Below are the ISB YLP Essays in Stage 1 & Stage 2
ISB YLP stage 1 Essay Topic 2024:
Mention one challenging situation that you have faced in your life till now. How has it transformed you as a person? (300 words max)
ISB YLP Essay Analysis 2024:
This prompt from the ISB YLP seeks to understand your ability to overcome adversity and grow as a leader. It’s not just about recounting a hurdle, but about showcasing your resilience, adaptability, and the positive transformation you underwent because of that challenge.
Key Strategies for Success:
- Choose a significant challenge: Not just a minor inconvenience, think personal setbacks, academic struggles, professional blunders, or social/ethical dilemmas. The depth of your transformation hinges on the intensity of the obstacle.
- Be vulnerable: Express your emotions – fear, doubt, disappointment. This humanizes your story and builds connection.
- Focus on transformation: Don’t dwell on negatives. Highlight skills honed, values strengthened, perspectives gained. Quantify growth if possible.
- Show, don’t tell: Use vivid details, evocative language, and impactful scenes to immerse the reader in your journey.
- Connect to leadership: Bridge the personal and professional. Show how lessons learned equip you for future leadership challenges.
we are here to guide you every step of the way. Let us help you transform your challenges into compelling essays and your dreams into reality. By following these strategies and infusing your story with honesty and authenticity, you can craft an essay that captures the attention of the ISB YLP admissions committee and reveals the leader within you. We wish you the best of luck on your ISB YLP journey!
ISB YLP Stage 1 Essay:
What more will you like ISB to know about your candidature? (300 words max)
Analysis: At this point, ISB ADCOM knows about your education, they have seen your resume and it’s great that you have stood out from the pack. But this is your chance to really shine through. If we were to put this question in 2 words, it would be “Dazzle me!”. (Those of you smiling know that this is a direct indication to the movie – 21. Others, Go watch it!)
The obvious choices that come to mind are:
- Career goals
- How you ae different from others
- Showcasing your achievements in different forms
- Regurgitating your Impressive Resume (which the ADCOM has already read)
- Cultural diversity
These are all great points for your essay, but you will agree with us, that these are the obvious choices. So how do you stand out from the pack?
To write an impactful essay, you need to take the ADCOM on a journey with you. Talk about how life shaped you. Firstly, you can talk about the main factors that have influenced your personal development. Secondly, write about that particular instance which caused you to rethink life or when you were challenged and learnt the most important lesson of your life.
When you are talking about the instance, there you can tell what strengths did you use and how you are different from the pack.
The other candidate can be writing about an achievement that really made a difference in you as an individual and how you have matured. Again remember to take the ADCOM on a dazzling journey with you.
ISB YLP Stage 2 Essays:
Essay 1: Tell us about your short term and long term goals and your plans to achieve them. (300 words max)
This essay is a critical one and is invariably part of the application process for any global business school program. What the question is really asking is, ‘Why do you want to do an MBA?’
We suggest an approach that tells the story in a natural manner. Split the essay into three paragraphs.
The first paragraph should talk about what is your passion and vision. It should also spell out your short term and long term goals. (Which must match your passion and vision – you cannot claim that you are passionate about travelling and have a vision of being a travel author; then state your short term and long term goal to be an investment banker). This first paragraph sets up the context.
The second paragraph should lead with information on what you have done till date to achieve your short and long term goals (courses taken, education, experience, skills developed, etc.). Then talk about what are the gaps that are currently causing a shortfall and stopping you from achieving your goals. You can list out the most important gaps in a very broad manner.
In the third and final paragraph, talk about how the PGP from ISB would help you. By substantially cover the shortfall and set you up for short and long term success and achievement of your goals. As far as possible, try and do a one to one match between the gaps mentioned in the second para and the support provided by the PGP.
As you can see, the first paragraph sets your goals very clearly in the context of your passion and vision. The second paragraph provides signals; that you have been taken concrete steps towards these goals and that you are a serious candidate. Finally, the third paragraph shows the fit between what you need and what the PGP can provide. In turn making you an ideal candidate.
Essay 2: Please provide additional information, that could affect the consideration of your application to the ISB. (300 words max)
There is some confusion regarding whether to use this space or not. We hold the view that this is valuable space provided by the school and should definitely be used as long as you have something worthwhile to share (and not a laundry list of minor things!). This space can be used as follows –
- If you have low scores or any other aberrations in your profile and you have a genuine explanation for the same, you can use this space to talk about that
- If you have a hobby, interest, other activities or some unique experience, you can talk about that here. Note that you should not simply write about the activity or hobby itself, but should put efforts to talk about how you are a changed and developed person because of it
- This space can also be a great opportunity to talk about your qualities or skills that do not fit anywhere else in the application. Provide examples of situations where you have leveraged these qualities and skills and try and talk about how these skills or qualities will help you in your career
This space should not be used to repeat information already provided elsewhere in the application. You should also not put down 4 – 5 things that you want to bring to their notice. It is best to talk about 1 theme (qualities or hobbies or skills) and have a couple of sub-points in that, with a total of 3 paragraphs. Finally, this space should also not be used to plead for admission – it just does not work that way.
- Two evaluations/recommendations in the prescribed format will available on the application.
- Scanned copies in 150 or 200 in a PDF format of the following:
- Passport (a main page that shows the number, name, DOB and citizenship)
- GMAT Score
- TOEFL Score, if available.
Stage 3 Requirements:
Interview: Applicants based in India will be interviewed personally on the ISB Campus and those from overseas locations will be interviewed over telephone/Skype.
The Above ISB YLP Essays Stages provided by General Education will help applicants prepare for a better approach.