Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

AskgoISB wrote:

bblast wrote:There are so many debates on this one.

Do we have a better(higher) chance if we apply in R1 ?

This article will help you
https://blog.apphelp.co.in/2010/03/09/is ... s-round-2/

ISB last yr took very few students in R1 because they got very few applications ( given they shifted R1 deadline to 15 Aug last yr). Also we got to know that the quality of R1 apps last yr was not good.

ISB generally takes good number of applicants in R1 and chances are better in R1 as very few applicants apply.

goISB Team

Dear goISB Team,

I beg to differ on all points stated above:
1) Last year R1 deadline was 30th August (Please check facts before posting on forums like these)
2) There is no way that you can get an authentic or reliable information on what the ad-com thinks of the quality of its applicants (because the ad-com will never reveal it to any one. Every applicant is unique in his/her own way and hence schools like ISB, HBS, INSEAD etc have a profile based evaluation and not based on an exam and few percentages.
3) An applicant's chances are not hampered by the choice of round he/she applies in, if you have a great profile and your essays show that you have a clear vision ahead, you will get through no matter what round you apply in.

If there is any clarification you need, please feel free to reach out.

Cheers

Hi,

Apologies for error in the info: Last yr R1 deadline was 30 aug. We are all human and errors can happen.

But we still believe that chances in R1 might be better than R2. Thats not because ISB takes fewer people in R2. This is because fewer people apply in R1 and hence acceptance rate is better in R1.

We are all a bunch of ISB alumni and more than 40% of us have been on the adcom. Last yr # R1 applicants was not even 1/3rd of R2 applicants which explains what we said above.

goISB Team

Hi,
Can you please have a look on my profile and let me know what should I focus on to improve or enhance my profile

Thanks & Best Regards,
Himanshu.

Hi,
Can you please have a look on my profile and let me know what should I focus on to improve or enhance my profile :-

Xth - 87.16%
XIIth - 76.4%
CSC Engg - 8.44 CGPA

I am planning to take the GMAT on september 1st week this year.I am currently working with Infosys Technologies ltd and have an experience of 2yrs 1 months as of now.Here I have worked on a Banking project as a DBA and a developer of ETL tool.

Extracurriculars :-

1.I used to participate in debates,essays,quiz,etc till 12th and have won several certificates on district,state & national level.

2.I have completed painting courses for 3 yrs from Sahitya Bandiyo Kala Academy,Kolkatta with 1st divison for the 1st year and distinction for next two consecutive years but this was about 15 yrs back when I was studying in class 6th may be though I did give the exam with people aged above 20+ years.I have also won about 30+ certificates for district level and state level competitions but that was mostly before 10th.

3.In XIIth,Iwas awarded the best outgoing student of the year for my batch as I organised stageplays and directed them at school as weel as represented & won for the school in debates and quiz competitions.

4.During my engg too I organised stage plays and directed dramas and took part in dance competitions during our annual functions.I also participated in inter college tech fests.I also organised blood donation camps i our college in association with the Red Cross society.

5.I used to tutor students of class 8th and below when I was in class XII.Similarly during engineering,I used to mentor students of my lower batch in pre placement activities.I have also taught sql to engineering students at a local computer institute during my 3rd year of engineering.

P.S: I have not been associated with any NGO as such although I give away clothes,etc to the needy with a couple of my firends in bhubaneswar whenever we find time.And actually my father met with a very serious accident back in Feb'09 post which he was bedridden and had to undergo about 7 surgeries in the past 2 yrs during which I had to shift between work(hyd) and home(bbsr,as I am the only child) to co-ordinate & manage everything for my family although I never neglected my work.Recently a month back My father had to undergo the amputation of his left leg and God willing should be able to walk in the next 4-5 months using the prosthetic leg.

My main objective of narrating all this is to ask you that If I narrate the same to the adCom will they take it as an excuse for not having enough on my application(If by GOD's grace I manage to get a high GMAT score of 740+ or so) or rather can I use this to strengthen my application instead because its all true and only I know through what tides have I helped my parents sail through...

