In the race to outsmart each other, ISB adcom seems to have come up with a tough topic for one of the admission essays. While the essence of the topics remain the same every year, the topic changes, putting the applicants in a fix. From all the requests that I have been getting I have gathered that there is an essay asking the applicant to describe what would he/she do if he becomes student body president.
Most applicants think that they have to gather as much information as possible and only then attempt the essay. I don't know how many people have approached the current and the previous GSB president.
My sincere advise and request to all the applicants is as below:
Are you expected to know everything about what happens at ISB? I don't think so, if you feel so, write to adcom to describe about the position rather than approaching alums you know. If you know too much, you will have to explain how you know in the interview, which may not be a good thing. On the other hand assuming everything may not be correct.
If I have to attempt this essay, I would try to think about how does the student body look like (details available on ISB site), what could be challenges they face, who are the different parties the President have to address (interact and work with), what kind of approach would be good (you would be dealing with a diverse and smart peer group) etc and then put down the essay. Rather than focusing on the specifics, I suggest that essay should address the big issues.
This is more than what I wanted to share, I would take leave otherwise I may get a call from the honor(horror) committee. I wonder what to do if they take away my degree now :?
Showing posts with label ISB admission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ISB admission. Show all posts
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Between Application and Interview
This post is for those who have submitted their applications in R1 and waiting for the interview call.
One of the common challenges is about the time, date and location. Though one indicates a certain location as preferred, it is possible that the candidate may have to go somewhere on an official visit and therefore we may not be available on the date that adcom schedules the interview. The question is how flexible is ISB adcom?
As far as I had seen last year and after my interaction with them, I think they are very flexible for reasonable and genuine reasons. The key objective of an interview is to meet the person and verify if he/she is the same compared to the impression that the application gave and to evaluate what more does the person bring to the table apart from the standard set of things. Therefore it is more in the interest of the candidate to make oneself available at a location that he/she is comfortable and give it a best shot. But if it is not possible, feel free to call/write and request for a change.
Second challenge I faced is the stress due to uncertainty. I know that I had a good chance but you never know. A lot depends on the pool of applications and everything gets relative. My only suggestion is, believe in yourself. If you have made all the effort in writing GMAT, essays and getting recommendations, I'm sure you are serious about it and that you have put in enough effort and if you have given your best shot in preparing your application, there is nothing more you can do but wait. Just keep tracking what is happening and where are the interviews happening. The isb-pgp yahoo group is a very good resource and I used to spend at least an hour reading the messages everyday. Urge all the candidates who got shortlists to post their interview experience, it kind of gives you some feel.
Another thing that you can do to reduce your stress is - read books. Read books that are not related to your work, read on topics that you like, read fiction, read current affairs and read blogs.
Last thing that you can do to reduce stress is to create a support group. Last year we have created a Hyderabad applicants yahoo group and started meeting around this time. We used to discuss our profiles, our aspirations and even did a essay review after the applications are submitted. As a group we asked questions based on the application and essays and more than anything else had lot of fun. It is very important to have fun as you will have to learn taking rejection and failure in life and this would help you once you are in ISB as there are more chances that you will not be faring as well as you would want yourself to.
Finally the last challenge is focusing on work. When such life changing event is going to happen in life it is very difficult to focus on routine work. But keep in mind that your current job is very important and that your commitment must first be to your current engagements. Try and work a little more hard, train others who are around, network with HR and Fin guys (it would help in all situations). You can even think about what changes would you do if you join back the company in a senior role.
What I did last year was to start this blog. I started posting all my thoughts and helped me to release stress and channelize the energy. But don't explode on to everyone around as it may damage your post-ISB admission scenario.
I didn't get specifically in to the area of interview preparation as it will vary from person to person and I am sure that most of you must have already gone through many interviews earlier. If you feel that my view would be useful, drop a comment.
Good luck to everyone - Buenos dias
One of the common challenges is about the time, date and location. Though one indicates a certain location as preferred, it is possible that the candidate may have to go somewhere on an official visit and therefore we may not be available on the date that adcom schedules the interview. The question is how flexible is ISB adcom?
As far as I had seen last year and after my interaction with them, I think they are very flexible for reasonable and genuine reasons. The key objective of an interview is to meet the person and verify if he/she is the same compared to the impression that the application gave and to evaluate what more does the person bring to the table apart from the standard set of things. Therefore it is more in the interest of the candidate to make oneself available at a location that he/she is comfortable and give it a best shot. But if it is not possible, feel free to call/write and request for a change.
