[2011] ISB Hyd's Admissions Director Mr VK Menon answers admission-related questions

Dear all, The tradition continues in its fifth year. ISB’s Senior Director, Career Advancement Services and Admissions & Financial Aid, Mr VK Menon is back on PaGaLGuY to answer all your questions about ISB PGP admissions, scholarships…

Dear all,

The tradition continues in its fifth year.

ISB's Senior Director, Career Advancement Services and Admissions & Financial Aid, Mr VK Menon is back on PaGaLGuY to answer all your questions about ISB PGP admissions, scholarships, placements, faculty, infrastructure, culture and student life with a view of admissions for the PGP batch 2012-13.

Use this thread to get Officially Valid answers to your questions on ISB admissions, curriculum, scholarships, faculty, placements, etc straight from the horse's mouth.

Mr Menon says,

Dear ISB aspirants,

The Admissions process for the Class of 2013 at the Indian School of Business (ISB) is now on. Through this column, me and my team at the Admissions and Financial Aid, will respond to your queries on the school, admission process, placements and student life on campus.

Good Luck in your preparations.

V K Menon

Some rules for making the best use of this thread:


The DOs

1. Please Go through the thread pages first, most probably your question has already been asked by somebody else and asking it again will be a redundant activity. By reading through the thread, you will also learn a lot of interesting facts about ISB through other users' questions.

2. Go through the ISB Admission FAQ page for answers to the most commonly asked questions.

3. If your question or a similar question has NOT been asked before, you can post your questions about ISB Hyderabad or MBA careers here by hitting the 'Post Reply' button on top.

4. Mr Menon and his team, who will watch this thread will answer all your queries on a regular basis. So once you post your question, you can come back to this thread in a couple of days to find your answer or even better, Subscribe to this thread by clicking on the 'Thread tools' link on the top-right side at the top of the thread.

The DON'Ts

1. NO PROFILE CHECK questions allowed - Please do not ask questions of the type: 'The following are my marks and my work experience so What are my chances at ISB?' - such type questions are not allowed and will simply be deleted. This thread is not meant to be a dipstick test to measure your admission feasibility.

2. No asking redundant questions. First read through the thread. If you don't find your question already asked, only then ask.

ISB's eligibility criteria

To be eligible to apply to ISB Hyderabad, you need:
* A Bachelors degree
* A valid GMAT Score
* 2 years full-time work experience after graduation
* TOEFL or IELTS score only if language of instruction during undergraduate education was not English
Dr Menon's PG User ID is Admissions@ISB.

All the best!

Apurv

I am Raghav R a student currently in my third year studying at National Institute of Technology Surathkal rated amongst the top ten institutes in the country.

I was deeply intrigued by the Young Leaders Programme, the structure of which comes as benefactor of sorts to people like me who are struggling to make the transition from technical to a managerial pursuit concomitant with my ambitions. While I appreciate the conceptualisation of the programme especially its pragmatic selection criterion, one that does not ask of students to go into an aptitude enhancing frenzy I have certain serious reservations.

I find some structural impediments that deter a lot of us from applying to the YLP, the primary reason being the timelines which straightjacket us from choosing to write the GMAT at our convenience. While the HBS 2+2 gives us a lot of flexibility giving us time up to March 2012 and also allow us to send either the GRE or the GMAT score I find it strange that YLP does not afford me that liberty.

Our current peers in the second year who are aware of the YLP have at least a year to plan their GMAT out so as to fit YLP into their scheme of things but we certainly stand disadvantaged. I might be interning at the London School of Economics this summer and it would be at heavy cost that I can divert my attention to write the GMAT during this period, the score of which has implications much beyond just the YLP programme.

Though I can no longer apply for the same, I think the admissions team need to restructure the timelines so that the next set of students are not disadvantaged

Dear Mr.Menon,
I am a marine engineer with four years of work experience.
I had two queries.
1.For an applicant from shipping background, does ISB consider the total period of employment as work experience, or just the period of actual sailing?
2. Regarding recommendations from immediate superiors, it is very difficult to get access to their locations once one has finished a contract. secondly, it is quite possible that they would be away on a ship at the the time of evaluation without any access to the internet.

kindly advise
thanks

Goodevening Mr Menon

As per the application form we have to specify either CGPA or average percentage of all subjects for "all semesters". My college neither had CGPA system nor was there any semester system. Instead we had two terms for each of the three years- First Year, Second and Third. In our case shall we specify the aggregate percentage of all the three years or only the final year?

Thanks
-Akanksha

Good Evening Dr.Menon,

I have the following questions:

a) Will the mohali campus be up and running for the 2012-2013 batch. And therefore,
b) As mentioned on the website, will the PGP intake be 770 this year?? (increased from 560)

I am Raghav R a student currently in my third year studying at National Institute of Technology Surathkal rated amongst the top ten institutes in the country.

I was deeply intrigued by the Young Leaders Programme, the structure of which comes as benefactor of sorts to people like me who are struggling to make the transition from technical to a managerial pursuit concomitant with my ambitions. While I appreciate the conceptualisation of the programme especially its pragmatic selection criterion, one that does not ask of students to go into an aptitude enhancing frenzy I have certain serious reservations.

I find some structural impediments that deter a lot of us from applying to the YLP, the primary reason being the timelines which straightjacket us from choosing to write the GMAT at our convenience. While the HBS 2+2 gives us a lot of flexibility giving us time up to March 2012 and also allow us to send either the GRE or the GMAT score I find it strange that YLP does not afford me that liberty.

