ISB Interview ( Conducted on 27th Jan)

I am just posting my ISB interview experience as some people asked me to. I am an R2 applicant ( now admitted ) and was interviewed on 27th Jan at Taj Residency. This post is more of a cut-copy-paste from my earlier mail to isb-pgp yahoo groups.

My interview was scheduled at 12:00 PM. Reached venue at 11:30. got an essay topic to write for - "Why cant India produce great sportspersons" wrote down a few reasons and waited. I was called in for interview by Ms.Hema at about 12:05PM. There were two other people - Mr.Subramaniam ( I think current student) and Mr. Ajith RamaKrishnan ( I am not sure about his name ). Ms.Hema asked me about my career plans and goals - ( Because the career goals essay was very short, I could not elaborate more ). I explained to her about my plans and she asked me what kind of consulting firms would i prefer to jion. I said McKinsey, Bain etc.. Then she told me if Mr.Ajith were a McKinsey person, how would I convince him that he should take me and not others. To this I cited my background from small town, gender bias and mentioned that despite these I could come up. So I have passion and perseverance. This would be the intangible contribution apart from it other tangible contributions such as good techology background, good client exposure etc... He asked me to show my gender bias and rural background as +ve factors. I told them how negotiation, diplomacy, strategy and team skills come naturally to a girl because of upbringing and other cultural factors. Before I could get to the rural backgroud, he asked me to think outwards rather than inwards. So I mentioned about women and peopel from the towns and villages becoming the major consumer chunk and how I could help them in this regard. Then he asked me why I had not thought abotu this. I said I was more inward looking rather than outward looking because during discussions about the itnerview several ppl told me that the interviewers want to know what I am as a person. He said they wanted to see how we think.. and our thought process....

Then Mr.Subramaniam asked me why am I hurrying to do an MBA. I could wait longer and then do an MBA. I said I have enough maturity and the sooner I do my MBA , the more the time I will have to start myown firm. Then there was about what are you goign to do abotu funds and the huge investment. I said I intend to take a loan and copleteing it should not be a problem if I get into good jobs after ISB. After this, Mr. Ajith based on my background said why I wanted to join McKinsey, when I had earlier said I joied my company Emuzed a startup to undersatnd startup processes and characteristics. I told him I do not know currently abotu such startups. After graduating from ISB, if I come to know of it, I woudl prefer it surely. Then they asked me if I had any questions. I asked 2 questions.

1. How do the international student exchange progs work? What is the criteria for selction? do students prefer it?

2. As a ful time MBA studets, would I be able to take a few courses ni the executive programme.

On the whole, it was a nice experience. The board had evaluated the application thoroughly before the interview. They were trying to get information on issues they felt needed more information. The best strategy would be to go through your application, find the places where explanation/clarity needs to be provided etc... But the best part of the whole process was thatI could learn more about my own strengths and mistakes and think of ways to plug them!