ISB applicants - Ask GyanOne!!

Hi Gaurav

While the rest of your profile is interesting, you will need to increase the GMAT score and bring it to around 700. The rationale for a second MBA will also need to be explained. At this point, please focus on increasing your score - if you can do that, you can certainly make it.

sdvs

Hi Samcom

Thanks for sharing the additional details. Your profile certainly looks very interesting. We would say you should have a good chance at ISB, but please go over the articulation of your essays and your career goals. 700 on the GMAT and 6.7 in terms of CGPA is not outstanding, but it should be good enough to get you there with a decent application.

Hi lohit16

Somehow missed this earlier. Apologies. Here is our assessment:
- You have an excellent profile that should be very competitive for ISB along with a decent application
- Your academics are strong, the GMAT is above average, and you have a grad degree as well, all of which will add to your application
- Your work-ex in Tata Motors will be well appreciated. Any international experience to report as well?
- You will not be considered a reapplicant. Apply as a fresh applicant.
- The PG diploma in marketing gives you some business understanding already, so please be clear in your application why you now need an MBA.
- The goals you have mentioned are two different things. Do you wish to work in Strategy or in Business Development? You will need to choose one and clarify. You may be on the lower side of the work experience spectrum for Strategy, so please take that into account.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

Hi gyan one,
Pls review my profile. I am planning to apply in ROUND 1.

Education
10th - 92 %
12th - 96 %
College - college of engineering Guindy. Anna University. Chennai. Grade - 72%. Mechanical engineering.
Gmat - 710 (q49, v39, IR 5, AWA 4)
WORK EXPERIENCE :
5 years of running my family business. (Construction)
3 years as project manager- overseeing 6 projects and leading a team of 6 engineers
2 years as Managing Director - diversified my company's core business from construction to hospitality sector successfully.

MBA goals - to learn the nuances to scale up our business and also to work in a different company to learn new perspectives in operation management, brand marketing, sales etc.

Extra curriculars- served in governments National child Labour project and as a counselor for abandoned girl children in a Christian mission.

Thanks in advance.

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Hi janakn91

You have a good profile there. Things to take care of:
- Family business goals need to be carefully positioned because ISB has a different program for family business professionals (MFAB). You need to structure your goals essay very carefully in terms of the value that the PGP will add to you.
- The first essay will also be important, because for many family businesses, ISB tends to look at the second/third generation as inheritors rather than as creators of value. You need to differentiate yourself as more than a manager in your family business. Some of the achievements you mention here can help you do that.
- Other than that, academics, ECA, and GMAT are decent. With 1.5 months to go, start focusing on your app and put in an excellent app for R1.

You might also find a couple of stories on entrepreneurship/family business professionals useful on this link: https://www.gyanone.com/blog/cornell-mba ... -business/

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed. .

Hi everyone,

Could you please help evaluate my profile for ISB R1;

Personal profile :
Architect, 28 years, female, Married

Academic backround :
10th from Gujarat state board, India : 86%
12th from Gujarat state board, India : 65%
B.Arch, SCET Surat, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Distinction (66%)
Was in the top 5%, graduated second in the university, received 2 awards
M. Arch, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, Merit Class (69%)
Graduated second of my batch, received 3 awards
GRE Score: 327/340 (Q 163, V 164, AW:4)
(According to ETS, it should be an equivalent to a GMAT 700)

Professional background:
Jimmy Lim Design, Malaysia: Intern 6 months
ADD Architects, Surat: Junior Architect,13 months
Dar Al Handasah Consultants, Pune: Architect, 18 months,
Ratan J Batliboi Consultants, Mumbai: Senior Architect,13 months,
L&T: Executive Assistant to the Group Executive Chairman

Have worked worked for about 4 years, then have moved to a management role over the last 1 year.

Leadership:
Have led my college as Unit Secretary at national and regional architectural conventions. Won several awards-undergrad
Been cultural secretary of my student council – undergrad
Been Batch Representative – post grad


Please help me understand my strengths and weaknesses for the application and odds for selection.

Hi Guyz,


Follwing is group created fir ISB aspirants. You may discuss anythng related to MBA


https://chat.https://gmatclub.com/chat.com/Evvpxacxmn52fOEHhZuhoB

https://chat.https://gmatclub.com/chat.com/Evvpxacxmn52fOEHhZuhoB

Sent from my Mi 4i using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Hi Sonia,

You have a solid profile and we would highly recommend that you apply to ISB. Some notes:
- Your GRE is quite high, and the international experience you have is excellent. Leverage this strongly. Do not go with a GRE to GMAT conversion here, a GRE of 327 is actually quite a high score, and would be considered on par with something like a GMAT of 730/740.
- Your background as an architect will lead to a lot of focus on why you wish to pursue an MBA. Please focus closely on this point.
- You have changed a few jobs, and your stints have not been very long. Please ensure that you have solid explanations for these.
- Other than that, your leadership potential is quite good. ECA is decent as well. All good on that front.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

Hello GyanOne,

Can you take a minute to review my profile and chances?

Indian, Male, 24 years.

