1 year ago Nov 18, 2024 02:11
My interview was on Feb 10th, Online!. It was all about my long term goals
It was just conversational in nature. Lasted about 40 minutes incl my questions.
Panelists (2) introduced themselves, they were very friendly!
- Take me through your resume
- Why did you change roles?
- Why ISB?
- Tell me about your family business. Why are you not joining your family business?
- What do you want to do after your MBA?
- Detailed 20-minute discussion on my goals with follow-ups. Talked about industry, competitors, target market, growth, everything. Interviewer 1 wasn't convinced at first so I had to drill into details to paint the vision
- Why not get started with your goal now instead of going for ISB?
- Tell me about your siblings. (This came out of nowhere)
- Any questions for us?
1 year ago Nov 18, 2024 02:11
My interview started around 1.5 hours late!
There were 3 interviewers in my panel and overall I had a good experience during my interview.
1. Tell us about yourself.
2. I had mentioned my NGO so a follow-up question on that
3. I also talked about my entrepreneurial experience and what I am currently doing
The 2 panelists seemed very interested and impressed but the third panelist kept going back to previous questions (in a grilling tone) and started implying things about me.
I explained my point of view to him and asked him to listen to me.
He was not rude but maybe he was not satisfied by my answers.
During the interview, I had gotten a hint that I wouldn't be selected so I was not nervous anymore.
In my opinion, my issue was I talked too much about the things that were not in my application so the constant thing that the third panelist was telling me was - "It looks like you are involved in a lot of things, are you running from one thing to another without completely finishing the first thing?"
I am taking it as a lesson and hopefully will do better in the future.
All the best!! Hope this helps!
1 year ago Nov 18, 2024 02:11
My interview was on Feb 3rd, 12 noon, Online!. It was all about my work experience!!
It was just conversational in nature.
Panelists (2) introduced themselves, one between them is an alum, they were very friendly!
Q1: Where are you right now?
Q2: Where is your work place?
Q3: Why am working in different state? ( i am from Andhra and working at Odisha, so the qs)
Q4: Tell me about your daily life at your work place!
Q5: What are your Short term n long term goals?
Q6: You r a doctor, and your long term goal is to set up your own hospital, so why you want to do MBA? You will do good even with your current designation now? (Am a doctor and explained my reasons)
Q7: Given your profile, you last studied in 2016, how are you planning to manage the rigorous pgp curriculum at isb?
Q8: What changes do you want to see in Health industry in future?
Q9: How much do you earn?
Q10: Any qs to us?
Qs may look intimidating here, but largely they were conversational and follow up qs, so in my opinion, each interview will be different, but will be driven by your answers!! There are no right or wrong answers, its just about having clarity of thought at least in the interview will do good for you!!
Advise: Take mock interviews exactly the day before your original interview at the same time!
1 year ago Nov 18, 2024 02:11
Interviewed by Assistant Dean and someone from career services.
1. Introductions
2. Post MBA goals
3. Why specific industry?
4. How is it different from your current industry?
5. Elaborate on a project mentioned in the essay
6. Any client interactions? How do you incorporate their feedback?
7. How do you measure performance of your product in the field?
Overall the interview did not last for very long. It went on for about 12-15 minutes. There was very little cross questioning
1 year ago Nov 18, 2024 02:11
The interview was with two alums (Batch of '17 and '19)
It started off well, they made me feel comfortable. Asked how I spent my waiting time - I said we fellow applicants were chit-chatting and getting to know each other which really helped ease our nerves (it actually did). They introduced themselves and the interview began.
Tell us about yourself - I think what I said here really set the tone for the interview. I mentioned I like reading and we spent a few minutes discussing the last book I read. I also mentioned another hobby to which they said we'll pick it up at the end as we are keen on learning more about it (had written about it in my essay too)
Tell us more about your work and what you do at work - They had different backgrounds so they were just curious and trying to understand my work
Why MBA? - Since I am from a family business background, they went hard on this one
You are already doing business, I don't see why you need an MBA? - Explained further.
Why consulting? - Had it as my short-term goal, justified it.
In consulting you will essentially just be suggesting what to do, but in your business you are already strategizing as well as implementing. So again, why consulting? - Defended my choice.
Have you spoken to any ISB grads in consulting? - Yes, gave them names.
Have you spoken to any other college grads in consulting? - Yes.
Are you sure you still want to do consulting? - Yes.
