Candidates normally assume that if you are looking to get into ISB, you need at least 2 years of experience. However, there is one other way. ISB’s Young Leaders Programme or YLP is the channel through which students can apply in their pre-final or final year of graduation itself. They cannot join immediately and have to wait till they complete 20 months of full-time work experience, but they do have an admission letter in hand and have a lot of comfort that they are going to join ISB in the next 2 years and therefore, they can focus better on their career.
There are 3 stages. Stage 1 essentially is initial filtering, where GMAT is not required. You apply with just an essay and your basic profile (GPA, internships, etc.). If you clear Stage 1 you move to Stage 2, where you have to present your GMAT score and submit a couple of essays. And then if everything goes alright, you are invited for the interview, which is Stage 3, where you go through the interview process and you get an acceptance or a rejection on your YLP Application.
The application generally opens in December and the Stage 1 deadline is March, subsequently Stage 2 in August and Stage 3 by Oct or so.
In this interview with Prashant Tibrewal, Founder and Mentor at ISBmantra, Agrima shares her insights and experience about the ISB YLP.
Prashant – 2:35: When in college, not many students know about YLP, and they mainly look at CAT, and have the IIMs as their dream school. So how did you get interested in YLP in the first place?
Agrima – 2:45: I think there was an info session in my college that introduced ISB and YLP to me and that is how I initially got interested. The reason I applied to YLP was that I was interested in ISB; I had heard so much about it in terms of international faculty, the diverse cohort, the learning experiences that ISB offers; and the fact that it looks at everyone’s profile holistically, something that other B-Schools in India so not necessarily do.
YLP was particularly interesting to me because, like you mentioned, it gave me a lot of comfort knowing that I will have an admit in hand while am doing my undergrad and then I will have about 2 years to work and really figure out what is it that I want, be able to experiment and then when I actually start my MBA, I’ll know exactly what I want.
Prashant – 4: 11: To get into the program that has an average class experience of over 4 years, PGP candidates get to talk about their work, about their professional experiences, etc., whereas when you applied as a YLP candidate you didn’t have any experience.
So what was your approach in presenting your profile and if you could also add a bit about your own profile, the college, the GPA, and what you think would have worked for you?
Agrima – 4:45: Of course one thing that ISB does look at, is consistency. Having a good academic record helps you. They look at your profile holistically, so GMAT/GRE is not a make or break. ISB really assessed me for the person that I am – someone who is very enthusiastic, someone who has done a lot of things – and that is something that worked in my favor.
I think everyone who applies to ISB does have a story to say and has something that’s relevant to ISB. What becomes important is how to present it in the best way in those 200 to 300 word essays. So, it’s very important to focus on things that are relevant from an admissions point of view, and I think that is where ISBmantra helped me look at my own story in a new light and present those aspects in a way that ISB finds most relevant. Also, during the interview preparation process, being able to talk to someone who was formerly associated with ISB admission office helped me understand what to talk about, what ISB would look at and I felt that I was much more confident on the day of the interview and during the entire process.
Prashant – 6: 20: I believe that you were able to do a few interviews with a few people on our team who had former experience with the ISB admissions. So how was your interview experience overall?
People often talk about their experience being centered around their work experience but as YLP candidate you didn’t have any such experiences, so what was your interview all about and how was the interview, what were the kind of questions you were asked – if you were able to throw some light there.
Agrima – 6:58: I am not sure if there is something they do as YLP. I think it’s the ISB culture in general. All the interviewers that I spoke to as well as my own interview experience was extremely friendly and very relaxed like at no point did I feel that I have been put on the spot.
The entire interview felt more like a conversation than an interview. I didn’t feel like they were trying to grill me and were trying to figure out what I don’t know. What I felt was they allowed me to lead the interview and they were willing to talk about things that I wanted to talk about.
So, for example, I wanted to talk about my internship during college, which was something that I felt strongly about. They gave me an opportunity to talk about it, but once I started with it, they sort of went into depth. The internships, the kind of experiences that you have spoken in your essays, your profile, is something that they would really focus on to really understand what you have done what you have written. My internship was in finance, a few very basic questions on depreciation, etc., followed.
Another thing that they really focused on was my long-term and short-term goals – where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do, and how ISB would help in that entire scheme of things. So having clarity on what you want and why you are applying to ISB, I think becomes extremely important.
Prashant – 8:48: The idea of talking more about your internship and what you have done often is to understand if you have really done it well and how much you learned from it.
Once you had the admit, you had almost 2 years before you joined ISB. So were there opportunities to engage with the school, was there some support that you received from ISB even when you had not joined the programme?
Agrima – 9:35: During the 2-year period before you join ISB, ISB does keep some sort of engagement with you. There are 3 learning weekends where ISB calls you to both Hyderabad and Mohali campuses for the weekends. You get to experience the campus, you go the classrooms, go around – and that might not feel like such a big thing, but when you actually come for your course here, it becomes so important because you need to have some sort of comfort when there is so much uncertainty in front of you.
Some of my closest friends still are people that I had met during the YLP weekends and in fact, I got an opportunity to switch my job because a person whom I met during one of the weekends was able to refer me in her organization – so I think even the 2 year time before you join ISB can really be fruitful if you make it so.
