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Sunday, February 06, 2005
ISB Interviews 2005 ROUND 2
ROUND 2 Interview Experiences
Interview Experience 1
Rituparm Bakshi to isb-pgp
Hi,
Had my interview in Delhi today. There were three people in the panel, two faculty/admissions and an alum. They were very nice thru the interview and
made the interviewee feel comfortable. A few questions:
- What is the difference between an engineer and a manager?
- Questions related to failure essay
- Why lack of extra-curriculars
- Questions related to work experience
- Why MBA?
- After MBA, what?
- Any questions from us?
The interview took 20 minutes. Everyone came out satisfied from the interview experience! So keeping my fingers crossed X
Good luck others!
Regards,
Rituparn
Interview Experience 2
prashant parameshwaran to isb-pgp
Delhi ( Feb 4'th 10:00 am)
I reached Taj Palace by 8:30 am , a good 1 1/2 hrs before my interview time ( 10:00 am ). Was not sure if any of those ministers would have wanted to go ahead
and block the traffic, took no chance.
Met up with a couple of students and obviously smoked a couple of cigii's to keep my engine running
The STAGE :
There were 3 panels with 3 members in each panel. Each panel worked like clockwork, sharp at 9 am , they started calling in candidates. From what I understood
( yeah had 1 hr of experience ) , Panel 1 and 2 had the usual general interview experience, as in nothing out of the box . Though a number of candidates from
Rituparn's panel had the common area that asked about
: Failure/Weakness . Panel 3 was kinda wierd , none of us noticed the first candidate disapper ( we guessed they had the old toture chamber style of pulling a lever and saying ' you are dumped ' and your seat just falls into a huge pit. We needed to joke at that moment to get our nerves relaxed ) . Yeah , obviously this was my panel !!!!
There were 2 alums and one alum cum staff ( thought he was firang : Raja/Vineet , any clue whats his name: couldnt catch his name ).....i was called in a 10:05
am and ....
1.Once I went in they asked me if I wanted anything to drink and with politely refused settling for a glass of water ( DONT MISS THE WATER !!!! IT MIGHT BE
HELPFULL...REMEBER IT'S YAPPING TIME)
2. Luckily one of the panelist had stepped out , so got time to settle in.
3. My first question was ' Tell me something about yourself beyond what is mentioned in your essays'
4. Taking a clue from that they question me on my contribution to the society
5. I took the lead from there and talked of my internship ( damn !!!! I thought I was doing an intresting internship, but the best of my story telling skills didnt fascinate them )
6. The theme of my interview began " Prashant, you are in the family biz and you want to work in a MNC for 3/4 years and then start a venture" : There was som
heavy duty cross firing on this : Why , where , what logic, rubbish , have you seriosouly thought of it etc etc .....I used examples of this internship and what
my goals where ....
7. They questioned why I had to take a path to those goals .....it went on and on ( 20 mins!!!!!!!!!)
8. I wanted to talk of the work i have done for the past 4 years , but they kept asking me to step out of my essays ....
9.They then questioned me on the path i have taken and stated that it was unsual from the what people from family biz backgrounds do...etc etc ...
10. Then questioned me further on how the internship was fitting into the larger scheme of things ...
They then wound up the interview in around 30-35 odd mins and asked if I had any questions. Used a good 5 mins and ultimately found that 2 out of the 3 panelists were from family biz !!!!!!!!
BOTTOM LINE : I SUCKED , I SURE COULD HAVE DONE BETTER. I HAD A LOT OF STUFF TO TELL THEM , BUT THEY KEPT PULLING ME BACK WHEN I WAS TAKING THE LEADS.
The one good fact was that I did not get perturbed or loose my cool : thats my key advise to anyone who has a rapid fire round , go in with a slightly bindas attitude ( not the kind with your chin up), tell your inner self that the person sitting across is not going to let me loose my true self and that regardless you would not give in/succumb to the pressure.
The one good thing I did do post my interview was to grab a great lunch and a chilled out night with a couple of friends at a pub ( though drinking kinda puzzled of how my interview went )
Best of luck
Prashant
Interview Experience 3
Vijay Sarathy to isb-pgp
Interview panel: Mr. Menon, Mr. Vinoo Urs and one more adcom member,
whose name I don't remember.
Duration: 45-47mins (4:35PM to 5:20PM)
Venue: Taj Coromandel, Chennai
Menon: Vijay, we have read your application thoroughly so there are no
specific questions as such. Please feel free to drive the show and
tell us what you want to say about yourself, about yr family, yr
expectations from ISB etc.
