Dear ISB applicants,

We are pleased to offer absolutely free advice on questions related to the ISB essays for 2015 and the ISB application through this thread. We will also be helping applicants to evaluate different aspects of their profile and its overall suitability for ISB. All advice will be provided by top ISB alumni consultants at GyanOne.

Queries are welcome from applicants for all ISB programs - PGP, EEO, PGPMAX, YLP, and MFAB.

The ISB application for 2015 submission is now open. ISB Application 2015-16 Released

Feel free to shoot your queries on this forum.

Useful links for you to go through:
ISB essays 2015-16 analysis
Five ISB admissions myths busted
What ISB offers beyond academics
ISB placements 2015: what changed, and why it matters
Five reasons why ISB is a great school

ISB YLP links:
An overview of the ISB YLP essay process
ISB YLP stage 2 essays analysis


Regards,
Team GyanOne
http://www.GyanOne.com
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Hi Gyanone,

Have been following your posts and advise to people for a long time now. I just gave my gmat and I am ready to ask you for my own profile evaluation now. Hope you will oblige

I have a total work experience of 4 years, all of it in advertising. By education I am an engineer but I was never really interested in engineering and this is also seen in my engineering score which is below first class at 59%. Naturally I chose a career in something other than engineering and got into advertising. Now after 4 years I am a brand director but its not that senior a position really as it sounds. Still I have worked with some big brand names in India including some big retail brands and top luxury hotels. I have also led campaigns end to end.

My gmat score is 710 and i got this in my second attempt after first attempt was 580 only (did not study).

My questions are that first of all do you think after my 59% I will have a chance at isb? secondly, isb is not known for advertising and I don't see much of that there, so will this harm my application as they feel I am applying from an area that they are not a specialist in? thirdly, will my first gmat attempt of 580 harm me?

looking forward for your reply. thanks!

Class 10th - 83%
Class 12th - 80%

B.Tech - One of the Top 25 Engineering Colleges in India

Mechanical Engg : CGP-7.33

GMAT - Yet to take
Work Ex - Tata Engineering Services (Aerospace and Defence) - 40 months

Clients - Airbus Aviation, Rolls Royce Aviation

Worked as Design Engineer for AIRBUS, A-350 Aircraft Harness Routing and Bracket Designing.
Machine Drawing Creation for AIRBUS Wing Components.
Interaction with German and French Clients.

Presently Working for Rolls-Royce Aero-Engine :-

Responsibiliy - Product Engineer/Quality Reviewer for Engine Externals
Fuel,Oil,Air Pipe Routing for Trent 1000/XWB/BR700 Series Engines.
Electrical Harness Routing for Trent 1000/XWB/BR700 Series Engines.
Support Structures Designing/Machine Drawing Creation.

Certifications/Achievements :-

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerance Engineer Certified.
Short term course - Operation Management and Supply Chain Management (Wharton - University of Pennsylvania)
Rated among top 10% employees 2014-15

Extra Curicular :-

One of the Founding Members of NSS Flagship NGO - Vikalp Jammu and Kashmir
Working for Civic Body NGO in Bangalore - Janagrahh
Various Academic Certificates - School/College

My Questions:-

How will you rate my profile for ISB?
Target GMAT Score?
Advantage of doing 1 yr MBA in India as opposed to 2 yr formal education outside?
How to convince folks at ISB to look into a profile purely technical?

Hi Everyone,

I have recently scored a 700 (unofficial) on GMAT with Q50, V34 and IR5. My profile is as below:
10th: 78%
12: 62%
BE: 73% from a regular Engg college.
Work Ex(a total of 60+ months): Started working with an IT MNC on CRM for 2.2 years as a part of Sales Force Automation Team. I have been awarded for my contribution in the project which was later declared as CMM5. There, I also contributed in Knowledge management of the project, prompting project members having different area expertise to share their knowledge with each other. I also trained and mentored two new joinees in the project, one of which is serving at onsite.

After MNC, I joined a public sector bank as an IT Officer since June 12, looking after Bank's Network and some relevant IT projects. As a Presiding Officer of election booths, I successfully conducted General Elections 2014 and Local Municipal elections. I have also earned a JAIIB - Junior Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers and a CAIIB - Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers, which are provided by provided by Indian Institute of Banking and Finance.
Extra Curricular: nothing as such.

