Inside ISB Admissions: How We Evaluate Applicants (From the AdCom) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00All right, good evening everybody. My
2. 0:02name is Richa and I'm from the ISB
3. 0:04admissions team here. Thank you for
4. 0:05joining us tonight. Quick download on
5. 0:08what is ISB, the origin story of ISB,
6. 0:11what makes ISB the number one B school
7. 0:14in India, how to apply and what is it
8. 0:17that we look for in the profile. Right,
9. 0:19very quickly starting with the origin
10. 0:21story of ISB. ISB is 20 years old and as
11. 0:25you would know we started out in 2001.
12. 0:27When we started out, we decided to be
13. 0:30the number one global B school with a
14. 0:33research focus. So with that, we thought
15. 0:36let's collaborate with the foremost
16. 0:38global schools which is the collods in
17. 0:40the Warton who are known for their
18. 0:42faculty research curriculum and that's
19. 0:44where we inspire. We have various uh uh
20. 0:46various faculty exchange student and
21. 0:48exchange programs with these uh
22. 0:49universities. We also then further
23. 0:51collaborated with the LBS and MIT who
24. 0:54are the foremost business schools in
25. 0:55research and they helped us set up our
26. 0:57research practices. Finally, we also
27. 1:00collaborated with the Fetcher School and
28. 1:02Fetcher School is known for their law
29. 1:03and legal expertise and that's where we
30. 1:05get our expertise in public policy. So
31. 1:08yes, ladies and gentlemen, these are the
32. 1:09five founding B schools of ISB. Not just
33. 1:12these 5B schools, we also have
34. 1:14collaborations with over 50 schools
35. 1:16wherein we have various faculty exchange
36. 1:18and student exchange programs with
37. 1:20single focus offering you management
38. 1:24program right here in the heart of the
39. 1:25country in Hyderabad. Right. Moving on
40. 1:28to being the global uh global top B
41. 1:31school. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we
42. 1:33are number one B school in India, number
43. 1:35four in Asia, number two number 32
44. 1:38globally. We are also number one in the
45. 1:41in the world by FT offering the highest
46. 1:44salary growth to our students and not
47. 1:46just that we are also number one of
48. 1:48which has been given to us by the
49. 1:50Bloomberg and very recently the
50. 1:52economist also ranked us as the number
51. 1:53one B school in India. So this was about
52. 1:56the origin story and our few rankings.
53. 1:58Moving on to what are those five top
54. 2:01things that you should look for in a
55. 2:02business school and that is what ISB
56. 2:04offers to you. top-notch faculty right
57. 2:07at ISB we follow a very unique model
58. 2:09which is called the portfolio model of
59. 2:11faculty which means we have resident
60. 2:13faculty we have visiting faculty and we
61. 2:15have clinical faculty resident faculty
62. 2:17are those who staying on the Hyderabad
63. 2:19and Muhali campuses visiting faculty I
64. 2:21just talked about the various
65. 2:22collaborations that we have so we have
66. 2:24faculty coming over from these global
67. 2:26top universities and clinical faculty
68. 2:29are those who are not professors who are
69. 2:31not teaching but are industry experts
70. 2:34who are experts in in their domain and
71. 2:36they come and teach you at ISB to help
72. 2:38you apply your learnings real life.
73. 2:40Right? So this unique model is called
74. 2:43the portfolio model wherein we get you
75. 2:45the best faculty not from from the
76. 2:47universities but also organizations
77. 2:48across the globe.
78. 2:51The second very important the integrated
79. 2:53learning module right that's why we are
80. 2:55here the curriculum what you learn in
81. 2:57the classroom is important. We have a
82. 2:59core curriculum. We have select we have
83. 3:01electives. We have specializations. But
84. 3:03we also have a good focus on your
85. 3:06outside classroom learning. Okay. What
86. 3:08you learn from your peer. You either on
87. 3:10the campuses either on the various
88. 3:12exchange programs. You get to
89. 3:14participate in various events and
90. 3:16competitions. You just get to benchmark
91. 3:18yourself not just with the domestic
92. 3:20students in schools but also schools and
93. 3:22in students internationally globally
94. 3:24level. Finally, applied learning
95. 3:26component which is the experiential
96. 3:28learning component. Right? So for
97. 3:30whatever you learn in your classroom
98. 3:31very important to apply your learning
99. 3:32real life. So you got to collaborate
100. 3:34with various organizations work on a
101. 3:36real life business problem and submit
102. 3:39your thesis and submit your
103. 3:40observations. So you exactly know how to
104. 3:43apply whatever you are learning.