Second challenge I faced is the stress due to uncertainty. I know that I had a good chance but you never know. A lot depends on the pool of applications and everything gets relative. My only suggestion is, believe in yourself. If you have made all the effort in writing GMAT, essays and getting recommendations, I'm sure you are serious about it and that you have put in enough effort and if you have given your best shot in preparing your application, there is nothing more you can do but wait. Just keep tracking what is happening and where are the interviews happening. The isb-pgp yahoo group is a very good resource and I used to spend at least an hour reading the messages everyday. Urge all the candidates who got shortlists to post their interview experience, it kind of gives you some feel.
Another thing that you can do to reduce your stress is - read books. Read books that are not related to your work, read on topics that you like, read fiction, read current affairs and read blogs.
Last thing that you can do to reduce stress is to create a support group. Last year we have created a Hyderabad applicants yahoo group and started meeting around this time. We used to discuss our profiles, our aspirations and even did a essay review after the applications are submitted. As a group we asked questions based on the application and essays and more than anything else had lot of fun. It is very important to have fun as you will have to learn taking rejection and failure in life and this would help you once you are in ISB as there are more chances that you will not be faring as well as you would want yourself to.
Finally the last challenge is focusing on work. When such life changing event is going to happen in life it is very difficult to focus on routine work. But keep in mind that your current job is very important and that your commitment must first be to your current engagements. Try and work a little more hard, train others who are around, network with HR and Fin guys (it would help in all situations). You can even think about what changes would you do if you join back the company in a senior role.
What I did last year was to start this blog. I started posting all my thoughts and helped me to release stress and channelize the energy. But don't explode on to everyone around as it may damage your post-ISB admission scenario.
I didn't get specifically in to the area of interview preparation as it will vary from person to person and I am sure that most of you must have already gone through many interviews earlier. If you feel that my view would be useful, drop a comment.
Good luck to everyone - Buenos dias
Friday, August 31, 2007
For those who are searching for guidelines on writing essays
This post is specifically for all those who have been googling to get some idea about how to approach the essays.
Some pointers that I can give about the essays are:
1. First: Remember how you approached GMAT AWA section, specifically the structure part of it
2. Second: Most important objective of the essays to portray yourself, your personality and your goals
3. Third: Take help from close friends who know you well. You can even take help of professionals and there is nothing unethical about it. No proessional would write the essays for you. They will help you in clarifying and organizing your thoughts
4. Last: Start working immediately. Essays may take a long time to evolve, so get started as early as possible.
As far as I can see, essays are very important part of your application and spending enough time on them is important
Some pointers that I can give about the essays are:
1. First: Remember how you approached GMAT AWA section, specifically the structure part of it
2. Second: Most important objective of the essays to portray yourself, your personality and your goals
3. Third: Take help from close friends who know you well. You can even take help of professionals and there is nothing unethical about it. No proessional would write the essays for you. They will help you in clarifying and organizing your thoughts
4. Last: Start working immediately. Essays may take a long time to evolve, so get started as early as possible.
As far as I can see, essays are very important part of your application and spending enough time on them is important
Friday, August 3, 2007
Conversation with an ISB Co 09 aspirant
I have received a mail from an ISB Co 09 aspirant and I thought it may be useful to others with similar queries to post his queries and my replies in this post. Here it is:
His mail
Hi Kiran,
I got your mail-id from your blog while searching information about ISB. In your blog you have posted the communication between you and another aspirant so I'm taking my chance to get some opinions from you for my case.
Background:
I'm a hard core IT professional with expertise in highly technical domain and excellent professional record although the academics can only be rated as "not so bad". Total experience is 6+ years and my job does make me feel great. I have twice declined to leadership roles as my inclination has been towards Subject Matter Expertise. I have not yet attempted taking GMAT.
Aspirations:
I want to now take off tangentially and aspire to learn and pursue Investment Banking.
Queries:
I know i'm thinking too radically but is it also irrational?
Does learning Business Administration essentially requires leadership skills?
Will my case stand a chance in ISB given i perform well in other requisites?
If I get an admission in ISB will my candidature be accepted in the industry (keeping in view the radical shift)?
Thanks a lot in advance
DG
My Response
Hi Deepak,
You are welcome to write to me but I may not be able to reply imediately as I would be busy in many things.
Let me try and reply your queries one-by-one
I know i'm thinking too radically but is it also irrational?
- According me and from what I have learned and seen, there is nothing called irrational idea as long as someone rational has come up
with it. So nothing to worry about your idea
Does learning Business Administration essentially requires leadership skills?
