[ISB_CONNECT]

The Indian School of business’s (ISB) CONNECT team is pleased to invite you to ISB’s new discussion forum at pagalguy.com. ISB CONNECT is an initiative run by current domestic and international students. Through
this forum, we seek to help all applicants and prospective students in deciding whether ISB is the right fit for them. ISB enjoys the distinction of being the first Indian B-school to be ranked among the "Top 15 global business schools" in the Annual MBA Rankings by Financial Times, London. Additionally it was also listed amongst the top Bschools of Asia by Businessweek. The ISB has academic associations with the Kellogg School of Management, the Wharton School of Business, and the London Business School.Additionally, ISB has strong ties with industry. The ISB governance and corporate board is headed by Mr Rajat Gupta, former worldwide CEO of Mckinsey and company and includes CEOs of several fortune 500 firms like Goldman Sachs, Dell, Bechtel, Credit Suisse, LG, Citigroup , Novartis,ArcelorMittal etc and top notch Indian firms like ICICI, Reliance, Biocon, etc .
The school offers a one-year Post Graduate Programme in Management. Through this student-run initiative, we intend to provide first hand information to all prospective students on any questions that you may have on ISB, the admission process or on life at ISB in general. Through this forum - get to know our community better, speak to ISB students and find the information you need.


Some useful pointers about ISB:
ISB website : Indian School of Business, Executive Education, Business Research, B-school
ISB admissions website : Post Graduate Programme in Management, Management Course
ISB leadership: Governing Board, KnowISB - Indian School of Business (ISB)
ISB faculty : http://isb.edu/pgp/Distinctive%20Faculty.Shtml
ISB on youtube : YouTube - isbindia's Channel
DISCLAIMER : ISB CONNECT is a student run initiative. The opinions provided in this forum are that of students and not the institute

[nshar2]

Thanks for starting this very useful forum. It is a great initiative !

I would be grateful if you could answer my following four questions:

1) How does ISB help students in becoming entrepreneurs?
Does ISB help network with VCs?

2) What is the level of interaction with Alumni? What is the mode of interaction-is there a dedicated networking website or mail groups are used for interaction?

3)As mentioned by you, the corporate and governance board of ISB has CEOs of several reputed organizations. How does it help the students(besides the fact that these companies recruit from ISB)?

4)What is the duration of exchange programs(in months)?

Thanks !!

NShar2

[ISB_CONNECT]

1. There are many activities within ISB, both school run and student inititiated, which help people who aspire to become successful entrepreneurs. To start off there is a course called PAEV, which lets teams develop their own idea and gets this idea vetted along the way by several peers, profs, domain experts etc. There is a specalization called Entrepreneurship which helps teach the theoretical side of being an entrepreneur - under this one can choose from upto 15 courses between Term 5 - 8. Then, there is the EVC club, which regularly organizes talks, seminars and workshops for students to learn and benefit from the experience of successful entrepreneurs. THe club also conducts sessions such as Idea Factory - for people to develop their ideas. The EVC club also brings several PE funds and VCs to campus, both to interact with students and also at times listen to their ideas. These sessions give ample opportunity to the serious ones to network with key people in VC funds. Moreover, there are contests such as VC&IC, which again give prospectus entrepreneurs an opportunity to put to test their idea against some of the best flowign in from across the country.

2. Alumni interaction is quite rigrous and more importantly consistent, not restricted to just the placement season. There is a team in place called the Alumni Affairs council which works throughout the year to ensure that every student gets to touch base with the alumni in the desired field of interest and vice-versa every alum who wants to get back to campus is able to do so quite easily. Every student gets alloted an alum mentor in the field of his choice, alum come for regular interactive sessions called Open houses, an initiative of the school, and there are opportunities to shadow alumns in their work places. In addition the normal means - e-mails, phone etc. are also used. The current batch has easy and ready access to the contacts of alumns from all previous batches. Lastly, the grand finale is the annual event Solistice (check out ISB website for details)

3. Interact and learn from them via talks, class room sessions, guest lectures. Many companies also conduct specific workshops on campus.

4. Depends from school to school - can vary from 1 ISB term (6 weeks) upto 2 ISB terms (12 weeks). Generally its 1 term though.