[I didn't anticipate this full toss but started fairly well] gave a
small brief about myself, my educational background and my family.
Vinoo: Parlez-vous francais? (That's French for, do you speak French?)
[This was followed by the grill of the evening on my post-ISB plans.
Mr. Menon and I stuck to our respective stances, which made him to
finally remark, "Okay, now lets move on to something else other than
IT"]
Menon: Turn around; do you see that television set over there? How
many inches do you think it is and how many such sets do you think can
be sold in India this year? Give me a number finally.
[I walked them through the market sizing but lost track somewhere. Mr.
Urs prompted me to consider certain parameters and Mr.Menon finally
remarked, I think it's okay; we only want to understand yr thinking
process]
Menon: Any questions for us?
[Asked them some questions on their value proposition, their business
case respository etc.]
Overall, I think the session went okay although you always wonder if
you could have made a better sales pitch. It's one of those interviews
where you keep wondering if you made it or not. Atleast, the monkey is
off the back now and the agonizing wait begins. Meanwhile, let me
catch up with some partying
Thanks a ton to all the folks on this forum. This group has been of
immense help to my preparation.
--
best regards
vijay
Interview Experience 4
Rohan Chopra to isb-pgp (Delhi)
My Interview I am happy it's finally over)
1. To start off, questions on the Leadership essay, y?
Reasons?
2. How would you increase the number of applicants to
ISB? (messed up this one).
3. Don't you think you need more experience? (I have
21 months of experience at present). Grilled!
4. What kind of a manager are you?
5. How/What would you contribute to the ISB? Grilled!
6. Questions from the resume - regarding projects I
have done
7. Any questions for us?
Overall, didn't do well. Fingers crossed, waiting for
Feb 28.
If I get through, I will be one of the "Tough
Interview survivors".
Best of Luck. Stay calm and you will do good.
Cheers,
Rohan
Interview Experience 5
Am reproducing my int exp script here...
Here goes my interview exp at Taj Palace on Sat eve 6 PM (board room 1)
Panel of 3. One of em was Hima (shez from adcom), One current/ex
student I beleive & a third gentleman.
Qns --
# Tell us something about yourself not in the application.
# Why 'you' ? Whats different about you ? What separates you from the
hazaaar IT junta ? -- I think I wasnt convincing at all on this one.
( They said the guy before you sings, paints & even does shaayari & we
asked him to sing at the end of the interview. & We'll also ask you to
sing at the end. This brought a big sheepish smile across my face
)
# Tell us something about your values ? Got grilled on this one.
# What do you do for fun ? What are your hobbies ? What would you do
if you had a 3 day holiday ?
# Question on essay responses on Xtra cirriculars/Community Work.
# Why do you need an MBA for the position I want to get Post MBA (from
the essays) -- Lots of discussion on this.
# One Question I asked them at the end.
Panel -- very cordial & puts you at ease. Not much of visible stress
but lots of it in undercurrent .
Overall feel. - Unsatisfactory. I think they are BORED of similar
profiles & just hear out the stories ppl have to say. I must say I
failed at getting the entire panel totally interested in my story. I
dropped many hints which I hoped they would pick up & the dicussion
would lead in that direction but It didnt happen.
I dont have much hopes after this kinda experience.
Rest of R2 junta -- All the best.
capreal
Interview Experience 6
Amit Sharma to isbpgp
Here goes my interview exp at Taj Palace on Sat eve 6 PM (board room 1)
Panel of 3. One of em was Hima (shez from adcom), One current/ex
student I beleive & a third gentleman.
Qns --
# Tell us something about yourself not in the application.
# Why 'you' ? Whats different about you ? What separates you from the
hazaaar IT junta ? -- I think I wasnt convincing at all on this one.
( They said the guy before you sings, paints & even does shaayari & we
asked him to sing at the end of the interview. & We'll also ask you to
sing at the end. This brought a big sheepish smile across my face :-)
)
# Tell us something about your values ? Got grilled on this one.
# What do you do for fun ? What are your hobbies ? What would you do
if you had a 3 day holiday ?
# Question on essay responses on Xtra cirriculars/Community Work.
# Why do you need an MBA for the position I want to get Post MBA (from
the essays) -- Lots of discussion on this.
# One Question I asked them at the end.
Panel -- very cordial & puts you at ease. Not much of visible stress
but lots of it in undercurrent :-).
Overall feel. - Unsatisfactory. I think they are BORED of similar
profiles & just hear out the stories ppl have to say. I must say I
failed at getting the entire panel totally interested in my story. I
dropped many hints which I hoped they would pick up & the dicussion
would lead in that direction but It didnt happen.
