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The old MBA recruiting playbook is dead. Here’s how top admits are getting ahead this summer.
MBAGuide
Joined: 24 Jul 2019
Last visit: 02 Sep 2026
Posts: 2,541
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 29
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, Marketing
Schools: Insead Sept'18 (A$$) ISB '19 (A)
18 Aug 2026, 03:54
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Every year around this time, I have the same conversation on repeat. An applicant sends me a profile. Great GMAT, strong pedigree, solid company, and asks, "Why do you think I will struggle?". The answer really has almost nothing to do with the numbers on their profile stats.
If you are prepping for ISB R1, here's what I would want you to know before you hit submit.
1. Your goals matter the most
This is the single most common reason I see strong-looking profiles get rejected, and it is often what surprises people most when we do a ding analysis together.
Poor goals research rarely means someone hasn't thought about their career. Usually, they know what they want to do post-MBA but struggle to answer why that, why now, and why ISB. The goal sounds impressive but could belong to ten other applicants from the same industry. It was built around what sounds good rather than what their own experience has led them toward.
AdComs read thousands of these. They can tell when a goal has been arrived at versus assembled.
Good goals strategy means your past, present and future connect naturally. You have researched the industry or function beyond its headline, understand what you are actually signing up for, and can defend your short-term goal when someone starts questioning it.
This is also why I think applicants over-index on the GMAT. The score is the variable they feel they can control, so they keep pulling that lever...another attempt, another few points...while leaving the harder question untouched.
With six weeks left, I would spend more time interrogating your “why” than just taking one more test.
2. Your "strong" profile is probably sounding generic, and you can't tell
This is probably the most underappreciated part of an ISB application. There are many people with strong credentials who simply don't know how to make a case for themselves.
Your resume tells me what you did. Your application needs to tell me what you learned, what you changed, how you think differently and what makes your contribution difficult to replicate. This is important if you come from an overrepresented pool.
You don't want to be another DevOps engineer who delivered something faster. You don't want to be another guy who improved a process. You don't want to be another investment analyst who performed financial analysis.
The question is: what did you actually bring to the table?
Some of the most interesting ISB candidates I have worked with initially looked fairly ordinary on paper. The difference was that once we unpacked their work, there was a much more interesting person underneath.
Don't assume the Adcom will connect the dots for you
IT. Finance. Consulting. Manufacturing. O&G. Impact. Military. There isn't one profile type that consistently underperforms. It is usually the person who undersells what they have actually done. They know their work inside out, but they don't know how to step back and explain why it matters.
You are not trying to convince ISB that you have had a perfect career but you want them to see the trajectory underneath it. What shaped you, what you have become good at, what you still need to learn and why ISB is the right place for your next chapter.
So, with six weeks to R1, I wouldn't spend all your time asking, “How do I make my profile look better?”
Ask a harder question:
“If the AdCom remembers only one thing about me after reading my application, what do I want it to be?”
Then build the application around that.
3. R1 matters, but don't rush into it blindly
[size=100]ISB won't tell you this outright, b[/size]ut if you're coming from a crowded applicant pool, IT, consulting, engineering, you want to be in R1 if you possibly can. The seat math gets tighter as rounds progress and pools fill up with people who look like you on paper.
But R1 is not worth it if it means submitting a half-baked application with an underwhelming, un-researched pitch. A rushed R1 application from an average profile will lose to a sharp, well-thought-out R2 application every time. Getting there first only helps if you actually have something to say when you arrive.
4. Your LOR is not a formality
This is the most neglected part of the entire application. A weak LOR isn't written by a bad recommender.
It is a by product of an applicant who never closed the loop.
You didn't sit down with your recommender and walk them through what you actually contributed, what problems you solved, what impact you had. You assumed they would remember, or that they would 'figure it out.'
ISB lets you choose your recommender. If you pick someone and then hand them nothing to work with, you are submitting a letter that says something about you: that you don't know how to prepare people, brief them, or ask for support effectively. A bone-dry LOR from a senior colleague you supposedly worked closely with raises more questions than it answers. Brief your recommenders like you would brief a stakeholder. Because that's exactly what this is.
