The interview was conducted by 3 alums of ISB. Most of the questions were asked by the two men. The lady asked one question towards the end of the interview. The interview panel was fairly conversational and made sure to make me comfortable during the interview.
These were the questions asked by the interview panel.
1. Tell me about your professional experience after finishing your undergraduate training.
– Told them even though I was doctor by education, I was interested in management and joined the management team of a healthcare start-up. I described the key roles that I had held in my organization.
2. What was your most significant achievement in your experience and why ?
3. What have been the challenges in your role in this organization ?
4. You seem to be passionate about your job and your organization. Will you join ISB if offered a seat ? Why do you want to take time out from your career ?
5. How many patients does your organization treat in a year ?
6. What are the challenges facing your organization ?
7. Who are the competitors to your organization ? (In my application, I had written “Strategy” as my post-MBA function)
8. What has been the impact of the competitors on your organization ?
9. What are you / your organization doing to counter the impact of your competitors ?
10. ( One of the essays that I had written was about my efforts to improve my English speaking skills ) – You have mentioned in one of your essays that you had put in effort to improve your English speaking skills. I see that you speak pretty good English. How did you overcome your inhibition to speak in English ?
10. They asked me about my hobby and how it has helped me in my career. ( The only question asked by the lady )
11. What do you want to do after ISB ? You have worked in your organization for 5 years now. Will you be going back to your current organization ? If no, then why will they let you come to ISB ? Won’t they try to retain you ?
12. Do you have any questions for the interview panel ?
It was evident that the interview panel had read my application in detail. They referred to specific anecdotes in the essays that I had written and asked me more about them ( See Q10). I had mentioned that Post MBA, I wanted to move from my present Operations role to a Strategy role. They asked questions related to the strategy of my current organization ( Q 5 to 9).
Overall the interview was a pleasant experience. I was expecting a lot more grilling / probing questions from the interview panel, but was surprised that they were quite friendly and completed in the interview in 30 minutes.
Happy to state that I got an offer of admission from ISB last week.