- Leadership is necessary to survive. I know there are many people who would choose a technical expertise role but leadership is not about leading others. Leadership is rather leading self in a disciplined and determined way. Dealing with people is something you cannot avoid forever. Business, Finance, Technology and all other things exist because of people and therefore there is no running away from people. MBA prepares you to handle all aspects of business and people management is increasingly becoming an important part apart from everything else. So if you are planning to do an MBA to get into Investment Banking, I would rather suggest you to explore other specialized courses before freezing on MBA. So my answer to your question is, Yes, you need leadership skills to learn Business Administration.
Will my case stand a chance in ISB given i perform well in other requisites?
I don't see any reason why you don't stand a chance of getting into ISB. Just work on every aspect carefully but try and understand why you declined the growth opportunities. You should have some good reason and it shouldn't conflict with the reason you want to get in to ISB. What I'm saying is, you should not be communicating that I want to get into ISB as I want to grow but I declined many growth offers earlier as I didn't want to take the head ache of managing other people. You see both the statements contadict each other and will question your rationale. Think about it.
If I get an admission in ISB will my candidature be accepted in the industry (keeping in view the radical shift)?
I don't know. I can't say. I have made multiple career shifts such as Engineering to Business Development to Behavioral Training Design and Delivery to Training Function Management and fianlly now I am at ISB trying to get in to Consulting. If there is a logical connection ad if the company that you want to get in sees greater value in you than others who also want to get in. It's a question of what you have to offer and how that firm values that. If they are in sync you are accepted. I woul suggest do the following to get a better understanding:
1. Define what is Investment Banking based on your understanding (Do a swot)
2. What does I Banking mean to you, I mean what would it give you (rewards)
3. What it may take from you (sacrifices)
4. What if something doesn't go as per plan (are you confident)
5. Finally speak to someone who is already in I Banking. I know only few who are in trading and banks but not in I banking, so I really don't have a clue. I suggest you speak to someone who is successful and someone who is not and see how do you see your chances. Remember it's you who have to go through the whole thing so you have to take a call.
I hope I answered your queries. Best of luck.
Regards
His mail
Hi Kiran,
I got your mail-id from your blog while searching information about ISB. In your blog you have posted the communication between you and another aspirant so I'm taking my chance to get some opinions from you for my case.
Background:
I'm a hard core IT professional with expertise in highly technical domain and excellent professional record although the academics can only be rated as "not so bad". Total experience is 6+ years and my job does make me feel great. I have twice declined to leadership roles as my inclination has been towards Subject Matter Expertise. I have not yet attempted taking GMAT.
Aspirations:
I want to now take off tangentially and aspire to learn and pursue Investment Banking.
Queries:
I know i'm thinking too radically but is it also irrational?
Does learning Business Administration essentially requires leadership skills?
Will my case stand a chance in ISB given i perform well in other requisites?
If I get an admission in ISB will my candidature be accepted in the industry (keeping in view the radical shift)?
Thanks a lot in advance
DG
My Response
Hi Deepak,
You are welcome to write to me but I may not be able to reply imediately as I would be busy in many things.
Let me try and reply your queries one-by-one
I know i'm thinking too radically but is it also irrational?
- According me and from what I have learned and seen, there is nothing called irrational idea as long as someone rational has come up
with it. So nothing to worry about your idea
Does learning Business Administration essentially requires leadership skills?
- Leadership is necessary to survive. I know there are many people who would choose a technical expertise role but leadership is not about leading others. Leadership is rather leading self in a disciplined and determined way. Dealing with people is something you cannot avoid forever. Business, Finance, Technology and all other things exist because of people and therefore there is no running away from people. MBA prepares you to handle all aspects of business and people management is increasingly becoming an important part apart from everything else. So if you are planning to do an MBA to get into Investment Banking, I would rather suggest you to explore other specialized courses before freezing on MBA. So my answer to your question is, Yes, you need leadership skills to learn Business Administration.
Will my case stand a chance in ISB given i perform well in other requisites?
I don't see any reason why you don't stand a chance of getting into ISB. Just work on every aspect carefully but try and understand why you declined the growth opportunities. You should have some good reason and it shouldn't conflict with the reason you want to get in to ISB. What I'm saying is, you should not be communicating that I want to get into ISB as I want to grow but I declined many growth offers earlier as I didn't want to take the head ache of managing other people. You see both the statements contadict each other and will question your rationale. Think about it.
If I get an admission in ISB will my candidature be accepted in the industry (keeping in view the radical shift)?
