Wondering what kind of questions are asked in ISB Interview? We got you!
Following are actual Interview Debriefs from successful ISB admits guided by Team CrackAdmission.
Profile: Male with 5 years of experience in Oil & Gas — Downstream industry
GMAT: 700
Post MBA Career Goal: Energy practice of a Management Consulting company
Few Questions asked:
- Do you think you work in an ethical company? Explain why or why not.
- How many of your friends work in oil and gas sector. What percentage of people working in the sector looks to pursue MBA in 5 years?
- From engineering to consulting. How do you think you can make this transition in less than 12 months?
- You have mentioned conflict resolution as your personality trait. Explain how will you resolve conflicts in ISB?
- Question on commissioning a new plant.
- Have you considered an energy focused management program? (MBA in Energy Management)
- In India sports other than Cricket do not get the same recognition and fan following and hence India lacks in the world arena. As a sports person yourself, how do you think the situation can be improved?
Profile: Female with 4 years of experience in Digital Marketing & Product Management
GMAT: 680
Post MBA Career Goal: Product Management
Few Questions asked:
- You are a Product Manager already. Why are you then coming to ISB?
- How did you convince management and other PM about a particular feature (mentioned in CV) because it seems it took up a lot of bandwidth?
- How would you do things differently after ISB in terms of product?
- Top 3 things you would do if there is a disagreement in your team in an ELP?
- What do you consider as your biggest work achievement and why?
- Tell 3 things you want to change in your favorite product till date.
- Suggest a product you would want to launch in ISB to improve alumni interaction.
- Do you have any questions for us?
Profile: Male with 4 years of experience in core automotive industry
GMAT: 710
Post MBA Career Goal: Strategy Consulting
Few Questions asked:
- Explain how would you make transition from core Industry to Consulting?
- What trends do you foresee impacting the automobile industry majorly in the coming years?
- What if you realize after couple of years that consulting is not your forte. What will be your fall back option then?
- Explain a scenario when you had to deal with a conflict with a vendor. How did you handle the situation?
- Why are you looking to do a MBA after just making a career switch 6 months back?
- How do you handle errors in planning forecasts?
- You can impact more no. of lives by staying in your current firm. Why do you want to move into consulting where scope of impact would be limited?
- What do you do with excess piled up inventory?
- More than 80% of the batch at ISB (based on their goals they have mentioned in their essays) wants to work in consulting. However, the number of jobs available in consulting is disproportionately much lesser. How do you differentiate yourself from the pool?
- How as your leadership style evolved over time and how do you foresee it changing in the next few years?
Profile: Male with 6 years of experience in Manufacturing Industry in a PSU
GMAT: 700
Post MBA Career Goal: Operations Consulting
Few Questions asked:
- What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your professional career. How did you overcome it?
- From a PSU to a Private company. Why do you think you will be successful?
- Which courses in ISB are you looking most forward to?
- You have mentioned in your essays that you have interacted with an ISB alum, XYZ. What is one thing you that stood out from the discussion?
- PSU generally works in a not very fast-paced environment. How will you cope up at ISB?
- What factors do you consider while doing production planning?
- You have mentioned in your application that your hobby is planting trees. How did you pick up this hobby?
- Does your GM know that you have applied to MBA program? How did they react to this?
Profile: Male with 5 years of experience in Software Development company
GMAT: 700
Post MBA Career Goal: Become a Product Manager in a consumer tech company
Few Questions asked:
- How do you generate new ideas?
- We receive a lot of applications from Software Developers, how do you differentiate yourself from others?
- Do you have any personal projects? Tell us about them.
- Software Development is big industry with high payrate, why do you want to switch to MBA?
- What web technologies are you excited about, and why do you think they’ll win/survive in the next decade?
- What was the last dish you cooked and why?
- Describe a scenario because of which you might not enroll to ISB even after getting a seat.
Profile: Male with 6 years of experience in Entrepreneurship
GMAT: 720
Post MBA Career Goal: Join Strategy Consulting
Few Questions asked:
- Tell us about a time where you overcame a particularly difficult challenge at work. How did you add value?
