Hi all ISB aspirants, Here is some info I collected. First visit this page and this one also Now, currently ISB interview process is going on… Some of the experiences which I gathered from [email protected] *Intervie…
Hi all ISB aspirants,
Here is some info I collected.
First visit this page and this one also
Now, currently ISB interview process is going on.... Some of the experiences which I gathered from [email protected]
Interview experience 1 :
kunal to isb-pgp
Hi All.
Gave ISB interview this sunday at oberoi bangalore. They started
with very open question " Tell us about yourself". Overall It was
more like a chit-chat rather than interview.. Their main focus was
why ISB ? What am I looking into ISB ?
I was the last person to get interviewed that day in oberoi. It lasts
around 15-20 minutes only. They basically gave me that time to
market myself. When I am done with answering about myself... the next
question was tell us more about yourself !!
No leg-pulling .. nothing to solve onspot.. Completely professional
Interview !!
Almost everybody else also have same experience. It was kind of
interview where you come out with feeling that you cracked it . and
later realize everybody else having the same experience.. so it is
sort of vague entity now. Only thing left is now is wait and watch !!
-kunal
Interview experience 2 :
Mayank Sethi to isb-pgp
My interview experiece....
Reached the venue....about an hour before time....met
with a few guys who had come for the interview...
Went inside the room for the interview an hour after
scheduled time...and the interview started with a
discussion on smoking...and went on to finding the
perfect life partner to various 'pit stop startegies'
in formula one.
Was then given a chance to ask some questions about
ISB and then inetrview ended with the Panel
apologizing for being rude..which they were not...
Over all a good experience .
Keeping my fingers crossed...
-Mayank
Interview experience 3 :
amit_nm to isb-pgp
Yes, does sound like that.
Mine went on similar lines too.
Panel: 2 associated with Dean's office, one alumn from the first
batch that graduated in 2002
Venue: Hotel Gateway, Bangalore
Tell me about yourself
What do you think is your biggest achievement so far, not
necessarily at work. How did you achieve it?
You have spent time at many different places. Which was the most
memorable one
You are already in a managerial role. Then why an MBA?
What other schools are you considering ? Why not IIM?
Explain contradiction/vast difference between long and short term
goals?
On my long term goal- explain why you think this is a good
opportunity. Name 3 hurdles you see in your way.
What are your weaknesses? (Was asked to name an additional one over
what i had put in my "failure" essay.)
How do you plan to fund your course at ISB?
Any questions on ISB?
Interview experience 4 :
K P Vijaya Kumar to isb-pgp
Finished my interview this afternoon in Taj West, B'lore. The panel
consisted of Mr. Menon (adcom director), a girl (current student) and
an alum. They were very professional and cordial through out. Most of
them were standard questions such as "Tell us about yourself", "why
did you switch over the job 3 months back", "what is the difference
between previous job and this", "long term goal", "Post-ISB immediate
goal", "who is the IT leader whom you admire" and finally "how would
you rate George Bush".I felt I was very relaxed through out the
interview since the panel was very friendly.
I felt the interview went decently well, but feel I could have done it
better. Keeping the fingers crossed....All the best for other
candidates...
Regards,
Vijay.
Interview experience 5 :
shekhar_rev to isb-pgp
Hi Folks ,
Interview Experience -
Scene 1 -
I "thought" that the interview was to held in Taj Residency .. so i
went there .. realised it isnt taj residency .. cursed my self about
my sloppiness ... cursed myself that i became so happy reading the
mail .. that i didnt bother to double-check where the interview is to
be held. .. ran to taj gateway because interviews were being held
there also ( learned from the forum ).. meanwhile i get a call on the
mobile that asks .. where are u .. we are waiting in the taj oberoi.
All this because i am terribly tied up in work , am getting married
next week and running a bad temperatur ( Excuses ). Made it to venue a
good 25 minutes beyond scheduled time. Perfect start to Phase 2.
Scene 2 -
The interview panel had Mr Ajit Rangnekar ( Deputy Dean, ISB ) and a
member from the adcom and an alum. As expected , the first question ,
what punishment should we give you for coming late ?
Scene 3 -
Apart from the first few minutes , i thought i had a rocking time and
was able to answer most of the questions to my satisfaction. But again
.. it is like those interviews .. where you can never make out how you
did .. the more you think about it, you think you could have improved
on some aspects .. at the same time .. you are generally optimistic.
Scene 4 -
Total interview time 45 minutes , current affaris , explain job
hopping ( 4 jobs in 4.5 years ), how would you sell a solution to a
client , since i had something "Different" in the essays .. there was
some amount of "leg-pulling" about the same. Technical challenges ,
managerial challenges , in fact so many areas that i probably dont
recollect.
Summary - You can't prepare beyond a certain point , It has to be
natural , you might come prepared with a lot of answers to stock
questions like "Why MBA" , "Why ISB" .. but there could be other
questions that they ask , whose answers could contradict your "well
prepared" answers. So be your natural self ..
The folks on the panel were awesome .. because they were so
friendly .. i could recover in 1 mintue from the "flustered state "
that i was in. These guys rock ..
Preparation -
last week of bachelorhood .. so have been having major parties and saw
swades the day before the interview and collated data from various
forums and blogs about possible questions and interviews. Very minimal
preparation
Advise -
Make a list of all the Taj brand hotels the route maps. Keep a vehicle
handy , in case you want to roam around the different hotels like
me.
Apologies for the typos and grammatical errors .. have a train to
catch in a few hours. Best of luck to all the folks having interview
calls and to those who are waiting for them. Also all the best to
folks who have finished interviews.
rgds
chandra
Interview experience 6 :
archana reddy to isb-pgp
Just finished my interview today ... thought i would
put the experience up here ....
Reached the venue a full half hour before schedule ...
met three guys already waiting there....is with the isb group >> Kept talking about our
profiles and ISB for a while .... my interview was
scheduled at 11 but i was summoned in at around 12:15
...the panel consisted of the adcom dir Mr.Menon and
two alumni... the interview went on for half an hour
.... it started on a tell me abt urself note ....from
there why isb ? why mba ? abt my work ex, interests ..
since i work for a chinese firm they wanted to know
why only one chinese company is in india ? ...my long
term and short term goals.... since politics happens
to be one of my long term goals ... the interview took
off on that front for a while ... what plagues indian
politics today .... what would u suggest to improve
the political scene ...
i was given a chance to ask them questions abt ISB at
the end. asked them a couple of questions ...
It was very professionally conducted and was very
profile based ... my only advice to those who are yet
to attend the interview ... be urself and let the
panel know all u want to tell them... dont assume its
already in the resume or the essay so i neednt mention
it... good luck
Interview experience 7 :
sudhama vemuri to isb-pgp
Hi all,
Finished my interview just now.. about an hour back...
Met a fellow wiproite (Abhishek) at the venue (The Oberoi). The interview lasted for about 20 mins.. a panel of 3.. . went along expected lines.. I wasnt asked anything that I wasn't prepared for .. luckily.. ;-))..
The usual Q about .. what is unique about u ??.. how do you stand out from the large pool of IT guys.
Fellas.. if you are in the IT industry... be ready with a good answer... I am sure everyone will be able to find something or the other in his/her profile.. project it with confidence..
Apart from that they wanted to know more about my professional experience.. short-term and long-term goals etc etc
In the end.. I asked a couple of questions to wrap it up...
All in all.. it was pretty ok I wud say..
My advice.. just be calm.. and clear in what you say out there and also have a good set of Qs ready for them ...
Best of Luck everyone
Suds.
Hope all this info helps.....and best luck guys n gals.....
FYI: I am NOT a current/past student of ISB or an aspirant of ISB this year.
Ketan
hey
good resourse man.
any one knows of yahoo groups off indians studying in the UK or planning to do that?
dusht dushyma
god info buddy..
lemme know when u get the final select..
edited
god info buddy..
lemme know when u get the final select..
You didnt read my complete post...
FYI: I am NOT a current/past student of ISB or an aspirant of ISB this year.