I dont have much hopes after this kinda experience.
Rest of R2 junta -- All the best.
~ amit
Interview Experience 7
Karthik Ramachandran to isbpgp
All,
Sorry for being late, but here are my experiences. I had my interview on the 5th between 10 and 10:30 am in Chennai. The questions posted to me.
Mr. Menon:
1. We've already gone through your application and essays. So you can talk about yourself and tell us anything that you want us know about, that is not in the application or even if it is there.
2. From KV IIT (the school I studied), why didn't go to the next logical location - IIT? Why didn't you study even in the REC's?
3. Why does a ship made of steel float whereas a piece of steel sink in water?
4. How has your career progress been at work?
Another person (student):
5. What have been your tasks as a module leader?
6. Have you done any estimation as part of your work? Have you worked on any RFP's
7. Do you have an idea of how projects/clients are won by your organization?
8. Do you know how your company quotes for projects? What is the rate (This was a question I said I knew but didn't answer well).
Third person (student):
9. Why MBA? Why ISB?
10. Post ISB what?
11. Do you think your experience so far is enough to achieve your post ISB goal?
Me (Any questions for us)
12. What is this Class Performance evaluation? A student answered
13. ISB started off on the strength of its visiting faculty. Recently a news item on the ET stated that it is changing its policy and going in for 20% more in-house faculty. Why this change of policy? Mr. Menon answered
END OF INTERVIEW.
Thanks for all of you who posted their experiences and current students and applicants who blogged. After my ISB application process began, I've read so much about ISB because of you guys and that has helped me immensely. I am hoping for the best.
Thanks
Karthik
Interview Experience 8
Saptarshi to isb-pgp
Hi All,
I am new to this group, just found about the group few days before the isb interview from another forum. My interview was on 4th February Friday in Delhi.. Taj Palace...and trust me it was a stress interview all the way.. 50 mins of cross questioning on everything...and i think i should share with every one who has a different background from the usual.
My Brief Background:
GMAT: 650
Economics Hons Delhi University
Close 2 years work experience in Risk and Business Consulting in E&Y and PwC
Lot of extra curriculars like National level Basketball, debating and theatre.
Description of the panel
Associate Dean
Founding Batch Alumni
Manager Admissions
Questions asked:
- So you have 21 months of experience why you in such a hurry to do your MBA?
So basically answered on why MBA and ISB fits into my career plan and talked about my peer group in office and also composition of my teams
- So you are one of the few graduates in a organisation full of MBAs and CAs, did E&Y do a mistake in hiring you?
So talked about my rise and work and how i am performing etc.
Then work related questions started:
- So you have done a lot of various types of work tell me about your supply chain management assignment, what did you do?
- What was your methodology?
- What is the difference between a E&Y executing the work and some arbid indian company?
- How does risk fit into this assignment?
- Does any other division of E&Y does business consulting?
Then questions related to risk management:
- Define risk.
Defined and explained various types of risk and gave a simplistic answer to make the answer.
- How do you measure risk and compare across industries.
- How does an economics background fit into risk management and business consulting
- Using a measurement you have learned in Economics, measure risk.
So talked about standard deviation.
- Fine, using this principle measure the perceived risk in the stock market for a lay man.
Told them, dont have expereince in the stock market, asked me to use my knowledge, logic and background and give an example.
- Then questions relating to my example.
- After 30 mins of all this a killer question, using all the principles you have talked about in last half an hour, tell us what is the perceived risk for ISB in taking you as a student. Define the parameters and use standard deviation.
And this answer went about for good 10 mins, with nice cross questioning on each aspect.
after this questions 2 questions to wind up,
- What is your best job and worst job?
- Any, questions for us? By this time I was exhausting.
So, what can I say dont know why they grilled me so much, no questions on my essays etc. I think this is an unusual interview. Just came out extremely tired and brain dead.
Saptarshi
Interview Experience 9
sachinarora_786 to isb-pgp
Hello,
Had my interview at Taj Palace on Feb 5th,2005.
Scheduled time was 5pm - 5:30pm...started before schedule at 4:40pm,
continued till about 5:10pm
Questions -
1. Career progression and Current work profile
2. Why did you leave your first organization?
3. What clients has your current organization got?
4. Biggest achievement in professional life?
5. What after MBA?
6. Quality Assurance v/s Quality Control(I am from Proj Mgmt
background)
7. PERT v/s CPM (I am from Proj Mgmt background)
8. What do you think about Sonia Gandhi - is there a strategy behind
what's happening or is it just by chance? (I had mentioned politics
as an area of interest)
9. Any questions for us?
Hope this helps...