I am still not convinced on why you need an MBA and how will consulting help you? - Here I got the feeling that they were trying to test how I respond, but maybe they really were not convinced. I can't say for sure.
What are your strengths and weaknesses? - I mentioned problem-solving as a strength, gave examples. They subtly tried to throw me off by saying this is not problem-solving, this is just 'jugaad' (it wasn't jugaad. I figured they were again testing how I responded to being challenged and I did not want to sound too defensive, so I just made a funny remark and we moved on)
What if you don't get in to ISB?
Backtracked to the hobby I mentioned at the beginning - talked about it for several minutes, they genuinely took an interest and seemed impressed.
Do you have any questions for us?
Remarks - The interview is very conversational, panelists are warm and friendly. Choose your introduction carefully, it will dictate the course of the interview. Have a solid story, be clear about it, and stick to it. If you are unclear, they will sense it and call you out for it. Choose your words wisely, do not blabber - the panelists are incredibly sharp and will catch on to any word and question you on it. Interact with applicants in the waiting room - it will relax you and it gives a good impression if the panelists ask you about it. Don't approach the interview as a challenge but as an experience - it is an incredible one!
Good luck to everyone reading this! If you have any questions regarding my experience, happy to help.
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
3 Alums: 1 senior (before 2010) and other 2 recent (after 2019)
Questions were mainly on work experience, none of the interview panel were related to my past experience or future goals so the interview felt more like a learning experience for both sides. The senior alum seemed to be able to understand my answers the best. They were very concerned with why ISB and why not an online course or on-job training.
Interview was at ISB campus
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
There were two interviewers
1 They asked about the introduction.
2 They asked questions about the topics mentioned in the essays.
3 They asked about your current role and responsibilities.
4 Why do you want to pursue an MBA?
5 Why do you want to pursue an MBA when you are currently involved in meaningful projects?
6 What is your leadership style?
7 What difficulties have you encountered when leading teams?
8 What initiatives have you taken to enhance team cohesiveness?
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2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
Delhi Location Interview
Below questions were asked:
1. Started the interview with - tell us two things from your personal life
2. A specific instance in the professional setting when I lost my temper
3. Why MBA
4. A leadership example
5. A powerful and specific instance in the professional setting when I was working towards something for a long time and all of a sudden, the project stopped and all my efforts went to waste and I just had to move on
6. How would I resolve conflict - if i had an approach in mind and my study group partner had another approach in mind and both were very adamant, how would i resolve such a situation
7. 3 things I'll contribute to ISB and 3 things I'll get out of ISB
8. Why am I interested in my post-MBA industry
Prob a few more behavioural questions that I'm missing but yes the interview was very behavioural in nature with the interviewers genuinely trying to understand me and my personal motivations and my fit with ISB.
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2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
3 panelists all of whom were recent alumnus. One was from the class of 2020 the other two didn't mention which class they were a part of. Overall very friendly and conversational. The duration of the interview was about 20 minutes.
1) Can you give an example of leadership you portrayed in your company?
2) Since you come from a family of entrepreneurs, do you have any plans to start your own business?
3) Why Digital transformation based consulting? (Related to my goals essay as well as my work-ex)
4) Where do you see an MBA helping you in your job currently seeing as you're already in consulting?
5) One question related to a point in the LOR my recommender mentioned.
6) What are your weaknesses? How did you improve/take feedback?
7) What do you do in your free time?
8) Any questions for us? Had a small discussion with follow-up questions.
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
EEO candidate
Background: 18 months working in Strat and M&A team , BTech Mechanical
Online interview with 3 panelists, all alumni, 2 from consulting, 1 from PE. Not a stress interview
Interview questions:
a) Intro
b) Walk us through your role and responsibilities
c) Current project you are working on, lots of follow up questions regarding the same
d) Any accomplishment (Work or personal) that you are most proud of
e) How will you add value to the community at ISB despite having lower experience than most of the batch
f) What clubs are you looking to join
g) Any questions for us
Short interview, hardly 20 minutes. Focused mostly on work ex. Also wasn't asked a guesstimate despite mentioning outright in the essay that I want to move to consulting post ISB.
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2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
One of the panelists came in to the waiting room, introduced herself and walked me into the interview room. There were 3 panelists in total and all were alums of classes ranging from 2012 to 2017. They seemed quite warm and were smiling throughout, but at the same time were quite professional. I was asked to get comfortable before we started.