105. 3:47I talked about diversity. Yes. In class
106. 3:50we have the the IPL KKR player. We have
107. 3:53the world 13th uh ranked championship
108. 3:55badminton player who's in the class. We
109. 3:57have mountaineers, we have armed forces,
110. 3:59we have doctors, we have bloggers, we
111. 4:01have influencers. So that's the mix that
112. 4:03you can look for in a class. Um age is
113. 4:06no bar 2 to 22 any and the upper limit
114. 4:09is uh the age of the upper limit is not
115. 4:11binding. The work experience is not
116. 4:12binding as long as you have one common
117. 4:14goal which is your career transition.
118. 4:18Moving on to the next which is the great
119. 4:22formidable network that ISB has built.
120. 4:24Yes, in last 20 years we've been able to
121. 4:25build 13,500 plus alumni. It's a
122. 4:29formidable very close-knit network.
123. 4:31We've been able to we have over 550
124. 4:33alams who are at leadership position. We
125. 4:35have over 600 alams who are founders,
126. 4:37directors, uh entrepreneurs and we have
127. 4:4111 unicorns and very recently a 12th one
128. 4:44got it added into our kitty which is the
129. 4:46one card. So all in all we've got about
130. 4:4712 unicorns that ISB has produced.
131. 4:51And moving on to the next we have two
132. 4:53campuses. We call it as one school, two
133. 4:55campuses, one experience. The admissions
134. 4:58and the placements are all integrated.
135. 5:00You only apply to the Indian School of
136. 5:02Business. The school management decides
137. 5:03which campus it is. Keeping in mind the
138. 5:05diversity. We ensure that there is
139. 5:07diversity across both campuses.
140. 5:09Placements are also integrated. The
141. 5:11recruiters also do not know whether you
142. 5:13are from Mhalli or you are from
143. 5:14Hyderabad. All they know that they are
144. 5:16recruiting ISB students, right? And last
145. 5:19but not least, we also have student
146. 5:21exchange programs. Hyderabad folks
147. 5:23travel to Mali for a term and Mali term
148. 5:25Mhali folks travel to Hyderabad for a
149. 5:27term, right?
150. 5:29Last point of course very important the
151. 5:32career place the career opportunities
152. 5:33that ISB gives to you. I talked about
153. 5:36ISB being world number one school
154. 5:38offering the highest salary growth to
155. 5:40its students. Last year, rather this
156. 5:43year, this graduating batch got about
157. 5:452,66 offers. Yes, you heard that right.
158. 5:48Which means essentially each student had
159. 5:50more than two offers on an average more
160. 5:52than two offers in hand. Approximately
161. 5:56173% growth incoming versus outgoing
162. 5:59salary and an average salary of the
163. 6:01cohort was 34. This is average, right?
164. 6:03Keeping in mind there are a lot of folks
165. 6:04who are entrepreneurs. A lot of folks
166. 6:06moved back to their organizations or
167. 6:08those who've taken uh an offer from the
168. 6:10social sector or the government sector.
169. 6:12On the extreme right hand side you can
170. 6:13see the ven diagram. 79% of them saw the
171. 6:16functional shift. I could see a lot of
172. 6:18chat in the window that will I see in a
173. 6:20functional shift or industry shift. This
174. 6:22is the number that you should look at.
175. 6:2479% of the folks saw an industry shift.
176. 6:2679 of them saw an a functional shift and
177. 6:30both 64% saw industry and functional
178. 6:33shift. Very very important for all of
179. 6:36those who are looking for all of these
180. 6:37ships.
181. 6:39Finally coming to the very very
182. 6:41important bit which is the modes of
183. 6:44entry right so for all of those who've
184. 6:47got more than two plus years of
185. 6:48experience you can apply to ISB what we
186. 6:52call as the direct entry what you need
187. 6:54is a valid GMAT GRE score right it
188. 6:56should be the deadline is 4th of
189. 6:58September all you need is your valid
190. 7:00GMAT GR score on the deadline for those
191. 7:02who've got less than two years of
192. 7:04experience you are also eligible to
193. 7:06apply to the program however you will
194. 7:09get a deferred admission offer letter
195. 7:10which means you can join the PGP program
196. 7:12once you have completed 24 months of
197. 7:15experience. Third, all of those guys who
198. 7:18are still studying in their final year
199. 7:20in their third term, third year, you are
200. 7:22very much eligible to apply to the PGP
201. 7:24program through the YP route, the young
202. 7:27leader route, right? You do not need a
203. 7:29GMAT GRE score right now. You you need
204. 7:32to just submit your application with
205. 7:34your 10th, 12th and your graduation
206. 7:35details. we will need your GMAT GRE
207. 7:38score only next year. Okay, which is the
208. 7:40stage two. So essentially you get 8 10
209. 7:42months to prepare from now till your
210. 7:44stage two. That is when we'll call you
211. 7:46for interview etc. So these are the
212. 7:48three entry routes for all the audiences
213. 7:50all my lovely people out there for if
214. 7:52you if you fall into any of the buckets
215. 7:54you can apply to the program depending
216. 7:56on your number of years of experience
217. 7:57you can either get a direct offer letter
218. 7:59or a deferred offer letter.