Ketan
Delhi Interview Experiences:
=============================================
Experience 1
Akshay Sonthalia
Hi friends..gave my interview in Taj delhi yesterday....not what i xpected...definitely not what my friends from Chennai n B'lore suggested..was called in a complete 90 minutes behind schedule..the prof was very good n cool, calm n composed..but the alums sitting there were not as cool..they tried to grill n cross question..they try to revolve around the weak part(if any) of ur application....questions were varied..ranging from advertising to sports to acads to politics...none of teh questions seemed to be predecided..all looked like ad-hoc...so cant list them..as they were all derived from my answers...but they were hopping from one question to another topic altogether and that too after interrupting me in between...
could have performed better...koi nahin!!..my advice to all is just stay cool...
Have a grt new year..
Akshay
Experience 2
ee52721n to isb-pgp
Well ..mine was worse than this ...i mean, it was so predecided to GRILL me on my weak points ...all the while we kept arguing....they kept cropping up the weak points in my application, and I kept defending myself one way or the other...And mind u, mine was not the regular types..I mean ....no "Tell us abt urself"....etc...
There was one difference though ....the alums remained quiet most of the time ...and Mr ragnekar kept shooting the uncomfortable(from my angle) questions.
Well...I agree with him ...STAY COOL
:-)
Gaurav
Experience 3
kumar_duhan to isb-pgp
The questions were related to
_Extra curricular activities.... Community service
WHy MBA at this stage of Career?
Why ISB?
POST ISB career plans?
career path if i do not go for an MBA?
Finally Any Questions i want to ask ?...
Overall my interview did not go well... i could have performed
better...
Anyways... All the best to everybody..
Regards,
Kumar
=============================================
HTH
Ketan
Experience 1 (bombay interview)
forbidden_fruit79 to isb-pgp
Hey guys,
Had my interview this morning at 9:30. Short and sweet - 15 mins.
Panel of 3. Started off with some light hearted discussion. The focus
then shifted towards Why MBA, Post MBA Plans, examples of conflict
with team members and supervisor, discussion of my resume and my
questions to the interview panel. Finally wound up by telling them
about my passion for music and my undying love for cats! That managed
to get a smile across their faces.
Overall, the panel were very welcoming and professional in their
approach.
Good luck to the others.
12 days to D-Day!
-Clint
Experience 2
kogniin to isb-pgp
Hi,
I had my interview yesterday. It was for around 30 minutes. Other
then the usual questions, I was asked some out of the box question,
like why was I not from IIT and a logic problem was given to me. they asked me to logically analyse how many pencils were used
in India in a day.Have anyone else faced similar questions in their interview??
Bye and take care
Kaushik
========================================
How many pencils used in India..How many gas stations in NY.
IB/Consulting interview questions..this site should be useful.
http://www.casequestions.com/cases/recent.htm
========================================
Experience 3
Gagan Jhingran to isb-pgp
I was also asked smth similar. Was asked to calculate the market size if I was to sell Crosin , assuming I suddely moved to Pharma sector from IT.
Overall it was good interview, none of the usual questions like why mba? why isb ?
-Gagan
Experience 4
Ajay Bhatia to isb-pgp
Well. Nothing was predecided for sure.
It started off on a lighter note with me sharing my experiences at
staying at different places. Then they went on to post ISB aspirations
which we talked about in great detail (be prepared with a real
focussed answer for this). They asked me about my long term vision,
and it was followed up with a couple of questions on the industry of
my choice. The questions were - Where do u see the industry say in
2015, How do u see the depreciation of the dollar affect the industry.
Then a couple of logical questions - How will u calculate the height
of a building without using any measuring aids, Probability of two ppl
having same 3 initials.
I am from IT, so was asked about the trends in the industry and a few
questions about specific technologies.
There was a point when they asked me about the history of my firm -
founders etc. They actually knew one of the founders, which was good!
I guess this came up because I had said that post ISB I would come
back my current firm. They really wanted to know my motiviation behind
this and if I had really thot this thru.
Guess thats about it. Lasted for 15-20 mins. I feel I didnt do too
well. Another think I felt was that I wasnt asked any of the typical
questions about my experiences et al because my application was very
strong and they probably felt that they shud cover general awareness
etc. Again, thats just what I feel - cant say for sure.
Experience 5
Kaustubh Nagarkar to isb-pgp
Hi people
I had my interview in Mumbai. I have two years of
experience in the IT industry.
Questions were:
Why MBA now ?
Where do I see myself post MBA?
How will I add diversity?
Current job profile?
What would I do as prime minister for the Tsunami
relief?
It took about 20 mins.
I got the feeling I had not been convincing about why
MBA now in my application. And being an IT guy, how
would Ia dd diversity to the class. The interview
seemed to be an effort at finding that. That is what
IT people have to be clear about !
Time to wait and see..
Kaustubh N
Experience 6
varmamvn to isb-pgp
OK, I did my interview today too. I guess I did well overall. Went
about 25 minutes.
Some of the tricky questions were:
1. What is GDP of India
2. Assuming there is a new tie company in india, what is the expected
market share and revenue for the company?
3. Why am I not spending so much time as before on my extra curricular
activities.
4. some specific questions regarding my company's marketing policies
Some routine questions were:
1. Project management related queries since I am a Project Manager
2. Why MBA? how will it help u?
proj mgmt related queries were:
1. What is an SLA? What do u do if u cannot meet the SLA conditions?
2. What if ur product is in Production release verification stage and
the client makes a noise that this is not what he gave us in the
requiremnt specs. What do u do?
I didnt ask them when the result would be out. Any idea guys. Though I
know I'm through, I would like to hear from them still :)
Good luck to u all.
Varma
Experience 7
KAUSIK_ASH to isb-pgp
Interview Panel: Mrs Hema (Admissions Office), Mr Ravi (Assc Dean's Office)
Duration : 43 mins
Questions and Flow:
1. What kind of a person are you ?
2. How have you used your interpersonal skills at work or otherwise ?
3. Capital of the North Carolina state (i was located here in one of my assignments in the US)
4. Capital of South Carolina (couldnt say....and then said something stupid to defend my ignorance....DO NOT DO THIS ...if you dont know...you dont know..that's it !!)
5. Five big players in the Telecom world.(I have a Telecom b/g)
6. Headquarters of Cisco & Lucent ?
7. Any major problems with Lucent or Cisco in the past?
8. Telecom market in India ?
9. Which country has the highest density of mobile phone users (couldnt say and guessed on India....Answer: Finland)
10. Come out with a number estimate for mobile users in India ......(this stuff now seems to be routine in all interviews....this one came from Mrs Hema)
11. What is your leadership style?
12. What do you admire about Saurav Ganguly as a leader ?
13. A situation based Case study......You are Head of a company...there is a very loyal & sincere employee who is disturbed by another higher rung 'corrupt' employee.....he comes to you w/ his problem...how will you act ?
14. Counter question on my answer for the above ...
15. Questions on my community work ..
16. Questions about Orissa (my home state) -> two things that you re proud of, things that you dont like about orissa, political scenario in Orissa ?
17. and then 'Any questions for us' ?
Well.....I am still trying to figure how out how I did......
There were a few points about my profile which I wanted to be picked up or at least mentioned, but they never did....My suggestion to you is : if you have any such 'stellar' points to bring out.....dont wait for them to ask u a qns on that...use word play and allign your other answers towards these points....
so that 's about it...All the very best MIB, Rohit, Dips and others who have their interviews...and good luck to Hydbd and Kolkata candidates as well.....
Regards
Kausik
Experience 8
Venkateswaran Krishnamoorthy to isb-pgp
Hi All,
I completed my interview today. The questions asked -
1) Tell us two key differentiators about urself
2) Your work progression till date
3) Factors which enabled your work progression
4) Whom do u admire more between Bill Gates and Larry
Ellison
5) Estimate the number of Titan watches priced at
2000/- that can be sold in India
6) Have I kept up pace with my cricketing activities
7) What novels you read....etc ......
More about urself...
All in all interview was ok....but then there is
always room for improvement...stay calm and
cool....and composed...
Thanks
Venkat
Experience 9
Kranthi Kiran to isbpgp
Hi Guys,
This is my first post.
I just finished my telephone interview.