Also please suggest what I should focus on if I wish to get into ISB this year itself(if this is possible).

Thanks & Best Regards,
Himanshu.

Hi Himanshu,

We wouldn't recommend doing so. It looks a sympathy seeking exercise.

You have decent things in your profile so focus on that. If you get an interview call and if context arises then talk about the same in the interview.

Focus on your GMAT and try to get the best possible score.

Cheers
goISB Team

Hi,

My profile is as follows:
GMAT 660: Quant 50, Verbal 29, AWA 4.5
MSc Mathematics (Integrated 4-yr course after 10+2) from BITS, Pilani, CGPA: 6.19/10.00
12th: 84.3%
10th: 93.5%
Work-ex of 2 years. Involved in client management for more than 1 year now, the client being the biggest player in the Indian television media industry. Succesfully deployed two modules on clientsite, trained 100+ users in the client's organization. Will get very good recos, one from product manager, another from client
Extra-curriculars: Not great
Please evaluate my profile for ISB, Hyderabad and let me know whether it would be a stretch

Hi Abhik,

Since you have weak extra currics and your low GMAT score doesnt help either we would recommend retaking GMAT and improving your score to a 700+ . Your profile is good but at 600 we see bleak chances.

abhikg wrote:Hi,

My profile is as follows:
GMAT 660: Quant 50, Verbal 29, AWA 4.5
MSc Mathematics (Integrated 4-yr course after 10+2) from BITS, Pilani, CGPA: 6.19/10.00
12th: 84.3%
10th: 93.5%
Work-ex of 2 years. Involved in client management for more than 1 year now, the client being the biggest player in the Indian television media industry. Succesfully deployed two modules on clientsite, trained 100+ users in the client's organization. Will get very good recos, one from product manager, another from client
Extra-curriculars: Not great
Please evaluate my profile for ISB, Hyderabad and let me know whether it would be a stretch

Hi abhikg,

Considering you have 2 years of experience, any MBA application would expect to see quality of experience including early display of signs of leadership, teamwork and professional maturity to prove that you are ready for an MBA. To analyze that, we'll need to get into the details of your experience including certain examples.

Before that, I believe your academics could be an issue. Although your 12th %age is fine, but your undergrad GPA of 6.19 does not help. To mitigate that, I would have expected to see a higher GMAT score. With a score of 660, there is a fear that a generalization will be made on your profile of poor acads. While your quant score is good, verbal has pulled the GMAT down. I'd recommend writing GMAT again. Do not hurry into it. Take your time, prepare well and aim higher than 710 to set yourself apart. Even if it means applying in R2, do not compromise on your GMAT prep.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Besides ISB, could you please let me know which are the B-schools for which this profile would be competitive (preferably 1-yr program). Also are any of the following schools competitive for this profile: Insead, Singapore, NUS Singapore & NTU Singapore
Not sure whether this is the correct place to ask non-ISB qs. Please re-direct me to the relevant link if that's the case

abhikg wrote:Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Besides ISB, could you please let me know which are the B-schools for which this profile would be competitive (preferably 1-yr program). Also are any of the following schools competitive for this profile: Insead, Singapore, NUS Singapore & NTU Singapore
Not sure whether this is the correct place to ask non-ISB qs. Please re-direct me to the relevant link if that's the case

Hi abhikg,

Your profile competitiveness will depend a lot on subjective factors like leadership, team skills, innovation at work, etc. These will help you display the softer aspect of your personality that may help you overcome the academic negative bias formed by the numbers (both acads and no of years of experience).

For the schools you mentioned, INSEAD and ISB will be competitive and NUS, NTU are a reach. Not sure if you know that INSEAD Sgp and Fontainbleau do not have separate admissions. They are separate campuses but you apply to INSEAD only. The campus allotment is random (based on some preferences) and there is campus exchange also. Just like ISB Mohali and Hyderabad.