Questions -
1. What value are you going to add to the diverse cohort at ISB?
- This was a very standard question and I had prepared 3 pointers, but I couldn't move past the first. The panel expected a very detailed reasoning for anything I put forward and we spent 3-4mins discussing my first point.
2. Then they directly delved into the work that I do. Since I am from an engineering(computer sc.) background and worked in healthcare/pharma domain, they wanted to know how the 2 fields intersected in my work.
I had prepared for such questions. I kept my calm and talked passionately about the work that I do. One of the panelists had a similar background and asked many counter questions. (10 mins)
3. Can you come up with a healthcare tech. product that can improve lives of common people? (5-10mins)
Even though I had prepared for this question (thanks to Preppie), I asked for couple minutes to collect my thoughts. It was appreciated by the panel now when I look back.
4. Asked about my extracurriculars that I had mentioned. Additionally, I had mentioned about classical singing in my application so they asked me to sing a song. Wasn't prepared for this at all, but I think I fared well. :) (2-3mins)
5. Do you have any questions for us?(2-3mins)
I made sure to not ask any question who's answer I could get from google/alum/adcom. Instead I added a personal touch and asked them how ISB has shaped their lives and what advice they'd have for any incoming student.
Interview was complete in ~30 mins.
Overall, the panel was very professional and wanted to evaluate whether ISB was a good fit for my post MBA plans and also whether I was a good fit for ISB or not.
Being thorough with my story from what I mentioned in my application, 2-3 practice interviews with Preppie/family&friends, confidence in my answers (even though I was all nerves throughout) and a genuine smile are what I feel got me the admit.
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
I had my interview in Bangalore, off campus in the morning slot.
There were 3 alumni. The interview was pretty conversational, and interactive. They started with their introduction, and then I introduced myself.
The discussion after this mostly revolved around my industry, organization, projects I had worked on, teams I had worked with, my short term and long term goals. They asked different contributions I had put on my application, both professional and extra curricular.
Before ending, they told me that my application was sufficient to understand my background and if there was 1 thing that I had not mentioned in the application. I kept that conversation on a lighter note, and stated a fun fact about me, we shared some laughs over that.
You can use this 1 last question and play it to your strength, and that could set the tone of the interview for you.
The interview lasted about 25 minutes.
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2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
I reached the venue 1 hour 15 mins earlier than my assigned slot time. Also, the interview was delayed by about 35-40 mins. I think the wait time slightly led to a pressure buildup within me.
There were 2 panelists.
I was expecting the interview to start with the typical tell us about yourself question and had a lot of my explanation tied to that intro. But, the panel straightaway jumped to my current role and its fine details. Spend about 15-20 mins on this topic only. Not sure if they were fully convinced with my explanation about company's short term vs long term strategy.
Second question was about my interest in Shariah finance. But, then again started linking it to my current role.
Third was about my overall career progression.
The next was about my personal interests.
Before winding up, the panel gave me an opportunity to explain about something that I'm proud of. This, although looked like a fantastic opportunity, raised some sort of red flag in my mind. For me, it sounded like, "we aren't impressed yet, so do you have something to impress us?". But, I think I was able to pick out an important project that I led during my previous work and explain the impact and my contribution fairly well.
Last, they gave me an opportunity to ask questions too.
The interview lasted about 35-40 mins. Didn't go in the direction as I thought it to be, but I think that's how it is supposed to be.! We have to expect the unexpected 😃
Overall, I think, it was ok. Couldn't highlight some of my contributions and the impacts I have created at work and during college as much as I wanted to. But, hoping for the best.
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
Background:
B.Tech Mechanical Engineering graduate. I worked in a PSU for 3.5 years in the B2B Sales & Marketing department. Interview lasted 30 minutes.
Interview Questions:
The panel introduced themselves. There were 2 panel members, both alumni. We exchanged pleasantries.
Q1. The first question was straight to the point about the work experience gap: "So you resigned 1 year back. What have you done during this time?"
Q2. I briefly went through my roles and responsibilities in the company.
Q3. “Talk about the major challenges you faced in the company and how you addressed them.” We had a back-and-forth discussion on this topic.
Q4. “You mentioned in your application that you want to switch to consulting. How did you come to this realization?”
I shared an instance from my company where my team implemented a novel idea that improved the company’s topline by incorporating a subsidiary’s capability of producing an in-demand product. The panel and I had a back-and-forth discussion regarding the technical and financial aspects of the idea.
Q5. “That’s it from us. Do you have any questions for us?”