Questions asked were
Total time: 30 min
1. Tell me the factors that difrentiate you.
2. Post ISB what can you do.
3. Tell me what you are doing you now, explain current work.
4. What can you add to ISB
5. No work Exp, so why do u think u need to have MBA now
6. Why ISB
7. Why low GRE (especially verbal)
8. What are you extracurricular activities
Mostly was focused on what would you do after ISB
I would have done better, but any way its life.
Advice to other people,
Stay Cool, Finish with a summarizing stmt, of what you have spoken
for the queston.
Explain more how could you add to ISB.
Kranthi
Experience 10
Nitin Narang to isbpgp
Hi ,
I had my telephonic interview for 30 mins today. Panel consisted of Mr
menon and Mr nithyananda from admissions office and Sharan (alum).
extremely polite peeple who make you feel comfortable.
The questions were
1. What has happened in between last year and now which strengthens my
profile (I am a reapplicant)
2. Do you think GMAT score is reflective of your abilities.
3. Evaluate the number of people who will buy a cell phone in india in 2005
4.what have been the latest news in the last week
5. how do you think the IT community can make a difference to the efforts
being made in the Tsunami relief
6. How are you different from the rest of the IT applicant pool.
7.what are your current job responsibilities and few questions on the kind
of work you do and team stats
8. what are the goals after ISB
9. what woud be your dream company
10. what can be your role in the current company after your PGP from ISB
11. why ISB and not US schools
well after such an interview i dont know whether to be positive or negative
.. hv been thinking about it and perhaps found a number of things which
could count against me .....
so its just wait and watch for now : )
cheers
Nitin
Experience 11
Anirban Mukherjee to isbpgp
Hi All,
I had my telephonic interview about an hour back. It lasted only for
about 20 Minutes. I guess my answers were very objective and i could
have elaborated on them more. Some of the questions asked were:
1. Please tell us about your career progression till date
2. Please describe your current role
3. What do you mean by self actualization (I had mentioned this in
the essay)
4. How will the MBA program help in achieving your goal?
5. How do you define good leadership
6. Some Questions about the knowledge repository in our organization
(I had mentioned this in the essay)
7. Opinion about the Iraq war, george bush and his re-election
8. What changes will the MBA program bring out in you if we meet you
after one year?
9. What is the one criteria that you have that admissions should
consider to select you in ISB
10. Question about low GMAT score (660)
11. Any questions to us.
Hope it helps.
Thanks
Anirban
Experience 12
sk_74 to isbpgp
Hi All,
I just finished my interview which lasted about 20-25 mins. Here is
what I was asked.
1. What do your friends say about you ?
2. What do you outside of work ?
3. What's your role at your company ?
4. How many cricket bats will be sold in India in 2005 ?
5. What are some of the news events in the last one month in India ?
6. How will you help the Tsunami effort if you are on the ground ?
7. What's the size of your team at work ?
8. Tell me about your family ?
9. What after ISB ?
Then they asked me if I had any questions. I think I did OK, but
anxious like others for the final result.
Thanks
Kumaran
Experience 13
Arvindnahata to isbpgp
Hi All,
I had my interview yesterday. I am from Bangalore but had had opted
for an interview at the campus. The panel was very cordial and conducive. The interview
lasted about 20 mins.
Questions asked were:
1. What has happened in between last year and now which strengthens
my profile (I am a reapplicant)
2. Some details about my answer to the above
3. About my switch in career (I have a swtich from FMCG Marketing to
IT techie)
4. About my acads and ranks in class
5. About my current company and its operations, growth plans and
market position?
6. I accomplishment that I would want to mention and some details
about it.
7. Any questions to us.
The moment I walked out I felt I cracked it. But then as I think more
about it I feel I could have done better ... anyways can't do much
now than wait and watch.
As some others, my suggestions is that if you have stellar points to
be made don't wait for them to ask.
All the best to those who are still to face the interviews
And, all the best to all those who are waiting for the final results.
Regards
-Arvind
============================================
HTH
Ketan
forbidden_fruit79 to isb-pgp
Hey guys,
Had my interview this morning at 9:30. Short and sweet - 15 mins.
Panel of 3. Started off with some light hearted discussion. The focus
then shifted towards Why MBA, Post MBA Plans, examples of conflict
with team members and supervisor, discussion of my resume and my
questions to the interview panel. Finally wound up by telling them
about my passion for music and my undying love for cats! That managed
to get a smile across their faces.
Overall, the panel were very welcoming and professional in their
approach.
Good luck to the others.
12 days to D-Day!
-Clint
Experience 2
kogniin to isb-pgp
Hi,
I had my interview yesterday. It was for around 30 minutes. Other
then the usual questions, I was asked some out of the box question,
like why was I not from IIT and a logic problem was given to me. they asked me to logically analyse how many pencils were used
in India in a day.Have anyone else faced similar questions in their interview??
Bye and take care
Kaushik
========================================
How many pencils used in India..How many gas stations in NY.
IB/Consulting interview questions..this site should be useful.
http://www.casequestions.com/cases/recent.htm
========================================
Experience 3
Gagan Jhingran to isb-pgp
I was also asked smth similar. Was asked to calculate the market size if I was to sell Crosin , assuming I suddely moved to Pharma sector from IT.
Overall it was good interview, none of the usual questions like why mba? why isb ?
-Gagan
Experience 4
Ajay Bhatia to isb-pgp
Well. Nothing was predecided for sure.
It started off on a lighter note with me sharing my experiences at
staying at different places. Then they went on to post ISB aspirations
which we talked about in great detail (be prepared with a real
focussed answer for this). They asked me about my long term vision,
and it was followed up with a couple of questions on the industry of
my choice. The questions were - Where do u see the industry say in
2015, How do u see the depreciation of the dollar affect the industry.
Then a couple of logical questions - How will u calculate the height
of a building without using any measuring aids, Probability of two ppl
having same 3 initials.
I am from IT, so was asked about the trends in the industry and a few
questions about specific technologies.
There was a point when they asked me about the history of my firm -
founders etc. They actually knew one of the founders, which was good!
I guess this came up because I had said that post ISB I would come
back my current firm. They really wanted to know my motiviation behind
this and if I had really thot this thru.
Guess thats about it. Lasted for 15-20 mins. I feel I didnt do too
well. Another think I felt was that I wasnt asked any of the typical
questions about my experiences et al because my application was very
strong and they probably felt that they shud cover general awareness
etc. Again, thats just what I feel - cant say for sure.
Experience 5
Kaustubh Nagarkar to isb-pgp
Hi people
I had my interview in Mumbai. I have two years of
experience in the IT industry.
Questions were:
Why MBA now ?
Where do I see myself post MBA?
How will I add diversity?
Current job profile?
What would I do as prime minister for the Tsunami
relief?
It took about 20 mins.
I got the feeling I had not been convincing about why
MBA now in my application. And being an IT guy, how
would Ia dd diversity to the class. The interview
seemed to be an effort at finding that. That is what
IT people have to be clear about !
Time to wait and see..
Kaustubh N
Experience 6
varmamvn to isb-pgp
OK, I did my interview today too. I guess I did well overall. Went
about 25 minutes.
Some of the tricky questions were:
1. What is GDP of India
2. Assuming there is a new tie company in india, what is the expected
market share and revenue for the company?
3. Why am I not spending so much time as before on my extra curricular
activities.
4. some specific questions regarding my company's marketing policies
Some routine questions were:
1. Project management related queries since I am a Project Manager
2. Why MBA? how will it help u?
proj mgmt related queries were:
1. What is an SLA? What do u do if u cannot meet the SLA conditions?
2. What if ur product is in Production release verification stage and
the client makes a noise that this is not what he gave us in the
requiremnt specs. What do u do?
I didnt ask them when the result would be out. Any idea guys. Though I
know I'm through, I would like to hear from them still :)
Good luck to u all.
Varma
Experience 7
KAUSIK_ASH to isb-pgp
Interview Panel: Mrs Hema (Admissions Office), Mr Ravi
Duration : 43 mins
Questions and Flow:
1. What kind of a person are you ?
2. How have you used your interpersonal skills at work or otherwise ?
3. Capital of the North Carolina state (i was located here in one of my assignments in the US)
4. Capital of South Carolina (couldnt say....and then said something stupid to defend my ignorance....DO NOT DO THIS ...if you dont know...you dont know..that's it !!)