Waiting for Feb 28.
Thanks
Sachin Arora
Interview Experience 10
mitika kulshreshtha to isbpgp
hey...
Here's my interview experience...
Happened on 02/04 at 1000IST went on for about 20 minutes. A very friendly panel. Made me feel at ease, asked me the following in the same order:
1. Why ISB?
2. In which industry and which function do you see yourself after ISB?
3. What is the difference between marketing to an FMCG company and marketing to an IT client?
4. Grilled me a little on a situational question - what key challenges and solutions can I forsee if I were made the relationship manager for a big company like GE.
5. My avocation and interests
6. My diffrentiators and strengths in 3 quick bullets.
God bless and Godspeed...
Interview Experience 11
Hi All,
My Profile
Score :650
Work Ex: 42months
Field: IT
USA Exp: 1yr
Interview Time: 10:30am IST Feb 8 (11:00pm CST for me)
Mr.Menon and one more lady, I dont remember her name, were there on
the panel. Following are the set of questions:
1.Please walk us thru your resume
2.Most of the applicants are from IT background and are engineers,
what differentiates you from them.
3.Puzzle:Typical software companies entrance test puzzle, I managed
to make a mistake even in that ;)
4.Do you have any client interfacing exp?
5.Did you work on RFPs?
6.Whatz your companies turnover and how much growth are you expecting?
7.Career Progression in your company
8.Post Career Goals
9.What do you expect from ISB?
10.Most significant achievement
11.Any questions for us?
It was a 25minute interview and I feel I have 25% chance ;) Anyways
all the best to everyone.
Thanks n Regards,
BP
Interview Experience 12
I just had my telephone interview in the US. Panel consisted of Hema
and Ravi. They were very cordial and friendly. They did not ask any
questions that may have put me on a receiving end, however I fumbled
on a couple of questions.
1. What did u like about Baltimore?
2. Whats unique in Washington ?
3. What did you learn here in the US?
4. Tell me more about your company.
5. What is so boring about the job ?
6. What is interesting about my job ? (Seemed to be stuck to the job
thing)
7. How would you finance your MBA ?
8. Why would you leave a well paying job and settled life ?
9. Some chit chat about his experience.
10. My questions, which they seemed to answer pretty well.
I hope my answers were good enough. Thank you all for your great help
and good luck to the ones who are yet to have their interviews.
Regards,
Aditya.
Interview Experience 13
Hi,
Had my interview y'day 8th Feb at 4:30 IST.
the interview panel consited of 2
hema (from adcom) venkat (from placements)
before i go into the ques a brief profile abt my self
---- Brief Profile ----
GMAT 680
Work Ex. 3 yrs 9 months
Worked in India, Korea, Dubai
(Same company althroughout)
Area of work > R&D, Mfg., Six Sigma, Marketing.
-----------------------
- Tell some thing not mentioned in ur apps.
- challenges faced in job
- how can you sell the concept of six sigma to a
marketing professional as i'm working in this)
- Present salary
- Salary expection post ISB
- Opinion on team memebers about you.
- 2 areas of improvement
- How six sigma can help in MBA
- In what way can you improve you present work post
ISB.
- What will be the comments of CEO if you leave you
company.
- Post ISB would you like to work back in same job
profile and same company.
Overall the interview went quite well, but i'm
confused none of the normal ques (i had mugged them
up) were asked like y ISB, Y MBA ...
the interview lasted for arnd 16 mins...
if u need any more info feel free t write bak to me.
Best of luck to all those waiting for the interview or
calls.
take care
Deepak
Interview Experience 14
It seems we have just zeroed in on Mr Venkat's set of questions(at
least a couple of them Q2 and Q6 in my list below)..
I had mine this morning and the panel had 2 ppl - Rahul and Venkat.
Set of questions asked:
1.Why ISB
2.Post ISB - will like to continue in Wipro? Wat if u get the same job
profile? How will the ISB exp make a diff?
3.Weakness
4.Ur from a BD kind of role - wat r views on that Indian IT cos' like
wipro/infy are not able to prove themselves in product development
like other bigger MNC's?
5.Wats ur guess on Indian IT's contribution to global IT
6.Wat do ur colleagues and friends have to say bout u
7.The 1 yr gap u had in ur career (courtesy 2001 IT Doom phase)? Do u
think tat will make any diff?
8.Anything else u wud like to add
9.Wat do u do in spare time
10.Q's for us
Total time - 21-22 mins.
The panel was pretty friendly.