- How do you deal with adversities?
- How do you think ISB will help you with your business?
- If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
- ISB focuses more on campus placement of students instead of entrepreneur skills, how you’ll take maximum out of program?
- Why do you think you could not make the cut last year? When was the last time you failed? Please explain context and your learning from the same.
- Describe the patents you have filed. What was the underlying innovation in them?
Profile: Female with 7 years of experience in Law firm
GMAT: 660
Post MBA Career Goal: Start a legal tech firm post
Few Questions asked:
- What are your long term goals and how will you achieve those at ISB?
- What was your favorite course in law school and why?
- Describe your approach in the courtroom.
- Why did you decide to switch from Law to MBA?
- Do you have any target companies in mind post MBA. If yes, please mention and tell us why do you want to join them.
- Why did you not apply in R1/R2 of ISB this year?
- How did you develop the skill of designing stamps? Imagine you are entrusted with the work of designing a stamp for a newly launched program at ISB — around Leadership Development, how would you go about it?
Profile: Male with 4 years of experience as Engineer at Merchant Navy
GMAT: 730
Post MBA Career Goal: Get into Amazon or Operations Consulting
Few Questions asked:
- Why MBA after Merchant Navy?
- Life as MBA student is very different from Merchant Navy, how will you adjust to the change of environment?
- So what was the most difficult challenge you faced in your professional life ?
- Tell us your favorite fact about the sea.
- It seems that you have very limited team leading experience. How do you think you will be able to lead a team as a manager post MBA?
- What social causes have you supported through Charity runs?
- How do you think your short-term goals will pave the way for you to reach your long-term goals?
Profile: Male with 8 years of experience as Manufacturing Manager at Navratna company
GMAT: 700
Post MBA Career Goal: Get into Operations Consulting
Few Questions asked:
- What is the challenge in manufacturing products?
- How was your experince working for Navratna company?
- You hold high post in your company which gives lots of benefits, why going for MBA?
- Tell 3 things you want to change in your company management.
- Would you ever compromise quality to meet volume based orders?
- How will you sponsor your MBA program?
- In your current project, how do you think you would have contributed more if you had MBA?
- Do you have a music band? If not, where do you practice playing guitar on a regular basis?
- How has your role evolved in your current firm?
Profile: Female with 3 years of experience as Wealth Manager
GMAT: 700
Post MBA Career Goal: Get into Investment Banking
Few Questions asked:
- What’s the key responsiblity of your role?
- If it were up to you, what would your company’s budgeting process look like?
- If you do not get offer from ISB will you continue working in your field or still pursue the goal of being Consultant?
- I have INR 10L and I want you to become my financial advisor and guide me which Mutual Funds I should invest in.
- Give examples of 3 instances where you demonstrated leadership.
- How do you decide who is a credit worthy vs someone who is NOT a credit worthy individual?
- Have you discussed with your family about your application to our program. If yes, how are you planning to balance personal and professional commitments during the program?
Profile: Male with 4 years of experience as Data Scientist
GMAT: 710
Post MBA Career Goal: Join a Strategy Consulting Firm
Few Questions asked:
- You are getting such a good salary, why do you want to do join ISB PGP course and pay so much fee?
- What are unique traits / skills only data scientists have?
- Which courses in ISB do you think will help you the most in the field of data analysis?
- What is the future of your field in next 10 years considering companies focus on automation of every process?
- What is your take on Qatar WC 2022? What are potential challenges to its success?
- “You are always one decision away from a totally different life.” What is your interpretation of this statement?
- How often do you run and what is your motivation to run.
Profile: Male with 6 years of experience as Software Development Team Lead
GMAT: 720
Post MBA Career Goal: Become an engagement manager in a tech consulting firm
Few Questions asked:
- If you get job offer from Google before invite from ISB, what will you do?
- What do you think would be the potential impact of IoT in Automobile sector in the coming years?
- How would you describe your Emotional Quotient (EQ)? Where have you demonstrated it?