5. Five big players in the Telecom world.(I have a Telecom b/g)
6. Headquarters of Cisco & Lucent ?
7. Any major problems with Lucent or Cisco in the past?
8. Telecom market in India ?
9. Which country has the highest density of mobile phone users (couldnt say and guessed on India....Answer: Finland)
10. Come out with a number estimate for mobile users in India ......(this stuff now seems to be routine in all interviews....this one came from Mrs Hema)
11. What is your leadership style?
12. What do you admire about Saurav Ganguly as a leader ?
13. A situation based Case study......You are Head of a company...there is a very loyal & sincere employee who is disturbed by another higher rung 'corrupt' employee.....he comes to you w/ his problem...how will you act ?
14. Counter question on my answer for the above ...
15. Questions on my community work ..
16. Questions about Orissa (my home state) -> two things that you re proud of, things that you dont like about orissa, political scenario in Orissa ?
17. and then 'Any questions for us' ?
Well.....I am still trying to figure how out how I did......
There were a few points about my profile which I wanted to be picked up or at least mentioned, but they never did....My suggestion to you is : if you have any such 'stellar' points to bring out.....dont wait for them to ask u a qns on that...use word play and allign your other answers towards these points....
so that 's about it...All the very best MIB, Rohit, Dips and others who have their interviews...and good luck to Hydbd and Kolkata candidates as well.....
Regards
Kausik
Experience 8
Venkateswaran Krishnamoorthy to isb-pgp
Hi All,
I completed my interview today. The questions asked -
1) Tell us two key differentiators about urself
2) Your work progression till date
3) Factors which enabled your work progression
4) Whom do u admire more between Bill Gates and Larry
Ellison
5) Estimate the number of Titan watches priced at
2000/- that can be sold in India
6) Have I kept up pace with my cricketing activities
7) What novels you read....etc ......
More about urself... All in all interview was ok....but then there is
always room for improvement...stay calm and
cool....and composed...
Thanks
Venkat
Experience 9
Kranthi Kiran to isbpgp
Hi Guys,
This is my first post.
I just finished my telephone interview.
Questions asked were
Total time: 30 min
1. Tell me the factors that difrentiate you.
2. Post ISB what can you do.
3. Tell me what you are doing you now, explain current work.
4. What can you add to ISB
5. No work Exp, so why do u think u need to have MBA now
6. Why ISB
7. Why low GRE (especially verbal)
8. What are you extracurricular activities
Mostly was focused on what would you do after ISB
I would have done better, but any way its life.
Advice to other people,
Stay Cool, Finish with a summarizing stmt, of what you have spoken
for the queston.
Explain more how could you add to ISB.
Kranthi
Experience 10
Nitin Narang to isbpgp
Hi ,
I had my telephonic interview for 30 mins today. Panel consisted of Mr
menon and Mr nithyananda from admissions office and Sharan (alum).
extremely polite peeple who make you feel comfortable.
The questions were
1. What has happened in between last year and now which strengthens my
profile (I am a reapplicant)
2. Do you think GMAT score is reflective of your abilities.
3. Evaluate the number of people who will buy a cell phone in india in 2005
4.what have been the latest news in the last week
5. how do you think the IT community can make a difference to the efforts
being made in the Tsunami relief
6. How are you different from the rest of the IT applicant pool.
7.what are your current job responsibilities and few questions on the kind
of work you do and team stats
8. what are the goals after ISB
9. what woud be your dream company
10. what can be your role in the current company after your PGP from ISB
11. why ISB and not US schools
well after such an interview i dont know whether to be positive or negative
.. hv been thinking about it and perhaps found a number of things which
could count against me .....
so its just wait and watch for now : )
cheers
Nitin
Experience 11
Anirban Mukherjee to isbpgp
Hi All,
I had my telephonic interview about an hour back. It lasted only for
about 20 Minutes. I guess my answers were very objective and i could
have elaborated on them more. Some of the questions asked were:
1. Please tell us about your career progression till date
2. Please describe your current role
3. What do you mean by self actualization (I had mentioned this in
the essay)
4. How will the MBA program help in achieving your goal?
5. How do you define good leadership
6. Some Questions about the knowledge repository in our organization
(I had mentioned this in the essay)
7. Opinion about the Iraq war, george bush and his re-election
8. What changes will the MBA program bring out in you if we meet you
after one year?
9. What is the one criteria that you have that admissions should
consider to select you in ISB
10. Question about low GMAT score (660)
11. Any questions to us.
Hope it helps.
Thanks
Anirban
Experience 12
sk_74 to isbpgp
Hi All,
I just finished my interview which lasted about 20-25 mins. Here is
what I was asked.
1. What do your friends say about you ?
2. What do you outside of work ?
3. What's your role at your company ?
4. How many cricket bats will be sold in India in 2005 ?
5. What are some of the news events in the last one month in India ?
6. How will you help the Tsunami effort if you are on the ground ?
7. What's the size of your team at work ?
8. Tell me about your family ?
9. What after ISB ?
Then they asked me if I had any questions. I think I did OK, but
anxious like others for the final result.
Thanks
Kumaran
Experience 13
Arvindnahata to isbpgp
Hi All,
I had my interview yesterday. I am from Bangalore but had had opted
for an interview at the campus. The panel was very cordial and conducive. The interview
lasted about 20 mins.
Questions asked were:
1. What has happened in between last year and now which strengthens
my profile (I am a reapplicant)
2. Some details about my answer to the above
3. About my switch in career (I have a swtich from FMCG Marketing to
IT techie)
4. About my acads and ranks in class
5. About my current company and its operations, growth plans and
market position?
6. I accomplishment that I would want to mention and some details
about it.
7. Any questions to us.
The moment I walked out I felt I cracked it. But then as I think more
about it I feel I could have done better ... anyways can't do much
now than wait and watch.
As some others, my suggestions is that if you have stellar points to
be made don't wait for them to ask.
All the best to those who are still to face the interviews
And, all the best to all those who are waiting for the final results.
Regards
-Arvind
============================================
HTH
Ketan
Another collection of interview experiences
==============================================
Interview Experience 1
Shaifali Mehta to isb-pgp
Hiya,
finished my interview today. lasted 30 minutes:
1. Tell us about urself
2. Describe your job profile
3. What do u understand by TDM, PCM, CDMA (I am in the telecom sector).
4. How did u fair in college
5. How many basketballs will be sold in year 2005.
6. Why did u chose ISB
7. What after ISB
8. Do u have any questions to ask about ISB.
regards,
shaifali mehta
Interview Experience 2
mahesh shenoy to isb-pgp
Hi People..
Sorry for sending this mail across so late.. I had my interview on the 1st of January in Bbay... but didnt find time to update everyone about it..Please find below the questions that I was bombed with. Hope this helps the people who still have their interview scheduled in the coming days and will of course help the R2 condidates.
1) Tell us something about your profile.
2) You have just 3 years of experience whereas ISB has an average experience pool of 5 years. What do you have special in you that you expect us to take you in?
3) Why MBA?
4) Any conflicts with your peers or seniors in office, how you handled it?
5) Do you think India should have a Social Security Fund as USA?
6) SHould the tax rates in India be increased?
7) Does my company involve in any kind of society improvement activities? Have you made any contributions to the recent Tsunami Relief?
9) Whats the turnover figure of my company?
10) Some UPA statement from the politics field.. I am not at all interested in politics.. so dont remember much about this question.
There were a couple more, but I forgot. Hope this helps people..
Regards,
Mahesh
Interview Experience 3
goal MBA to isb-pgp
Hello friends,
Finished my interview yesterday.
Specifics:
Panel: One personnel from admissions committe and one
current student (I assume, as they were not formally
introduced to me - presumably because of the interview
already having started late)
Time: about 35 mins
Nature: pretty much grilling and crosss questioned,
though absolutely professional
Called in at the precise time ... but there was some
confusion going on
Call list:
----------
1st call: the person who answered transfered me
somewhere after 2 words which I did not undersatnd;
next person who took the phone asked me what I wanted,
after I explained he transfered me again to some other
person; the third person after a gap told me to call
after 5 mins
2nd call: Engaged for a couple of minutes
3rd call: got through, same start as in 1st call; 2nd
person told me that this is the Board, and asked me
the name to whom I need to talk, I explained to him I
did not know as even after asking I was not told the
name of my interviewer, so I asked for the admissions
office; the admissions officde then finally transfered
me to the interviewing panel.