I don't know. I can't say. I have made multiple career shifts such as Engineering to Business Development to Behavioral Training Design and Delivery to Training Function Management and fianlly now I am at ISB trying to get in to Consulting. If there is a logical connection ad if the company that you want to get in sees greater value in you than others who also want to get in. It's a question of what you have to offer and how that firm values that. If they are in sync you are accepted. I woul suggest do the following to get a better understanding:
1. Define what is Investment Banking based on your understanding (Do a swot)
2. What does I Banking mean to you, I mean what would it give you (rewards)
3. What it may take from you (sacrifices)
4. What if something doesn't go as per plan (are you confident)
5. Finally speak to someone who is already in I Banking. I know only few who are in trading and banks but not in I banking, so I really don't have a clue. I suggest you speak to someone who is successful and someone who is not and see how do you see your chances. Remember it's you who have to go through the whole thing so you have to take a call.
I hope I answered your queries. Best of luck.
Regards
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Some answers
Today's Global Economics session was really wonderful. I have found Prof. Krishna Kumar amazing, the way he explained Solow's steady state was so simple and clear. Apart from that at the end of the session when I asked him about a question that has been hanging in my mind from sometime, his response exactly addressed the aspects I am concerned about.
The question is: If all the companies want to grow faster than ever every quarter and every year, where will it stop. Wouldn't this mad race lead to rapid depletion of natural resources and ever increasing competitiveness.
Prof gave an excellent view. Though it was not exactly an answer it still provided me a base to think and build upon. What he said is that the race of growth is based on improvement in technological productivity and therefore can theoretically last forever, however the concern of natural resources depletion is indeed a concern. However nature and market have been quite adaptive and found solutions to many seemingly deadlock situations and also that when everyone is rich, energy and efforts would be directed towards improvement of ecology, usage of renewable energy sources and other related areas.
Term 2 as expected has been quite hectic and a great learning experience overall and is the primary reason for the reduced number of posts on this blog.
Other interesting events that are happening currently are the Professional and Social Club elections. Apart from that our weekly balanced activity regime is going successfully. I managed to play Tennis twice and Badminton once. It's time for me to take leave and enter the Markstrat world or some other simulation.
Lastly, something about admissions. One of the ISB 09 admission aspirant who has been in touch with me from sometime expressed certain concerns about extra curricula rs and social service. I am reproducing the same below for the benefit of all the aspirants:
Concern
Also, I have noticed something which is kinda disturbing me...I been to certain forums and am part of certain groups where people discuss all about the admission package. One of em is your extracurricular activities.
The thing which seems incorrect, to me is that people trying to get some kind of certificate from any social organisation which proves that so-n-so individual has been doing so-n-so charity work for so-n-so time.
When asked people gave justification which cannot be reproduced...I am in a fix now! what about some souls whose only social work was their family responsibility??
My Response
I had nothing in the extra curriculars. If you have not been able to do anything in your acads or primary career then you must have been doing something else (not whiling away time). You must have been pursuing some hobby, developed expertise in a different area or contributed to something specific. The idea is to see how do you use your time and how focused are you. That's it. Best of luck
The question is: If all the companies want to grow faster than ever every quarter and every year, where will it stop. Wouldn't this mad race lead to rapid depletion of natural resources and ever increasing competitiveness.
Prof gave an excellent view. Though it was not exactly an answer it still provided me a base to think and build upon. What he said is that the race of growth is based on improvement in technological productivity and therefore can theoretically last forever, however the concern of natural resources depletion is indeed a concern. However nature and market have been quite adaptive and found solutions to many seemingly deadlock situations and also that when everyone is rich, energy and efforts would be directed towards improvement of ecology, usage of renewable energy sources and other related areas.
Term 2 as expected has been quite hectic and a great learning experience overall and is the primary reason for the reduced number of posts on this blog.
Other interesting events that are happening currently are the Professional and Social Club elections. Apart from that our weekly balanced activity regime is going successfully. I managed to play Tennis twice and Badminton once. It's time for me to take leave and enter the Markstrat world or some other simulation.
Lastly, something about admissions. One of the ISB 09 admission aspirant who has been in touch with me from sometime expressed certain concerns about extra curricula rs and social service. I am reproducing the same below for the benefit of all the aspirants:
Concern
Also, I have noticed something which is kinda disturbing me...I been to certain forums and am part of certain groups where people discuss all about the admission package. One of em is your extracurricular activities.
The thing which seems incorrect, to me is that people trying to get some kind of certificate from any social organisation which proves that so-n-so individual has been doing so-n-so charity work for so-n-so time.
When asked people gave justification which cannot be reproduced...I am in a fix now! what about some souls whose only social work was their family responsibility??
My Response
I had nothing in the extra curriculars. If you have not been able to do anything in your acads or primary career then you must have been doing something else (not whiling away time). You must have been pursuing some hobby, developed expertise in a different area or contributed to something specific. The idea is to see how do you use your time and how focused are you. That's it. Best of luck
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Changing gears
Yesterday evening I took some time out to review how things are going and see if somethings need change. After the review I have decided to change gears and shift my narrow focus. Though learning is my primary focus I have decided to widen it and also include non-study related activities.
