Admissions Officer Q&A: Indian School of Business

While my blog is basically focused on American and European schools, I am pleased to offer my first post on one of Asia's rising stars, the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad. Given the long-term growth potential of India and the incredible talent of its entrepreneurs, I expect that interest in studying at ISB on the part of both the world's best Indian and non-Indian applicants will only increase with time.

The ISB's Ch. Hima Bindu, Assistant Director - Admissions and Financial Aid, was kind enough to answer my questions regarding the Post Graduate Program in Management (PGPM). The PGPM, equivalent to and recognized as an MBA is an intensive one-year program that begins in April. In addition to the interview below, those interested in learning more about the PGPM should visit the program's very informative website.
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ADAM: To be honest, I first became aware of ISB when one of my former clients, a Kellogg student, told me that he had an amazing time as an exchange student at ISB. Earlier this year, when I started looking at MBA starting salaries provided by FT, I realized that ISB had one of the best ROI's of any program worldwide. How has ISB become so good at placing its students in such a short time?

HIMA: We can attribute our success to three factors:

- The quality of education and highly skilled students at the ISB. The students at ISB are high achieving professionals with high caliber academic backgrounds and work experience that, recruiters vie to hire them after a year at the ISB.

- The extensive corporate network we have through our Board.

- A dedicated placement team which works all year round. From getting the best companies on campus to helping a student in resume-writing and presentation skills. Also, this department looks into any specific requirement that a students may have. This year, we have a separate cell to place students with high work experience.

ADAM: ISB'S Post Graduate Program in Management (PGM) is presently ranked 20th in FT's ranking of MBA Program's Worldwide. Considering that the PGPM only started in 2001, what do you think explains ISB's ranking?

HIMA: There are quite a few factors which collectively contributed to this some of which are
- Career progression of alumni
- The quality of ISB faculty
- Research credentials of ISB
- Strong industry and institute interaction
-The strong class profile over the years strong not only on academic achievements but also on diversity

ADAM: For many readers of this blog, who are mostly thinking about attending schools in Europe and the US, their most likely point of contact with ISB will be either on exchange programs to ISB or by meeting ISB exchange students at their schools. Could you explain a little bit about how ISB exchange programs work? More specifically: (1) Why would someone want to do an exchange program at ISB? (2) How important is the exchange program for students at ISB?

HIMA: Students from foreign countries and universities who come to ISB for an exchange programme, get to have a first-hand knowledge of the Indian business scenario. They can apply the management principles that they learn in class to the Indian context. The Indian economy is gradually becoming strong and buoyant and any corporation worth its salt is clamouring for a slice of the Indian market. So, this is just the right time for a neophyte in business practices to hone his skills right here in India.

ADAM: A number of my readers are from India, but generally find me because they are applying to American and/or European schools. Why would you encourage them to consider ISB?

HIMA: Again, the answer to this Q. is pretty much the same as above. For precisely the same reason that India is gradually becoming the hub of the global economies and there's is nothing like learning

the ropes of the trade in India itself. A happening economy with a potential for large markets of the future. The ISB offers global faculty from Wharton, Kellogg and London Business School. They should consider ISB for a chance to learn from faculty which is world class and curriculum which is contemporary.

ADAM: While I understand why ISB has to issue a PGPM instead of an MBA, for readers not familiar with the way the Indian government regulates educational institutions, can you explain it?

HIMA: Government regulations ISB believes merit is the only criteria on which students should be selected. ISB has always emphasized on selecting the highest quality of students irrespective of gender, caste or economic background and wishes to maintain this independence in selection. In India you need to be a university or deemed university to issue a masters degree but this will involve coming under the purview of Government regulations.

ADAM: How important are the application essays in determining who to admit?

HIMA: Application essays give us an insight into a students, leadership potential, maturity of thinking, analytical ability, diversity to the class, etc,. They help us in gaining a holistic perspective of the student, so are very crucial. Many times good essays, validated by interview have been responsible for admission keeping aside other scores.

ADAM: How important are recommendations? What constitutes a great recommendation?

HIMA: Very important. A potential students quality of work, career progression, initiative, crisis management skills are garnered from his Recommendations. Recommendations need to be honest, straight forward information on a student not glorified endorsements. A recommendation which gives a balanced view of the student strengths and weaknesses, throws light on his achievements and failures, shows his skill set is good.

ADAM: How important is the interview?

HIMA: Again very important and the deciding factor as only 40% of students get the offer after an interview.

ADAM: How important are campus visits? Do you keep track of who visits? Does it impact their chances for admission?

HIMA: Campus visits help a prospective applicant to see the institute and make up his mind. We do keep track of who visits but our decisions are not influenced by these visits.

