How to prepare for ur Interview (ISB)

This email was posted by Kashyap Kompella, a ISB-04 passout.

Okay, thru the academics,GMAT, work-ex/resume, essays, awards et al you told a lot about yourself to the adcomm.So, they have a reasonable idea about you ( as much as it is possible to know about a person thru these data-points)

Now, what else do you want them to know about you during the interview?

Pick the top 3 things you absolutely want the adcomm to know and try to get those points across during the course of the interview. Since many others have said the duration was very short - planning this ahead can be useful.

If you are not able to steer the conversation towards the topics you want, you can even use the time at the end of the interview when the adcomm asks if you have any questions to say something like
"I have a few questions for you but before that I want you to know a , b , c"
and then move on to the questions you have for them.

One thing to keep in mind :
Your responses to the questions they ask will depend on whether they have read all your essays, resume etc or not. If they already have read the application thoroughly, they already have the context, so you can briefly re-affirm what you said there and throw in
additional information. If not, then you will have to structure your answers differently.
So during the first few minutes, you may want to get a feel for how much on top of your application they seem to be and go from there.

Also, if you have not sent a CV but just filled in the space in the application form, take a few copies of the CV with you.(I don't know if they themselves ask you to bring copies of the CV
for F2F interview - take them along anyway)

One should also try strive for unity-in-application i.e. the interview should corroborate and
not contradict what you've written in the essays or what you've said to the previous questions.
Naturally, a thorough reading of the application essays and a resume review should be done and think about the responses to anticipated questions

Before the interview, I did a bit of introspection and research on the for the possible questions from the essays etc. In addition to those here is a list of questions I jotted down for my interview preparation.

-Tell me about yourself?
-Can you walk me thru your resume?
-What are your strengths?
-What are your weaknesses?
-What are your career goals, and how will our program help you achieve them?
-How can/What can you contribute to the ISB experience ?
-Why do you want an MBA? Why now? Why ISB?
-What others schools are you applying?
-What would you do if you don't get in?
-What are your expectations from the course?
-What are your short-term and long-term goals?
-Where do you see yourself in 5/10/20 years?
-What do you like/dislike about your job?
-Tell me about a failure situation and what you learned from it.
-Tell me about an ethical dilemma you faced and how you resolved it.
-Tell me about a difficult team situation and how you dealt with.
-Tell me about a leadership role you played
-Whats your working style?
-Do you work well in teams or individually?
-What are your leisure activities/Hobbies?
-What has been your biggest achievement so far?
-What kind of manager are you?
-How would your colleagues describe you?
-How would your managers describe you?

Plan your responses two-three levels deep i.e responses to questions that arise based on the answers you give. (Example : Q.What is your hobby? A.Reading Fiction. Possible questions: Why? What do you read? What are fav. books/authors? Why? etc)

In addition, questions based on current affairs, trends in your field etc.

If your performance in acads has yo-yoed, think about how you are going to handle questions on that.

They seem to be throwing this at IT types - How are you different from similar IT male wolves? (I personally think this is oxymoronic - similar & different? but they want to know how you stand out)

I tend to get better with practice - if you are like that too - you may want to practice a few mock sessions with friends,family etc.

Also, think about a few intelligent questions you may want to ask them.

A few notes on Why ISB?
I guess a majority are going to say the same : Good faculy, latest curriculum, big corporate support, decent value for money etc. Well, you can score a few points by going beyond the obvious. I decided to pretend I had a deep knowledge of the program and know what I am
getting myself into etc. You'll have to decide what works - do a bit of research on the prof.s in your interest-areas and tell them how it fits in with your goals.

Your goal should be to play to your strengths.For example, if you have worked in a very big firm - highlight the prestige etc.If you worked for a start-up, tell them how you get to wear a lot
more hats in a small firm than in a bigger firm.If the start-up you worked for tanked, tell them what are the lessons learnt from the failure etc.

There have been friendly interviews and ones where they tried to stress you out.
Be prepared for both.

Despite all the planning, it may not go according to script - but if you prepare well and are satisfied that you gave your best shot - you can atleast sleep in peace.