This may affect the kinds of topics that I might dwell in these blog posts. I spoke to my last boss and the first thing he mentioned was that he remembered me as he was attending a seminar on HR Strategy. This indicates that more often I discussed with him about HR strategy than anything else. I have more or or less chosen to take the Strategy and Leadership elective.
Another interest of mine has been on the interaction between sociology, economics and business. I would like to highlight the developments that are linked to these areas and keep commenting on them.
One of the reasons that strongly pushed me into writing this blog is ISB admissions and incidentally now I am a part of the admissions task force. I would get to see the applications this year and looking forward to that. I have more or less detailed all the points related to admissions in my earlier posts. If you are looking for any related information search for posts on ISB admission cycle.
Finally I would continue to update about the student life at ISB and keep posting the pictures, you can look forward to them.
This may affect the kinds of topics that I might dwell in these blog posts. I spoke to my last boss and the first thing he mentioned was that he remembered me as he was attending a seminar on HR Strategy. This indicates that more often I discussed with him about HR strategy than anything else. I have more or or less chosen to take the Strategy and Leadership elective.
Another interest of mine has been on the interaction between sociology, economics and business. I would like to highlight the developments that are linked to these areas and keep commenting on them.
One of the reasons that strongly pushed me into writing this blog is ISB admissions and incidentally now I am a part of the admissions task force. I would get to see the applications this year and looking forward to that. I have more or less detailed all the points related to admissions in my earlier posts. If you are looking for any related information search for posts on ISB admission cycle.
Finally I would continue to update about the student life at ISB and keep posting the pictures, you can look forward to them.
Monday, April 2, 2007
BPO experience - How would ISB view it?
One of my former colleague at Ivy (Party Gaming) posed me a question, which is:
"Quality work experience is the operative word used by ISB to judge you AND that working in a BPO industry would not cut much ice on ur application. Your comments please!!
My response:
I wouldn't agree at all with that statement. It's not where you've worked and how long you've worked. Management education would benefit all those who have a Business view about everything. In that light BPO is an emerging business with lot of new opportunities to innovate. It has its own advantages and challenges. If one understands them clearly and contributes in an innovative manner not only at the level and department they are working but also to the overall organization based on a sound Business perspective, it would be a great qualification for them to get selected for any good B-school.
Some different type of questions you can ask yourself to check if you are making a difference:
1. If you leave your current job and want to join the same company again, say after 6 months, would they rehire you?
2. Does your boss give you additional responsibilities regularly?
3. Does your team ask you for your perspective?
4. How well do you know about your organization? Do you how one of the support department runs and what could be their challenges?
5. If you can change one thing that would impact your Business in a big way and in a sustained manner, what would it be?
6. If you don't turn up to office one day, would others miss you? What would they miss you for?
These only some questions I keep asking myself to check if I am adding value to my employer.
"Quality work experience is the operative word used by ISB to judge you AND that working in a BPO industry would not cut much ice on ur application. Your comments please!!
My response:
I wouldn't agree at all with that statement. It's not where you've worked and how long you've worked. Management education would benefit all those who have a Business view about everything. In that light BPO is an emerging business with lot of new opportunities to innovate. It has its own advantages and challenges. If one understands them clearly and contributes in an innovative manner not only at the level and department they are working but also to the overall organization based on a sound Business perspective, it would be a great qualification for them to get selected for any good B-school.
Some different type of questions you can ask yourself to check if you are making a difference:
1. If you leave your current job and want to join the same company again, say after 6 months, would they rehire you?
2. Does your boss give you additional responsibilities regularly?
3. Does your team ask you for your perspective?
4. How well do you know about your organization? Do you how one of the support department runs and what could be their challenges?
5. If you can change one thing that would impact your Business in a big way and in a sustained manner, what would it be?
6. If you don't turn up to office one day, would others miss you? What would they miss you for?
These only some questions I keep asking myself to check if I am adding value to my employer.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
ISB Admission cycle - Step by step timelines, part 2
In my last post I have detailed the steps up to taking the GMAT. Till this point it is generic and would be common for most B-school aspirants. Some other things that were very useful at this stage were - A word document passed on by ex-colleague Ritu, having a PC with broadband connection, my boss's advice, and the coaching centre.
After taking GMAT, the journey took a different turn. Till now the path was pretty straight forward and I could get lot of guidance. Different concerns started cropping up. Some of them were - would I even get shortlisted by IIM and ISB, is 690 good enough, what would be my AWA score, how would I justify a low AWA score if it is low, is my profile good enough and so on.
