[2010] ISB Admissions Director Dr VK Menon's Official Admission Query Thread

MBA
1

Dear all, The tradition continues. For the fourth year in a row, 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, …

2

Dear all,

The tradition continues.

For the fourth year in a row, 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.

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,

"VK Menon" Says
The process for the Admissions to the Class of 2012 at the Indian School of Business (ISB) is underway. My team at the Admissions and Financial Aid department and I welcome all your queries you may have while applying to ISB. You can be sure that we will address each of your queries.

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 Bachelor's 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
3

Dear Mr Menon,

I am a power sector professional with 2 yrs of work-ex as on date.

- Please tell me kind of opportunities available at ISB for power sector professionals, the companies that have visited ISB in past.

- ISB has very low representation from power professionals (The co2011 has 4% energy professionals, and the number of ppl from power industry is obviously lower that tha). What is the possible reason that in spite of it being a high-growth sector, power industry has low representation in a typical batch of ISB. Is it because there are fewer applications, or there is lack of opportunities for ppl from this sector.

PG teams deserves special appreciation for this initiative


Thanks
Vivek Sinha

4

Dear Sir,

I'm an Engineer with 10 years of work exp in Telecom domain (post-sales & pre-sales). I have worked mostly on technical side but now looking for a functional shift in my career in same industry.
I have noticed that the intake of class 2011 students with 10+ years of experience is very less. Does this factor (of more work exp) will count negative for me ?
Also, suggest if FUNCTIONAL SHIFT at this stage of my career is possible? If yes, which one do you suggest (sales/mktg.....) ?
Also, pl let me know how can i get in touch with a current student for more info on admission process etc ?

Many Thanks !
Amit

5

Dear Mr. Menon,

Sir i have heard from some of the applicants that one would get admission in isb if one had a high score in ungraduate school.. Sir as mention in eligible requirements that one should have a valid gmat score.. So will you pls put some light on valid gmat score and about score in ungraduate school..

thank you..

Regards,
Piyush

6

Dear Sir,

I am a re-applicant and in the feedback I got last year, it said that my AWA score was low (4.0).
Though I have a good GMAT score, but do I need to take GMAT again because of low AWA score or can I use something else in my application to cover it. I have a toefl score of 105.

7

Sir

I am a reapplicant this year. Last year, i applied to ISB and got the interview call. Unfortunately, i could not perform well in the interview hence got rejected lateron.

I received the feedback from ISB which says that i should apply to ISB with an improved GMAT score ( I have a GMAT score of 700) and more work experience (I have a workex of 4 years till date in Supply Chain management in EPC industry for L&T;, which will be 4 yrs and 9 months by the time i join ISB CO2012).

I always thought that i got rejected because my not so good interview and not because of my GMAT score hence i never thought of improving GMAT score. Since the feedback came quite late in the June, i am left with no time to prepare GMAT again amidst so much work pressure in office.

I feel that i had a fantastic last 7-8 months at my work and added very strong credentials to my work profile which i can reflect in the reapplicant essay.

I wish to apply to ISB R-1 this year with the same GMAT score but i have slight doubt in mind. I heard people saying at various forums that ISB rejects candidates (even ISB doesn't call for interview) who doesn't work on ISB's advice and reapply.

Seek your advice on the matter before i put my application and thanks for reading the whole thing.

8

Hello Sir,

Does a full fledged startup experience of a year valued at par with 2-3 years of relevant work ex. ?

Regards

9

I am a dentist by profession and working as a lecturer in some dental college. i will b completing my 2 year work-ex in dec.2010. i would like to know what are d scopes in the health n pharma sector if i persue MBA from ISB. thanx a lot.

10

Dear Sir,

I wanted to understand, is there some specific kind of weightage allotted to the parameters you evaluate in the candidates. For example: a particular percentage to the GMAT score, work experience and essays?

Thanks,

Vishal Gaba

11

Hello Mr Menon,

My query is two fold query

Part 1
How does ISB help a student in shaping consulting acumen. Like I am coming from an IT background and would like to change my industry from IT to consulting. How ISB will help me in my quest. Also, beyond classrooms what are the opportunities for learning, for ex to learn beyond d classroom in consulting are there any clubs or student bodies who help in this.

Part 2
I have an inclination towards entrepreneurship, and would like to major in that from ISB if selected. While evaluating the applications, if my goals says something on entrepreneurship and still I have not achieved anything substantial in this field, can I mention those in application?

Thanks a lot for your help in advance

12

Dear Mr Menon,

I am CA with 4 yrs work ex working with one of the big 4 consulting firms. I want to make a career in finance post my MBA from ISB. Wat i have heard from seniors is that ISB is an excellent b school for management consulting but doesnt attract the best of investment banks for placements. Just wanted some clarity on this.

Regards
Prashant

13

Dear Sir,

My query is about the minimum workex at ISB. Doea ISB really accept people with work ex little below 3 years ( 2.75yr to be specific)?

If you can throw some light on this workex criterion at ISB , what kind of importance is given to it during selection process then definitely it will help many applicants.

14

Dear Sir,
I have been working for the past 3 years in my family business which runs few educational institutions at ug and pg level. I have a querry about the recommendations part. My clents are basically students of the organizations that we run and I guess I cannot ask them to recommend me. We dont really have a long standing relationship with any of our vendors, as depending on the qoutations and market scenario, they keep changing. Who do you feel will be appropriate recommenders for my application?