ADAM: Can you provide my readers with some idea of how difficult it is to get into ISB?

HIMA: The competition varies from year to year. So, it is very difficult to give any concrete answer to this question. But a guesstimate would be 1:10.

ADAM: What changes to do you expect to see at ISB in the coming years?

HIMA: There are quite a few things on the anvil, in the near future we hope to
- Establish the next Research Centre of Excellence in Strategic Marketing
- Begin a new campus at Mohali in the northern part of India
- Start a pre-doctoral and Ph.D. programmes

ADAM: Can applicants get in touch with alums and current students? How?

HIMA: Yes. The applicant just needs to send an e-mail to the admissions office at pgpadmissions@isb.edu and they will put him in touch with a current student or alum.

ADAM: Can applicants get in touch with faculty members who they have a strong desire to work with?

HIMA: This can be handled on a case by case basis, where students request to meet with faculty prior to admission can be forwarded to faculty for their permission.

ADAM: Is there anything else you would like us to know about ISB?

HIMA: ISB is a young not for profit organization set up to develop research for India and the emerging economies the Post Graduate Programme at ISB is just the flagship programme. We are the largest in Asia in Executive Education and we have six centres of excellence focused on generating research for the new economies. The research centres are excellent exposure for students to gain a glimpse into the latest concepts in emerging markets – The Bottom of the Pyramid laboratory on campus is an example.
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I want to thank Hima for taking the time to answer my questions.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

ビジネススクール, MBA留学

MITSloan在校生・卒業生による、MBA受験生の皆様を対象とした学校説明会を開催します

I would recommend that Japanese interested in attending MIT Sloan attend the event below. (CLICK HERE FOR FALL 2009 MIT SLOAN CLASS OF 2011 ESSAY QUESTION ANALYSIS.)
-Adam

MITSloan在校生・卒業生による、MBA受験生の皆様を対象とした学校説明会を開催します。
日程：8月9日（土）
時間：15:00　（14:30受付開始）
場所：ドイツ銀行 山王パークタワー19階ROOM1
説明会の詳細および参加申込はこちらから。座席に限りがありますので、お早めにお申込下さい。
http://web.mit.edu/sloanjapan/101/

コーネル大学ジョンソンスクール（MBA）学校説明会開催のご案内

For Japanese interested in attending the Johnson School, I strongly recommend attending the event below.
-Adam

8／9（土）コーネル大学ジョンソンスクール（MBA）学校説明会開催のご案内

コーネル大学ジョンソンスクールでは、学校説明会を以下の要綱にて開催いたします。当日は在校生に加え、様々な業界で活躍中の卒業生も参加し、フレンドリースクールで知られる本校の特長・魅力をご紹介するとともに、MBA全般や受験に関することなども含め、皆様の疑問にざっくばらんにお答えします。また当日は懇親会（Coffee Hour）にて、皆様と個別にお話しさせていただく機会も設けさせていただきます。

本校にご興味をお持ちの方はもちろんのこと、MBA進学をご検討中の多くの皆様のご参加をお待ちしております。ご多忙のところ恐縮ですが、万障お繰り合わせの上ご出席くださいますようお願い申し上げます。

■日時： 8月9日（土）13:30～16:30［13:00受付開始］
13:30-15:00　学校説明会［プレゼンテーション、パネルディスカッション、Q&A］
15:00-16:30　懇親会（Coffee Hour）

■場所： ホテルニューオータニ東京 １階　edo ROOM

　　　　 〒102-8578　東京都千代田区紀尾井町4-1
　　　　 電話番号: 03-3265-1111（ホテル代表番号）

■出席者：卒業生、在校生

■お申込み：下記URLに8月3日（日）までにお申し込み下さい。

http://enq-maker.com/fV4XoKI

■定員： 100名　（定員になり次第お申込を締め切らせていただきます。）

■お問合せ：cornellmba.info2008@gmail.com

• 本校のアドミッションスタッフは出席いたしません。また当説明会は在校生・卒業生がボランティアで行っており、アドミッションプロセスとは一切関係ありませんので、あらかじめご了承ください。

• 当日はカジュアルな服装でお越しください。　

それでは当日お会いできることを楽しみにしております。

コーネル大学ジョンソンスクール日本人在校生一同

Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant

Dear Adam,
I wonder if you could tell me what my chances to get to get admitted to HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Haas, Tuck, and MIT are. My scores are... My GPA is... I have worked for...