Cheers!
Abhishek
Interview Experience 15
Taken from http://simba.pagalguy.com
I am done with the ISB interview. I cant really say how I did but can safely say that I spoke a lil too much and showed that I am extremely passionate about my work, my future goals & plans. If they really mistake it for snobbish attitude or over-confidence, then, I really cant help it, I guess.
I landed up at the Taj lands End Hotel in Bandra, Sea face. I really love that place as it is so close to the water & water in all its forms thrills me!! I happened to be almost an hour early but it was good as I could get to speak to the people around me. As I was waiting in the Lounge, I tried to speak to a man next to me. And he didnt look like an over-friendly person.. So, I decided to sit elsewhere & speak to somebodyelse who atleast cares to smile! I went up to 2 girls and started speaking to them. One of them had a finance background and it was nice to speak to her. She has applied to Kellogg and McCombs too. :-) Then, a few more guys came in and we all started speaking and sharing our MBA travails. A couple of guys told me that they mistook me for the Alumni or the Adcom when they saw me. Ooooh! So, whoever came later, I welcomed them introducing myself as the hostess of the day!! :-)
I was called in about 10 mins late and there were 3 in the Panel. It started out pretty casually and then the questions started. But before that the Adcom also thanked me for considering ISB again. I had to answer questions like, What are the Top 3 things that made me look at ISB again this fall? Future goals, what I mean by telecom consultancy? Some technical questions and ha, ha, I really flummoxed them! Then something on the leader I admire & Why? What are the differences between my last year App & this year's one? Probe on Carnatic Music & my Sanskrit Roots. A few off-handed questions about the company I work for. Ofcourse, I saw that coming all the way from Hyderabad ;-) On one question, I really took a tough stand and told them I would not comment about something that I have very little knowledge about!! Hmm, then got a chance to speak about my interests in NGO work and one of them asked me, Why dont u get into non-profit company completely? I answered that well. Or so, I think! And thats it! :-)
I walked out pretty confidently. It had nothing to do with how I fared but basically I knew that I had been true & genuine. It was nothing like other 'phoren' B Schools where they genuinely want to see ur interests & passion. It was more like how you answer a volley of questions without messing it up. My advice to all the ISB aspirants, Relax, its just an interview!! It can be grilling & grinding but what is the fun if it isn't... ;-) All the Best to one & all.
Oops. I almost forgot to mention. I precisely understand what Attagirl meant when she spoke about that 'business suit'. :-) Before I left the hotel I slipped out of that suit, just incase I become the next 'hot' topic around office campus. Women, my one big suggestion (Esp, Indian women!) Invest in a decent suit, you will need it through out!! :-)
Interview Experience 16
Hi Guys n Gals,
Here comes the first interview experience at Hyd posted:
Interview Venue & date: 12: 30 PM, 9th Feb, ISB Campus
Brief Profile of mine:
Qual: B Com, ICWA
Current Position: Internal Auditor - ITC Limited - 1 1/2 years
Previous Experience: Ticket Examiner - Indian Railways - 3 1/2 years
Age: 23
The interview went something like this:
I reached the ISB campus by 11:30 AM. Though I was nervous for the
previous two days, I dont want went to drive me, I was so cool that
day, seemed like I can face anyone.
The panel consisted of Mr. Menon, Manager Admissions and one current
alumni.
They at first gave me a warm greeting, the Manager was pretty cool
and received me. After greeting them, I had a heavy breath showing a
sign that I was ready to take on.
Mr. Menon said he will take about 20 min and started off asking me
to draw the agenda for the interview and speak about anything like
myself etc.,and they would listen. So I started off with my academic
credentials (may be I ll not get time for it if I start with
anything else and they interupt it). I was sure that temptation
would take over them and I am right. They interupted me and then
took me to issues like VAT, Mr. Manmohan Singh, etc.
Some highlights are:
1) Tell us about yourself? (with which I started)
2) Why VAT? How would it be beneficial to the government?
3) Give one positive critique and one negative critique on Mr.
Manmohan Singh as a Prime Minister.
4) Why a ship made of steel floats while a piece of steel sinks in
water?
5) How would you fund your ISB Program?
6) What would you do if you are not offered admission into ISB?
7) What salary do you expect Post ISB?
8) As an Auditor what was your greatest achievement?
9) Give us an instance illustrating how would you go about auditing
a particular area?
10) How would you audit - say, Marketing Division of LG Electronics -
Televisions?
11) Why MBA now? Why not after some more years of experience?
12) What is the difference between Chartered Accountancy and ICWA?
