ISB

"Background: B.Tech Mechanical Engineering graduate. I worked in a PSU for 3.5 years in the B2B Sales & Marketing department. Interview lasted 30 minutes. Interview Questions: The panel introduced themselves. There were 2 panel members, both alumni. We exchanged pleasantries. Q1. The first question was straight to the point about the work experience gap: "So you resigned 1 year back. What have you done during this time?" Q2. I briefly went through my roles and responsibilities in the company. Q3. “Talk about the major challenges you faced in the company and how you addressed them.” We had a back-and-forth discussion on this topic. Q4. “You mentioned in your application that you want to switch to consulting. How did you come to this realization?” I shared an instance from my company where my team implemented a novel idea that improved the company’s topline by incorporating a subsidiary’s capability of producing an in-demand product. The panel and I had a back-and-forth discussion regarding the technical and financial aspects of the idea. Q5. “That’s it from us. Do you have any questions for us?” Interview Experience: Overall, the interview had a conversational tone, but I noticed that I did most of the talking. I worry that I might have rambled on too much and missed the opportunity to highlight important points. We spent considerable time discussing question number four. However, I sensed that they were not fully convinced, despite our prolonged discussion. Best wishes for all R3 applicants!"

"I reached the venue 1 hour 15 mins earlier than my assigned slot time. Also, the interview was delayed by about 35-40 mins. I think the wait time slightly led to a pressure buildup within me. There were 2 panelists. I was expecting the interview to start with the typical tell us about yourself question and had a lot of my explanation tied to that intro. But, the panel straightaway jumped to my current role and its fine details. Spend about 15-20 mins on this topic only. Not sure if they were fully convinced with my explanation about company's short term vs long term strategy. Second question was about my interest in Shariah finance. But, then again started linking it to my current role. Third was about my overall career progression. The next was about my personal interests. Before winding up, the panel gave me an opportunity to explain about something that I'm proud of. This, although looked like a fantastic opportunity, raised some sort of red flag in my mind. For me, it sounded like, "we aren't impressed yet, so do you have something to impress us?". But, I think I was able to pick out an important project that I led during my previous work and explain the impact and my contribution fairly well. Last, they gave me an opportunity to ask questions too. The interview lasted about 35-40 mins. Didn't go in the direction as I thought it to be, but I think that's how it is supposed to be.! We have to expect the unexpected 😃 Overall, I think, it was ok. Couldn't highlight some of my contributions and the impacts I have created at work and during college as much as I wanted to. But, hoping for the best."

"EEO candidate Background: 18 months working in Strat and M&A team , BTech Mechanical Online interview with 3 panelists, all alumni, 2 from consulting, 1 from PE. Not a stress interview Interview questions: a) Intro b) Walk us through your role and responsibilities c) Current project you are working on, lots of follow up questions regarding the same d) Any accomplishment (Work or personal) that you are most proud of e) How will you add value to the community at ISB despite having lower experience than most of the batch f) What clubs are you looking to join g) Any questions for us Short interview, hardly 20 minutes. Focused mostly on work ex. Also wasn't asked a guesstimate despite mentioning outright in the essay that I want to move to consulting post ISB."

"Applied in R3 but called for interview(online) with the R2 applicants. 3 member panel. No stress. Started with them introducing themselves. They placed a prohibition on saying the word 'Sir'. Questions: 1. Profile walkthrough(Only work ex) 2. Choose one major project in your life and tell us about your learnings, outcomes etc. 2-3 follow-up questions on the same. 3. How will your peers benefit if you're admitted? 4. How did the themes in long term goal come into picture? Explain the disconnect between both themes. 5. How will your short term goal help the long term goal? Lasted for 20-25 min."