Eventually the interview started about 15 minutes
late!
Bang ... questions start comming immediately:
1. Tell me something about yourself that you have not
mentioned in the application.
1.1: Example of one of the traits that I mentioned to
answer the above question
2. Questions about lack of significant extra
curricular activities
3. Post ISB career - grilled about the roles that I
had mentioned and career down the line
4. Is Bush good for india?
5. My thoughts about people leaving India and seeking
permanent residence in the US (these two questions
were especially tricky for me as one of the
interviewers was an American and I have come here
myself and been in the US for more than 5 years now)
6. My apparent lack of management experience in my
career so far (did defend this by stating my
experiences that I could not list in the application
... though "what is - is!")
7. What would you do or are doing to enter into
Business administration role (managerial role) other
than getting an MBA from ISB ( a bit tough as much
grilling continued)
8. About my Company? Whether I would buy shares of my
Company if it went public? How many employees? Nature
of work etc.
9. About my role at my client? How do I
interact/lead/manage my team and peers who are
employees of my client .. .keeping in mind that I am a
Consultant and not myself an employee there?
10. An example of my "Out of the box" thinking?
11. Why I wanted to leave a well paying job and a good
position to do MBA?
Finally I was asked if I had any questions of my own
... I did ask a few but could not ask all as the next
interviewee was calling and the time slated for me had
got over
Thoughts:
- It is obviously difficult to justify your
shortcomings like lack of significant work experience
or management experience, lack of extracurricular
experience ; what can you do about it now, whatever is
the fact is in the application
- I did not effectively put across some points in the
heat of the moment; a bit difficult to follow the path
that you had pre-decided during the actual session
- Be careful about sounding over excited or not
interested
- stay calm, cool and appear in control
- be thoroughly prepared with your application and
ready to answer in depth about each and every point
that you have mentioned
All in all, I am not completely satisfied with my own
performance. The main reason is because the interview
started late and I got a feeling that I was getting
rushed into things and there was no time to settle
down as such. Also, as someone else mentioned, the
nature of questions were such that I was on the
defensive all the time. Instead of me putting across
my strong points and achievements, I was continuously
trying to answer querries about either my shortcomings
mentioned in the application or something else.
At the end of the day, I respect their professionalism
and how informed the interviewers were.
Well, I really hope I get the seat ... we'll wait and
watch.
ALL THE VERY BEST TO OTHERS. Hope the above helps
someone do better.
Best regaqrds,
Rahul
Interview Experience 4
mahesh268 to isb-pgp
My telephonic interview was complete. It was mixed bag. It lasted
for about 40 minutes. Panel of 2 members interviewed me.
1.Tell us about ur company
2.Extra cirricular activities? What about sports? I did not mention
about my hobbies (i didnot mention them in essays too) not sure if I
should have done that.
3.I sent my GMAT scores to INSEAD, NSU, AIM though I didnot apply to
those schools. I believe they were under the impression that I
applied to some of those schools. For this reason I had to explain
why I prefer to be with ISB
4.What about post ISB plans? I was looking for a career shift so
they grilled me on that but I wasn't comfortable taking that
question as I was ill prepared for questions of what role I would be
exactly interested in
5.If you were to side with Bush on Iraq war, what would be your
response?
6.Since I was involved in charity work, they asked my I can't fund
my own education as part of charity?
7. My role leader was NRN, Infosys. They asked me why then did I not
join Infosys?
8. Here came the toughest part - they gave me statistics saying my
GMAT, profile etc etc matches with many other applicants how do you
think you are different? I started reeling the usual work and acads
when they cut me short and asked a more direct question - non acad,
non work acheivements.
On the whole the interview was not a stress interview with questions
on basketball/ties etc but at the same time, they did not ask much
about my essays. Got a feeling they went through it in good detail.
since it was a telephonic interview the reception was bad as they
were on speaker phone and had to repeatedly ask some questions.
Finally I asked a few questions and one of the panel members
mentioned that she would indicate in scholarship that I would
contribute Rs3-4 million back once I set up my own company.
It's the usual interview could have done better. Interestingly there
weren't any questions about my family/myself or hobbies etc.
==============================================
HTH
Ketan
Another list of interviews 
Interview Experience 1
deependra singh to isb-pgp
Hi All,
Had my interview 15 min back.
Duration 30 min.
GMAT 670
Workex: 3.5 years
Currently working as project manager for Infosys.
1. Tell me about yourself - points other than job, any point you want to highlight
2. Name three entrepreneur you admire - i plan to be one some day
3. Compare Nandan and NRN(I am working for Infosys)
4. If you are made a BDM what retail clients will you target and how.
5. Expected revenue from retail industry in INDIA - i work for a retail company
6. Two differences in Magers of US and Japan - I have worked at both places
7. hobbies
8. Last book i read and what did i learn from it.
9. long term and short term goals
10. Differentiate myself from regular IT pool..
11. Was given time to ask questions...
Not sure how i performed as in every interview there is a certain amount of grilling.....
Regards,
Deependra
Interview Experience 2
Rakesh Pulla to isb-pgp
Had a telephonic interview with Mr Menon and Rahul.
Called at the scheduled time . The phone line sucked 😉
Questions asked not in particular order
*) Tell me about family backgroudn and ur personality and things not
in application that u wud like to highlight.
I guess I did good here but then the downfall started and the fone
line didnt help matters .
*) Y do u want to leave a good career and want to come back to India ?
*) About my choice of leader . I wrote in essay about the leaders of
Renaissance .
*) what do I do in my free time?
*) whom do u admire bill gates or Larry elison?
*) Did u read any books by Bill gates ?Quick answer "NO"
*) how did I fare in my various companies and compare with ur team
*) What is the best and worst case scenarios for you in the ISB
recruitment process ?
*) How long have you been in US and what is ur citizenship
status ??????
I was asked if I have any questions .. Had a few ....
*) Asked a few questions on the new centre of excellence for analytic
finance
*) Y dont ISB start a Non-profit management programme
*) How is ISB dealing with IIMA's one year programme ??????
*) How do u see a typical ISB grad an academic or a well rounded
personality ?
Wanted to ask a few more questions but the fone line was not helping.
Overall it lasted around 20-22 mins.
Overall I got the feeling that the interview panel is
getting tired of asking the same questions . It might be that the
fone line might have played a major factor in my getting such an
impression.
I wud give myself a 3/10 .
Rakesh.
Interview Experience 3
v_murarka to isb-pgp
Hi All,
Had my interview today. As pointed by rajesh the phone connection
was bad. Anyways it lasted about 20~25 mins.
Panel--> Mr Menon & Rahul.
Questions;
1> Tell me something about your family & something tht you want to
discuss that is not mentioned in the application.
2> Which countries you have travelled? (Since i mentioned i my
application that I travelled more than 15 countries)
3> Present role. & why MBA?
4> Post MBA plan? & why I want to start you own business ( I
mentioned in my essays).
5> Culture difference between India & Korea.
6> Since i have strong business development exp. covering automotive
domain, am I interested in a career shift if I get a chance?? (Asked
by Rahul)
7> Few questions on my diverse work exp. ranging from manufacturing
to consulting to sales.
8> What I learnt in Korea during my stay for last 2 yrs. How hard it
was to learn Korean language etc...
9> Q's for them
Overall i think it went ok, but hard to say anything. Keeping my
fingers crossed.
Fellas word of advice, be urself & keep a cool head. All the best to
others who have their interview.
bye
Vishal
Interview Experience 4
Satish to isb-pgp
Hi All...
My interview experience was very short and filled with simple questions:
Which school are you from?
Walk us thru your career path...
What books do you read..
What is Arizona famous for?
Tourist centre for what?
Any questions for us...
(No usual or expected MBA quesi
It just went for about 15-20 mins... I am wondering if they already decided about candidates by interview time...any idea?