(It seemed like this was the first time an ICWA has applied for ISB)
13) Do you know about the yahoo group about ISB (our group)? How is
it? - this question was from the current alumni - I think he knew
that I was member of this group
14) Would you like to ask us something?
It went one for about 20-25 min.
Though Mr. Menon and the alumni tried to test whether I can stick to
my view points or not, I knew giving up to their viewpoint would
mean a suicide attempt, but y will I give up since I was logical in
and confident of my viewpoint. So guys be cautious there can be trap
in this form.
Soon after the interview my first feeling was - Yes I have done it
and done it well.
The interview was more like a discussion where we were just sharing
our views like we do with our friends.
Mr. Menon was very kind enough to ask question no.4, which was
already posted by someone in this group, anyways I learnt the answer
in my school itself.
But don't know really what are the chances. Overall it was smooth
and good interview.
All the best for the ones who remained to be interview or who are
yet to recieve their calls.
and you can get back to me for any clarifications (i know atleast
one should be because this is the first time a finance guy is
posting his experience - too much attitude na!)
bye
Prasanth D
Interview Experience 17
nemavat pradeep to isb-pgp
Hi All,
I had been a silent member of the grp till now. Here
is my exp of the int at Hyd on 10th Feb.
My profile:
Gmat = 710
exp = 3 and half
industry = semiconductor/embedded/telecom/IT
Why is your Btech score so low?
Why MBA? Why now?
Don't you think you salary is low as compared to your
experience?
Tell us what kind of experiences you had at your
company and what kind of responsibilities u have?
If you are asked to lead the same project (I lead a sw
project) after doing ISB what change/improvement you
think you would do to the project?
Tell something abt urself?
What do you do in ur leisure time? What books have
you read? Some questions on books.
Some ethics and value questions.
Do you have any question for us?
Interview Experience 18
Had my interview in the afternoon today (Mumbai)
My profile - CA + 17 months of full time work ex + 3 years of
articles training + 700 GMAT
Venue - Taj Lands End, Board Room 1
Panel - 3 ppl - an alum (Class 2003), 1 from ad comm and the other
was a faculty(or was he a part of ad comm ???) Dunn quite remember
the names of anyone (Was not Mr. Menon 4 sure !!)
The scene - 3 panels of 3 members each working in tandem.
Was scheduled to go in at 12.30…...reached the venue a good 1 hr
in
advance. Chatted up with a few guys waiting. Called in at
1.45…had
gotten pretty restles by then.was the only one left for the days pre
lunch schedule. The other 2 panels had already interviewed their
quota of candidates and had gone for a lunch. my panel was running a
lil late and i was the only guy waiting.
The questions -
1. Tell me abt ur family background.
2. Post ISB what ? (reiterated my essay answer)...if not this profile
then what ??? So told them Plan B. cross question - if not plan B
then what ?? (whew !!! I was exhausted)
3. how has been ur experience at the company u r working with.
4. u hv just 17 months of work - ex…don't u think u r in a
hurry ??
(Did not give a much convincing answer)
5. Any questions for us ?? (Asked jus 1)
"We'll get in touch with u - Good bye"
That's it!!! 15 mins and I was in and out.
Was it the delayed lunch or the lack of interest in my profile ?? I m
clueless. But compared to the exp. of ppl who interviewed with the
same panel before my interview was the shortest. A girl was grilled
for round abt 50 mins and the person right before me 30 mins.
Should I be looking at an outright rejection or an outright
acceptance ??? I have no idea. The panel reiterated two things in no
uncertain terms - one that I m a very strong candidate and the other
that I seem to be in a hurry to do an mba and should probably wait
for a year.
What should I expect ??? Anybody else with a similar experience ???
When can we expect to hear from the ad comm ?? Jus like we have
rolling admissions / interviews …r we gonna hv rolling admits or
shud
we expect to hear from them only after all interviews are completed.
(Whew !!! that is one loooooong mail )
- Abhishek
Interview Experience 19
Background -
total 3 years of experience in the technology industry
presently working for Novartis
Interview :
Location : 9:30 Taj Lands End
Panel : My Vinoo, Gaurav ( Alum ) , Nityanand (
Manager Admissions )
It started of with Nityanand explaining the format
that they were going to follow for the interview. He
they would be probing about my family background ,
acads and my current work ex
WEnt into family background first ... told them
general stuff me being a lone child and living with my
uncle etc etc.
Went on to acads where they were interested in my
position in class ....
in Engineering and the strength of the class
Then we went on to the fact that my company is
sponsoring me, what did I feel were the reasons for
the sponsorship. Told them Novartis believed in people
development etc etc
Was grilled a bit on what if I did not rejoin. ethics
trust integrity etc ....