I wanted to know whether with the above mentioned profile, is a 700 a viable score or do I have to push further on GMAT score? Is the above mentioned profile competitive enough for ISB, IIM-A,B,C?

Hi thesehgal2015,

We will certainly oblige. Thanks for posting.

You come from the advertising industry, and therefore bring in some diversity by way of your industry itself, which will be a positive for you when applying to ISB. We understand the part about 59% in your college, but there is little that can be done about that now. Your GMAT score and post-engineering work experience will make up for it, in our opinion. Also, not saying that you are planing to do this, but do not provide any excuses for poor academic performance in college in your optional essay. This is something we have seen applicants do, and unless there are strong mitigating circumstances (medical reasons, for example), it does not help at all. See also this article: The MBA optional essay

On your other queries:
1. Yes, even with a 59%, you will have a chance at ISB. Your GMAT score is good, and you should work on bringing out the depth of your experience in advertising in your essays. We have had clients in the past who made it with even lower scores. However, don't be complacent, and ensure that you work hard on your application.
2. You are right in saying that ISB does not have a concentration focused on advertising. However they do have on in Marketing, and also have a few courses in advertising and digital marketing. That should help supplement your background well. We have seen (and you can also do your independent research to verify) that plenty of people get into excellent positions in advertising post ISB after majors in Marketing and Strategy.
So your background will neither be a hindrance in your application (in fact, it will help, as noted above), nor an impediment in terms of placements.
3. Your first GMAT attempt of 580 will not harm you. Your second score of 710 is also the latest one, and the 580 is not a consideration now. ISB will consider your 710 to evaluate.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more questions/clarifications as needed.
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Cadaver,

Thanks for posting. Nice profile you have there.

Your academics seem good. 10th and 12th are both good, and engineering is not outstanding, but still decent. Top 25 engineering college is a little fuzzy, but assuming that it's a well-known name, you should be ok.

Professional experience is excellent. Yes, your profile is technical, but then not everyone works with Airbus and Rolls Royce on engineering projects. Note that you are NOT the typical IT engineer, so will not be bracketed as such. Quantity of experience at 40 months is fine.

ECA seems good as well, but a bit confined to only social contributions. Perhaps you have done other things (student activities, sports etc) that you have not mentioned here. Nevertheless, no worries on the ECA front either. Founding Vikalp is a big plus - really shows your commitment there. How do you contribute to Vikalp now, though, being in a different city?

Overall, very good profile, and if you can add a good GMAT score there, will be the icing on the cake.

On your specific questions:
1. Rating your profile: Given the assessment above, strong chances if can be supplemented with a good GMAT as well.
2. Target GMAT score: While even sub-700 scores can do (not much below 700, though, so make sure you are close to 700, if not above), if you are setting a target, set an ambitious one - 720 and above.
3. Advantage of 1 year MBA programs is well established. You get almost the same number of in-class contact hours as in two-year programs, you get back to work one year earlier, and you also save quite a significant amount of money because of the opportunity cost. India v/s abroad is a completely different decision though, and there are points in favor of and against both options. Ultimately comes down to which market you wish to work in, opportunities available for specific roles in that market etc. If looking at the Indian market though, ISB is possibly the best choice.
4. That question can hardly be answered just on the basis of a profile, as it needs a deep dive into your role, experience, exposure, and achievements, but attempting a summary answer here. Your job is to convince ISB that you bring good insights from your industry, and that you have solid goals that ISB can help you achieve. Having a technical background is not a problem, but failing to convey how that background is relevant to these can be a problem. Your work would already have given you insight into many areas that may not be related to business, but are important nevertheless - problem solving, client management, teamwork etc. Focus on highlighting this, and the rich quality of your experience (working with global clients, contributions, top 10% of employees). Note: this is just a quick answer as of now provided on the basis of the information you posted. Essays and applications require a lot of detail and thought before you decide on the right points.

You might also find the following article relevant: Approaching essays - tech candidates

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more questions.
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Hi alagrai,

Thanks for posting.

Your score at 700 should be fine. Think of retaking the GMAT only if you feel you underperformed substantially on your last attempt, and can raise your score by 30-40 points. Your profile (judging only on the basis of information provided here) should be fine for ISB, IIMB, IIMC. For IIMA, you might need to push your score further up.

