ISB

"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."

"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."