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Wednesday, January 12, 2005
ISB Interviews 2005 ROUND 1
Hi !
Here are some recent interview experiences held at ISB.
(edited slighlty to make it look good)
Round 1 Interview from here
Interview experience 1 :
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 :
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 :
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 :
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 :
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 :
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....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
archana reddy
Interview experience 7 :
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.
Interview experience 8 :
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...
Akshay
Interview experience 9 :
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.
Gaurav
Interview experience 10 :
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
Interview experience 11 :
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.
-Clint
Interview experience 12 :
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 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
========================================
Interview experience 13 :
I 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
Interview experience 14 :
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.
Interview experience 15 :
Hi people
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 !
Kaustubh N
Interview experience 16 :
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?
Project Management 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?
Varma
Interview experience 17 :
Interview Panel: Mrs Hema (Admissions Office), Mr Ravi <something> (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. 'Any questions for us' ?
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....
Regards
Kausik
Interview experience 18 :
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 ......
8) 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
Interview experience 19 :
Hi Guys,
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
Interview experience 20 :
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
cheers
Nitin
Interview experience 21 :
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.
Anirban
Interview experience 22 :
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
Interview experience 23 :
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.
Regards
-Arvind
Interview experience 24 :
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 24 :
Hi People..
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?
8) 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.
Regards,
Mahesh
Interview experience 25 :
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?
12. 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.
Best regaqrds,
Rahul
Interview experience 26 :
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.
Interview experience 27 :
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 28 :
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 ?
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 29 :
Hi All,
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
bye
Vishal
Interview experience 30 :
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 quesitions. It just went for about 15-20 mins... I am wondering if they already decided about candidates by interview time...any idea?
Satish.
Interview experience 31 :
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.
Dip.
Interview experience 32 :
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.
rohit.
Interview experience 33 :
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
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.
Interview experience 34 :
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.
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
Interview experience 35 :
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 36 :
Hi All,
I had my telephonic interview just an hr back. I thought 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??
Interview experience 37 :
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
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