Class X - 89% (Andhra Pradesh State Board)
Class XII/Intermediate - 87% (AP State Board)
BBA - 6.9/10 - First Class (KL University, Vijayawada - NAAC A)
(Dropped out of BTech - in 6 months - to pursue my dream career.)

GMAT 1 - 660 47Q, 34V, 3IR, May 25th
GMAT 2 - 700 48Q, 38V, 5IR, Oct 5th

Work Experience - 30 months post-graduation work experience (by the time the class commences.) But 5+ years of overall work experience.

Entrepreneur with expertise in e-commerce focusing on Entertainment Industry. Started up at the age of 18 generating a turnover of around 1 crore in the first fiscal year whilst pursuing BBA. Have incorporated a company, with 5 years of good standing as of today, abroad in the same year to meet international business needs.

A crucial part of a shortlived event management startup. Presided over 10s of entrepreneurship meets in UG university. Part of core marketing team of UG university's marketing team for its national level Science andTechnology fest. Have not participated in a lot of social welfare programs apart from those conducted by the college.

Post-MBA goal: To continue as an entrepreneur scaling my business, entering new and superlative layers of the industry with the learnt skill from B School.

Please review the above profile and help me in choosing alternative schools too.

Apart from this, can I choose my ex-partner in business as a recommender? We worked together for 6 years on this line of business (although he never registered himself as a partner anywhere.) before leaving the company to join his father's business. He is also the auditor of the company now.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Siva.
_________________

Are the recommendations needed by the due date too? I have submitted the name details, but the recommenders are yet to fill the details.

needed your opinion to evaluate my profile....

This is rohit .... 7 year experience with Siemens Project Management in power distribution

Have attached my resume

Please tell me how much do i need to score on GMAT to get into ISB

Will await your reply

Apologies for the delayed response. This may be helpful to future applicants. The recommendations are not necessarily due by the 15th, though if possible, you should have them submitted by then. Still, even if they are received up to a few days later, the app is still considered for that round.

Dear Rohit

Thanks for posting. The attached document did not have details on your education. Can you provide a brief snapshot of that too (name of institution, key academic achievements, final CGPA)? Will respond very quickly post that.

Hi Siva

Apologies for the delayed response here. Here are our thoughts:
- Acads and GMAT score are both decent but not outstanding. With a good application, they might well work.
- Your entrepreneurial experience is outstanding. That should definitely be a big part of your essays - not just the revenue you earned, but what your learning was.
- The entrepreneurial experience can also be a bit of a double-edged sword. You will need to be clear about what exactly your post-MBA goals are and why you need an MBA at all, given that you have achieved a fair amount of success without the MBA too. Just scaling the business is not enough - you will need to be more specific than that.
- ECA is quite decent. No problem there.
- Would suggest you choose a client rather than your partner as a recommender, if you have not already.
- On other schools, what regions are you looking at? What are your preferences?

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

ISB interview calls for Delhi interviews rolling out now.

Class X 6.8/10
XII 56%
Science stream
Graduation - BBA from Calcutta University
58% among top 10% of the class
GMAT 720

Work Experience
Worked 1.5 years in a leading IT company in Customer Services
As a Trainer and Customer service manager
Left the job to educate 43 under privileged children for a year. (Break for a year).
Trained 800 freshers to promote employment in northeast states. (Project with a leading IT company).
2 years of Fellowship full time experience with Teach for india
Total Experience of 3. 5 years including TFI fellowship
Pls evaluate my profile for ISB.






Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Hello GyanOne!

I have been following your blogs and posts for some time now, and find them super useful. Kudos, and thank you!

I am considering applying to ISB via the Early Entry Option this year and would be grateful if you could spare some time to evaluate my profile and offer some feedback.

The basics:
Indian female, non-IT (I am a graphic designer), 23 years old

Education:
10th ICSE- 91.25% from one of Bangalore's reputed schools
12th (ISC Arts)- 96.25% from the same school, school topper
Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication and Strategic Branding from Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology CGPA- 8.42/10

GRE: 312 in first attempt (Q 150- 38% and V 162- 87%)
I haven't studied Math in 7 years now, hence the poor Quant score.
Currently enrolled in GRE Coaching and working towards a better score.

Work Experience and Industry Exposure:
2 college internships at communications/creative agencies. Both in Mumbai. Worked on Dabur, Viber Film Festival, Mahindra Auto, Loreal at the first.
Second internship I was hired to work exclusively on the HUL account for their fashion and lifestyle products. If I remember correctly, this account was the largest retainer in the industry at the time.

Have freelanced consistently right from the first year of college, working for small/medium sized companies designing for social media, branding and marketing communications. Clients have been from a range of industries- a legal firm, content writers, home automation services, Japanese product design magazine, etc.

Presently have 11 months of work ex under my belt working in design and brand management at a small/medium sized executive education services company. Secured a promotion within 9 months of being here. Was promoted to leading Communications for the Data Science domain. Have led small teams, and worked across functions right from the start. Have successfully organized 2 events for 200+ people each. Tried my hand at Sales and realized I was decent at it. Have regularly interviewed senior managers, technical managers at Fortune 500s and interacted with leading CxOs while on the job. Worked with the press and media and basic PR exercises.

