackerearth, instamojo, inmobi etc. They then asked in detail about inmobi, i told them the basic bio of the company, the acquisitions and funding etc. Next they asked me why would a company hire you as a product manager.. i talked about the core abilities of any successful product manager... leadership, creativity, market analytics, technical knowledge, then i said i have all of these skills. Then they asked me about music, and about my performances at various places. They asked if you're so good, why not try a career in music instead, i said am passionate about music, but recently I have been more passionate about technology, also I consider it as a hobby. Then I think they tried to stress me out, by saying that my essays are so much brighter than me, i told them, yeah, i am proud of my content writing abilities and if I could match my spoken skills to my writing ability I would be the happiest person ever. They tried another stress question, asking me the 3rd line of the second para of my second essay, to their surprise I recalled the exact line. They moved to the application again, asking about my long term goal of entrepreneurship and if I had a business model, i detailed my plans did a little market and revenue computation, and they were satisfied. They asked me for questions for them, i asked about clubs in isb and how the election process happens. They replied in detail. End of interview.

My Interview Experience Profile: Overall 5.5 years of experience. I took up various roles during my career. Started off as a software developer, then later took up sales, and the most recent experience comes from a startup where I juggled various roles such as operations, product management, account management, and sales. Panel size: 3 Members (ISB Alumni) Interview Duration: 1 hr 15 mins I was nervous going into the interview but knew I had to break the ice with the interviewers for 2 reasons. One to relieve my nerves and two to come off as a confident candidate. I proactively initiated the conversation after they apologized for the delay to start the interview. After the initial small talk, the interviewer started off by asking me to run through my resume. They tried to probe through my experience and also cross questioned me on the experiences I had shared in the essays. I believe they wanted to find out how proactive I was in my work. Also, there was a lot of questioning that went into my work related gaps and for which I had given them honest answers. Expereince related questions: 1) What was your strategy for account management? 2) How big a team did you manage? 3) Since you mentioned product management, how was your approach to coming up with new features? 4) Did you come up with features that generated revenue? 5) Why did you leave your third job in such a short duration? 6) Why did you have gaps? 7) Why did you leave your job again? It seems very easy for you to leave jobs? 8) You did not mention much description in the application about your job roles? Why? 9) How are you with multi tasking? I was also questioned regarding my short terms goal(product management) and long term goal(Entrepreneurship). Goals related questions: 1) Why product management? 2) Why not get online courses/certifications rather than ISB? 3) What in your terms is the role of a product manager? 4) Why ISB? 5) How do you think ISB is going to help you with your long term goals? 6) Why you think you are currently in-adept to pursue your goals? 7) How is your short term goal and ISB help you with your long term goal? There were other questions but its hard to recollect. After these, they posed some scenario based questions. Scenario based questions: 1) If you are tied up between 2 features for a product. Which one would you choose and why? 2) Suppose that you are to get an important feature implemented and you have to get it done with a specific person but this person has mentioned that he could not get this request accomodated because of the work load and other commitments of his team. How would you resolve this situation and get your work done? 3) How would you collect feedback/requirements from children to come up with a MVP? 4) Assume that we are a potential client, give us an elevator pitch of your services? In the above questions, they tried to block my answers by saying that what if that was not an option type counters. I had to come up another new solution to the situation. For example: In the question 2, when I said that I would reach out to the upper management to give me an alternative team, they  would tell that you could not approach the upper management then what? Next when I said that what if tried to reach out to other teams who could have available schedule to fit my requested, they told that that too was not an option and I had to some how convince the current person. Finally I arrived at a solution where I told that I would talk to the person to explain him how would it benefit us both if we could accomodate this request in the current hectic schedule and that it would help us showcase our performance. Like creating a win win scenario. They were satisfied. The above was the case of other scenario questions. Finally, the interrogative mode was turned down abd everybody got into a jovial mode. There was another round of small talk before they decided to end the inteeview. I shook their hands and professed that I hoped I left an impression with you guys and left. Pointers: 1) Create an exhaustive list of questions by putting yourself in the shoes of the interviewer while preparing for the interview. Ask yourself, what might they ask, what might they want to dig deep in, what is unconvincing in my profile, etc 2) Role play with a friend or someone close to become comfortable. 3) Get some exercise and meditation because it will help you manage the jitters. Remember, the calmer you are the better your performance 4) Be positive. You might start to question yourself during the preparation but do not let the negativity control you and push through. Be hopeful that everything will work out and its not the end of the world if you do not perform good. I know its easier said than done but in any case try having this mentality. 5) Lastly, I believe anybody(With the right effort) can achieve anything. So, go get what you want in life. PS: There are some questions that I missed out. I could not recollect as it was a lengthy interview. Please PM or email me at winisamus7@gmail.com if you require any other information that can help you guys. I will be more than happy to help.

