Been there, Done that!!
A narrative shared by a successful applicant to the Indian School of Business
Starting your career as a software developer in 2008 was not easy for many of us since Wall Street crippled and left its effects for a long time. Frustrated with little work, somebody advised me to utilize my time by taking a competitive exam.
I zeroed on GMAT and prepared for the exam thoroughly as I was firm to secure a seat in an Indian B-School, especially Indian School of Business (ISB). I achieved my first milestone by scoring 700 in the exam which was decent enough to try for the world-class institute. However, I was turned down in my first attempt during the application screening round due to poor profile. Oops..wasn’t I supposed to enlist my success story here??
I left my ISB dreams on the back-burner and started concentrating on my corporate career. The efforts materialized as I received many accolades and recognition for my work. Simultaneously the hunger to grow fast and achieve more was at its peak. During this time, I thought to re-apply to some B-Schools, ISB being the first in the list. This was a make or break situation for me since I had made up my mind that it would be my last attempt to try for B-Schools. Probably because of this self-inflicted pressure, I could push myself beyond the limits.
Application writing was the toughest to crack in the 3-staged process (exam, application and PI) for me. What helped me most was that I started early and prepared a comprehensive sheet that entailed all my achievements and failures-big and small. Later, with some guidance from few known people and ISB alumni, I shortlisted the instances that I wanted to speak about. After a few revisions, my application took a decent shape.
In a couple of months, I wasn’t surprised to be informed that I was among the few prospective applicants that ISB’s admission committee thought to be worthy of an interview. The interview was in next 5 days and I was deluged with a multitude of opinions on what and how should I prepare. Here again, few ISB alumnus gave me some broad areas to prepare. I being so close to my goal, did not want to take any chances hence, took the help of General Education to prepare myself well for the D-day.
With their thoroughness, experience and best-in class consultants I got a flavor of varied interview scenarios. The best part was the honest feedback from the consultant, that helped me improve my weak areas. In a short-span, I was confident and motivated to have a crack at the interview. The real interview went well as I exuberated confidence throughout and answered consistently with what was mentioned in the application. Soon, I was informed that my hard work did not go in vain since I got an admit to the Co2014. Little did I know then that what I started off as a way to pass my time will have a long lasting impact on my entire life.