"I had a virtual interview. There were 3 panelists. Not a stress interview at all. The interview started with the generic "Tell me about yourself" Then asked about my work experience and a day at my job. Why isb? Why now? Why product management? Short term goal. Business aspects of my job since I am from a purely technical background. My dream company. Situational questions like..what will you do if u r a PM of Google and u have xyz situation. Calculate weekly revenue of an Indian airline which goes from Bombay to New York. Challenge at work. It lasted for nearly 30-35 minutes. All the best to Everyone who sees this :)"

"Que 1. What have you done during and after graduation? Que 2. What was your role at your organization? (I work in the family business) Que 3. Why do you want to go for ISB? Que 4. How will ISB Help You? Que 5. What is the biggest challenge you faced and what did you do about it? Que 6. What is your biggest achievement so far? Que 7. You already are in business why do you want to spend 1 year at ISB and then a few years in a finance role? ( I had said so in my essay) Que 8. What other things do you do apart from work? The interview lasted 30 min. I think it went well. waiting for results"

"I interviewed in Mumbai for the 10:45am slot. 2 Panellists, both alumni. - Introduce yourself - Why MBA? Why Product management? - Which companies am I targeting Post MBA? - Asked about my current role in the firm - How do I resolve conflict and lead teams being the youngest in my current role. - Why can't I get into my desired role without MBA - Some grilling on why not consulting/ operations Post MBA - why only product management? - As a re-applicant, how has your profile changed? - Nitpicked a few of my extra curriculars and asked questions on the same - Any questions for us? Went on for about 30mins, it was fairly conversational for the most bit. Personally I was a tad nervous as this was my first MBA interview, but I held my ground to the best of my capabilities :)"

"This was a tough one. My interviewer panel was kind of stern. They asked the standard questions - tell me about yourself, why MBA, why ISB. But pushed a lot on why MBA. I think being from a nonprofit background they also didn't really understand my industry which is why. In addition, asked a bunch of behavioural questions, mostly about how I work in a team. They were tough so I was quite nervous, and I had no idea how it really went at the end, but I ended up being admitted."

"It was a 30ish minute interview with a three-member alumni panel. 1. Work experience: What does my work day look like? What are the meanings of some of the jargons used in the application? Which aspect of the project do I specifically handle? 2. P2P learning: Panel asked me about all the points I'd written in the first essay. Huge opportunity to highlight what you bring to the table. 3. Case Study: You're the CM of Delhi. How would you reduce the pollution in the city? (Expect a case study/guesstimate if you've written strategy consulting as your short term goal) 4. Hobbies/Interests: They asked me to talk about one of my hobbies. I'd read this while preparing so I was prepared for this line of questioning. Things like if your fav sport is basketball, you're expected to be able to have a conversation on the topic as well. Players, fouls, trivia etc. 5. Why MBA at this point in my career? 6. Any questions for the panel? Feedback: The way the first questions were posed did make me feel like I was having to defend my profile. So, if you come from a generic profile (Engg. + Consulting) be prepared to 'convince' the panel of your achievements and roles at work."

"One of the panelists came in to the waiting room, introduced herself and walked me into the interview room. There were 3 panelists in total and all were alums of classes ranging from 2012 to 2017. They seemed quite warm and were smiling throughout, but at the same time were quite professional. I was asked to get comfortable before we started. Questions - 1. What value are you going to add to the diverse cohort at ISB? - This was a very standard question and I had prepared 3 pointers, but I couldn't move past the first. The panel expected a very detailed reasoning for anything I put forward and we spent 3-4mins discussing my first point. 2. Then they directly delved into the work that I do. Since I am from an engineering(computer sc.) background and worked in healthcare/pharma domain, they wanted to know how the 2 fields intersected in my work. I had prepared for such questions. I kept my calm and talked passionately about the work that I do. One of the panelists had a similar background and asked many counter questions. (10 mins) 3. Can you come up with a healthcare tech. product that can improve lives of common people? (5-10mins) Even though I had prepared for this question (thanks to Preppie), I asked for couple minutes to collect my thoughts. It was appreciated by the panel now when I look back. 4. Asked about my extracurriculars that I had mentioned. Additionally, I had mentioned about classical singing in my application so they asked me to sing a song. Wasn't prepared for this at all, but I think I fared well. :) (2-3mins) 5. Do you have any questions for us?(2-3mins) I made sure to not ask any question who's answer I could get from google/alum/adcom. Instead I added a personal touch and asked them how ISB has shaped their lives and what advice they'd have for any incoming student. Interview was complete in ~30 mins. Overall, the panel was very professional and wanted to evaluate whether ISB was a good fit for my post MBA plans and also whether I was a good fit for ISB or not. Being thorough with my story from what I mentioned in my application, 2-3 practice interviews with Preppie/family&friends, confidence in my answers (even though I was all nerves throughout) and a genuine smile are what I feel got me the admit."