The interview consisted of three panelists: all alums 1) Describe the work you do at Oracle? 2) you have mentioned about taking an initiative at work place. what was that? 3) with just 1 yr of work experience, how did you convince your directors (regarding the initiative I took) 4) why did u come up with the initiative and what are the changes that you have observed after it has been implemented? 5) Is there a way to measure the change? 6) You have written basketball is your hobby, Can you name the greatest basketball player of all time? 7) why product management? 8) what are you expecting from ISB? 9) Do you know about agile and waterfall product development methods? 10) guesstimate the number of electric cuts that happen in India on a regular day? (As I was from electrical dept) 11) any questions? Duration: 25-30 min. Place: HYD campus. Decision: deferred admission.

I was interviewed on 4th Jan 2020 at ITC Windsor, Bangalore. The panel consisted of 3 Alumni. The interview went in the following way. 1. Have you visited any of the campuses? 2. Why do you think the Power Industry will undergo a disruption in the coming decade? (Essay) 3. What difference did you feel between the working styles in India and Kenya? Do you like working more in a Team Lead position or as a Team player? 4. A lot of questions on one of my interests - F1 Racing. 5. Finally, Why ISB and why MBA? 6. What are your future goals? 7. How would you make use of your experience in your target industry? 8. What are the challenges currently faced by the Power Producing companies? 9. What kind of changes are required to be brought to revive the sector? 10. Why is there a negative growth in the power industry? In this scenario, will the international players invest? 11. Any questions for us? Overall, the interview was not stressful at all, and the panel listened to what I had to say patiently. The session lasted for around 35 minutes.

I have realised interviewer wants to know three things 1) Who you are? 2) Where you want to be? 3) How ISB is going to help? In my interview, For 1) , I was asked about my past experiences, reasons for the decisions I have taken, and questions to check my core competency. for 2), I had to explain my long term goals, and then how I want to achieve them through my short term goal achievement. Other question is what if not ISB? for 3) , I was to help the panel understand, how I can achieve the goals through ISB. For e.x., how I am planning to get the desired job, or what all events I will be taking at ISB, etc. Additionally, they talk about your hobbies, and other interests as well.