I receive requests like the above via email to analyze someone's profile to determine their chances for admission. Of course, I have a FAQ that states that I consider it unethical to provide such information and that I only provide individual advice to my clients, but I don't think that many people read my FAQ. And those who make such requests want free information. I don't blame them from trying to get what they can, especially because there are other admissions consultants who will provide such "advice."

Frankly, I consider such "advice" to be both unethical and unprofessional because the information that is provided by the applicant is usually far too limited to really be the basis for a useful assessment. I only provide such an initial assessment when a talk with a potential client. Even then, much really depends on their application, their interview, and the admissions process.

While I can certainly tell someone that their chances for admission are probably below the acceptance rate if they are outside of the 80% for a program's age, GMAT, TOEFL, and/or GPA requirements, the person should, if they are not too lazy to look up the most basic facts about a school, be aware of that already. Usually, of course, the issue comes down to those who are in the 80% range (or perhaps outside it in one category) and it is especially at that point that I simply think it is wrong to provide such an assessment. There are two main reasons why I think this:

1. Since 2001, I have worked with or known of applicants who, if judged by their profile might not look like ideal candidates, but who were admitted to top programs. If they had followed the advice of someone who simply focused on their profile, they would not have achieved their impressive result(s). I am thinking of those admitted to HBS and Stanford with GMAT scores significantly below 700. I am thinking of a couple of applicants with secretarial level experience who were admitted to multiple "Top 10" MBA Programs. I am thinking of a client who was recently admitted to a top program with a relatively low TOEFL score. I am thinking of one of my blog readers who was admitted to a top program this year with a GMAT score significantly below the 80% range. I am thinking of a client admitted to Haas with a GPA below 3.0. I am thinking of the guy from a couple of years ago who I never thought would have a chance to get admitted to HBS (I did not tell him that!), but was. I am thinking of all these people and then I think of those whose experiences were similar whom I never had the opportunity of knowing and I become humble.

I become humble because I know the admissions process is one that rewards individual effort and often punishes those that lack it. I know of applicants with great profiles and weak applications (I do reapplication counseling) who wonder why they were dinged. I know why they were. But the thing is, when someone sends me an email with a bit of information about them, I can't say whether they have any chance at all because I don't know them. I don't know their passion, the real nature of their experience, their ability to handle an interview, or any of the other things that I learn about an applicant through talking with them. Maybe somebody thinks applicant assessment is a science, but I tell you it is an art.

2. Top MBA programs do judge applicants based on applications and interviews, therefore I consider it wrong to judge an applicant based on anything else. (Please don't send me your applications because I will not read them. That is what my clients pay me for.) Assuming an applicant is in, or is close to the 80% range in terms of core numbers (test scores, GPA, age, years of work experience), to me it is utterly pointless to judge an applicant's overall chances based on anything other than the application.

I know when an application is competitive, but given that I don't know the rest of the applicant pool and don't know who specifically is going to be reading the application, I can never be absolutely certain of the outcome. Once we add in the interview element, the level of uncertainly only increases. It is my business to know what admissions committees are looking for, but that is different from knowing the person initially screening an application or the person interviewing an applicant. Given the turnover among admissions staff and changing criteria when a new admissions director takes over, even an admissions consultant who worked in a specific admissions office will within a relatively short amount of time be making their judgments based on old information. For example, admissions at Stanford GSB under Derrick Bolton and Chicago GSB under Rose Martinelli have dramatically changed, so that anyone providing advice based on working in admissions at those offices previously is providing either out of date "inside" information or new information that they (like you or me) obtained externally.

Schools make very different judgments about applicants. For example, every year I have had clients who were admitted to their top choice school and dinged at one that was lower ranked. Sometimes the explanation can be found in the differences between admissions rates, but sometimes it simply defies an explanation. We might attribute it to "fit" but sometimes it simply is not subject to an obvious explanation. Some will be unhappy to read this, but admissions is a human process subject to chance. My job is to try and help someone mitigate that risk, but I can't eliminate it. No admissions consultant can. And if an admissions consultant can't know whether you will be admitted or dinged when they read your application, they certainly can't when they don't read it.

APPLICANTS FIRST, APPLICATIONS SECOND
My approach to admissions consulting is client focused. That is to say, I need to know my client first before making any ultimate assessment about their application. It is only by knowing the person that I can effectively determine whether the application represents them at their best. I am confident enough about my own abilities to know that I add the most value to my clients by utilizing this method.

Even before a client pays me, I make an initial assessment based on talking with them. Two things are happening when I initially consult with someone to determine whether we should work together. First, the potential client is determining whether they want to work with me. Second, I am determining whether I want to work with the client. Fortunately I am in a position where I can afford to reject those I don't want to work with. It is my assessment of the person that determines whether I want to work with them.

