My interview never came to a stage where I had to justify parts of my application. I had thought that may be they'll quiz me over my spectacularly low GPA but they never did. The flow was such that the discussion kept hopping from one topic to another. I actually thought that my interview didn't go as it should've as I was not able to showcase the answers I had prepared for standard questions like Why MBA, Why ISB etc. So when I got dinged, I assumed that it was probably because of low GPA and a very scattered interview (Discussions ranged from technical aspects of vehicles to Market research along with standard questions.) However, in my feedback session, my counsellor informed me that:
1. my GMAT+AWA (710/5.0)+no of years work ex (5) more than compensates for my low GPA. I think she stressed more than two times that I do not need to retake GMAT.
2. My interview was fine and the panel thought I was able to communicate well.
3. Essays were well written.
Now the feedback really confused me. If everything was fine then what went wrong? To that she answered that even though my accomplishments look great and career goals are achievable, it was not clear from my application or interview the knowledge that I have garnered over 5 years and what value will I bring to the table. She told me that one of the focus areas is to highlight how the class at ISB would benefit from my experience.
I think it was an important feedback and just goes to show that you cannot ignore ANY aspect of your application. Even though your rest application is stellar, if you miss out on one particular detail, it might just hurt your chances real bad.
@crackster said: On reading some prior posts, saw a ding for many good applicants, surely there were some reasons or is the admission based on the interviewers "gut instinct" , not sure..I had a admit from Carnegie Mellon -Tepper school of business but didnt have the relevant funds to see through... ( anyways, I think they very strongly emphasis on your clarity of goals ... I was very honest in the interview, maybe should have toned down a bit and been more diplomatic ..frankly speaking, was a bit upset that in a class of 700+, I was not suitable enough... Dunno..
Ditto for me. I too felt awkward thinking about not managing an admission inspite of the gigantic batch size. I have a 710 GMAT and belonged to non-engineering lot. On the hindsight, I felt I took things too easy both during the application and the interview stage.
Would love to hear any specific instance..I think the statements by you and @crackster depict the same issue in some way. Do you mean to say that while interviewing, you couldn't justify some of the points written in your application/essays?
Thanks,
Rahul
Likewise, I feel U have to bring in your strong positives and your fit ingeniously in the conversation. Except for few direct opportunities, you would be left wanting to speak your mind before you come to know it over. I am a bit skeptical of over rehearsing before the actual interview. You can be caught off guard both when u r under-prepared or over rehearsed for expected questions.
Need your inputs on the suitability of my profile for ISB. Is the experience too much? Are there people of similar profile in the current batch.
Profile in Brief - Will have 8 years 7 Months of IT(Infosys) experience by Feb 2013.Close to 30 years old. Currently playing the role of Team lead for my current project and reporting to the offshore program manager. Teams from 3 other locations also report to my program manager. Team size is 8-10 members in a niche technology(WCS).WCS is built on Java and I am also quite well versed in Java.
GMAT - 740 , Q 48 V 42.
Onsite Ex - 3 years of onsite experience working for Bank of America from 2007-2010. Recent short trips to US as offshore lead for initial project setup for an Ecom major.
Long Term goal - I will continue to be a part of IT industry but want to get exposure to other facets of Industry like Corporate planning, Business development etc. Right now all my experience is in delivery. I plan to be an enterpreneur if i can find the right opportunity and right team for it. Otherwise I aim to reach a leadership/strategizing postion in the IT Services/Product business in one of the Indian IT biggies. For all this i hope that the knowledge/network that i gain in PGPX will help me.
Recommendations Question? - I have good connect with my clients in BOFA and should be able to get recommendations from the clients i reported to. I also can get recos from my current manager if that will be considered as having more weightage. I have worked across 2 domains(Ecommerce and Investment Banking) in a technical capacity. Should i try to get one recommendation from each of the domains? Should i focus on the recent recommendations or can I go back to 2010?
EC - Not much. Part of a volunteer organization for youth based out of kerala. The organization is spiritual in nature and is part of an ashram that i have been associated with a very long time. Was treasurer of this org in 2002-2004 time frame and is an active member/mentor for the newer folks.
Ditto for me. I too felt awkward thinking about not managing an admission inspite of the gigantic batch size. I have a 710 GMAT and belonged to non-engineering lot. On the hindsight, I felt I took things too easy both during the application and the interview stage.