Thanks & Have a nice weekend folks...
Satish.
Interview Experience 5
Dutta, Dipanjan to isb-pgp
Dear All,
I had my telephonic interview about an hour back, here are the details:
Panel: Abhijit (from Development) and Hima (from Admissions)
Duration: 27 mins
Questions:
1. It began with a light note with Hima asking about the weather of this place...
2. Next, walk through the professional experience
3. Give details and show how you helped the client in a specific project for a Fin customer
4. How would differentiate yourself with other IT applicants?
5. Are you taking a sabbatical from your current job for the MBA study? Why not?
6. What exactly do you want to do post-ISB?
7. Did you do any gap-analysis from your current position and that position? (Bascally why MBA?)
8. Why ISB? Why not IIM?
9. Questions for us...
The interview was very professionally conducted and both the interviewer were very supportive though out the interview and the atmosphere was very cool and very much under control.
I think I've done OK in the interview, but definitely wait for TIME to pass the final judgement.....
MIB, Rohit and all other folks, wish you the best for your interviews....
Dip.
===============================================
HTH
Ketan
Interview Experience 1
Rohit Sharma to isb-pgp
panel : hema and abhijeet !
total time: 36 minutes
int time: 26 minutes
my questions : 10 minutes
1) what kind of work do you do.
2) who is the CM of maharastra/ andhra pradesh
3) finance minister of india. coallition which forms
the indian govt. was properly grilled with politics
questions and I have absolutely no idea why and where
politics came into the scene all of a sudden.
4) gave a situation that you are an interviewer at GS
and two people come for an interview. one with 6 yr
finance experience and then me with 2 yr work ex and
no fin experience, whom would you choose and why.
5) 5-6 questions about soccer !! the dude likes pele
and i happen to like maradona. so some discussions.
grilled a bit here.
6) questions about my dream companies and post isb
goals. and then went on to questions about Mr. Rajat
Gupta. did good mostly but puched a bit in the end on
this question.
7) and then questions as to why i didn;t choose rajat
gupta and if there is any ambiguity here. clarified
myself.
questions for the adcom --- asked a lot of
questions.
overall was smiling all the time and maintained my
cool, so did they. and kind of an interesting
experience i would say. dont know really how i
performed. kind of weird kind of questions because
most of the discussion was about soccer and politics !
fingers, hands, legs everything crossed !!!! the next
7 days are going to kill me !!!!!!!!!!!!!
rohit.
Interview Experience 2
Made for ISB Dude to isb-pgp
The interview is over. Just a few days left before I get to know whether I can live up to my name or not.
Here are the minutes of the meeting:
Panel: Mr Menon (The Big Boss,Director -Admission)
Nithya (I think that was the nane...from the admissions office)
Kamal (alum)
Duration: 25 minutes
Called up on time .Asked them if I was clear.Mr Menon said that if at any time he felt I was unclear,he would let me know. :)
Interview Questions:
Mr Menon
-Tell me something about ur family and tell me something which you want to discuss in the interview
-What rank did you get in the school (12th grade)
-Your grades in school and engineering are both around 75%. Why so less.?
( I explained them that my first year engg score was 60% and final year engg score was 87%...so the score 75% perhaps does not show the picture properly)
-OK..But ur GMAT scores contradict everything you just now said !..ISB average is 690. Why such a low GMAT score.
-Why didn't you retake it again.
(Told them that this was the second time. Had a tough time convincing him ! )
Kamal
-Walk me through your resume.
-What are the challenges you faced at work working at each project.
-How is it different working for an Indian client and an American client
-Tell me a situation where you took a tough decision (I think the example I gave was a bad one!)
-You say that you have handle teams where the members varies in terms of experience and age.How do you handle them.
- If I were to start a telecom company in US and am a low risk taker with limited expertise, what would be the strategy for me. ( Not a good answer from me !)
(Cell phone rang..and Kamal passed it on to the next interviewer)
Nithya
-There is a match between World XI and Asian XI to raise funds for Tsunami. You have mentioned that you have a great interest in quizzing. So, if you were to organize a quiz competetion to raise funds for Tsunami, what would be ur strategy.
- You seem to have a great interest in Mechanical Engg. Your final year engg project is a reflection of that...It is good....Then why did you jump into IT and not go for the manufacturing industry .( I think I messed this one! )
Any questions for us:
-Harvard is known for General Mgmt,Kellog for Marketing,CMU for tech, what would ISB like to be known in the future for?
(Gen Mgmt..ISB brings in the best prof from a lot of schools...etc)
-A question on Exchange program..What is the basis for selection..
-Most of the visiting faculty are of Indian origin (Ravi Aron,Jag Raju).Do I see that ISB intends to make them permanent faculty some day.
-ISB produces the leaders for tommorow. It has one of the best sets of brain in the country. Why doesn't ISB do something for Tsunami-like a disaster recovery program etc..
The interview was over....!
As soon as the interview got over, I did not know what had happened. There were absoultely no questions on post MBA plans..no questions on why ISB ..why MBA..No questions on pencil,tie etc...I was thinking that they would ask me more questions. I was a bit unhappy.
Also, I speak quite fast! So, I felt I could have done better.
I made sure that I talked about my acievements.
But It was quite evident that they (especially Mr Menon) were not happy with my low GMAT score. So,will just wait and watch what the final outcome is.
Bharani,Kaushik,Dip, Rohit,Vivek and others who have helped for the interview -A big thank you .And of course Raja and Vineet, all the best for the palcement season.
All the best to others and the R2 applicants.
Interview Experience 3
Vibhu Walia to isb-pgp
In the tradition of this group (which I think consists of some very
friendly & co-opertaive ppl) - here is a brief on my interview
experience.
Conducted at 07:30 GMT (too early for my liking) on 8/Jan.
Panel: V.K. Menon and one other person from adcom whose name I did
not catch (bad phone line)
Interlude: Like many other candidates - I too had some trouble with
the phone. The connection was not very clear at first. I said I'd
call again - and VKM confiemd that the quality was excellent 2nd time
round. The speakerphone added to the unclear-phone-line saga.
However, overall it was OK. I have had a better experience with
calling mobiles in India - landlines are always a bit dodgy. Anyway -
back to the main plot....
Interview:
VKM asked all the questions. The other person never spoke. VKM said
at the outset that I'view would last circa 20 mts - and it did (ard
25 mts in all).
Most questions revolved around my career & education path:
Walk us through your education & subsequent work-ex?
Tell us about something your family background
How does an MBA fit now and that too in India?
Give us one strength?
What do you want to do after MBA?
Case question:
A toy company is planning to launch a video game that costs Rs 4K and
is targetted towards 10-15 yrs olds. What are the expected sales?
I had a stab at this question - but couldn't produce a believable
figure at the end. My line of reasoning went something like this.
Assumption:
Parent will not spend more than 20% of monthly family income on toy.
Now we need to find no. of families with incomes of Rs 20K or over?
(In essence we need to find no. of children in 10-15 in families with
income of Rs X k or over - the rest follows from various ratio
assumptions that you could make)
I got screwed at this point because without any kind of distribution
of incomes in India (I don't knwo this) - I think it is impossible to
calculate this size of this segment. I tried it with a even
distribution based on the GDP/per-capita and the resulting figure was
clearly a few orders of magnitude off. At this point I gave up and
said that it is hard (read impossible) to come up with a sensible
answer without an idea of distribution of household incomes in India.
VKM seemed to agree and we moved on. I tried to think of a better
answer after the interview but I still can't come up with one. Anyone
have any ideas?
Another question: How have things changed since your last app to ISB?
I had applied to ISB in 2002 right after my PG degree with no
substantial work-ex. In this case, therefore, I based my answer
around the work-ex that has followed my last app. Also, last time I
had appled at the end of Rd 2 in a rush with not much research and I
was waitlisted. I said that I had been encouraged by this. :-)
Any questions you wish to ask us: asked one short question. Most
questions have been already answered in this group. :-)
Overall - the panel did what good panels do: they made me feel very
comfortable and were extremely professional and polite. I did not
face any counter questions (dunno if this is a good or bad thing) or
grilling.