Besides the GMAT, you will also need to highlight strong differentiation in your essays as an IT applicant. Not saying that cant be done, just that you should be aware that even a higher GMAT score will not compensate for strong essays and a clear career goal.

All the best. Feel free to come back with more questions.
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Hi gyanone,

Thanks for your in depth review. I really appreciate it sincerely.

I have some more questions on things I am planning to do to help my profile. I am planning to join an NGO on weekends and I am also thinking of taking up a course on Coursera. Do you think these will be help?

I also have another query. I don't want to tell my boss that I want to pursue MBA and so I cant get a recommendation from him. Will that be ok? I am a little scared that if I don't get into ISB then my progress in my company may become slow. Please advice.

Thank you.

thesehgal2015,

Joining an NGO now, so close to the application date, will not really help much. Do join the NGO for the contribution you will make (if you have the time), but don't expect this to matter hugely now for your applications. The Coursera course might help, especially if you are trying to overcome weaknesses in your profile (e.g. a relatively low Quant score or low IR score). Do post the relevant course name and why you want to take it.

On the recommendation, it is preferred if you can get it from your boss, but if there is a professional hitch in the way, you can also ask someone else in the organization who is senior to you and is more of a confidante. Sometimes, people also ask clients. You can explain in your optional essay the reason for not asking your direct supervisor.
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Hi gyanone,

I am taking the course on mathematical methods for quant finance from coursera. My quant is 49 which is 79 percentile only so I think this can help me prove to isb that I am not weak in mathematics.

Thanks on your other advice. Appreciated as always.

Hi GyanOne

GMAT 710(Q50 V39)
Class 10th - 93.6%
Class 12th - 93.8%
Bachelor's Degreee - BITS Pilani (7.9 CGPA).

Work Ex- 2 years as a Software Developer in a MNC Firm.

Extra curricular :

1.Was part of the school football team.
2. Participated the National Science Congress as part of the Lead India 2020 program.
3.Part of the organizing team of OASIS and APOGEE, the cultural and tech festivals of my college.Led a team of about 40 people
involved in various works for these festivals.
4.Involved in social initiatives organised at workplace.

Merit and Workplace Achievements:
1.Merit Certificate in school.
2.Fast track promotion at the workplace.

How will you rate my profile?

Hello GyanOne,
I am planning to apply for R1 of ISB, need some inputs on my profile,
Profile:
XII : 89% Maharashtra Board
Grad: 8.43/10 (B.tech Electronics)
GMAT: 720(Q:49, V:38), IR:7, AWA:5
Work Ex: 42 months on Apr 16,
Company:Infosys, part of R&D unit called Mobility Center of excellence(worked on an established products and part of core team of a nascent product).

Work Ex Description :
Joined as trainee, stood 2nd in the batch of 500 students hense was chosen for R&D unit.
Was promoted to senoir system engineer in within 1 year.
I work on all the latest technologies such as google glass, healthbands as part of small core team and have regular interactions with higher management and take part in design discussion for the product POC.
basically my work profile is conceptualized, do quick proof of concept,design & code. I mostly work on critical demos than a full fledged product.

Extra-curricular: been president of a college club, helped my college department arrange national level conference.

Awards: this quarter I received a bronz medal for my contribution towards a critical demo.This demo fetched 2 worksop opprtunities for Infosys, the story of this demo is subject of my first essay.

can R&D experience be differentiated from typical IT experience?
is my GMAT score competitive enough for the IT pool?
what are my chances of getting into ISB?

Kindly help.

Hi Abhishek,

Your overall profile is good and your chances at ISB good as well. Your GMAT score is decent at 710, you are from a very well known school that is valued at ISB (BITS Pilani), and your academic performance is good as well. ECA is ok overall, but you should keep in mind that point (1) is a bit dated now, while point (4) will carry limited value.