"I was interviewed in Chennai. The panel consisted of 2 members. One was from CO17 I guess. Other was a little bit senior(Atleast 10 years more than the first member). They did not introduce themselves and went straight to questioning. It was a very friendly interview. Btw, I am a re-applicant and added a little bit about it at the end. Questions asked: 1. What do you do at your current org? 2. What project were you most excited about? 3. Why do you want to get into ISB ? (I mentioned about my goals too when answering this. I think that's why they didn't ask me separately about my Post-MBA goals) 4. How will your peers learn from you? 5. Tell me about your hobbies. 6. Any questions for us ? I applied to ISB in R1 for the CO23. I was interviewed, waitlisted and then finally rejected. I did my entire application myself including GMAT prep. Never took any mock interviews and was overconfident, so was not very shocked with the result though I felt bad. Then I applied again in R2 for the CO24. Again did my app on my own, but did some research this time,networked with a few successful applicants from R1, and took a mock with an ISB alum."

"I had my interview in Bangalore, off campus in the morning slot. There were 3 alumni. The interview was pretty conversational, and interactive. They started with their introduction, and then I introduced myself. The discussion after this mostly revolved around my industry, organization, projects I had worked on, teams I had worked with, my short term and long term goals. They asked different contributions I had put on my application, both professional and extra curricular. Before ending, they told me that my application was sufficient to understand my background and if there was 1 thing that I had not mentioned in the application. I kept that conversation on a lighter note, and stated a fun fact about me, we shared some laughs over that. You can use this 1 last question and play it to your strength, and that could set the tone of the interview for you. The interview lasted about 25 minutes."

"Hi everyone, My interview panel was quite casual. They asked me a lot of questions in detail about my job, and about my career goals. 1. What are the challenges you have faced during your job experience? 2. Tell me a time a client disagreed with you and how did you deal with it? 3. What leadership skills are important in your opinion? 4. Why ISB? 5. What do you bring to the table?"

"2 panellists. Product and Entrepreneurship. Both with 10 years of experience. Class of 2017 and 2019. It was delayed by an hour or so. Went for about 50 mins. They started by saying we want you to feel comfortable and relaxed so that you perform better. 1. Tell us the cultural differences between the first organisation where you worked and the current one and why did you leave in just 6 months. Cross questions on this. 2. Tell us what did you do in the first company. It was about MBA schools’ advertising so they wanted to know the process in detail. Had questions about this. 3. You want to work in FMCG, have you talked to ISB alumni about this? Who all? Anyone beyond ISB? I talked about a project that I’ve been doing with one from IIMC & FMCG. Questions around that. 4. You’ve been involved in so many ad films during your college graduation. It’s a tough industry to go into. How did you enter and Why didn’t you continue there? You studied Advertising, do you want to work in that? Why not? 5. Why Marketing? If anything personal that you’d like to talk about or skip you can. 6. Questions about my hometown and the socio-economic status of that. One of them was from a nearby state. 6. Tell us about your current projects. Why did you move from CRM communications to Go-To-Market? How many people work with you? 7. Had a long discussion about one of my market research trips to Gujarat and how was the experience. They asked in detail about my process of mining insights through qualitative interviews, etc. Ended with two of my questions during which we had fun. I enjoyed giving this interview, baki ISB ke upar."