Vinoo offered a prespective saying that even if one or
two bad apples did something like that overall the
company was convinced that it was doing the right
thing.
Went on to why I did not join IIM Indore last year and
my expectations from ISB vs an IIM-A tried and
convince them that at this stage in my career ISB
makes more sense than and IIM which would have been my
first choice last year.
Hope they were convinced :-)
Was asked about why I thought ISB was an more
international school vs IIMA,
Last was about what I could bring to the ISB community
I was given an opportunity to ask questions after that
... asked them about their exchange programs.
Was overall a very comfortable experience. Only advice
is be honest and be yourself ... too much preparation
can be counter productive
(Maybe I am saying this because I hardly prepared for
it)
Hope it went well all fingers and toes crossed. All
the best to the people in Banglore and the remaining
ones in Mumbai .......
Regds
Dev
Interview Experience 20
Hi group,
here is my experience of interview. had toiugh time there and they had come prepared for it.
Panel Mr VKM, and two alums one radhika, i guess from citibank and other huy whose name i fail to recall.
Duration 35min
About me
Mech Engg and a PGDBA. Work Ex 3.5yr in Sales of industrial goods. GMAT 640.
Started by asking a copy of resume. guess they wanted to see my preparation. had taken 5prints only yest and so handed one copy to each. and then started
1. VKM- Tell us about your family and what would you like to discuss in next 20min.
2. Alums took the lead from here and started grilling me. why do you want to come to isb
3. to be an enterpreneur you can get leadership programs even at other colleges. like IIMB then why ISB. had difficulty in convincing them on this. ( i had mentioned in my long term goal to be an enterpreneur after 8-10years)
4. VKM- explain aboiut your previous PGDBA
5. VKM- Take us through one of your experiences on any orders you would have taken.
6. VKM- Same question. There is a new toy company having a toy for 3000rs establish its market in india.
7. Any questions for us. asked if the results can be put on 27th or 26th for R2. and he smiled saying no, not this time. it will be on 28th only.
in all, an ok interview. had it been worse i would had definitely known that i am not thro. had it been better, i would had been confident of getting thro. but it was on neither of these extremes. had really tough time convincing that i need to go for a second mba and that too from isb.
in all, i rate is as ok. and so have to sit here with fingers crossed. in fact i am not able to type this email properly as the fingers are crossed.
only thing i know is that i have approx 360hrs to wait to know the results. that monday morning of 28th.
thats my experience. should help someone with similar background.
Amit Verma Interview Experience 21
My profile:
Low GMAT, Avg exp (telecom domain)
Panel: 3 ppl (Mr Nityanand, dont remember the name of other 2)
Que's:
1. Tell me something about yourself, family, acads, and professional
exp.
2. When did you thought of doing MBA ? why ?
3. Why dint you do it after passing out ?
4. Post ISB what ?
5. Telecom domain specific questions ? (how can it impact the Indian
economy etc)
6. How did your US stay helpd you ?
Any questions for us ?
Now wait and watch for 28 Feb .. :)
All the best !
Cheers!
Vivek
Interview Experience 22
GOD's interview in ISB [GOD a.k.a PG of PagalGuy Forums]
Here is my ISB experience
Landed up at the hotel an hour before the interview. 3 panels with 3 each. Spend 30 mins talking to the other students before getting to my interview. Amongst the guys, there was no diversity. The same drill.. engg.. software .. a depressing sight to me. The girls on the other hand were from diverse fields! CA, Advt et al
Onto the actual interview - 2 Alums and another gentleman from the school.
Started off by asking me to relax and this was just going to be a conversation and an opportunity to get to know each other better.
1. Tell us about your family background. - We spoke on this shortly and immediately was asked, looking at your profile, its more suited for an intl. b-school. Where else ya apped!
2. Tell us about Neutral Web
3. Since web hosting is such a cut throat industry, how have you been able to do so good?
4. How will ISB help you take your company to the next level?
5. How can you contribute to the diversity.. say add value to an Art Director Student?
6. Back to NW and finance management, revenues, staff location and
7. Talk about one professional and one personal problem you've faced and how you've overcome them
8. Would you take part in the placement process
9. How far did you run in the Mumbai marathon.
10. Then we spoke about PG.com, CS n all. Then the gentleman grinned & remarked that another site called coolavenues.com claims that its the largest forum for MBA junta . Gave him the figures and told him to do the math
11. Revenue model for PG ( Told him all the ideas n plans that were NOT included in the discussion thread )
12. Why so low percentage in acads ? At this point I go ..err... the highest in my college during grad was 75% and I scored a 72 or so. This made them ruffle through the app. a couple of times. They came up with the figure of 61% or so.. which I had no clue where it came from! Plus they didn't know that for commerce grads only the last year score matters . Clarified on that front too.