I so agree with you, I too took it lightly, especially the interview .. and yes agree that before you know the interview gets over :D
I so agree with you, I too took it lightly, especially the interview .. and yes agree that before you know the interview gets over
This happened with me also... My interview was almost over after 20 mins...interviewer asked me any questions for us... ( I was shocked that its over in 20 mins ) ... then i took a chance and asked one totally diff question... and my interview went on for 20 more minutes....
Lesson for me was that you will have to steer your interview otherwise there is a very less chance of conversion.
The panel is there to notice our personality and draw inferences. Per experts, primarily they'll look for:
1. Communication skills
2. Ratio between maturity level and naivety level
3. Career stuff (clarity of goals, nature of OTJ learning, leadership, value to ISB etc)
4. Whether you'd land a job after ISB. (Remember that all the learning and personality transformation in a B school is alright but one of the primary concerns for any B school is their placement statistics.)
20 minutes is enough for them to judge whether a candidate, once put in a class of success driven students at ISB, will be able to display these characteristics and will be able to hold up to the multidimensional pressures of the 1 yr MBA program. If they find any of the core values missing, its a red flag for them. So no matter where the conversation goes, be certain to put across the major points to them.
In my applications, the results that I accomplished in my job were coming out, but not so much how I accomplished them. So probably the panel did not get a real idea of my skill sets and the value I would bring to the table. I think thats what killed my chances.
@[466456:gmat201013] Do you have a four yr gap between XIIth and engg? You'll need to justify it but I would think that its not as grave a sin as a 4 yr gap between engg and 1st job would've been.. For now focus on GMAT. Its good that you realize that you'll need 700+. Also, do not neglect AWA as ISB includes AWA score in their evaluations.
A better forum to have your queries answered will be here:
@navisangha said:This happened with me also... My interview was almost over after 20 mins...interviewer asked me any questions for us... ( I was shocked that its over in 20 mins ) ... then i took a chance and asked one totally diff question... and my interview went on for 20 more minutes....Lesson for me was that you will have to steer your interview otherwise there is a very less chance of conversion.
There was one aspect of my profile that they did not even touch.So i rephrased my original question i had to ask them....and told them that i want to do something related to "that aspect" while at ISB... So they started questioning me on it... One interviewer even laughed at me... i immediately corrected him saying ... i knew u will laugh... in a way last 20 mins of interview were quite interesting....
have a question on the recos. I have an option of taking a reco from one of my previous managers as well as a vice president on the client side who is well aware of my work. Who shall I choose? will the seniority of a person carry more weight or will the reporting manger overrule overrule the reco given by the VP? any ideas, suggestions are welcome.
@[515441:Hatter] Both options are good. It is generally well known that the most important criterion for choosing recommenders is that they should know you well. So if it happens to be a person of VP level, its an added advantage and will certainly do you no harm. But you need to figure out that out of your two options, who will be more willing to take out a good 2-3 hours to write your recommendation. It will also be helpful if you could sit down with your recommender and explain to him/ her about B school application process and your expectations wrt to the recommendation. You could also discuss the areas you may want the recommenders to focus on, given that they are open to it.
@magnifico said: The panel is there to notice our personality and draw inferences. Per experts, primarily they'll look for:
1. Communication skills
2. Ratio between maturity level and naivety level
3. Career stuff (clarity of goals, nature of OTJ learning, leadership, value to ISB etc)
4. Whether you'd land a job after ISB. (Remember that all the learning and personality transformation in a B school is alright but one of the primary concerns for any B school is their placement statistics.)
20 minutes is enough for them to judge whether a candidate, once put in a class of success driven students at ISB, will be able to display these characteristics and will be able to hold up to the multidimensional pressures of the 1 yr MBA program. If they find any of the core values missing, its a red flag for them. So no matter where the conversation goes, be certain to put across the major points to them.
In my applications, the results that I accomplished in my job were coming out, but not so much how I accomplished them. So probably the panel did not get a real idea of my skill sets and the value I would bring to the table. I think thats what killed my chances.
While agreeing to what you said, I would add that the interview panel is looking to 'reject' rather than select, that alone makes all the difference..
While agreeing to what you said, I would add that the interview panel is looking to 'reject' rather than select, that alone makes all the difference..
Interview panel of ISB is very cool ( making most interviews very calm and easy) and they have "select" a candidatie approach.. rather than famous "reject" cadidate approach followed by most b schools...
(AWA 3.5)