My ISB Interview Experience - 2008

This post is coming nearly a month after my last one. I know the frequency had been very less and I so much want to be regular on my blog. Anyways, I had my ISB interview on the 23rd of January at the ISB Admissions Office, Hyderabad.

My "Profile" as people have the interpretation of the term:
GMAT 710
Close to 5 years of work-ex in IT Services and Telecom Product firm (Infosys and Qualcomm)
Decent Acads
Decent extra-currics
3 months international experience as a lead

My interview was scheduled at 2 pm and I reached there by 1:20 pm. Was interacting with other waiting applicants when I was given a paper for a write-up on "Finesse". Frankly speaking, I had no idea what the word exactly meant. I knew it is something related to putting perfection in your creation and built something around it. Took some 10 minutes to write and then continued chatting with other interviewees.

Was called in at around 2:10 pm. There were 3 interviewers in the panel. I do not recall the names of two of them (excuse me for the nervousness at the time, was finding it hard to concentrate). The guy who led me in was Joe, is one of the adCom members and I met him first in 2004 when I attended the the ISB Information Session in Bangalore.

Anyways, so here here goes the interview dialogue with P as the Panel member and N as me:

P: So you applied in 2006 too, did you get a feedback on why you were not selected? Were you interviewed?
N: Yes Sir, I was waitlisted after the interview. As per the feedback I received, I guess I was not able to convey my reasons for pursuing an MBA properly.

P: So would you tell the reason now?
N: Told the reason for an MBA and my backing work-ex.

P: So you were in Australia? What did you learn about the multi-cultural experience as you have written?
N: Told them about my experiences, the people I met and a little about the challenging project.

P: What was the challenge in the project and how did you face it?
N: complete description of the experience.

P: Okay, so what do you do apart from work? What are your passions?
N: Told them about my interests in painting, dancing, reading and the recently developed interest in blogging. Talked about blogging in detail, covering my blog and the current trends in blogging.

P: What do you write in your blog. Tell us about what you have written.
N: Gave them a description of the topics on which I write. In addition, I gave them a pointer on the most popular article on my blog which is the ISB application essays analysis.

The discussion became interesting from here when they asked me to share the analysis with them. We had a very healthy discussion on the latest essay topics and my views on them.

P: Okay, so what companies are you looking for post MBA?
N: Gave them a couple of names related to my field (telecom) where I would like to be in that can offer me the role I want.

P: What specific role are you looking for?
N: explained it.

P: I see you have learnt French. To what level do you know the language and why did you learn it?
N: Told them that I have completed it till Level I where I can have basic conversation in present tense, and my motivation behind learning it.

That was it. I asked a couple of questions on their courses which could help me in my entrepreneurial venture. Another question on the current status that ISB has applied for rankings and its future impact.

All in all, it was a very friendly discussion. No grilling involved. I am not sure what to make out of this. Just keeping my fingers crossed till 15th Feb.

My advice: you should know what you have written and have a convincing experience to back everything. Just be yourself and know your application well.