u/TheAdmitCo

Hey everyone,

Did my PGP at ISB a few years back, and since then I've been pulled onto the admissions interview panel three times. So I've seen this process from both sides now, as an applicant and as an interviewer.

No secret formula; don't trust anyone who claims otherwise. But after sitting through that many interviews, you start noticing patterns: what makes a panel actually lean in, and where strong candidates quietly trip themselves up.

Quick background: went through the PGP, then years in strategy consulting and industry before starting my own venture. Ask me about:

• What the panel is really evaluating
• Non-obvious mistakes in essays and interviews
• Positioning yourself better
• What a genuine "why MBA" answer sounds like vs a rehearsed one
• Life at ISB once you're in
• Whether the ROI holds up

I'll check back through the day and answer everything. Feel free to ask your questions.

GMAT tests a lot of things.

Yes, it tests your fundamentals in Math, Verbal and Data. But it also tests your ability to execute under time pressure.

It tests your judgment in deciding the order in which you approach things.
It tests your time management.
It tests your strategic thinking.
It tests your ability to keep your nerves under control.

I’ve always been someone who prefers having easy, achievable and measurable goals.

I believe that, like most things in life, the most difficult things to do are often the simplest things to do — but with patience and discipline.

(Sorry, I’m back in my Warren Buffett reading phase in life :P)

Anyway, what’s the goal you set for yourself here to cut the noise?

For me, the answer was surprisingly simple.

I was trying to solve for one thing — and only one thing — during my prep:

Get the number of questions I get wrong as close to 0 as possible.

Even if I achieve 80–90% of that, I’m probably operating at a very high level.

And once you frame GMAT prep this way, a lot of things become fairly intuitive.

What do I need to get 80–90% of the questions right?

I need to look at 100% of the questions for that I need to manage my time properly.

I need to make sure I have enough mental bandwidth to solve the last section.

I need to cover the syllabus well enough that I’m not surprised by anything that comes my way.

I need to practise enough that the real exam becomes a repetition of my mocks.

“But GMAT is adaptive.”

I don’t really care.

My job is to figure out how to achieve my objective within the adaptive format.

“What about section selection?”

Same thing. Figure out the strategy that gives you the best chance of achieving your objective.

I chose to start strong rather than leave the easier sections for later when I was more fatigued. You need to get to this by trial and error!

“When should I start taking mocks?”

When I’m getting the accuracy I want without the pressure of a timer.

“How should I analyse my mocks?”

Compare them with my historical performance.

Am I getting better at managing time?
Am I eliminating the mistakes that cost me questions previously?

And most importantly:

Why did I get that one question wrong?

Because that one question is pulling me away from the goal.

That’s the mindset I found useful.

So if you ever feel lost during your GMAT prep, remember:

There is really only one problem you’re trying to solve.

Get the number of questions you get wrong to 0.

Everything else — mocks, sectionals, time management, strategy, syllabus coverage — is simply a means to that end.

Simple.

With interview season coming up, thought I’d share my ISB interview experiences.

I had 2 ISB interview experiences. Was rejected the first time, still don’t understand why, probably because it was R3. So in the first interview I had mentioned that I wanted to make a pivot to product management and the interview revolved around the pivot a lot.

For instance, ISB has an alumni portal for the panel where they could rate the interviewee. They asked me what's wrong with the login page of the portal. Just one thing that needs to change for sure. I answered that it was the CTA button for login that was too small. Before I knew it I was answering all kinds of product related questions such as favourite login experience, what I would change in this portal. It basically turned into a product interview, of sorts. Then they asked me to write down 5 skills a product manager has and to rate myself on those skills. They were trying to understand whether I understood what a product role entails. Then ofc there were a few typical questions like why MBA, etc. I also spoke about my extracurriculars during both of my interviews which imo gave me a few brownie points.

My second interview wasn't a long one either, max 20-30 mins. It started with the typical “tell me about yourself” question. They were trying to ease me, ISB is well known for that 😄

Then they asked me about my work and what I’d been doing. I had standardized a few SKUs at Urban Company's cleaning category, so they asked me if moving toward standardizing it and not going the extra mile to deliver to the customer was really a good thing or not. I answered why I thought standardisation was necessary.

I had written about my volunteering experience which was teaching underprivileged children during covid.I think, they asked me regarding it just to assess whether I really did it or not. Asked me why there was a need to teach children during covid when everyone has a smartphone. Since I had done the work, I knew this wasn’t true. In low income households, there tends to be only one smartphone and the one who goes to work, takes it.

Later on, they asked me what I would do at ISB and how I’d contribute to it, a pretty direct question.followed by why I want to do an MBA?

The interviewers didn't really grill me. Lot of cross questioning though. I was pretty humble throughout the interview.

My takeaways:

1. Know your work and extracurriculars in detail. They may test whether you were genuinely involved or just included them to make your profile look better
2. Your extracurriculars can make your profile more memorable
3. Be ready for your panel to turn your interview into a case or role specific one

PS: This account his handled by three ISB alums

Stuck at the last two options but can’t get to the final answer?
A passage related to history, economics, or science throws you off?