"Hi Everyone, I was all nerves when I reached the venue but talking to other people in the lobby calmed me a bit. I was in the first batch for the day and the first to interview with my panel of two. They were alumni from the 2017 batch. They made sure I was comfortable and settled, though they themselves were looking a bit nervous if I'm honest and I'll tell you why. The interview lasted around 20 mins and was decent. Sharing the series of questions below: 1) Tell us about this extra curricular activity you've mentioned (related to sports). Also what are some leadership lessons you've learnt from it. 2) Asked about my designation and my role. 3) My company pivoted recently, so they asked about the impact on the team and how would I analyze the pivot 4) They were interested in the projects I was working on and asked about it in detail 5) They asked about my recommender and asked me to evaluate him. Basically what I'd do differently if I was in his shoes 6) Why MBA was next and from there they probed a bit about my goals and the industry I was seeking. When these questions were done they started getting up and shook my hand. I was a bit flustered. When I said I had some questions they immediately realised they forgot to ask me that and apologized and sat down again. I asked a few questions and they answered it pretty openly. I'd give them the benefit of doubt that it was the first interview of the day, but one of them really seemed nervous and I think it was his first time interviewing. Overall my experience was decent, I answered to the best of my abilities and now I'm hoping for the best 🤞🏼"

""I was interviewed by 2 alumni in Delhi. 16th October INTERVIEW DURATION: 25 mins QUESTIONS ASKED: 1. Tell us a little about yourself something not mentioned already and one highlight of your career. 2. Why did you leave your job that paid so well? (I had left after gaining a promotion and was well paid.) 3. How did you start your business and find your first few clients? 4. Why did you leave your business? What was the conversation like? 5. Why do you want to do an MBA when you're working in a startup already with experienced founders? 6. Why MBA not any incubator program? 7. If you want to run your own business, you could still do it what would you do differently now? 8. What do you plan to do after ISB? 9. Question around my startup and a situation? 11. Any questions for us? OVERALL EXPERIENCE: It wasn't a very conversational interview, they had questions and I answered all of them then we moved to the next question straight. WHY MBA? went on for a bit. Do cover that and make sure it matches your answers."

"I was interviewed by 2 alumni, on the ISB Hyderabad campus. INTERVIEW DURATION: 20 mins QUESTIONS ASKED: 1. Tell us a little about yourself. 2. Why & how did you make that industry pivot? (I had pivoted from architecture to marketing 2 years ago.) 3. How did you start your business and find your first few clients? 4. How do you run your business today? What kind of projects do you work on? 5. So why do you want to do an MBA now? 6. Why ISB? 7. What other MBA colleges are you applying to? 8. What do you plan to do after ISB and why? (company, roles, etc.) 9. How do you plan to make the most of your time at ISB? 10. Any specific areas of study (electives) you plan to focus on? 11. Any questions for us? OVERALL EXPERIENCE: It was a very easygoing & friendly conversation. And having prepared thoroughly beforehand, none of the questions took me by surprise. INTERVIEW PREP STRAEGY: I first scripted an outline of my answers for all the general questions (Why you, why MBA, why ISB, situational Q's, etc.). After practicing these answers & getting comfortable, I scheduled 3 mock interviews with ISB alums via Preppie. All the mocks were very similar to the actual interview experience, both in the tone of conversation & questions asked. After every Preppie mock interview, the alums gave me tips on - how I can tighten and improve my answers - pointed out loopholes in my story + suggestions on how to address them - tips on improving my communication + responding to stress questions - brought up some profile-specific questions that I should prep answers for* *(This was super helpful since a lot of actual interview Q's came from these extra Q's that the alums suggested.) After the 3 mocks + lots of tips from interviewing alums, I was able to refine my answers, build confidence & prepare for almost all interview eventualities."

"It was a conversational interview. I was a bit surprised that the interviewer (2 alums) had thoroughly read my resume, so instead of doing an intro/walk me through your resume, we just dove right into it. Questions Asked: 1. Tell us about your family business. (presently working for my family business) 2. What challenges have you faced in Business? 3. What is your major accomplishment? 4. Why now MBA? 5. Why ISB? 6. Short/long-term goals? 7. How do you contribute to your study group? 8. How do you contribute to ISB? 9. Why not MFAB? 10. Any specific areas of study (electives) you plan to focus on? 11. Any questions for us? Interview Prep: I scheduled multiple mock interviews with ISB alums via Preppie. Mr. Revanth Dodla, an ISB alum from the Preppie panel, needs a special mention; he took an interest in knowing more about me and provided valuable input. All the mocks were very similar to the actual interview experience, both in the tone of conversation & questions asked. Mr. Ayush (Preppie) deserves special recognition for the rigorous effort of coordinating and setting up appointments with numerous alumni. It was an excellent experience."