- How have you implemented Blockchain in your current work scope?
- What changes would you want to make in your favorite tech product and why?
- What would you do if do not get selected this year to ISB?
Profile: Female with 3 years of experience as a Consultant
GMAT: 720
Post MBA Career Goal: Start her own venture in Luxury Retail
Few Questions asked:
- How do you respond when people approach you with personal problems?
- People join ISB to be a consultant, you are already one. Why you think 2 years at ISB will help you more than staying in your field?
- What is the most challenging aspect of your role?
- How will you contribute to the ISB classroom?
- What traits do you think a consultant needs to possess? How have you demonstrated these traits in your career?
- Will you sit for placements in ISB? What is one company/role that might incentivize you to sit for placements?
- Describe the volunteering activities you have done in your life so far.
Profile: Female with 3 years of experience as Mobile Architect in major App development company
GMAT: 680
Post MBA Career Goal: Become a Product Manager in a consumer tech company
Few Questions asked:
- Express about the qualities which you have and make you peculiar from others?
- How does the composition/structure of a mobility team looks like?
- You have won multiple ‘Team Work’ awards in your professional career. How would you demonstrate team work at ISB?
- What is your investment strategy and how has it evolved?
- What is your understanding of the Make In India initiative? Which industries do you think stand to gain most from this?
- What would your recommender say about you?
- As a member of ISB’s consulting club, how would you improve interaction between students — alumni and industry.
Profile: Male with 5 years of experience as Copywriter
GMAT: 700
Post MBA Career Goal: Join as a Marketing Manager in a Digital Agency
Few Questions asked:
- Working as a copywriter is very different from the ISB PGP course and activities involved, how will you fill the gap?
- Can you write an article on ISB interview experience if we ask you? What will you mention?
- What types of content have you created?
- You’ve put a lot of effort into a piece of content but end up receiving negative feedback from your manager. How would you respond?
- What do you mean by Epic fantasy novels ?
- How do you stay motivated during repetitive work?
- What are the major challenges you foresee in growing your venture?
Profile: Male with 5 years of experience as Business Analyst
GMAT: 720
Post MBA Career Goal: Get into Product Management
Few Questions asked:
- When did data and analytics became part of the professional life?
- What are the core competencies of a Business Analyst?
- You already have managerial skills, why you want to join ISB?
- How do you approach new projects that you never worked on?
- How many countries in the world have you traveled to?
- What sort of decision analytics strategy do you adopt to choose suppliers from different geographies?
- Which book are you reading currently?
- Please recite a poem you have written.
Profile: Male with 4 years of experience as Production Engineer
GMAT: 710
Post MBA Career Goal: Corporate Strategist in a Manufacturing MNC
Few Questions asked:
- Can you share an experience where you decreased manufacturing costs?
- From Engineering to Management, why you want to change your field?
- What has been the biggest turning point in your life and why?
- It seems you were not doing justice to your startup as you were doing a full time job in parallel. What was your thought process in doing so?
- Why did you start your career with non-core engineering role and then moved to a core engineering role?
- What will happen to your startup when you come to ISB for the MBA program?
Profile: Male with 4 years of experience as IT professional and IAS Aspirant
GMAT: 740
Post MBA Career Goal: Become a Public Policy Consultant
Few Questions asked:
- Workings as IAS officer is more glorious and respectful than having MBA, why you want to go for that?
- Will you pursue IAS after getting MBA from ISB?
- IT is most represented sector of applicants for ISB, what makes you unique?
- Has anyone ever offered you a bribe?
- If yes, in what context and how did you react?
- What is your understanding of the Factories Act 1948.
- How does playing lawn tennis keep you mentally active?
- You have worked neither in the international market nor with international organizations. Why and how do you think you will be able to make your case in front of potential recruiters?
Profile: Female with 3 years of experience as Tax Advisor in MNC
GMAT: 720
Post MBA Career Goal: Join a Fintech Firm
Few Questions asked:
- What do you think is most important aspect of being tax associate?
- Have you talked with any ISB alumni? If yes, what has been the highlight of the discussion?