Interview Experience:
Overall, the interview had a conversational tone, but I noticed that I did most of the talking. I worry that I might have rambled on too much and missed the opportunity to highlight important points. We spent considerable time discussing question number four. However, I sensed that they were not fully convinced, despite our prolonged discussion.
Best wishes for all R3 applicants!
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
I was interviewed in Chennai. The panel consisted of 2 members. One was from CO17 I guess. Other was a little bit senior(Atleast 10 years more than the first member). They did not introduce themselves and went straight to questioning. It was a very friendly interview.
Btw, I am a re-applicant and added a little bit about it at the end.
Questions asked:
1. What do you do at your current org?
2. What project were you most excited about?
3. Why do you want to get into ISB ? (I mentioned about my goals too when answering this. I think that's why they didn't ask me separately about my Post-MBA goals)
4. How will your peers learn from you?
5. Tell me about your hobbies.
6. Any questions for us ?
I applied to ISB in R1 for the CO23. I was interviewed, waitlisted and then finally rejected. I did my entire application myself including GMAT prep. Never took any mock interviews and was overconfident, so was not very shocked with the result though I felt bad.
Then I applied again in R2 for the CO24. Again did my app on my own, but did some research this time,networked with a few successful applicants from R1, and took a mock with an ISB alum.
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
This was a tough one. My interviewer panel was kind of stern. They asked the standard questions - tell me about yourself, why MBA, why ISB. But pushed a lot on why MBA. I think being from a nonprofit background they also didn't really understand my industry which is why. In addition, asked a bunch of behavioural questions, mostly about how I work in a team. They were tough so I was quite nervous, and I had no idea how it really went at the end, but I ended up being admitted.
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
Applied in R3 but called for interview(online) with the R2 applicants.
3 member panel. No stress. Started with them introducing themselves. They placed a prohibition on saying the word 'Sir'.
Questions:
1. Profile walkthrough(Only work ex)
2. Choose one major project in your life and tell us about your learnings, outcomes etc. 2-3 follow-up questions on the same.
3. How will your peers benefit if you're admitted?
4. How did the themes in long term goal come into picture? Explain the disconnect between both themes.
5. How will your short term goal help the long term goal?
Lasted for 20-25 min.
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2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
It was a 30ish minute interview with a three-member alumni panel.
1. Work experience: What does my work day look like? What are the meanings of some of the jargons used in the application? Which aspect of the project do I specifically handle?
2. P2P learning: Panel asked me about all the points I'd written in the first essay. Huge opportunity to highlight what you bring to the table.
3. Case Study: You're the CM of Delhi. How would you reduce the pollution in the city? (Expect a case study/guesstimate if you've written strategy consulting as your short term goal)
4. Hobbies/Interests: They asked me to talk about one of my hobbies. I'd read this while preparing so I was prepared for this line of questioning. Things like if your fav sport is basketball, you're expected to be able to have a conversation on the topic as well. Players, fouls, trivia etc.
5. Why MBA at this point in my career?
6. Any questions for the panel?
Feedback: The way the first questions were posed did make me feel like I was having to defend my profile. So, if you come from a generic profile (Engg. + Consulting) be prepared to 'convince' the panel of your achievements and roles at work.
2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
I interviewed in Mumbai for the 10:45am slot.
2 Panellists, both alumni.
- Introduce yourself
- Why MBA? Why Product management?
- Which companies am I targeting Post MBA?
- Asked about my current role in the firm
- How do I resolve conflict and lead teams being the youngest in my current role.
- Why can't I get into my desired role without MBA
- Some grilling on why not consulting/ operations Post MBA - why only product management?
- As a re-applicant, how has your profile changed?
- Nitpicked a few of my extra curriculars and asked questions on the same
- Any questions for us?
Went on for about 30mins, it was fairly conversational for the most bit.
Personally I was a tad nervous as this was my first MBA interview, but I held my ground to the best of my capabilities :)
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2 years ago Nov 18, 2023 02:11
I had a virtual interview. There were 3 panelists. Not a stress interview at all.
The interview started with the generic "Tell me about yourself"
Then asked about my work experience and a day at my job.
Why isb? Why now? Why product management?
Short term goal.
Business aspects of my job since I am from a purely technical background.
My dream company.
Situational questions like..what will you do if u r a PM of Google and u have xyz situation.
Calculate weekly revenue of an Indian airline which goes from Bombay to New York.
Challenge at work.
It lasted for nearly 30-35 minutes.
All the best to Everyone who sees this :)