Today I had my interview for R2. The interview consisted of three panelists: one adcom (possibly), two alums ( one from automotive background) The interview lasted nearly 40-45 mins. Hereforth I will annote them as: adcom , alum #1, alum #2 alum #1: Let's hear about your work -ex Me: started with my work-ex, went on to convey my roles and field (iot and 5g) and my interest in tech from last 6 years by participating at India level competition etc. Adcom : Interrupted. Are you nervous? Me: Yes sir. A bit Adcom: have some water and also the choclates if you want. We are humans don't worry. I had water and then continued to showcase my interest in tech, research and about my self-published novel. Adcom: So, my friend here (alum #1) wants to know about why there are no flying cars, he is from automotive background THis was a case study kind of question I believe and thus I went to explain them about the market perspective. Me: (thinking) Sir, I recently saw a video about the market penetration. It was by Simon Sinek. It explains that a market penetration of about 18-20% is needed to launch a product. The market penetration for innovative automotive sector is limited. Even the electric cars are not there, because of problems of ion batteries. I think this particular innovation will need some time. Alum #1: So, it's lithium-ion battery. Me: yes, sir! I am sorry, thanks for correcting me. Adcom #1: So, you wrote in your essay about Quantum computing. What's that? I started with all jargon as to why its my fav. He again asked me. WHAT is QUANTUM computing. Me: Sir, it's a machine that performs better than a computer. We can do parallel processing and much more with it. Adcom #1: This everybody knows. Its lay man. Tell us more. We want more. Me: Sir I would need a pen and paper. They allowed and I went on to explain with few diagrams. Adcom #2: Okay, that's great! Thanks for explaining. If you are so inclined with technology and research then why MBA? Why not continue if you are so great at it. Me: Ma'am in future I would need the skills to be in roles of leadership and I think that skills that MBA will equip me with would help me prosper better in such roles. Its a future of generalists. ( I went on to convince them at every stage of the interview that this MBA would help me) Alum #2: Then why now? I mean you can do MBA at that time. Adcom #1: Rishav you are nervous! Don't be. Relax! Me: I am trying least to be nervous sir! (Smile) Alum #2: Relax! I sat at that position three times, so I understand what exactly you are going through. Me: Thanks Ma'am. And then I went on to explain why MBA now etc. Adcom #1: Rishav who wrote your essays. Me: (Perplexed). Sir I wrote. Adcom #1: Be honest with me. Me: (Smiling) Sir, I took help from my friends staying at ISB. Last year I had made friends and I approached them where they told me to express my professional roles in greater depth, which I did not do last time. Adcom #1: Okay! That’s fine. Alum #1: So what changed from last time. ( Professionaly and personally) Me: I have got more chances and got into such roles.. Blah bla Alum#2: Please explain the personal growth Me: I went on to explain my personal growth. Alum#2: So, you wrote that you will bring your collaborative nature to ISB? How? Tell an instance. Me: I explained them a recent collaborative instance. And then there were questions on my strengths and weakness, where Adcom was asking my strengths and weaknesses in a rapid fire round fashion. I was giving one word answer and suddenly when I was short of one words, I said sorry. Then they burst into laughter and said you can explain in further detail. At this point I thought to use my nervousness as one of my strengths. I told them one of my weaknesses as you have seen is my nervousness. I really want to improve on that. Alum #1: Have you worked on your nervousness? Me: yes sir. I took the roles of mentorship because I wanted to improve. I asked my lead to give me this role so that I could improve. And yes I have. Last time I was not even able to give answers and share my collaborative stories at the interview. Alum#2: Rishav you mention mentorship? Doesn’t qualcomm have training programs already? Me: yes ma’am its there but given the role I was in, it was a new role in Qualcomm India. It started in 2017, so things are not structured as well in other structured roles and its end-to end understanding of the chipsets. So I started the training programs. Alum#1: Tell me about the publishing exp. Adcom #1:Also, Tell us what you could have changed throughout this process. Alum #2: yes.tell that too. Me: I explained but somehow missed to explain what would have happened better. And then there were few back and forth questions on why MBA why MBA now? Which roles why this why that? Does Indian companies have that roles? Etc. And then finally they asked me any questions and added a word of caution that please dont ask the questions you would ask your friend. I asked them the question and then there was a phase of laughter. Then again adcom asked me: Adcom#1: Okay, so now you know a lot about ISB. What if I said that you have to pay a lot and its not worth it? Then would you change your decision. Me: Sir! Its one data point. Adcom#1: Well! That’s correct. I understood from that one statement about your thought process. Me: (Smile) Hehe. Thanks sir! I have this ideology that one should take all perspective. If one is studying about Karl Marx, then one should also study Swami Vivekananda to gain perceptions in life. All: Good! Good! Then a bit of hand shakes and curtain falls! I don’t know about the result but the experience was thrilling. I wish I have such discussions everyday. Given my background, I know it would be tough with this interview but it’s fine, even one alum had made it to ISB in three attempts and this really bolstered my belief. I wish all the best to other future aspirants and people who have interviews scheduled now.

I was interviewed in Bangalore, my interview was relatively short ~23min. My panel was running late by an hour and seemed to be in a hurry. The interview started off with the questions directly. -I was asked about my work-ex as an ops manager -They asked questions about a project that I was most proud of. They did interrupt to ask follow up questions/ask if there were alternate approaches to the issue. Did not let me finish the complete explanation, i was told to give a brief overview. -They they asked why MBA- answered. This was the first time they looked convinced. Then they asked if I had questions for them. My experience was okay, the panel maintained an expressionless face throughout so it was difficult for me to gauge how the interview was going. My advice- be calm and composed and focus on answering the questions with a cool head. Good luck!