I guess all that is left now is to oscillate between manic and
depressed phases for 7 days and wait for the 15th to arrive.
-Vibhu
Rohit Sharma to isb-pgp
panel : hema and abhijeet !
total time: 36 minutes
int time: 26 minutes
my questions : 10 minutes
1) what kind of work do you do.
2) who is the CM of maharastra/ andhra pradesh
3) finance minister of india. coallition which forms
the indian govt. was properly grilled with politics
questions and I have absolutely no idea why and where
politics came into the scene all of a sudden.
4) gave a situation that you are an interviewer at GS
and two people come for an interview. one with 6 yr
finance experience and then me with 2 yr work ex and
no fin experience, whom would you choose and why.
5) 5-6 questions about soccer !! the dude likes pele
and i happen to like maradona. so some discussions.
grilled a bit here.
6) questions about my dream companies and post isb
goals. and then went on to questions about Mr. Rajat
Gupta. did good mostly but puched a bit in the end on
this question.
7) and then questions as to why i didn;t choose rajat
gupta and if there is any ambiguity here. clarified
myself.
questions for the adcom --- asked a lot ofquestions.
overall was smiling all the time and maintained my
cool, so did they. and kind of an interesting
experience i would say. dont know really how i
performed. kind of weird kind of questions because
most of the discussion was about soccer and politics !
fingers, hands, legs everything crossed !!!! the next
7 days are going to kill me !!!!!!!!!!!!!
rohit.
Interview Experience 2
Made for ISB Dude to isb-pgp
The interview is over. Just a few days left before I get to know whether I can live up to my name or not.
Here are the minutes of the meeting:
Panel: Mr Menon (The Big Boss,Director -Admission)
Nithya (I think that was the nane...from the admissions office)
Kamal (alum)
Duration: 25 minutes
Called up on time .Asked them if I was clear.Mr Menon said that if at any time he felt I was unclear,he would let me know. :)
Interview Questions:
Mr Menon
-Tell me something about ur family and tell me something which you want to discuss in the interview
-What rank did you get in the school (12th grade)
-Your grades in school and engineering are both around 75%. Why so less.?
( I explained them that my first year engg score was 60% and final year engg score was 87%...so the score 75% perhaps does not show the picture properly)
-OK..But ur GMAT scores contradict everything you just now said !..ISB average is 690. Why such a low GMAT score.
-Why didn't you retake it again.
(Told them that this was the second time. Had a tough time convincing him ! )
Kamal
-Walk me through your resume.
-What are the challenges you faced at work working at each project.
-How is it different working for an Indian client and an American client
-Tell me a situation where you took a tough decision (I think the example I gave was a bad one!)
-You say that you have handle teams where the members varies in terms of experience and age.How do you handle them.
- If I were to start a telecom company in US and am a low risk taker with limited expertise, what would be the strategy for me. ( Not a good answer from me !)
(Cell phone rang..and Kamal passed it on to the next interviewer)
Nithya
-There is a match between World XI and Asian XI to raise funds for Tsunami. You have mentioned that you have a great interest in quizzing. So, if you were to organize a quiz competetion to raise funds for Tsunami, what would be ur strategy.
- You seem to have a great interest in Mechanical Engg. Your final year engg project is a reflection of that...It is good....Then why did you jump into IT and not go for the manufacturing industry .( I think I messed this one! )
Any questions for us:
-Harvard is known for General Mgmt,Kellog for Marketing,CMU for tech, what would ISB like to be known in the future for?
(Gen Mgmt..ISB brings in the best prof from a lot of schools...etc)
-A question on Exchange program..What is the basis for selection..
-Most of the visiting faculty are of Indian origin (Ravi Aron,Jag Raju).Do I see that ISB intends to make them permanent faculty some day.
-ISB produces the leaders for tommorow. It has one of the best sets of brain in the country. Why doesn't ISB do something for Tsunami-like a disaster recovery program etc..
The interview was over....!
As soon as the interview got over, I did not know what had happened. There were absoultely no questions on post MBA plans..no questions on why ISB ..why MBA..No questions on pencil,tie etc...I was thinking that they would ask me more questions. I was a bit unhappy.
Also, I speak quite fast! So, I felt I could have done better.
I made sure that I talked about my acievements.
But It was quite evident that they (especially Mr Menon) were not happy with my low GMAT score. So,will just wait and watch what the final outcome is.
Bharani,Kaushik,Dip, Rohit,Vivek and others who have helped for the interview -A big thank you .And of course Raja and Vineet, all the best for the palcement season.
All the best to others and the R2 applicants.
Interview Experience 3
Vibhu Walia to isb-pgp
In the tradition of this group (which I think consists of some very
friendly & co-opertaive ppl) - here is a brief on my interview
experience.
Conducted at 07:30 GMT (too early for my liking) on 8/Jan.
Panel: V.K. Menon and one other person from adcom whose name I did
not catch (bad phone line)
Interlude: Like many other candidates - I too had some trouble with
the phone. The connection was not very clear at first. I said I'd
call again - and VKM confiemd that the quality was excellent 2nd time
round. The speakerphone added to the unclear-phone-line saga.
However, overall it was OK. I have had a better experience with
calling mobiles in India - landlines are always a bit dodgy. Anyway -
back to the main plot....
Interview:
VKM asked all the questions. The other person never spoke. VKM said
at the outset that I'view would last circa 20 mts - and it did (ard
25 mts in all).
Most questions revolved around my career & education path:
Walk us through your education & subsequent work-ex?
Tell us about something your family background
How does an MBA fit now and that too in India?
Give us one strength?
What do you want to do after MBA?
Case question:
A toy company is planning to launch a video game that costs Rs 4K and
is targetted towards 10-15 yrs olds. What are the expected sales?
I had a stab at this question - but couldn't produce a believable
figure at the end. My line of reasoning went something like this.
Assumption:
Parent will not spend more than 20% of monthly family income on toy.
Now we need to find no. of families with incomes of Rs 20K or over?
(In essence we need to find no. of children in 10-15 in families with
income of Rs X k or over - the rest follows from various ratio
assumptions that you could make)
I got screwed at this point because without any kind of distribution
of incomes in India (I don't knwo this) - I think it is impossible to
calculate this size of this segment. I tried it with a even
distribution based on the GDP/per-capita and the resulting figure was
clearly a few orders of magnitude off. At this point I gave up and
said that it is hard (read impossible) to come up with a sensible
answer without an idea of distribution of household incomes in India.
VKM seemed to agree and we moved on. I tried to think of a better
answer after the interview but I still can't come up with one. Anyone
have any ideas?
Another question: How have things changed since your last app to ISB?
I had applied to ISB in 2002 right after my PG degree with no
substantial work-ex. In this case, therefore, I based my answer
around the work-ex that has followed my last app. Also, last time I
had appled at the end of Rd 2 in a rush with not much research and I
was waitlisted. I said that I had been encouraged by this. :-)
Any questions you wish to ask us: asked one short question. Most
questions have been already answered in this group. :-)
Overall - the panel did what good panels do: they made me feel very
comfortable and were extremely professional and polite. I did not
face any counter questions (dunno if this is a good or bad thing) or
grilling.
I guess all that is left now is to oscillate between manic and
depressed phases for 7 days and wait for the 15th to arrive.
-Vibhu
great work ketan !!
Keep 'em coming !!
Arun
dudes Ketan & Arun ... anybody of you done with apping to ISB or Interviews maybe ?
capreal26 Saysdudes Ketan & Arun ... anybody of you done with apping to ISB or Interviews maybe ?
Nope...I have NOT applied to ISB this year....screwed up CAT big time (93%tile) ....No plans yet for ISB.....
BTW here are two other experiences
Interview Experience 1
Isb Maverick to isb-pgp
Hello all,
Just had my interview. Lasted for approx. 30 min. (including my qs). Panel was Hema and Abhijeet. Very cordial and professional, they were really nice. My interview was to start at 7:30, but when I called then they asked me to call back after 10 min (they were going through my profile).
Here are the qs (Note: They were not necessarily posed to me in this order, this is what I have extracted from the post interview blur). Hope this helps the others who have an interview scheduled. Also, a big Thank You for the others who have actively contributed to this list. Raja and others at ISB - good luck with your placement process!