Not sure whether you should apply, wait, retake the GMAT, or rethink your goals? Let’s talk before you make that decision.
Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aanchal-sahni-83b00819/ |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- [email protected]
If you are prepping for ISB R1, here's what I would want you to know before you hit submit.
1. Your goals matter the most
This is the single most common reason I see strong-looking profiles get rejected, and it is often what surprises people most when we do a ding analysis together.
Poor goals research rarely means someone hasn't thought about their career. Usually, they know what they want to do post-MBA but struggle to answer why that, why now, and why ISB. The goal sounds impressive but could belong to ten other applicants from the same industry. It was built around what sounds good rather than what their own experience has led them toward.
AdComs read thousands of these. They can tell when a goal has been arrived at versus assembled.
Good goals strategy means your past, present and future connect naturally. You have researched the industry or function beyond its headline, understand what you are actually signing up for, and can defend your short-term goal when someone starts questioning it.
This is also why I think applicants over-index on the GMAT. The score is the variable they feel they can control, so they keep pulling that lever...another attempt, another few points...while leaving the harder question untouched.
With six weeks left, I would spend more time interrogating your “why” than just taking one more test.
2. Your "strong" profile is probably sounding generic, and you can't tell
This is probably the most underappreciated part of an ISB application. There are many people with strong credentials who simply don't know how to make a case for themselves.
Your resume tells me what you did. Your application needs to tell me what you learned, what you changed, how you think differently and what makes your contribution difficult to replicate. This is important if you come from an overrepresented pool.
You don't want to be another DevOps engineer who delivered something faster. You don't want to be another guy who improved a process. You don't want to be another investment analyst who performed financial analysis.
The question is: what did you actually bring to the table?
Some of the most interesting ISB candidates I have worked with initially looked fairly ordinary on paper. The difference was that once we unpacked their work, there was a much more interesting person underneath.
Don't assume the Adcom will connect the dots for you
IT. Finance. Consulting. Manufacturing. O&G. Impact. Military. There isn't one profile type that consistently underperforms. It is usually the person who undersells what they have actually done. They know their work inside out, but they don't know how to step back and explain why it matters.
You are not trying to convince ISB that you have had a perfect career but you want them to see the trajectory underneath it. What shaped you, what you have become good at, what you still need to learn and why ISB is the right place for your next chapter.
So, with six weeks to R1, I wouldn't spend all your time asking, “How do I make my profile look better?”
Ask a harder question:
“If the AdCom remembers only one thing about me after reading my application, what do I want it to be?”
Then build the application around that.
3. R1 matters, but don't rush into it blindly
[size=100]ISB won't tell you this outright, b[/size]ut if you're coming from a crowded applicant pool, IT, consulting, engineering, you want to be in R1 if you possibly can. The seat math gets tighter as rounds progress and pools fill up with people who look like you on paper.
But R1 is not worth it if it means submitting a half-baked application with an underwhelming, un-researched pitch. A rushed R1 application from an average profile will lose to a sharp, well-thought-out R2 application every time. Getting there first only helps if you actually have something to say when you arrive.
4. Your LOR is not a formality
This is the most neglected part of the entire application. A weak LOR isn't written by a bad recommender.
It is a by product of an applicant who never closed the loop.
You didn't sit down with your recommender and walk them through what you actually contributed, what problems you solved, what impact you had. You assumed they would remember, or that they would 'figure it out.'
ISB lets you choose your recommender. If you pick someone and then hand them nothing to work with, you are submitting a letter that says something about you: that you don't know how to prepare people, brief them, or ask for support effectively. A bone-dry LOR from a senior colleague you supposedly worked closely with raises more questions than it answers. Brief your recommenders like you would brief a stakeholder. Because that's exactly what this is.
Not sure whether you should apply, wait, retake the GMAT, or rethink your goals? Let’s talk before you make that decision.
Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aanchal-sahni-83b00819/ |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- [email protected]
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