I have not taken my GMAT but am planning to take it in the coming future.
My profile

Xth - 67(2001)
XII th - 66.7(2003)
Btech - 84.2(2005 - 2009)(NIT Allahabad)

Currently i have 2 yrs of work ex (19 months in Wells Fargo India Solutions and after that in Samsung India Software Operations.)

Extra Curricular - 2 certis from my college during graduation for organizing fests .
In my previous company i got 4-5 appreciation awards (individual as well as team).

I was a part of an NGO during 2010 but i don't have a certificate for the same. I was also a part of Wells Fargo CSR(was among the first members) and as part of the group we organized a lot of activities (and here also i don't have a certificate to prove this) .

I know my profile is not great but i am willing to put in 2 yrs of time to improve it and then i'll take GMAT . Please let me know what i can do to improve my profile.

Thanks in advance
Vikas

vikaschhabra8 wrote:I have not taken my GMAT but am planning to take it in the coming future.
My profile

Xth - 67(2001)
XII th - 66.7(2003)
Btech - 84.2(2005 - 2009)(NIT Allahabad)

Currently i have 2 yrs of work ex (19 months in Wells Fargo India Solutions and after that in Samsung India Software Operations.)

Extra Curricular - 2 certis from my college during graduation for organizing fests .
In my previous company i got 4-5 appreciation awards (individual as well as team).

I was a part of an NGO during 2010 but i don't have a certificate for the same. I was also a part of Wells Fargo CSR(was among the first members) and as part of the group we organized a lot of activities (and here also i don't have a certificate to prove this) .

I know my profile is not great but i am willing to put in 2 yrs of time to improve it and then i'll take GMAT . Please let me know what i can do to improve my profile.

Thanks in advance
Vikas

Hi vikaschhabra8,

Academics: Your class 12 performance is average, but with 84.2% in undergrad kind of overcomes it. You'll still need a good GMAT score so that acads do not become a red flag. I see a gap of 2 years between your 12th and B-Tech commencement. You will need to explain that too.

Work-ex: Your work-ex right now is much lower than that of average of any top B-school. Moreover, it is the quality of experience over the quantity. And evaluating quality briefly is difficult. Still, for example, when you say you have received 4-5 appreciation awards, why don't you focus on what you did rather than the award. What a b-school is looking for is signs of leadership and team skills. Those can be displayed by relevant examples of contribution to the work place. So focus on your actions and your contributions highlighting the impact you have had on the organization.

Extra-currics: You seem to have too much focus on certificates. Certificates are mere paper. They do not show how much work you put in or what the impact of your contribution was. So keep that thought aside and always focus on your actions. For instance, being part of NGO is not sufficient. The adcom wants to know what you did there: Did you organize a fund raising event? Did you go on site to help Tsunami victims? Or do you teach underpriviledged children? You see, there can be multiple inferences drawn and with no specifics, you confuse the reader and leave him guessing, which is dangerous.

To improve you profile, be genuine in everything you do. Try to take some new initiatives at work. Think about what kind of a leader you are and how you can improve as one. Leadership is not about any position, but about the work that you do. Think out of the box, be sincere, share responsibility with your team, learn to delegate, etc. Also be involved in your true passion.

Hi Vikas,

Your undergrad acads looks decent and both Wells Fargo and Samsung are good brand names.

As profile improvement if you can move away from software development and get into other aspects of product development or deployment which will differentiate your profile.

You CSR initiatives will help is presented well in essays. Also, see which other extra currics you have been involved in or are interested and try to improve upon them.

But for your profile GMAT score is very important. So, work hard on that. You need not wait for 2 yrs. One more yr of experience should be fine.

goISB Team

Hi all,

thought these might be of some help to know the school better

Cheers
Prashant Gupta

prashantkgupta83 wrote:Hi all,

thought these might be of some help to know the school better
https://blogs.isb.edu/pgp2012students/
https://blogs.isb.edu/admissionsdirector/

Cheers
Prashant Gupta

Hi prashant,
I wanted to know names of a few companies which hired people for operations/SCM. The list on the website is endless but any first hand inputs would be great !!!