Our current peers in the second year who are aware of the YLP have at least a year to plan their GMAT out so as to fit YLP into their scheme of things but we certainly stand disadvantaged. I might be interning at the London School of Economics this summer and it would be at heavy cost that I can divert my attention to write the GMAT during this period, the score of which has implications much beyond just the YLP programme.

Though I can no longer apply for the same, I think the admissions team need to restructure the timelines so that the next set of students are not disadvantaged


Thank you Raghav for highlighting this one. We will definitely look into this while we finalise the admission schedule for the next intake.
Dear Mr.Menon,
I am a marine engineer with four years of work experience.
I had two queries.
1.For an applicant from shipping background, does ISB consider the total period of employment as work experience, or just the period of actual sailing?
2. Regarding recommendations from immediate superiors, it is very difficult to get access to their locations once one has finished a contract. secondly, it is quite possible that they would be away on a ship at the the time of evaluation without any access to the internet.

kindly advise
thanks


1. total period.
2. Yes, it is an issue. In such cases, we are ok even if they are not your immediate superiors. the idea of getting recommendations from superiors is that they should be in as position to assess the impact of your work. If this is fulfilled, then it is not an issue.
Goodevening Mr Menon

As per the application form we have to specify either CGPA or average percentage of all subjects for "all semesters". My college neither had CGPA system nor was there any semester system. Instead we had two terms for each of the three years- First Year, Second and Third. In our case shall we specify the aggregate percentage of all the three years or only the final year?

Thanks
-Akanksha


you should specify the aggregate % of all the three years.
Good Evening Dr.Menon,

I have the following questions:

a) Will the mohali campus be up and running for the 2012-2013 batch. And therefore,
b) As mentioned on the website, will the PGP intake be 770 this year?? (increased from 560)


yes. the mohali campus will be operational from Apr 2012 and the total intake for hyd and mohali will be 770.

Hi Mr Menon

Can you please let me know whether CA Article ship, which is full time working under a CA and part of CA curriculum, considered as work experience. My articleship started after graduation.

Thanks !

Good evening Mr Menon,

I have just completed my Btech in CSE from NIT Hamirpur. I am placed in both Software and IPR firms. What will be considered better work experience. Also are there any programs under ISB that I can enroll into, because I missed out on the YLP, n have no work experience yet. I want to do an MBA from ISB only, what extra do I need to do in the 2-3 years of work to get ahead of others in the league.

Ambica Sud

Hello Mr. Menon
My questions are


1. Are the individual marks of GMAT (QA and VA) also have some weightage or the total score of GMAT is only considered?
1. Calls for interview are given based on the profile and GMAT score but whether during selection, performance in interview is only considered or overall profile?
2. Are strong extra circular activities very important for getting a call?


Thanks in Advance.







Hi Mr. Menon,

Is it true that the applicants from IT background has less advantage during the application process(essays,interviews) when compared to their counterparts from different domain/industry?

Greetings of the day Mr.Menon,

I have around 8+ yrs of work ex in diff fields but most of it is in Infrastructure project management in the banking industry (not the IT one). Now I wish to move into Wealth management so that after 5-7 yrs of work ex in that field I can start my Portfolio Management Services.

Kindly guide whether my past work ex will act as a hinderance in getting a switch or will it be a plus point considering diversity & exp?

Also suggest can I negate my past acads (graduated almost a decade back) by getting a good score in GMAT?

Thanks in advance. Sincerely wish to be a part of ISB.

Dear Mr Menon

Just one query- why are the admission fees non refundable?

Hello

Is ISB focussing more prospective students with profiles other than IT?
Also does ISB enroll students having work exp with 8 or more?
According to the profile summary less than 10% of the class is more than 8 years experience?
Please could you elaborate on how important is work experience esp higher than 8 years?

Thanks
Vineet

Hello sir

I want to ask a question regarding only the GMAT score being accepted by ISB. Why doesn't ISB accept CAT score as well! I am asking this question because in India, every one is not able to spend so much of money on a single exam ($250) for a single exam for ISB only, especially when you look in Indian Context. If you consider CAT score as well, it will help the people from financially poor background to apply for ISB. It will help ISB as well, as it would be able to select from its students from a larger pool of talent. In fact, considering only GMAT for admission process makes the ISB a bit unapproachable for the students in India.
Please answer this query of mine if you find it appropriate.

Thanks & Regards
Sanjeev Bansal

Hello Mr Menon,
I have a very simple query. I have an IT exp of 7.5 years currently working as Lead in my organization. My academics is avg. For your information, it is 60% (in 10th), same in 12th (both from Bihar state board). I have scored 70% in engineering. My GMAT score is 670. I want to apply for admission to 1 year PGDM/MBA in ISB. What are my chances of getting shortlisted for GD/PI. Also what are my chances of getting selected for the Course?

Thanks much in advance for your answer.

Rhds
Rahul

Hi Could you evaluate my profile and let me know if i can seriously think about joining this prestigious institute?
Xth 75%
12th 96%
BE 83%
I have worked in telecom sector for 2 years and now working in CGDA (Controller general of defence accounts) ,a defence sector of central govt of india.The new job is all related to accounts on the Defence project deals.
I would like to take GMAT by december end and would like to seriously think about my profile ,if it can add value addition or be a dampener.\\
Thanks