"2 Panelists: CO 2011 and CO 2016; from Financial Services and Strategy Consulting. The interview started on time and went on for 25 mins hardly. (the duration of an interview is NOT proportional to your admit chances) One of the panelists offered me water in the first moment, suggested me to take time and get comfortable, as I was super anxious by then. The interview went from general to core discussions. Following were the questions: 1. Where are you from, have you visited the campus before and do you feel any difference now. 2. Tell me about your Undergrad subjects and College campus. 3. Tell me about your corporate journey, career progressions and Domain changes; your definition of success, do you think you have 'achieved it' or have that 'wow' moment till date. 4. Post MBA goal; Why is it niche specific and how did your current expertise help in choosing this. (Got roasted on this for straight 10 mins) 5. Is there anything that you want to change in your current job and how your targeted organisations would help in achieving this. 6. What's your typical day at office like, tell me about your job in-and-out. 7. Tell me about your Awards, ECs, Scholarships. 8. Tell me about your hobbies, how do you manage with work and other responsibilities aside. Ended this interview by asking me if I had any questions, I asked them one. (please do ask, do not come across like you aren't interested in the program) I was nervous throughout the interview, so I'd suggest you to take a couple of minutes to calm down before getting in the room, to not affect your admit chances."

"I am a reapplicant and was interviewed by two alumni - panel 9 - in Mumbai. Straight away, the interviewer and I connected over being from Bangalore. This helped immensely to set the rest of the tone of the interview. It was extremely conversational, friendly, and we even joked at certain points. Interview questions: 1. They gave me the floor to tell them anything about myself that I want them to know and discuss during the interview 2. Describe your organization (I work for a boutique IB firm, this is probably why the question came up), it's journey, and your role along with daily responsibilities - A complete deep dive into a few companies I've worked with that were mentioned in my application - Expect questions based on even the minutest of details of your job. For eg. I am working on the acquisition of a hospital chain & I was asked questions about the many important hospital metrics 3. Why ISB and why now 4. Tell me about your long-term goals - I mentioned I want to start a venture - we spent a good part of the interview breaking down the idea mentioned in my essay with a lot of cross questioning and stress testing 5. Why have you jumped so many jobs? If you, like me, have jumped jobs, expect this question and have very solid reasons why 6. Give me three reasons why we shouldn't select you 7. Tell me more about you being a pianist - I am classically trained so we spent a few minutes talking about my journey and passion for it 8. Do you have any questions for us? - Be very careful with the kinds of questions you ask. The interviewer specifically told me before I asked a question that if it's a 'canned question' then I shouldn't bother asking it at all Overall, the tone of the interview was light and relaxed."

"Two Panelists - Both were ISB Alumni (one who graduated in 2014 and other who graduated in 2019) The interview was for most parts casual. Guys, remember to stay calm throughout the interview. It helps a lot! Questions asked: 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Why did you choose to join the energy sector after clearing CA? 3. If you like your current job so much, why do you want to do an MBA? 4. Please elaborate on your short term goals. What is your Plan B? 5. Why should we choose you over others? In what ways can you contribute to the ISB community? 6. What kind of personalities do you not like and how do you deal with them? 7. Do you have any questions for us? Tips: Be thorough with your entire application (including essays). Prepare 2-3 questions to ask the interviewers."