[rossISB]

Great Initiative thanks especially investing time with such busy schedules.

One question from my side: What sort of profile do usually students from IT background choose post ISB (IT consulting, Presales/Marketing, GM, Program management). I know it depends on the student, but taking a fair idea. Say a candidate with 4 years of experience in IT services/products.

Also cosidering Consulting Firms and IT Services/products are one of the highest recuiters in ISB.

[ISB_CONNECT]

Originally Posted by rossISB

Great Initiative thanks especially investing time with such busy schedules.

One question from my side: What sort of profile do usually students from IT background choose post ISB (IT consulting, Presales/Marketing, GM, Program management). I know it depends on the student, but taking a fair idea. Say a candidate with 4 years of experience in IT services/products.

Also cosidering Consulting Firms and IT Services/products are one of the highest recuiters in ISB.

Hi rossISB,

At ISB people look for two types of major shifts, either in their field of work or functional role. There are people who continue in IT with change in functional role and typical roles offered are of program manger and such. Other option is to shift your field; people do choose careers in marketing, finance and consulting. But shifting field requires additional work as you have to develop an understanding, although ISB provides enough opportunities for the same through different programs such as ELP, FIRP etc..

[rossISB]

Originally Posted by ISB_CONNECT

Hi rossISB,

At ISB people look for two types of major shifts, either in their field of work or functional role. There are people who continue in IT with change in functional role and typical roles offered are of program manger and such. Other option is to shift your field; people do choose careers in marketing, finance and consulting. But shifting field requires additional work as you have to develop an understanding, although ISB provides enough opportunities for the same through different programs such as ELP, FIRP etc..

Thanks but I am still a lil unclear. taking again a typical example of a huge juta applying to isb from IT sector of say 4+ex candidate from a typical IT services firm. If he say chooses IT Presales/marketing, IT stategy consulting or GM. How is that a shift in field? not too clear on this. You said changing the field you need to develop an understanding?

[ISB_CONNECT]

Originally Posted by rossISB

Thanks but I am still a lil unclear. taking again a typical example of a huge juta applying to isb from IT sector of say 4+ex candidate from a typical IT services firm. If he say chooses IT Presales/marketing, IT stategy consulting or GM. How is that a shift in field? not too clear on this. You said changing the field you need to develop an understanding?

rossISB,

I think I have clearly mentioned that there are two types of shifts,1. FUNCTIONAL 2. FEILD ( AREA OF WORK)
If you chosse IT Presales/marketing, IT stategy consulting than there will be functional change.

If you choose core consulting, finance, marketing etc. than that is change in work area. where the second part is applicable.

[rossISB]

Originally Posted by ISB_CONNECT

rossISB,

I think I have clearly mentioned that there are two types of shifts,1. FUNCTIONAL 2. FEILD ( AREA OF WORK)
If you chosse IT Presales/marketing, IT stategy consulting than there will be functional change.

If you choose core consulting, finance, marketing etc. than that is change in work area. where the second part is applicable.

Got it thank u

[shimmering.star]

First I really appreciate the effort all of you have taken.

I have the following query

Picking up from your reply to one of the queries, you mentioned that for somebody considering a field shift to consulting, it requires an extra effort to understand the industry and train oneself according. I request you to kindly elaborate the ways in which ISB facilitates such a change for it's students.

From the website I could learn that the following programs / features of the ISB MBA program do facilitate such a change
1. Experimental Learning Programme
2. Global Consulting Parcticum
3. The team based learning model
4. The various conferences, seminars & workshops
5. The Consulting Club

Have I made a correct assessment? Have I made a comprehensive analysis of the ways in which an ISB MBA facilitates a field shift to consulting?

Thanks in advance

[zulu_enz]

Hello

I have few thoughts.. needs your point of view on that.
1. Evaluating last few batches at ISB, it appears that most applicants are from IT background. When ISB emphasis is on diversity. does the low percentage of participants from other fields add to diversity?
2. There are other areas that are shaping global economy apart from banking/insurance; no doubt these two are fasted amongst all, what efforts ISB is taking to induct participants from these areas like general managment, strategy, manufacturing?