Step 6: The next step is to start working on the application. Immediately after reaching home I submitted my IIMA-PGPX application. The PGPX application is very simple in the first stage, you don't need to write any essays. Only the short listed need to write the 5 essays, 500 words each.
The whole GMAT thing drained me so much that it took me a month to recover and focus on ISB application. The key learning is that have lots of buffer time between GMAT and the application deadline. I have registered myself on the ISB online application site immediately after they activated it. I have filled in all the basic details like personal details, experience, education etc. I didn't touch the essays before GMAT at all. The main tasks that were to be done are Essays, four of them, Evaluations, I decided to get three instead of two minimum required, and getting copies of the necessary documents.
Step 7: Writing Essays for ISB application
The topics were little twisted and you have to present your point in a different way. At this point something very funny happened. I posted my profile on the isb-pgp yahoo group to get a general feedback and I did get some positive feedback. Apart from that one of the replier suggested that I can take external help in getting the essays right. To this another applicant by name Prashant Agrawal, based out of London, reacted very strongly contending that it is not ethical to take external help in writing the essays and the whole thing snowballed till the time that the group moderator intervened and forced Prashant to stop from further posts. Funny, ain't it, people have so many faces.
My essay writing started around 30th August and ended only by 25th September. I had done about 4 to 5 revisions before pressing the submit button. Initially I just wrote whatever came to my mind in a word document and each essay was going up to 800 words, min and the word limit was 300 words. Next I tried to cut down on sentences, repeats etc and could cut them down to 400 - 450 words. This took almost 10 days. After this I invited one of my junior colleagues. Mr. Rohan Kashyap, to review them critically. He bought out some very good points and highlighted the weaknesses.
In the next phase I rewrote the essays and forwarded to them one ISB alum, whom I knew a bit closely and to another friend of mine for review. They suggested few changes and finally I took the essays to my verbal coach for GMAT and took his help to check the grammar and style. He helped me in finalizing the essays. Even after that I made some minor changes but more or less finished them.
Around the same time I got a shortlist from IIMA and I used these same essays with some minor modification. To be honest, I was not so keen on IIMA but I couldn't just leave it like that and another point was that I was fully drained by ISB essays. Fortunately IIMA's word limit is 500 words and I happily expanded the shorter essays.
Step 8: Evaluations
This is one area I had a certain advantage. My current boss then, and my previous two bosses were very close to me and I had a good relationship with them. The relationship was very professional and was built mostly on work related interactions but at the same time i had put in effort to be in touch with them and help them wherever possible. It helped that I never moved Hyderabad and I could be in touch with them regularly. I spoke to them first and them send them the soft copies by mail. It was pretty simple with my then current boss. One day I went little early in the morning and waited for him to come in. As soon as he was in, it was 9:00 AM in the morning, others would come in only after 9:30AM, I took a print out and quickly went in. He finished the whole thing in about half-an-hour and showed me the whole thing before sealing as directed by ISB. I was happy as he could clearly rate where I was good and where I needed to improve. With the other two I had to push a bit and before the deadline got both of them. Both of them also showed me their ratings before sealing. There was no specific benefit of seeing your own ratings but it gives you some comfort. Also all three of them were honest and I in no way influenced their ratings. The ratings were no goody-goody.
Step 9: Submission of the application
This was the easiest of all. Just keep your credit card with you for online submission and collate all the documents for hard copy submission. I submitted the hard copy on 2nd October as it was the day of Dasera and anything that is started on that day is supposed to be successful and indeed it did :)
For IIMA it was far more simple, all I had to do was rewrite the essays, get a digital photograph and submit it online. No application fees, may be that's one reason I pursued it till the end.
The next phase was waiting for shortlist, preparing for the interview, attending the interview, waiting for the result, and finally you get to know what happened to your dream of getting into the B-school.
My next post follows shortly.
After taking GMAT, the journey took a different turn. Till now the path was pretty straight forward and I could get lot of guidance. Different concerns started cropping up. Some of them were - would I even get shortlisted by IIM and ISB, is 690 good enough, what would be my AWA score, how would I justify a low AWA score if it is low, is my profile good enough and so on.
Step 6: The next step is to start working on the application. Immediately after reaching home I submitted my IIMA-PGPX application. The PGPX application is very simple in the first stage, you don't need to write any essays. Only the short listed need to write the 5 essays, 500 words each.
The whole GMAT thing drained me so much that it took me a month to recover and focus on ISB application. The key learning is that have lots of buffer time between GMAT and the application deadline. I have registered myself on the ISB online application site immediately after they activated it. I have filled in all the basic details like personal details, experience, education etc. I didn't touch the essays before GMAT at all. The main tasks that were to be done are Essays, four of them, Evaluations, I decided to get three instead of two minimum required, and getting copies of the necessary documents.