Don’t worry — we got your back! We are starting with a 5 day intensive course followed by a mock.

More details in the link.

DM in case you’re interested. Limited seats! Easy in pocket.

We are 3 ISB alums and GMAT Tutors.

If you're struggling with Verbal, we have something: 1-week long crash courses for RC and CR.

If CR is your weakness: we will go over the fundamentals of each CR question category (8 in total) and our tricks for how to ace these. You will get detailed pre-reads and 30 questions per CR topic.

If RC is your weakness: we will start with covering the fundamentals of reading passages and creating mind-maps. The second half will focus on each RC question type + our tips for approaching these. So you'll first learn to read passages better, then to understand questions better.

At the end of both courses, we will also run a revision mock for you to see if you've actually improved.

So 5 classes + 1 revision session + practice worksheets for each topic to help you boost your CR or RC scores.

If you only need help with this one part of GMAT, no need to purchase an entire courses.

Promise to make this a highly-personalised and focused experience for you :)

Please DM to know more about!

"Do I have a good profile for ISB?"

Every ISB aspirant is asking us the same question during our calls.

But bro, no one except adcomm can answer that (even though all of us wish we could and all of us try to). ISB's process is so holistic and human-focused that there are very, very few profiles that will never have a shot. We've seen 655 GMAT scorers from tier-3 colleges get in, and have seen 705s from BITS get rejected.

So when you talk to alums, ask us:

What is the one thing in your profile that needs the most work?

Is there anything in your background that could actually hurt you, and more importantly, how can you best address it?

What did our own essays focus on? What is something we wish we'd done differently about our applications?

You don't join these calls to feel better. You're there to leave knowing what to do next.

Baaki adcomm bharose 🙏

If you're looking to get your profile reviewed, feel free to book a call here: https://calendar.app.google/Ph9hCKhRMH5ypxBP8

Hi guys,

We’re 3 isb alums! We conduct 8 week high touch GMAT batches.

Registrations for our August batch for GMAT is open now. This will include live sessions, a very small cohort, and periodic mock analysis sessions.

Brochure link in the comments, please feel free to DM to know more :)

Cheers,
Team Ace Club 💚

Hey everyone,
We’ve been reviewing a lot of profiles recently, and here are a few things that you should keep in mind:

Your GMAT score: It’s essential to aim for a higher-than-median GMAT score if you are: a) an engineer, b) someone with low academics, or c) someone with low work experience. Also, when you’re preparing for the GRE/GMAT, why would you aim for anything less than the 99th percentile? I’ve seen GMAT scores drop for a majority of candidates from what they were initially targeting.

Extracurriculars: While ISB does value candidates with involvements outside of their professional life, they value diversity as well. Diversity can also be shown through diversity of values, diversity of thinking, or simply diversity in where you grew up.

R1/R2 decision: R1 is definitely better than R2. However, what’s more important is applying with a better GMAT score, whether in R1 or R2.

Essays: Can’t stress the importance of essays enough. They offer a glimpse into your candidature, so you should put your best foot forward here. You might even use this opportunity to talk a bit about your short-term and long-term goals.

Three ISB alumni are conducting a crash course on Reading Comprehension (RC).

This course is designed for aspirants who already have a basic understanding of RC but are struggling to improve their accuracy. If you often narrow a question down to the final two options but find it difficult to consistently pick the correct answer, this course is for you.

We'll cover practical frameworks, common traps, and techniques to improve decision-making on close-call questions.

DM for details and registration.

Hey there,
We are three ISB alums. We are planning on hosting webinars for everyone every weekend so that you’re all prepped before R1. We are selecting topics based on whatever topic you face problems with the most. Select the topic you would want to us to cover in the poll below.

Feel free to comment any topic not mentioned here. Also, do not forget to register via the link in the comment.

Thanks!

View Poll

With R1 deadlines coming up, we were receiving a lot of requests around end-min prep. We know what it takes to get through a b-school, and what the experience is like. So, we decided to help as many people as we can with the best we can offer!

We're launching GMAT crash courses (online, live) this June. One wee, one section. If you need something fast-tracked, personalized and focused, THIS IS FOR YOU.

All details about our 1-week-long GMAT Crash Courses here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MVVMJFRBcuDGa7OiGuKw1_LSV_1pea7X?usp=sharing

Cheers!

For R1 applicants

We’re hosting an open AMA tomorrow from 1-2PM. Feel free to ask us about any part of your profile/application/essays/GMAT/GRE etc.

Link to register: https://calendly.com/theadmitco/mba-ama-with-2-isb-alums?month=2026-05

See you!

We’re 3 ISB alums. Have been speaking with a lot of GMAT test-takers this last year, and the same issues keep coming up:

- Attempted once, didn't hit the number. Tutoring's done, so no idea what to do next.
- Working full-time. Don’t have time to research what to study/where to study from.
- Having an accountability partner would really help but don’t how to find/choose one.

To help, we're hosting free group sessions this Fri–Sun.

Hop on, chat with three ISB GMAT mentors, tell us where you're stuck, and let’s figure out how we can help you.

Book slots here: https://calendly.com/theaceclub-tac/the-ace-club-info-sessions