- If a NRI buys property in India, does he has to pay property tax?
- Tell us 3 ways Indian Govt can improve the financial structure.
- What is your relationship with your recommender?
- What has been the context of your interaction?
- How do you think you will cope up the hectic schedule at ISB?
Profile: Male with 4 years of experience as managing his Family Business
GMAT: 720
Post MBA Career Goal: Expand Business into SE Asia
Few Questions asked:
- Do you believe in the vision of your company or are you working only because your father needed a trust worthy helping hand?
- You have a well-established business, how you think ISB can help with it?
- Describe the modus operandi of your family business and also state what was your motivation to join it?
- Lot of decisions in family business are autocratic in nature. Did you ever face challenges in convincing your father to agree with the changes you suggested?
- What are the major changes you brought in your family business since you joined 4 years back?
- Do you have any difficulties in spoken English? Why did you enroll for the Spoken English Intermediate module?
Profile: Female with 5 years of experience as Human Resource Manager
GMAT: 680
Post MBA Career Goal: Start her own venture in Talent Transformation Consulting business
Few Questions asked:
- Have you handled conflicts within a project team you are leading? If yes, how?
- How would your manager describe you?
- How do you establish good work ethic?
- Tell us about time when you had to deviate from policy. What is your plan B if you do not get into ISB this year via the PGP?
- Which is the last “self-help” book you read/ are reading? Describe the theme of the book.
- You have mentioned in your essays that you are good at taking “calculated risks”. Please describe scenarios in your personal and professional life where you have taken such risks. What have been the outcomes?
Profile: Male with 5 years of experience as Content Writer for leading Business Magazine
GMAT: 730
Post MBA Career Goal: Join as Senior Content Specialist
Few Questions asked:
- Tell us a little more about your passion to write blogs.
- How did you venture into this field and what drives to continue?
- During the New York Times internship, what new experiences did you have?
- What is the genre of short stories you have written. Have they been published ever? If yes, what is the title of the book and the storyline?
- What does “Spoken word poetry” mean? Can you do an impromptu for us today?
- You seem to have a keen inclination towards sports. How would you contribute to the Sports community at ISB?
- Please explain the rationale behind working as a Content Writer after completing a masters degree in Economics.
Profile: Male with 5 years of experience as Project Manager Construction Company
GMAT: 700
Post MBA Career Goal: Get into Consulting
Few Questions asked:
- How do you know when a construction project is well-executed?
- Have you ever had to manage two or more projects simultaneously? How did you handle them?
- How do you ensure the safety of your juniors who are working on-site?
- Describe the most successful construction project you have directed.
- What was your major learning from your first venture?
- How will the ISB cohort benefit from your presence in the classroom?
Profile: Female with 5 years of experience as Brand Associate in MNC
GMAT: 700
Post MBA Career Goal: Start her own venture in Marketing Consulting
Few Questions asked:
- Why are you quiting your job at this moment?
- You have mentioned that you want to be a serial entrepreneur. Please elaborate on that thought.
- How will you add value to the ISB cohort based on your personal and professional experiences?
- What are some of your favorite marketing campaigns?
- Do you have any hobbies or interests that have added value to you as a Brand Associate?
- Tell us about your personal brand.
Profile: Male with 2.5 years of experience as Area Sales Manager
GMAT: 690
Post MBA Career Goal: Partnerships and Growth in a tech Startup
Few Questions asked:
- The avg. work experience of the ISB cohort is 5 years. With 2.5 years of experience, don’t you think you should get a couple of more years of experience before enrolling for an MBA?
- If not Sales Manager, what is your alternate career role?
- How do you think you can transition from sales to Consulting within just 10 months?
- How do you differentiate yourself other applicants from Sales who have applied to ISB?
- Would you want to work in the Philippines in short and long term post MBA? If yes, what attracts you to the country?
- A challenging situation you faced at work and how did you overcome it?
Now that you know what kind of questions are asked in ISB Interviews, it is time to preparing yourself. If you need help with your Interview process — reach out to CrackAdmission.
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