219. 8:02What does the online application form
220. 8:04looks like? Okay, very important. You
221. 8:06should have completed your bachelor's
222. 8:08degree and upload those details. It's an
223. 8:10online application form. All the
224. 8:12documents, everything has to be uploaded
225. 8:14online. You will need a valid GMAT GRE
226. 8:16score. Even if you write your exam on
227. 8:194th of September, not a problem. Upload
228. 8:21your unofficial score and submit it. ISB
229. 8:24will solicit the official scores from
230. 8:26the GMAC or the ETSs. Okay. We will need
231. 8:29one LR. The l has to be somebody from
232. 8:32your professional network only. All
233. 8:34right? Cannot be your professor. Cannot
234. 8:37be somebody uh you know you were
235. 8:39associated with in the college. Somebody
236. 8:41from your professional network only.
237. 8:43There are two essays. One highlight your
238. 8:45uniqueness and the second career goals.
239. 8:49What is it that you want to do from
240. 8:51point A to point B? How do you want to
241. 8:53get there and how ISB can help you? The
242. 8:55why ISB comes in here. Okay. What we
243. 8:58look for is ladies and gentlemen it's a
244. 9:00holistic profile it's a holistic
245. 9:02approach that we look at ISB score is
246. 9:04just a component your GMAT GRE score is
247. 9:07just component be it online be it test
248. 9:09center the other important parameters
249. 9:12are your essay the clarity of your essay
250. 9:14is very very important third the l how
251. 9:18it can strengthen your case to the
252. 9:19program then fourth your academic uh the
253. 9:2310th and your 12th and your graduation
254. 9:24details the fifth is whatever you've
255. 9:27done in your professional uh journey so
256. 9:29far. Talk about your journey, where you
257. 9:32started, how many years back you started
258. 9:33and where you have reached today. It
259. 9:35does not it does not mean that if you
260. 9:38know which organization you come from,
261. 9:39what designation you hold, the number of
262. 9:41experience or um uh you know your your
263. 9:44salary. I'm only talking about the depth
264. 9:46of your profile. The kinds of
265. 9:48responsibilities that you were doing
266. 9:49earlier visa v the responsibilities that
267. 9:51you're doing now. Okay. So we look at at
268. 9:53a very very holistic approach of your
269. 9:55profile and uh it's an online
270. 9:58application form. Uh so those are the
271. 10:00details deadline is 4th of September. Uh
272. 10:03you can scan that and apply to the
273. 10:06program and portal and start building
274. 10:08your application. So I think with that
275. 10:10there are a lot of questions. I'll start
276. 10:12taking the questions by
277. 10:16how is the placement scenario for 12
278. 10:17plus years experience looking for second
279. 10:19MBA from ISB. Ladies and gentlemen, we
280. 10:22are number one B school in the
281. 10:23placements. We have a track record of
282. 10:25100% placements. We have folks every
283. 10:28year who've got more than eight years,
284. 10:3010 years. We have army armed forces
285. 10:32personnel with 20 25 years of
286. 10:35experience. All of them get placed.
287. 10:37Okay. We are we we have that kind of uh
288. 10:41uh that brand value credibility. All
289. 10:43right. So um you want to move into
290. 10:46product management and does
291. 10:48transitioning into a PM role before
292. 10:50applying can huge plus for my profile.
293. 10:52So keep one thing in mind that whatever
294. 10:55you're doing right now okay visa v what
295. 10:58where you want to move now from point A
296. 11:00to point B that it does not impact if
297. 11:03you if you've done a PM role or if
298. 11:05you've not done a PM role as long as at
299. 11:08the time of interview you have your you
300. 11:10have the knowledge of the role that
301. 11:11you're into right if you're able to
302. 11:13crack that interview for yourself that's
303. 11:14more important what you have done before
304. 11:18it's it's it's just going to be it
305. 11:20doesn't impact too much not a lot of
306. 11:22people ask me that I had not done
307. 11:23product management. Can I move into
308. 11:25product management? Yes, you can move
309. 11:26into product management. Right? You will
310. 11:28have to make sure that you have taken
311. 11:30chosen the right electives. You have to
312. 11:32make sure that you've been part of the
313. 11:34right clubs and your knowledge about the
314. 11:37function and the organization and the
315. 11:39role that you're applying for is is
316. 11:41good. Right. Um all right, moving on to
317. 11:45the next question. Again, um there is no
318. 11:48difference between GMAT and JRE. At ISB
319. 11:51we accept both GMAT and JRE folks. Okay.