Leadership:
- Was Research, Marketing and Communications Student Head for a leading college project that received prominent media and press coverage
- History of leadership in School: School Cultural Secretary (12th grade), House Vice Captain, Sr. Prefect, Jr. Prefect
- Girl Guides (in School): Company Leader, and Asst. Company Leader and Patrol Leader before that

Extra Curriculars:
- Presently digital volunteer for CRY (Communications Design)
- Passionate about working with children: Recently co-conducted a civic awareness walk for 15 international school students, volunteered as teaching assistant at Spastic Society of Karnataka for one month last year
- Consistently been a part of the college's PR, Marketing and Logistics teams for a range of key annual events
- Pro Bono Design Projects in the past for NGOs and non profits (right through college): AIESEC, Nehru Bal Sangh, Storybook Me (encouraging reading among children in rural India), Project Pragati (transgender community emancipation)
- Well travelled, having visited a number of countries and leading cities
- Fitness and Yoga enthusiast
- Caricatures and Cartooning
- Fine Arts (charcoal portraits and watercolour nature studies) and Tanjore Painting
- Girl Guides (active member and leader for 6 years, from grade 7 to 12 in school)
- Member of the School Editorial Committee, House Council, House Props Committee (Head)

Achievements:
- School topper (ISC Arts)- secured 10 academic awards including special annual awards sponsored by alumni.
- Rashtrapati Girl Guide- National Award, the highest level of girl guiding attainable in the country and awarded by the President of India
- Participated in State Level Girl Guiding events, led the troupe in their march past at the Annual Republic Day Celebrations and received the salute from the then Chief Minister of Karnataka
- Recipient the School's first ever Best Girl Guide Award
- Co-organized the School's first MUN
- Organized several large scale School events

Strengths- Excellent command over English and very strong oral and written communication skills.

Post MBA- Brand Management, ideally FMCG. Ultimately want to hold a senior Marketing position

Hi S995,

Thank you for posting and welcome to the GyanOne thread.

We are glad you go through and enjoy our blog posts. We have literally dozens of posts now on success stories for top schools, including those for ISB, where our success rate continues to be close to 100% (with 100% for the EEO option still), though ISB admissions were a lot more competitive last year.

The Early Entry Option that you are applying to is a great opportunity. As applicants taking this option don't have much work experience, leadership and extra-curricular achievements begin to play a significant role, and both are areas you are strong in. However, please keep in mind that EEO admissions are more competitive in general than regular PGP admissions, so a strong test score is a must. As of now, your test score (312 on the GRE) is insufficient; you should be looking at a 10+ point increase.

Your graphic design background will be a huge plus for you, if you can use it in the right way. The communications/creative aspects that you have worked, and the industry exposure you have gained will be positives in your app. Working on the data aspect is positive and a differentiator as well, though it will need to be seen which context the data was deployed in. Organizing events doesn't count for much (not to be focused on), and while the Sales exposure is good, be wary of claiming expertise across too many things in too little time. It could make you seem like a dilettante. Again, can fully comment only after going through each activity in detail - providing general advice here.

Your academics are strong, but your GRE needs fixing. Leadership and ECA are very strong and will act as differentiators. Please note that one activity/achievement can be used at only one place, i.e. as a leadership achievement or as an award etc - resist the temptation to use at more than one place.

At this point, your priorities must be clear - work on the app asap once it opens to build an early advantage (the deadlines this year have been brought forward - Sep 15 is the first one and the one you should be looking at) and enhance the GRE score. If you can do that, you certainly have the potential to excel and find yourself at ISB in the future.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

ISB's online application for admissions to the PGP Class of 2020 is now open.

Key aspects to note:
- Two mandatory essays and one optional essay (mandatory for reapplicants; optional for first-time applicants)
- The deadlines have been changed - now they are Sep 15 for R1 and Dec 15 for R2
- The first essay has been changed and the second one has been tweaked too. Both essays are similar to essay topics that ISB has used in the past. The first one is very similar to essay 1 from the 2013-14 application, and the second one is almost identical to the goals essay from the 2014-15 application.
- For the first time ever, ISB has introduced a 'language proficiency' field, that requires applicants to submit an IELTS or TOEFL score, if the medium of instruction for their college education was not English. This option is mandatory if this condition is met, irrespective of nationality.

ISB PGP essay topics for 2018-19:
Essay 1: At ISB we value diversity as it enhances both the in-class and out of class learning experience. Tell us how would you contribute to the same? (400 words max)

Essay 2: Enrolling in a Business School is an important career decision. Critically look at your career to date, the choices you have made, the key influences behind those choices, your goals for the future and how do you think ISB's PGP can help you in achieving your goals? (300 words max)

ISB PGP deadlines for 2018-19
Round 1: Deadline 15 Sep, 2018. Interviews for R1 from Oct 1 to Nov 7, 2018.
Round 2: Deadline 15 Dec, 2018. Interviews for R2 from Jan 1, 2019 to Feb 7, 2019.