In terms of work experience, 2 years as of now is fine. You will have about ~2.8 years by the time you begin at ISB, and there are plenty of people who are there with that quantum. On your industry, please keep in mind that you are coming in from an over-represented pool of applicants, so you will need to have clear career goals and reasoning in terms of what an MBA can provide. Please see these articles for some more insight on this: The MBA for Indian IT candidates, Indian IT candidates: preparing for applications, and MBA essays for Indian IT candidates

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with further questions.
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shazam1234,

Your profile is excellent and can certainly be differentiated from other profiles from typical IT services backgrounds. Mobility is an emerging technology that is highly valued across the business technology sphere, so you do have an added advantage. You should focus on how your innovation and technical insight will pair up with an MBA to give you a great career ahead. Also ensure that you are not using similar examples for ISB essay 1 and 2, as some people from a technical backgrounds sometimes do that (not saying you will, just advice from our side). For essay 1, the demo idea seems ok, but focus on the ideas, the presentation, and the impact, not on the technical aspects of the presentation.

ECA, acads, and awards are great as well. You are all set and should begin working on your ISB application right away.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with further questions.
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Hi thesehgal2015,

A quant sore of 49 is not low, though the percentile will not be very high as most applicants tend to do fairly well on the quant side. Take the course, but we don't think ISB will anyway think you are weak on the mathematics side.

Feel free to come back with more questions.
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GyanOne

Class 10th - 67%
Class 12th - 65%

B. Tech (Civil Engineering) – NIT Surat: CGP-7.28

GMAT - Yet to take

Work Ex - 42 months (as on 31st Mar, 2015)

Worked as an Estimation Engineer in Punj Lloyd ltd. (a construction company):22 Months,
Currently working in a Real Estate company in Gurgaon as an Estimation Engineer.
Responsibility –
Punj Lloyd: Tendering and Bidding dept., where my responsibilities were to work out the cost of construction of any building and road/other infrastructure project.
Currently: Estimation and Project Planning Dept., here my responsibilities include handling quantity estimation of various building material of various projects.

Certifications/Achievements:-

I got opportunity to work on many huge buildings and infra projects, out of those PL won many bids which includes one which was of INR 1000+ Crore contract.

Extra-Curricular:-
- I am an active member of Toastmasters club since April 2015 and delivered 4-5 speeches and within 2-3 months I was asked to take up the responsibility of Public Relations as Vice President of the Club.
- I have been taking part in various sports tournament held in my current company (Volleyball, Football) and was a part of Volleyball Tournament winning team this year.
- I have interest in music (Djembe Drum) (although I have nothing more to show here as I am learning this instrument at this stage).

My Questions:-

How will you rate my profile for ISB?
I don't have much to show under achievements and extra curriculars, so, what else can I do now to enhance my profile in such a short span of time, if there is any?
Target GMAT Score?
What all other B-Schools should I target?

Hi atshy21saraf,

It would be difficult to really comment on where you stand without a GMAT score, but judging only by your work experience, academics, and ECA, you seem to be well placed for ISB.

In terms of academics, graduating from an NIT is a plus. Though your X and XII scores are low, the NIT performance makes up for them. In terms of professional experience, your work at Punj Lloyd goes well beyond the engineering aspects, and includes tendering, bidding, estimation, and project planning, which is excellent from a learning and differentiation perspectives. Punj Lloyd, although your previous employer, is a well-known name, so that will help a bit too.

Your ECA seem to be strong. Sports and Toastmasters are both great (ISB has a very active Toastmasters club, so your achievements there are well recognized). Djembe drums - no worries on not having any certifications. Having personal passions that you follow, whether or not you have won awards for them, matters. Mention the Djembe drums in your app too - do not shy away because you do not have certificates.

Target GMAT score should be at least 700. If possible, aim for 720 and above, which will put you in an even safer zone.

Other schools - IIMB EPGP may be doable if you can get to the 4-year experience mark next year. IIMC PGPEX and IIMA PGPX are out of scope at this moment. If looking beyond India, there is a wide spectrum out there, and it would be difficult to recommend based on limited info.

Overall, looks good, and you should ensure you follow this up with a strong GMAT score. If you can break 700 (possibly) 720, you can certainly go places.