I typically reject working with applicants who demonstrate a lack of commitment to the admissions process, a clear lack of maturity, and/or simply because I don't get a good feeling about them. I don't reject working with someone because of where they are applying to or because their chances for admission maybe low because of test scores or some other factor. I work with my clients to help them determine how much risk they want to take. For some, a high-risk strategy is reasonable because the ROI on going to a lower ranked program makes no sense. For others, their need to get admitted means we need to determine the right mix of schools to maximize their chances of admission to get into the best program they can. In either case, as long as someone is realistic, that is what matters to me.

I know my approach to applicants and applications is not for everyone, nor can everyone afford to use services like mine. One of the reasons I write this blog is to help those I can't advise personally. I know it is no substitute for working with an admissions consulting professional, but I do hope it helps.

Finally, feel free to get the "advice" of those who will do a free profile assessment, but do keep in mind that you get what you pay for. And also don't be surprised if the "advice" you receive is consistently hedging. After all, it is easy to tell someone their chances for admission might be a bit low, especially if they are applying to programs with low rates of acceptance. Also, if someone tells you that your scores are a little low or that you might be a bit too old, just do a bit of research to confirm what you are being told. Unless it is a very clear-cut case, it never hurts to check with admissions first. If admissions tells you that your chances are low or non-existent than I would suggest you consider other options. On the other hand, if you get no specific advice from admissions, but really want to go to the school, I suggest you apply. Just think about the overall portfolio of programs you are applying to and determine how much risk you want to take. Everyone wants a sure thing. That is human nature. If you want to attend a top MBA program, I suggest embracing risk. Life is too short to play it safe.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

ビジネススクール, MBA留学

Chicago GSB Fall 2009 Optional Essay & an Overall Plan

11/9/08 Note: "The Chicago GSB" is now called "The University of Chicago Booth School of Business."

This is the fourth post in a four part series. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

Before discussing an overall plan for addressing the Fall 2009 University of Chicago GSB's MBA application questions, we need to look at the optional essay.

The University of Chicago GSB's MBA application for the Class of 2011 also includes space for an optional essay. I have taken the tip below from the online application. The question and the tip read as follows:

Optional Essay If there is any important information that is relevant for your candidacy that you were unable to address elsewhere in the application, please share that information here.

Optional Essay Tip

The optional essay is provided to give you an opportunity to explain any potential anomalies or ambiguity in your application. For example, you can explain why you did not use your current employer to write your recommendation, you might provide some clarity as to why there are significant gaps in your resume, or you may help us to understand why your grades declined in your junior year.

Please note this question is very functional in its design, it is to provide clarity on aspects of the application, not to give you an opportunity to write another creative essay.

If you read the above, it should be clear enough that this is the place to explain anything negative or potentially negative in your background. DO NOT USE IT FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. Yes, you may have written a great essay for Tuck, Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, NYU, MIT, INSEAD, Columbia, or London Business School, but unless your objective is to tell that to Chicago GSB don't include it here. GSB gives you two essays and a slide presentation to write about all the good stuff. YOU ONLY NEED TO WRITE THIS IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING POTENTIALLY NEGATIVE TO EXPLAIN.

Finally, if you have no explanation for something negative, don't bother writing about it. For example if your GPA is 2.9 and you have no good explanation for why it is 2.9, don't bother writing something that looks like a lame excuse. This is more likely to hurt than help you. In the same vein, don't waste the committee's time telling them that your GMAT is a much better indicator than your GPA (the opposite is also true). They have heard it before and they will look at both scores and can draw their own conclusions without you stating the obvious. That said, if you have a good explanation for a bad GPA, you should most certainly write about it.

Now that we have dispensed with the Optional Essay, let's consider a overall plan for handling this essay set.

Start with Question One
You need to effectively segment your content. Question 1 has a clear focus, so it is best to start there. In general, for any application, starting with the goals essay always makes sense because what you say in it will impact what you say elsewhere. After all you want to show how other aspects of who you are will support your goals.

NEXT
This is really up to you. Some applicants will find it easier to start with Essay 2 and others will find it easier to start with the Slide presentation. I think given the fact that Essay 2 is partially focused on why Chicago GSB, many applicants will find it easier to write Essay 2 in tandem with Essay 1.

NEXT
Write the Optional Essay if you need to. Just remember what I wrote before about it.

FINALLY
After you have written everything, make sure it works as part of your entire application strategy. Review your entire application and think about whether you have presented all aspects of yourself as clearly as possible. Specifically think about your application meets Chicago GSB's three central evaluation criteria: curriculum, community, and career.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

シカゴ、ビジネススクール, MBA留学