Step 7: Writing Essays for ISB application
The topics were little twisted and you have to present your point in a different way. At this point something very funny happened. I posted my profile on the isb-pgp yahoo group to get a general feedback and I did get some positive feedback. Apart from that one of the replier suggested that I can take external help in getting the essays right. To this another applicant by name Prashant Agrawal, based out of London, reacted very strongly contending that it is not ethical to take external help in writing the essays and the whole thing snowballed till the time that the group moderator intervened and forced Prashant to stop from further posts. Funny, ain't it, people have so many faces.
My essay writing started around 30th August and ended only by 25th September. I had done about 4 to 5 revisions before pressing the submit button. Initially I just wrote whatever came to my mind in a word document and each essay was going up to 800 words, min and the word limit was 300 words. Next I tried to cut down on sentences, repeats etc and could cut them down to 400 - 450 words. This took almost 10 days. After this I invited one of my junior colleagues. Mr. Rohan Kashyap, to review them critically. He bought out some very good points and highlighted the weaknesses.
In the next phase I rewrote the essays and forwarded to them one ISB alum, whom I knew a bit closely and to another friend of mine for review. They suggested few changes and finally I took the essays to my verbal coach for GMAT and took his help to check the grammar and style. He helped me in finalizing the essays. Even after that I made some minor changes but more or less finished them.
Around the same time I got a shortlist from IIMA and I used these same essays with some minor modification. To be honest, I was not so keen on IIMA but I couldn't just leave it like that and another point was that I was fully drained by ISB essays. Fortunately IIMA's word limit is 500 words and I happily expanded the shorter essays.
Step 8: Evaluations
This is one area I had a certain advantage. My current boss then, and my previous two bosses were very close to me and I had a good relationship with them. The relationship was very professional and was built mostly on work related interactions but at the same time i had put in effort to be in touch with them and help them wherever possible. It helped that I never moved Hyderabad and I could be in touch with them regularly. I spoke to them first and them send them the soft copies by mail. It was pretty simple with my then current boss. One day I went little early in the morning and waited for him to come in. As soon as he was in, it was 9:00 AM in the morning, others would come in only after 9:30AM, I took a print out and quickly went in. He finished the whole thing in about half-an-hour and showed me the whole thing before sealing as directed by ISB. I was happy as he could clearly rate where I was good and where I needed to improve. With the other two I had to push a bit and before the deadline got both of them. Both of them also showed me their ratings before sealing. There was no specific benefit of seeing your own ratings but it gives you some comfort. Also all three of them were honest and I in no way influenced their ratings. The ratings were no goody-goody.
Step 9: Submission of the application
This was the easiest of all. Just keep your credit card with you for online submission and collate all the documents for hard copy submission. I submitted the hard copy on 2nd October as it was the day of Dasera and anything that is started on that day is supposed to be successful and indeed it did :)
For IIMA it was far more simple, all I had to do was rewrite the essays, get a digital photograph and submit it online. No application fees, may be that's one reason I pursued it till the end.
The next phase was waiting for shortlist, preparing for the interview, attending the interview, waiting for the result, and finally you get to know what happened to your dream of getting into the B-school.
My next post follows shortly.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
ISB Admission cycle - Step by step timelines, part 1
While I started planning for B-School admission I was looking for a one specific piece of information and that was to understand the timelines involved in the complete cycle of admission - right from time of deciding to join ISB till the point of actually joining ISB. Despite being based in Hyderabad I couldn't get some specific details. Currently I am more or less finished all the stpes except landing at ISB on 14th April, so I feel this might be the right time to provide a step by step detail along with the timelines. The whole thing went as detailed below:
Step 1: Deciding that I am going to get an admission into a premier B-school and committing myself to it completely - Dec 2005
Step 2: Identifying the B-schools that suit me, my profile and my future aspirations - Dec 2005 to April 2006
Step 3: Getting exact details about the admission cycles of the schools that I have shortlisted and based on that deciding when to take GMAT - April 2006
I have shortlisted ISB, AIM, IIM A - PGPX, and XL's GMP, NUS. I didn't even consider Insead, IIM Cal's PGPEX, and other European and American B-schoools mainly considering my family situation and financial arrangements. In fact one of the key reasons I have choosen IIM and ISB is the fact that you can get a loan pretty easily. For me it didn't matter if I am spending 15 lakhs or 10 lakhs or 20 lakhs as long as a Bank is providing a loan without collateral. Based on admission cycles of the schools that I have shorlisted I have decided to take my GMAT in the first week of August 2006.
