How to successfully tackle the admissions interview at ISB

An alumnus shares some thoughts on how to successfully tackle the admissions interview at the Indian School of Business.

“…Have a long term plan laid out for your career, and try to connect your work experience & need for an MBA with this long term plan. This communicates that you want to join business school for the right reasons. You would be surprised how many candidates think of an MBA as an end rather than a means to achieve long term goals. You must have a great reason for

1. Wanting to do an MBA

2. Wanting to do an MBA from the institution you are applying to.

Highlight what is different about you, and communicate it effectively. This difference can be in terms of companies/industry you have worked in, or in terms of unique challenges/situations you have overcome. It could include hobbies and personal attributes, amongst others. Just remember to back these up with solid examples.

You are applying for a business management degree, so respond like a manager. Think big, and give examples of how you have demonstrated leadership and initiative. No one wants to hear how you spotted a missing decimal place in a thousand lines of software code.

You will be asked at least one question where you have to state your opinion on some world/current event. Choose your opinion, and stick to it. Do not change your mind half-way through because you feel the interview panel disagrees with you. There is no wrong answer. The interview panel wants to see that you can hold your own, and communicate your point of view maturely.

Be prepared:

1. Go through your application and resume, identify your weaknesses, and be prepared to address these. The interview panel will know what your weaknesses are and grill you on these.

2. Take mock interviews with friends/colleagues.

Be consistent in your answers and try to remain calm.

If you don’t know something, do NOT bluff.

Dushyant Khare graduated from the Indian School of Business in 2003…”

5 Keys to Unlock the Waitlist Lock

5 Keys to Unlock the Waitlist Lock

Being waitlisted is tough, and you need the right set of keys to open the door to your dream program. The truth is that even with these keys, it’s still not guaranteed that the lock will work. But this keychain has the critical pieces of metal you’ll need to turn that lock.

First, a word of introduction: Realize that receiving a wait-list letter means you qualify for admission. You pass. You are probably on the wait-list (and not admitted) because they have already admitted applicants with your profile and want diversity in the class. Or they find your qualifications impressive, but find someone else’s even more so.

Now let’s examine that keychain.

Key #1: Read the letter for any hints of deficiency in your profile and attempt to improve that element in your profile.

Key #2: Give them more reasons to admit you. If the school encouraged contact, inform it of new achievements, initiatives, promotions, and developments in your life. This suggestion implies developing a proactive campaign for contact roughly every 2-3 weeks. The exact particulars will vary depending on your school, specialty, and exactly when you are put on the wait list, but it can include letters, additional visit(s) to the school, an offer to interview, letters of support from others, and occasional phone calls.

Letters should be 1-2 pages. For tips on the letters’ content, please see “Wait-list Purgatory.”

Key #3: Reinforce the idea of a fit between you and the school. Demonstrate how a visit confirmed and deepened your interest in the program. Show how recent activities reveal that your values and the school’s are a match made in heaven.

Key #4: Enlist your fan club. Seek additional letters of recommendation from supervisors on and off the job and professors (if applying to an academic program). Current students and recent alumni who know you can also write letters of support and emphasize your fit with the program.

Key #5: Ask if there is anything you can do to improve your candidacy. There usually isn’t, but if there is you want to know about it and do it. If you have already demonstrated improvement in that aspect of your profile, let them know how you have improved since you applied.

It is much harder to wave the flag when the school doesn’t want contact. But even in these cases, you can be proactive, just more indirect. If feasible, visit the school and take a tour. If you know alumni or faculty members, ask them to put in a good word for you at the school. You can’t be responsible if your fan club thinks you belong at School X and wants to inform the admissions committee. You will have to be a little more indirect, but you still want someone to show fit and that “new and improved” you.

Accepted.com’s editors are available to help you evaluate your application, advise you on wait-list strategy, and edit wait-list letters. For more information, please visit our catalog .

Daniel Mitchell
MBA Candidate
ISB - The Indian School of Business
www.isb.edu

Framework to answer all work related questions

The following tip was provided by Sumit Dhar [A Current ISB Student].

Well, here is a framework that will help the prospective students answer all work related questions in a very structured manner. The framework is called START.

Every work related question and quite a few behavioral questions can be answered using the START framework. What exactly is the START framework?

S: Situation
Start by giving some information about the situation you were facing. This could be background information that will help the AdCom understand your position better or information that is vital to understanding why you did something.

T: Tasks
Given the situation, what tasks needed to be done?

A: Actions
What actions did you take? Tasks is the universal set of things that needed to be done while Actions is the subset that you performed.

R: Results
Based on the actions you took, what happened? What were the improvements? Usually improvements are in terms of cost, efficiency, greater customer satisfaction etc.

T: Takeaways
What were your key takeaways from this experience?

Practice using the START framework. Your answers will be crisp, structured and to the point.