In terms of improving your profile, there aren't a whole lot of things that are possible now, but have a look at the following link. It should help with some ideas: How to improve your profile for MBA Admissions

Hope this helped. Feel free to come back with more questions.
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Hi GyanOne,

I recently appeared for GMAT and scored a 660 (Q 48, V 32). My profile is as under:

10th - 88.83%
12th - 87.33%
B.Com - 85.29%
M.Com - 77.30%
CA with an All India Rank 28 in CA-Final
Currently pursuing CFA L-1

Work ex:
1. Ernst & Young LLP - Senior Consultant (Corporate and International Taxation) - 3 years (until 8 June 2015) (promoted from Consultant with effect from 1 October 2014). Key responsibilities included managing a team of consultants and interns and reporting to director/ partner for tax advisory assignments in the domain of telecom, technology and communications. This involved active interactions with senior executives across various Ernst & Young offices over the world in relation to multi-country tax compliance and reporting, advising clients on optimum business models for setting up a telecom entity in India from a tax and regulatory perspective, tax implications on inbound investments into India, and managing a multi-country tax compliance assignment for an Indian MNC having presence in 14 countries.
2. N.P. Parekh and Co. Chartered Accountants - Partner (Family business in project finance consulting) - 2 months (until present) Key responsibilities include regular interactions with PSU and private sector banks for appraising the credit proposals of SME's. This includes assisting SME's in obtaining fund-based (term loans) and non-fund based (overdrafts and cash credit) facility in the range on INR 1 crore to INR 10 crores. Preparing credit monitoring and assessment reports on behalf of clients, loan documentation for mortgage/ pledge of fixed assets and stock-in-trade.

Extra Curricular:
- Presently serving as a volunteer in Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care ('SRLC'), a non-government organisation located in the Dharampur town, District Valsad, Gujarat in the fields of animal care and health care - key role includes assistance in organising blood donation camps to be provided to day care units and hospitals in the backward areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat, rehabilitating animals in distress by setting up animal welfare sheds providing them food and water.
- Was actively involved in the Budget analysis and reporting team at Ernst & Young LLP to determine the immediate impact of the Union Finance Budget 2014 and 2015.

Long term career goal - Management Consulting/ Private Equity Consulting

Questions:
- Whether I should consider giving GMAT again to improve my chances?
- Which other b-schools should I target other than ISB?
- Any other good-to-have factors to differentiate my profile?

Hi krishank1808,

Your profile is solid but your GMAT score is dragging you down. We would recommend a retake to improve your chances and enhance your chances at ISB as well as open up more top schools for you as possibilities.

Your work experience is excellent and your academic achievement great as well. On the ECA part, you seem ok. Remember that you need to highlight experience in multiple things there. Also, the budget presentation at EY is not part of ECA - it will be considered part of your professional contributions.

Just curious here - your long-term goal seems a bit hazy to us in its choice. Usually, people do it the other way round - working in consulting for a while and then coming back to their family business/set up a venture.

On your other questions:
1. Yes, you should try and improve your GMAT score and raise it by at least 30 points (more if possible)
2. It is difficult to recommend schools without knowing your preferences (geography, program format, ranking of target schools etc). In India, ISB is the only top option feasible for you as of now. The IIM experienced MBA programs will require more experience. So will XLRI.
3. No other factors that are missing here and can be added at short notice really. For now, would recommend that you focus on the GMAT.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with further questions.
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Thank you for the valuable inputs GyanOne. I would definitely look to improve my GMAT score by giving a retake.

On the career goals aspect, the intent of joining family business was to gain exposure to client interactions in the project finance domain, which along with the tax consulting experience could assist in the strategy consulting. Though EY provided ample opportunities to interact with clients to optimise their tax costs, the primary concern of a new business being set up is beyond tax costs/ benefits and more towards ease of gaining access to cheap capital in India.

Thus, the main intent to join the family business was to understand important problems faced by SME's relating to their funding requirements which are more critical to their survival than tax optimisation. I realised after working in the corporate tax division at EY that tax costs are not the primary driving force for firms while implementing a key business decision (say, setting up an entity in India) and they consider other factors such as ease of accessing capital, infrastructure, etc before considering the estimates of tax outflow/ benefit. Thus, I considered the family business as a viable means to understand and gain experience in knowing how one can service clients to assist them to gain access to capital.

The long term goal is to render services in the management consulting domain which I understand could involve advice relating to wide range of problems (including but not limited to tax and access to capital). Please do let me know if this isn't clear as I would want to justify joining family business towards my long term goal of rendering services in the management consulting domain.