13. The shocker Q came at last, outta the blue - Are you married ?
Then came my chance for asking Qs.
1. Why o why don't you have a large no. of Intl. students.
2. What kind of support system do entrepreneurs have @ ISB
3. Why no social entrepreneurisum courses.
It took them a combined over 15 minutes to get through the last 3 Qs and I made sure I had a proper understanding of what I could be doing @ ISB.
And here I thought it was over.. but NO.. it wasn't
The gentleman asked me "Who is <insert name>". I replied he was my client and recommender. At this point he grinned, removed the recommendation from a bunch of papers and then gave it to the other panelists. He turned over to me and had a big smile on his face while informing me that 'your client holds you in extremely high regards. Its rare to see such a recommendation coming in'. Now I start grinning end to end and then scram from the place
This incident regarding the recommender is something unheard of! I can only imagine what he has written, but I was absolutely sure he could sustantiate my candidature on a professional level like no one else and looks like he did a thorough review of my abilities! That said, my recommender is from the US! After this , I kept thinking about my recommender and was glad that all my hard work, efforts, days n nights of work, integrity and transparency amounted to this recommender doing his very best . Proud of the work I do and most importantly the way I do . Now I have another story to tell my grand children
Adios folks..thats it for ISB
Interview Experience 23
I had my telephonic interview today... And I wont rate
it too high...
Here is how it went
1. walk us thru ure resume
2. whats my role
3. tell us something abt syntel?
4. Abt our client
5. Family background
5. Why MBA --- grilled me a lot
6. What next after ISB... I am looking for a sought of
role change.. so my previous experience. will it be a
waste
7. which companies I would like to join imm after ISB
8. How will I convince my future company I will be
good in the new role..
10. Proposal - how we won a new client for our
company. wht my role in that.
9. Is Bush relection good for the world..
10. Elections in Iraq..
11. ayan rand philosophy..
12. If i had someone like ayn in the team , how will i
deal with it.
13. extracurricular activities
14. any questions from my side.
but I was grilled throughout my interview. it was hard
to convince them about a role change though..
still keeping my fingers crossed.
regards
chandrashekhar
Interview Experience 24
i had my tele interview an hour back. Went okay. Was for about 20
minutes. Mr Menon and Rahul were the one taking the interview.
They threw the ball totally my court to begin with by asking me to
answer two question
-put your point across to us
-tell us about urself
i took full 10 minutes to answer these two question.Spoke about all i
had to say about myself and my reason for going for MBA and all that.
Next three questions were like this
-what is 3 to the power 6
-what causes global warming
-why is rainbow formed
i got them all right though.
next question
-why so low gmat score
i told them i had just 10 days for prep.
The few questions on my job
- why did u stick to one company for so long( 6 years!)
- what is ur current role
I had told them about my dream of doing big in Biotech industry. So
one of the question was that
-how is IT backgroud help u in biotech
Finaly they asked if i had any questions
-i asked what do they look for in a candidate
they told almost the same things which are there on the ISB
site..analytical skills,acads,recos,leadership skills..
the end..
wait continues...
Interview Experience 25
Hi All,
I have taken so much from this forum. Now it's time to give back
something.
I had my telephonic interview 15 min back. Mr. Menon and Rahul were
on the interview panel.
They completely surprised me by asking me to take the control of the
interview. I started with my family background and then educational
qualification.
As expected Mr. Menon asked me about low grades in 12th exam.
Then I was given a topic and asked to speak for 1 min on
that.Next,Rahul asked me about my professional achievements.
Since, I am from insurance background , I was asked "What did
insurance companies learnt after 9/11" ?
Then there were some questions regarding my hobbies.
Finally , I was asked if I had any queries.
I am a little surprised since I was not asked any case study or why
MBA qs.
Anyways , the wait starts now for me......
I am thankful to everyone in the forum , who have given so much to
ISB aspirants like me.
Special thanks to Made_for_ISB guy. Your insights were very helpful.
All the best to R2 applicants !
Oh yes , before I sign-off , these are my statistics
Exp - around 6 years in IT
Overseas exp - 4 years
Clients worked for - GE & AIG
GMAT - a little less than ISB average :-)
Thanks,
Dips
Interview Experience 26
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