15

Dear Sir,

I am Abhishek Arohi, I have a work experience of 4 years in IT industry. Domain wise I am strong in Banking (have 2.5 years of experience). My purpose of pursuing MBA is a career shift. Hence my queries are as follows:

1. If I want switch my career to Banking and Finance Domain whether ISB PGPM will give me desired results?
2. Do we have to provide a preference to elective courses at the time of admission? If yes then are we allowed to change the preference at a later stage during the course?

Regards
Abhishek Arohi

16

Dear Sir,

Having done mechanical engineering and a PG Diploma in Manufacaturing systems and management from University of Manchester (UK), I want to know what chances do I stand to get through ISB's flagship 1 year program.

My profile :

UG: BEng Mechanical Engineering - RGPV Bhopal - 71 % overall.

PG: PG Diploma - Advanced Manufacturing Technology and Systems Management - University of Manchester(UMIST) - UK - Pass

Work Exp: 4 years by the time of applying.

I belong to a business family and have been working here since I completed my postgraduation. Initially I worked as a trainee for 1 year, getting involved in every domain and understanding how things work in business. Since then, I am working as one of the directors of the firm. I have been primarily working on costs and finances and have also started recently into production department.

Please put some light on how should I go further to work on my profile.

Thanks,

Regards,

Chaitanya

17

Around nine companies recruited in the energy sector last year and the roles ranged from Strategic to Operations head to Executive Assistance to the Managing Directors. Companies come to campus based on the number of potential recruits they see available on campus. If such numbers are low as is likely the case with people with prior experience in the energy sector the number of companies coming to campus will also be low. Yes it is true that the number of professionals representing this sector is low in the class in spite of the fact that the sector is seen as high growth. This is largely because of the number of applicants who apply from the sector and not because of lack of opportunities in the sector. A typical applicant pool has a hand full of people from that sector and the selectivity from this sector to our program is the same as is the case with any other applicant.

18
Dear Mr Menon,

I am a power sector professional with 2 yrs of work-ex as on date.

- Please tell me kind of opportunities available at ISB for power sector professionals, the companies that have visited ISB in past.

- ISB has very low representation from power professionals (The co2011 has 4% energy professionals, and the number of ppl from power industry is obviously lower that tha). What is the possible reason that in spite of it being a high-growth sector, power industry has low representation in a typical batch of ISB. Is it because there are fewer applications, or there is lack of opportunities for ppl from this sector.

PG teams deserves special appreciation for this initiative


Thanks
Vivek Sinha


Dear Vivek,

Around nine companies recruited in the energy sector last year and the roles ranged from Strategic to Operations head to Executive Assistance to the Managing Directors. Companies come to campus based on the number of potential recruits they see available on campus. If such numbers are low as is likely the case with people with prior experience in the energy sector the number of companies coming to campus will also be low. Yes it is true that the number of professionals representing this sector is low in the class in spite of the fact that the sector is seen as high growth. This is largely because of the number of applicants who apply from the sector and not because of lack of opportunities in the sector. A typical applicant pool has a hand full of people from that sector and the selectivity from this sector to our program is the same as is the case with any other applicant.

regards,
19
Dear Sir,

I'm an Engineer with 10 years of work exp in Telecom domain (post-sales & pre-sales). I have worked mostly on technical side but now looking for a functional shift in my career in same industry.
I have noticed that the intake of class 2011 students with 10+ years of experience is very less. Does this factor (of more work exp) will count negative for me ?
Also, suggest if FUNCTIONAL SHIFT at this stage of my career is possible? If yes, which one do you suggest (sales/mktg.....) ?
Also, pl let me know how can i get in touch with a current student for more info on admission process etc ?

Many Thanks !
Amit


Dear Amit,

With 10 years experience in the technical side of telecom in predominantly post sales and pre sales roles, an ideal shift would be into sales and marketing within the same industry. With your kind of experience making drastic changes of both function and industry would be difficult. The best is to stick to the same industry and try for a different function which in your case could be sales and marketing. The profile of our class depends on the applicant pool. As you can see the number students with high work experience is around 10% and the applicant pool too has around 10% applicants with high work experience. An overwhelming majority of our applicant pool consists of people in the experience band of 4 to 7 years and the class profile also reflects this. Please mail us at [email protected] and we will get you into contact with a current student with a similar profile to yours.

regards,
20
Dear Mr. Menon,

Sir i have heard from some of the applicants that one would get admission in isb if one had a high score in ungraduate school.. Sir as mention in eligible requirements that one should have a valid gmat score.. So will you pls put some light on valid gmat score and about score in ungraduate school..

thank you..

Regards,
Piyush


Dear Piyush,

We look at each application in a holistic manner and undergraduate scores and GMAT scores are just two parameters that we look at. In addition we look at your essays, you experience and achievements at the work place, the extracurricular activities and the recommendation. All these are factored in before we take a decision whether or not to interview a candidate. Once the interview is complete the interview performance is also factored in. Obviously those who have stellar undergraduate scores stand a better chance of getting called for the interview. The GMAT score is valid for a period of five years from the date you take the test. When you apply to ISB the GMAT score should be valid.

regards,