"Don’t remember the panel. Sharing my experience: (Ca with 6 years of work exp) 1) tell me about yourself 2) why mba now 3) one stock idea you recommend 4) do you need mba with this much of experience 5) what will be your key differentiator for your wealth proposition 6)what is the client segment 7) what is the role post mba 8) tell me bout jazz music( hobby) 9) questions"

"A panel of 2 ISB Alums Interview duration: 35 - 40 mins It was an extremely comfortable interview, conversational, and at no point did the alums try to roast me, all their questions were directed towards better understanding me. The questions started Resume based, since I had 3 significant projects listed they asked me which I would want to discuss. They went on to discuss the planning and other details of the project. Then the discussion moved to my goals and how ISB fits into them. Interview Prep: I used Preppie services for Interview preparation. I utilised their interview preparation and mock interview sessions. The team was so helpful and went out of the way to customise the sessions for me, since my goals were aligned towards a development background they arranged for an alum with a similar background to conduct these sessions. Both sessions were extremely well structured and helped refine my answers to convey my ideas better. The first session which was the preparation session helped me refine my answers to fit the timeframe of an interview, this task is nearly impossible to do on your own since it comes with experience. Preppie provided that experienced guidance and support to prepare for unexpected questions, frame and present my perspective as well as additional tips which could only come from an experienced professional. In a short time, with the support of preppie, I was able to prepare holistically for the interview and was able to tackle almost all questions posed by the panel!"

"1. What do you do on a daily basis at work, follow ups on metrics, asked me to describe the product, a few more follow ups on the product - in trying to understand the target customers and the evolution of online sales 2. LT Career goals: why Edtech and ISB has about 60% engineers, how do I plan to compete with them for recruiting. What do I bring to the table 3. Why product management? What in my view does a product manager do 4. If I were to build an Ed-tech product? What would it be? How would you pitch it. 5. Follow up on the product that I pitched 6. Why product management? Why not a business owner or a category owner I had three interviewers, I knew their names, but they did not introduce themselves. Jumped right into the discussion. The entire interview overshot by 5 minutes post the scheduled 45min. They did not ask me if I had any questions for them (I had questions, but didn't ask since I wasn't given the opportunity). Towards the end, one interviewer mentioned that it was a very productive discussion. I'm still ambivalent of the interview because they didn't ask me to introduce myself, nor did they provide introductions, and they completely refrained from typical b-school interview questions such as Why ISB and QnA."

"My background : 3 years of Pharma Consulting, 1 year of FMCG (manufacturing), NIT alum Round 3 interview I waited for ~30 min in the waiting room. If it happens with you, I understand anxiety will shoot up but be calm and breathe, everything will be fine. There were 3 panelists. 2 of those asked questions with one having ~6 years of work experience (Panelist 1) and the other one was pretty senior with ~13 years of work experience (Panelist 2). P1: Tell me about a typical project in Pharma Consulting Me : Told them about a typical project in a structured manner and in simple language so that they understand P1: Why MBA? Why ISB? Me: told them 3 pointers, essentially to up-skill myself. P1: Your short term goal says you want to do consulting, weren't you already in consulting? Me : Told them that I want to do front-end consulting going forward and that will require certain skill set which I will gain from ISB P2 (P2 is pretty senior and asked me situational questions based on my work experience) P2: You keep telling about this tool you have used in your firm, if you had to build it from scratch, how would you do it ? Me: Told him since I am not a developer I won't be able to build myself but I told him the algorithm and certain metrics to consider to build the same. P2: uses some jargon around sales reps incentivise which I couldn't understand Me: Sir, I didn't get it. Could you please elaborate a bit on the problem statement P2: Simplified the language so I understand the question, it was a case with a mix of both of my previous jobs Me: Answered the question P2: Can you think of any other reasons? Me: Sir, I didn't work in this area so I don't have in depth understanding of the same P2: Makes sense! Could you think of any other reason in general? Me : Just give me a minute to think, then came up with new reasons and elaborated on the same P2: good P1: That's great! You were able to think on your feet P1: tell us more about your NIT experience, how was your college life? Me (since a lot of my interview was based on professional background, took this opportunity to highlight few of my extra curricular activities P1: great to hear that! Thanks They did not ask me if I had any questions for them. Tips: Be calm, be confident, take time if you are not able to think clearly, understand the question correctly, be prepared for general questions like why ISB, why MBA, why now. Be thorough with your essays. You are gonna ace it! All the best!"