320. 11:55So if you I mean at ISB there is equal
321. 11:58importance. There's no special weightage
322. 12:00that we give to any one score and not to
323. 12:02the other. Suit yourself. If you think
324. 12:04that you are comfortable with GRE,
325. 12:06please go for it. If you think you're
326. 12:08comfortable with GMAT, please go for it.
327. 12:10Ultimately it's your convenience. At ISB
328. 12:12both the scores are equally important to
329. 12:14us. Okay. Right. So again um I talked
330. 12:19about uh you know that five parameters
331. 12:22which are very important for ISB that we
332. 12:23look for. So and we also understand guys
333. 12:27that you cannot go back in the past and
334. 12:29change your academics or whatever first
335. 12:31job that you started out with. Control
336. 12:34the controllables which is your score
337. 12:37which is your essay which is your L.
338. 12:39This is what you can control currently.
339. 12:41This is what you have right now. Focus
340. 12:43on these three. the other two don't
341. 12:46worry I got X percentage I got Y
342. 12:48percentage no problem that is something
343. 12:50which is not in your control it's it's
344. 12:53just done your 10th 12th graduation is
345. 12:55done just fill in those details park it
346. 12:58in the application form and don't worry
347. 12:59about it just focus on your essay what
348. 13:02is important is what is it that you want
349. 13:04to do now whatever is done is done what
350. 13:07you want to do now what you're doing
351. 13:09currently how seriously are you pursuing
352. 13:11your dream job how seriously you want
353. 13:13you are looking at your career
354. 13:14transition position that is more
355. 13:16important to ISB. How ISB can help you
356. 13:18there. Okay. How serious you are about
357. 13:22identifying you know what will get you
358. 13:24there or what are those gaps which can
359. 13:25stop you from getting there. That's
360. 13:27where ISB will come to picture. That's
361. 13:29the gap that ISB will help fill for you.
362. 13:32Okay? So just focus on that. Don't worry
363. 13:34about whatever percentage marks were
364. 13:36there in the academics. Not a problem.
365. 13:39just park it and only focus on your
366. 13:41essay and score and your L. What is it
367. 13:44that ATCOM is looking at while uh
368. 13:47considering the application? I talked
369. 13:49about these five parameters. These are
370. 13:51very very important and most importantly
371. 13:53out of these five things that you can
372. 13:55control right now score evaluation your
373. 13:58essay. Okay, then this will make you
374. 14:01qualify for your interview round then
375. 14:03based on your interview score which is
376. 14:05the sixth score. So 5 + 1 your six
377. 14:08scores totally will give you a profile
378. 14:10score bases on that the adcom will let
379. 14:13you know whether you've been shortlisted
380. 14:14whether you're weight listed whether
381. 14:16you've been rejected whichever is
382. 14:18applicable will be communicated to you
383. 14:20based on your overall profile score
384. 14:22which is 5 + 1 okay so keep that in mind
385. 14:25and don't worry about the past control
386. 14:27the controllable sky uh I'm an
387. 14:29entrepreneur running a small e-commerce
388. 14:31business I want to work in
389. 14:35organizations
390. 14:36So absolutely if you are an entrepreneur
391. 14:38and if you are looking at transitioning
392. 14:40into working and into becoming a work
393. 14:42working professional absolutely uh the
394. 14:45the ISB is a great platform that will
395. 14:48give you that that transition.
396. 14:50All right. So I think um I've covered uh
397. 14:54mostly um all the questions and um I all
398. 14:59I can leave you uh my all I can leave
399. 15:01you tonight is that um guys uh we look
400. 15:04forward to seeing you all on campus um
401. 15:07in the next cohort. Um please start
402. 15:10working on your essay today. Please
403. 15:12start preparing for your scores today.
404. 15:15You have enough time. The alams and the
405. 15:17students have taken good one one and a
406. 15:19half months, two months sometimes to
407. 15:21prepare for their exams. You have enough
408. 15:24and more time. Spend some time with
409. 15:26yourself and ask yourself the right
410. 15:28questions. Two golden questions to keep
411. 15:30in mind. Why me? Why ISP? If you keep
412. 15:34these two questions in mind, your
413. 15:36application will be taken care of. Your
414. 15:38interview will be taken care of. you
415. 15:40will you will have clarity as to what
416. 15:43value I will bring to ISB and what value
417. 15:46I will be able to derive from ISB. These
418. 15:49are two very very critical components
419. 15:51and all the best guys we are right here.
420. 15:54If you have any any questions for us
421. 15:56feel free to write to us reach out to us
422. 15:59at pgpisb.edu
423. 16:01and we are visiting your cities multiple
424. 16:03cities and and and we look forward to
425. 16:06meeting you at those cities or just
426. 16:07interact with us. Thank you guys.