Step 4: GMAT self-assessment and deciding whether to take external hellp or not.
I had a PC at home with broadband connection and this helped me immensely. I did all my research and took help of people I know who took GMAT earlier. I bought Kaplan premier program and OG 11 and downloaded GMATprep from mba.com. I took the diagnostic test in OG11 and realized that I am at the average or above average levels but not at excellent levels. Then I took the first complete test of GMATprep and scored 650.
Looking at the average GMAT scores of ISB and IIM, I have realized that I need to score atleast 690 in order to have a fair chance at these schools keeping in mind my 12 years work experience. Considering my work pressure I have decided that I better join a coaching institute, which will give the forced practice time that I can't do on my own. I joined a well-known institute, which was kind of OK and helped me do a disciplined practise in class and also using the online resources. The coching started in May 06 and lasted till July first week
Step 5: Finalizing the date for GMAT and taking GMAT
I have registered at mba.com and I was regularly checking the availability in Hyderabad right from May and after my coaching got over in July I have frozen the date as 10th August as it was the last date to submit one of the shortlisted colleges application. I have completed the application, which was quite simple in advance and entering the GMAT score was the only thing left to be done.
I took about 7 days leave. For the first three days I went through all the basics and took one test per day. I reviewed where I was going wrong and focused on those areas. The next two days I took two tests per day and saved the GMATprep second test for the day before the test. I called the GMAT office couple of times to confirm that I got all the formalities right. On the day of the test I had a light lunch and carried few chocolates for the break. I landed at the test centre about 30 min in advance and chatted with others sitting there. I had little bit of trouble signing with the stylus pen (my hands were shaking for sometime but then I managed to sign properly). I scored 690 and I got the unofficial score report. The unofficial score report is very important till you get the official score card.
I shall post the next steps in the following entry. Best of luck to all those who have already started on their journey to admission into ISB or other B-schools
Step 1: Deciding that I am going to get an admission into a premier B-school and committing myself to it completely - Dec 2005
Step 2: Identifying the B-schools that suit me, my profile and my future aspirations - Dec 2005 to April 2006
Step 3: Getting exact details about the admission cycles of the schools that I have shortlisted and based on that deciding when to take GMAT - April 2006
I have shortlisted ISB, AIM, IIM A - PGPX, and XL's GMP, NUS. I didn't even consider Insead, IIM Cal's PGPEX, and other European and American B-schoools mainly considering my family situation and financial arrangements. In fact one of the key reasons I have choosen IIM and ISB is the fact that you can get a loan pretty easily. For me it didn't matter if I am spending 15 lakhs or 10 lakhs or 20 lakhs as long as a Bank is providing a loan without collateral. Based on admission cycles of the schools that I have shorlisted I have decided to take my GMAT in the first week of August 2006.
Step 4: GMAT self-assessment and deciding whether to take external hellp or not.
I had a PC at home with broadband connection and this helped me immensely. I did all my research and took help of people I know who took GMAT earlier. I bought Kaplan premier program and OG 11 and downloaded GMATprep from mba.com. I took the diagnostic test in OG11 and realized that I am at the average or above average levels but not at excellent levels. Then I took the first complete test of GMATprep and scored 650.
Looking at the average GMAT scores of ISB and IIM, I have realized that I need to score atleast 690 in order to have a fair chance at these schools keeping in mind my 12 years work experience. Considering my work pressure I have decided that I better join a coaching institute, which will give the forced practice time that I can't do on my own. I joined a well-known institute, which was kind of OK and helped me do a disciplined practise in class and also using the online resources. The coching started in May 06 and lasted till July first week
Step 5: Finalizing the date for GMAT and taking GMAT
I have registered at mba.com and I was regularly checking the availability in Hyderabad right from May and after my coaching got over in July I have frozen the date as 10th August as it was the last date to submit one of the shortlisted colleges application. I have completed the application, which was quite simple in advance and entering the GMAT score was the only thing left to be done.
I took about 7 days leave. For the first three days I went through all the basics and took one test per day. I reviewed where I was going wrong and focused on those areas. The next two days I took two tests per day and saved the GMATprep second test for the day before the test. I called the GMAT office couple of times to confirm that I got all the formalities right. On the day of the test I had a light lunch and carried few chocolates for the break. I landed at the test centre about 30 min in advance and chatted with others sitting there. I had little bit of trouble signing with the stylus pen (my hands were shaking for sometime but then I managed to sign properly). I scored 690 and I got the unofficial score report. The unofficial score report is very important till you get the official score card.
I shall post the next steps in the following entry. Best of luck to all those who have already started on their journey to admission into ISB or other B-schools
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)