Below were the questions Tell us about yourself, I had a couple of initial job switches so they quizzed me on that aspect quite a bit Why MBA, I have close to 7 years of work experience so they also asked why not 2 years ago. Why should ISB select me Asked me about my post MBA plans Asked me about my extra Curriculars and personal interests mentioned in the app Asked me about a work conflict situation I have worked in 3 different roles at my org so they asked me what my major learning’s were from each role

The interview was in Delhi. Taken by 2 alumni. Highly specific and interactive. Following are some of the questions that were asked, though not exactly in chronological order *Tell us something about yourself? *There was a lot of talk regarding my college, school in Delhi, career choices after college, etc. *Lack of stability in career-changing jobs, etc. (I have substantial gaps) Why did you leave your earlier job? Career Plan A, Plan B, etc * After you quit your job, how did you manage finances. * How did you handle a difficult situation in your career? *Leadership ability? How did you start your entrepreneurship gig. Detailed questioning about the idea, marketing, prospects, business model, future plans, etc. *Why not a career in the field you are in right now? Why one in the one you've chosen? Why are you planning a career shift? *Do you know what kind of recruiters come to ISB? Do you think you'll be able to carve out your career path as you've planned? * Which other college have you applied to? Have you got through? I told them I had. Then why ISB? * Do you want to ask us any questions. I told them I had many friends who'd passed out from ISB, so I did not have any.

The panel consisted of 2 alums, both from the same industry as I aspired to be in (as mentioned in essays). It started off with my impression of the campus (my interview was at Mohali campus), then one of them asked why would I want to be in a school having a relatively larger batch size, and some cross-questioning ensued on this, creating a mildly stressful atmosphere. After this, they asked me about my hobbies (scale modeling) and my undergrad startup experience, and the entire conversation thereafter revolved around these two aspects. They went deep into details on these topics, which was quite unexpected: · what made you take up your hobby · what’s the workflow for a project · how did you build your online audience · could you make something now? · business model of startup · how much revenue was generated · how was the income spent · you have traveled a lot, any learnings? · differences between India and countries you have visited No questions such as why MBA or ISB. In the end, when prompted, I asked them a question to which both of them answered in length. Coming out of the room, I felt that I answered too many questions for a 20-minute long session.

My interview was in Hyderabad campus 10 am slot (first slot of the day). 2 members in panel - relatively very young - might be alums. A bit about me - B. Tech - Mechanical, working in L&T Construction in design department for 5 years (will be 69 months by Mar'20) 1) Tell me about your yourself 2) You have mentioned lot of extra curricular achievements in college, tell us your significant achievements in college....bit of cross questioning and inquired further details (general) about my final year project (I informed about final yr project in significant achievements). 3) Then lot of discussion around my profile - typical day in office, achievements, how my projects run, project value, tenure, etc. 4) Why MBA? Career goals? 5) Discussed a lot about Industry 4.0 (I mentioned it in my career plans) with cross questioning. 6) Will u join back in L&T (take sabbatical)? How will u fit back there? 7) If not sabbatical, what is your target industry and target companies? (specifically asked to name few) 8) Tell us something about you which is not available in your application 9) Apart from work, Did you do any courses for your personal development? Overall, the interview was very casual and more like a chilled out discussion for about 30 min. They let me finish whatever I wanted to say. Started a bit nervously but became very relaxed as they were giving positive acknowledgement and were very friendly. Had very good feeling immediately after interview.

I was interviewed at Delhi on 20th Oct. 2019. There were 2 alumni taking the interview. 1. They started with usual 'Tell me about yourself in 4-5 mins' routine. Which I did. 2. Then they asked about one of the achievements that I had mentioned in my CV. 3. Then why MBA, why ISB? 4. Why not executive MBA? (I have 10+ yrs of work-ex, so I expected this question) 5. Then really extensive on global current affairs (What is Iran crisis, who is Greta Thunberg, what's her protest all about etc.) 6. Lot of back and forth on the same, (I was a bit tentative in my answers on these current affairs questions, so may be to put me in the spot) 7. Then a question about hobbies, I mentioned reading, then they asked which was the last book I had read and what was it about, then they suggested other books which offered contrary opinions to the book I had mentioned. 7. Then a couple of hypothetical situation based questions related to my career goals and further cross questioning on the same. Basically ethical dilemma questions. 8. Finally, If you have any question for us. It was interactive only, but they drilled really deep into the answers that I had. Result: Wait listed.