---
Walk us through resume / job
Tell us about your family
Who is the finance minister, what are some of his directions
Aviation industry in India
If you are a leader and your team disagrees with you, how will you respond
Your current salary vis-a-vis post ISB - your comments?
Give me a single vision statement
Give me 3 words about leadership
Lee Iacocca vs. Other leader, why did you choose a diff. leader for your essay? (I had quoted Iacocca in a different essay)
Other things you do (i.e., other interests)
Post ISB and Gap analysis?
Why ISB?
What Electives will you choose and why?
What will I take away from you if I were your team-mate?
The Govt. change in India and its impact on industry?
----
Interview Experience 2
srb_sanp to isb-pgp
Hi All,
I had my telephonic interview just an hr back. I thot of
putting those
questions here before I forget them.
Total time 21mins (18+3)
Questions by Mr Menon & Rahul
- About myself
- Why ISB
- My career progression...how am growing ??
- What do I know about NUS ( I am based at Singapore..so)
- Surf to be sold in India next year ( I goofed up..did not take into
account
other brands..i dont know what kind of impact will it haveonfinal
selection!!!..)
-Why lowGMAT..( ihad 640)
- Tell us more about your managerial capabilities
- Future plans if not selected in ISB
- Post MBA plans / Dream job
- Am I willing to write GMAT again if offered an admission and asked
to do
so??
not very convincing since it lasted only for a short duration...
'All the best' to those who have yet to appear in interviews and R2
applicants.
Ketan
capreal26 Saysdudes Ketan & Arun ... anybody of you done with apping to ISB or Interviews maybe ?
My apping to ISB depends on a lot of things. Foremost being a good GMAT score !
Arun
Interview Experience 1
lovlesh chhabra to ISB
Hi Guys,
Finally i also finished my interview an hour and half ago.. not sure of how i faired in the interview.
The panel was of three people, 2 from adcom and 1 current student. Here are the questions:
1. Tell us about yourself, things that are not in your resume (seems to be hot favorite of the last few days)
2. Where all have you travelled? which place did you like the most?
3. Did you face a cultural shock when u went to US? what kind??
4. Tell us about your career progression till date?
5. Why Low acads (65%)?
6. Why Low GMAT (660)?
7. How will u cope up with the demanding course in ISB?
8. Your recommendor said you performed role x, so were you handling any team when you were doing this role? and what was the team size?
9. Why have you not changed your job in 5 yrs?
10. What is the benefit to Indian IT industry by George Bush winning the elections? (i messed up this one)
11. What extra curricular activities have you been involved in?
12. I am six sigma trained (way back!!!) and was asked a question on some theortical stuff, which i bombed!
----- Interview over...
Mr. Rahul interrupts...
So you are an electronics engineer?? Let me ask you something... whats 2 to the power of 10? before i could reply he said.. Dont think.. just reply... and i lost the reply :-(
next one... whats a bit to a byte? felt like saying byte is a father with 8 sons!
your questions please... and thats it.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the 15th...
Lovlesh
==============================================
HTH
Ketan
lovlesh chhabra to ISB
Hi Guys,
Finally i also finished my interview an hour and half ago.. not sure of how i faired in the interview.
The panel was of three people, 2 from adcom and 1 current student. Here are the questions:
1. Tell us about yourself, things that are not in your resume (seems to be hot favorite of the last few days)
2. Where all have you travelled? which place did you like the most?
3. Did you face a cultural shock when u went to US? what kind??
4. Tell us about your career progression till date?
5. Why Low acads (65%)?
6. Why Low GMAT (660)?
7. How will u cope up with the demanding course in ISB?
8. Your recommendor said you performed role x, so were you handling any team when you were doing this role? and what was the team size?
9. Why have you not changed your job in 5 yrs?
10. What is the benefit to Indian IT industry by George Bush winning the elections? (i messed up this one)
11. What extra curricular activities have you been involved in?
12. I am six sigma trained (way back!!!) and was asked a question on some theortical stuff, which i bombed!
----- Interview over...
Mr. Rahul interrupts...
So you are an electronics engineer?? Let me ask you something... whats 2 to the power of 10? before i could reply he said.. Dont think.. just reply... and i lost the reply :-(
next one... whats a bit to a byte? felt like saying byte is a father with 8 sons!
your questions please... and thats it.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the 15th...
Lovlesh
==============================================
HTH
Ketan
My apping to ISB depends on a lot of things. Foremost being a good GMAT score !
Arun
Now pal.. when did GMAT become an unsurmountable challenge.
dont tell me that stupid exam is the only reason for you not pursuing B skooling. 😃
guess you're keen on PGSM.. I hear lotsa gyaan on that Y! group from you..
My apping to ISB depends on a lot of things. Foremost being a good GMAT score !
Arun
Now pal.. when did GMAT become an unsurmountable challenge.
dont tell me that stupid exam is the only reason for you not pursuing B skooling. 😃
guess you're keen on PGSM.. I hear lotsa gyaan on that Y! group from you..
PGSM is the "easy" route I guess (I will put my foot in my mouth if I don't get an admit there
)Many reasons. Primarily, I somehow feel (I know many would feel differently) that I should be in a more managerial position before I embark on an MBA (full-time that is). Moreover, Im not too sure I have the guts to take that 15lakh loan for ISB. The final thing is that currently I feel I have just "settled down" in life, so for personal reasons I feel an MBA will help to increase the entropy level of my other wise halycon life
Arun
PS : and yea I need to get that 7XX score in GMAT too !!
The final thing is that currently I feel I have just "settled down" in life, so for personal reasons I feel an MBA will help to increase the entropy level of my other wise halycon life
I got my answer.
Interview Experience
Neeraj Agarwal to isb-pgp
Hi guys,
It may be a bit too late for sharing the interview exp., but may help the R2
applicants...My int was scheduled on 8th Jan at 4pm, but reached there at
3.25pm and was called in at 3.30pm.... Lasted for about 25 mins... panel
consisted of Mr.V.K.Menon, Nitya (also from ad com) and an alum (I think his
name was Kamal)...they were all very cordial and made me feel comfortable.
The questions asked were (not necessarily in order):
1. Tell us something about your family and things you want to discuss in the
next 20 mins.
2. Why mba?
3. Have you considered taking up a distance mba? (I think this was more of
why isb ques)
4. A few questions about my work
5. Did you come across any difficulties/setbacks?
6. Reasons for low acads (explained about the marking system in W.Bengal,
VKM seemed to be convinced)
7. What position/companies would you like to work in post isb?
8. Any questions? (I asked them a few)
VKM said they would let me know by 15th Jan. I think I cracked it, but as
somebody said earlier, the more I think of it, the more I feel I could have
done better. Anyway, keeping all my fingers and toes crossed till 15th.
Thanks a lot to Raja, Vineet and everyone else who has contributed to the
group.
All the best to all of us.. hope we all meet at isb!
Cheers!
Neeraj.
Neeraj Agarwal to isb-pgp
Hi guys,
It may be a bit too late for sharing the interview exp., but may help the R2
applicants...My int was scheduled on 8th Jan at 4pm, but reached there at
3.25pm and was called in at 3.30pm.... Lasted for about 25 mins... panel
consisted of Mr.V.K.Menon, Nitya (also from ad com) and an alum (I think his
name was Kamal)...they were all very cordial and made me feel comfortable.
The questions asked were (not necessarily in order):
1. Tell us something about your family and things you want to discuss in the
next 20 mins.
2. Why mba?
3. Have you considered taking up a distance mba? (I think this was more of
why isb ques)
4. A few questions about my work
5. Did you come across any difficulties/setbacks?
6. Reasons for low acads (explained about the marking system in W.Bengal,
VKM seemed to be convinced)
7. What position/companies would you like to work in post isb?
8. Any questions? (I asked them a few)
VKM said they would let me know by 15th Jan. I think I cracked it, but as
somebody said earlier, the more I think of it, the more I feel I could have
done better. Anyway, keeping all my fingers and toes crossed till 15th.
Thanks a lot to Raja, Vineet and everyone else who has contributed to the
group.
All the best to all of us.. hope we all meet at isb!
Cheers!
Neeraj.