The Application Process

Essay 1: If we were to admit just one more student, make a compelling argument as to why that student should be you by describing an (only one) achievement in your personal / professional life that you are most proud of. What did you do that sets you apart from others? What did you learn? (400 words max)
The essay is a good way of asking about the many shades of your personality and what makes you unique. What you bring to the table and how would your presence add value to the class at ISB. Our approach to the essay:
o Describe the most promising achievement and why was this situation unique and what was your role?
o What strenghts did you display during this initiative
o How did you work, motivate, convince and negotiate with others to complete tasks. What an impact you have made on the team with your dedication and personal skills
o What know-how you have about a particular area/industry which you can share with future class at ISB?
o Challenges you faced working in a team and external stakeholders and how did you overcome? Measure the achievements using key business metrics. Explain the role, project size (in $ and team size), client details, benefits to clients' business (in terms of revenue increase, costs decrease, process efficiency increased, the effectiveness of a specific task)
o What did you learn from the experience. How did you grow into a better person and professional?

Essay 2: Answer one of the two questions below:

A) Describe a (only one) defining moment in your personal / professional life when you had to make a risky decision, and explain what you did, why and the outcome?
This essay should be selected when you had to make a tough choice with the uncertainties involved. What options you had to choose from and how did you make a tough decision. Please note the outcome of the decision is not important and it need not be positive, what is expected is the process you have followed to arrive at a decision and whether it was the best thing you have taken given the circumstances and what impact it had on you.

Describe the situation; give the background about the stakeholders, what would have happened if you took decision otherwise. What was the risk you were to take? What were the repercussions? If the example is from personal life what impact the decision will have on the relationships? Was the decision involved risking a relationship or tough decision, which could estrange someone you know? If it's a professional situation, did it have financial or career impact?
Describe why this was a defining moment, what was dependent on this decision? What decision possibilities were present in front of you? What elements or factors (positives and negatives) you have considered for each option before deciding one of the choices?
What challenges you had and how did you decide on one option. Were you forced or mandated or required to choose one of the favorites against your will? When you made a decision, how did you feel (were you relieved or stressed or was against your will etc.)?
What did you learn from this experience? How did you grow as a person (another way of asking is if you were to do it again, how different you would tackle the same or advice you would give to others to tackle the situation)?

B) Describe a (only one) situation in your personal / professional life when you had to interact with people from diverse backgrounds. How did it affect you and what did you learn? (300 words max)

This essay gives an opportunity to illustrate situations that you have experienced while meeting or working with people from different backgrounds.

Use this essay if you have interesting experiences while meeting or working with people from diverse backgrounds. Pick up an example, where you demonstrated international outlook, learnt something new, adapted to the situation and were inclusive in nature. This can be from a personal experience while you were pursuing your interests/passions with clubs/organizations you have been involved. At work, this could be interactions with the clients or teams from other countries, vendor/partner/stakeholder where you had to meet, work and take joint decisions.

How do you describe the diversity (it could be culture, language, gender etc.) and what it means to you to interact and work with diverse people? In what capacity you have interacted or demonstrated diverse team skills like coordination, leading, initiating, organizing etc. What was your initial reaction and how did you respond to the situation? During this experience what were your learning's. What changes you have observed in you as a result of this experience. What new skills or aspects you learnt which left you enriched. How this helped you as a person or professional.

What are your achievements during this experience? For example, while working with diverse people you worked or interacted with them and you left your mark with meaningful contribution which had a lasting impact on you and the people associated with or the project/team/organization?

Essay 3: What are your post ISB career plans and how will your past experiences and the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) contribute to taking you there? (300 words max)

· Career progression, so far should include the professional skills and soft skills you have gained over the course of professional experience. Mention how these skills were displayed during various projects or assignments you have taken up. What challenges you have overcome, what initiatives you have taken and what impact you had on your team/organization or the client's business. List down the skills you don't have, but you need to acquire them for them to achieve your career goals. This gap or delta of skill-sets needs to be listed. This would be the foundation for your argument, why you need an MBA.
· State why MBA now and why you can't wait for a few more years. Why it is a good time and how prepared you are to take on the journey.
· What are your career goals, both short-term and long term goals. The emphasis should be on the short term goals: which industry and function are you targeting post your MBA. What kind of organizations you want to target. Please check if these firms recruit at ISB. Do you have a back-up option? In case you are looking at Entrepreneurship, have you worked on a business plan, what support you are looking at ISB etc.
· How ISB can help you achieve the desired skill-sets. At ISB, what courses, faculty resources, activities and engagements will help you to build on the skill-sets to springboard your career
· How are better prepared to make the most of the opportunities ISB provides
Essay 4: (Optional) Please use this space to explain any career breaks / provide any other information not covered elsewhere in the application that could significantly impact your candidature at ISB. Note: It is not necessary to write this essay. Please use this space only if there is something really significant that you would like us to know. (200 words max)

You should use this space when you feel there are other interesting points which admissions committee should know. This information should not have been covered in the rest of the essays, like:
· Any interesting personal background or professional experience or Information which could not be addressed in the essays can be stated here.
· You can use this space to justify low GMAT or GPA. In case you have a weak point mention how will this be compensated. Please mention only if there are genuine reasons, don't make up or write about the reasons.
· If there are in your work experiences where you have used productively elsewhere for personal or professional growth elaborate the same with reasoning.
· If there are any explanations required like a recommendation from immediate manager is not possible or issues with transcripts etc. please use this space to clarify.