We also have these sessions and some sort of courses during these YLP weekends where we get some sort of exposure in terms of studies what happens at ISB because some of the sessions are taken by the faculty who are teaching at ISB and before the sessions we also get some sort of a small project work which really keeps you engaged, helps you understand what kind of courses, what kind of projects you would be doing at ISB and really judge the kind of competition that you are going to face once you are at the school.
Apart from that, you will get to interact with people who are studying at ISB at that point in time because they are the ones who would be taking you around campus. Further, I think the opportunity to network with fellow YLPs is something that I personally felt very strongly about.
Some of my closest friends still are people that I had met during the YLP weekends and in fact, I got an opportunity to switch my job because a person whom I met during one of the weekends was able to refer me in his organization – so I think even the 2 year time before you join ISB can really be fruitful if you make it so.
Prashant – 11:45: One part is the academic learning or exploring what ISB can offer, but it’s interesting to know that your YLP admit, directly or indirectly, helped you switch your job.
But in contrast, in college during your undergrad, you were with students of your age, and suddenly you land up in a place where there are people with as much as 20 years of experience. So how do you integrate with the group or adjust with the diversity there?
Agrima – 12:15: It is slightly difficult – because there are people who are coming in with a lot of experience. People who have headed teams, people who have led people much older than you, with much more experience than you – sometimes you feel like you are not being heard enough or you are not being able to contribute to the class discussions as much, but at this point, it’s extremely important to understand that you are there for a reason.
You are there as you have something to offer to the school, and of course, you need to push through that initial phase when you would feel like there are people who have much more to offer than you do and try and learn as much as you can from them and just go with the flow. Being one of the youngest people as YLP candidates, we have a lot more enthusiasm and higher risk-taking ability and we have a lot more to learn.
What worked for me was going forward with that kind of positivity and having a support system at ISB. It’s very important to use the diversity that the school offers, be friends with people of your age as well as people who are more experienced than you, which kind of helps you integrate well with everyone.
Prashant – 13:55: Probably it was also a period of self-discovery and realizing that you have more than what you thought had in terms of your own potential – and prepare you for the corporate world out there, where anyway you would be working with people very senior to you.
How do you think the ISB curriculum suited your learning needs and what were the opportunities/platforms you used at ISB especially when you talk about networking with senior folks.
Agrima – 15:45: Academically, I think ISB understands the diverse cohort that they cater to and they have designed the curriculum in such a way, so even before we joined ISB we had math bootcamps, we had introduction to finance, etc., so that everyone has basic knowledge irrespective of the background they are coming from.
Even at ISB, everything starts from the very basic. So everyone has an opportunity to get exposure to that subject and apart from that because they understand that people come from various backgrounds and have different levels of experience, we have things like tutorials.
The faculty are extremely approachable. So all of these together, from the school’s front, help everyone come at a basic level.
Apart from that with the cohort in general, there are P2P sessions before particular exams, especially finance exams to make sure that people who have more experience in that particular domain can give something to other people who might not have that kind of knowledge or background.
From a networking point of view, there are so many activities going on at all points of time, there are various club events, there are marquee events like ILS and Solstice – going for these kinds of events, just being active, and putting yourself out there is the best way to network. When you work with people who are different from you, who have more or less work experience – that’s when the best networking happens.
Prashant – 18:10: When you joined you were the youngest in the class. What do you think came as a benefit when you joined and were there any specific times when you thought that being young or being with relatively lower experience came as a challenge?
Agrima – 18:39: Being the youngest and having lesser experience in a class where the average work experience is quite higher, does come with a set of challenges.
For example, in some of my study groups, with people with 10+ years of work experience, they probably thought that my opinion wasn’t as relevant as theirs – so at such times it does frustrate you, but you need to push yourself further.
In the beginning, some of us felt like we didn’t have enough practical experience to contribute to the class discussions as much as others did, but that is something that goes away with time, something you get over after a particular point of time because you gain that sort of confidence. One more thing I saw YLPs struggled with was showcasing leadership experience during placements because there are other people who have headed departments, who have led teams – something that YLPs typically haven’t done.
That’s somewhere, YLP students need to be more active, especially during the course and take up initiatives to showcase their capability. All of these are challenging but these challenges can be overcome because YLPs tend to be more enthusiastic and all of us have more risk-taking ability.
Further, during placements, we had a lot more opportunities in terms of the kind of the companies that we could sit for, primarily because we are not aligned to a particular domain. Especially for people changing industries, it was easier for YLP candidates to do so, and since we have not been away from studies for a very long time, coping up academically became easier.
Some of the highest GPA scorers are often YLP students. Therefore, I think joining ISB through the Young Leaders Program comes with its own set of advantages.
Prashant – 21:15: I have observed this interesting trend of YLP candidates being among the best performers academically because you have been in touch.
Talking of placements, during last few months the class has been going through it and like you said it’s easier to change careers if you are a YLP candidate, it’s easier to fit into a more variety of roles and organizations – something that comes as a strong advantage for YLP candidates.
So where are you joining once you graduate?
Agrima– 22:05: Yes, I would be joining Uber in May – very excited for that.
Prashant – 22: 10: What kind of support did ISB provide you in helping you understand what career path you should be taking and eventually getting in there?
Agrima – 22:27: Since ISB is a 1-year programme and we don’t have a summer internship, it becomes really important to focus on what it is that you want from ISB and where do you want to end up after ISB.
ISB really supports you in doing that. Even before I joined, we were given this 200 question survey about our personality and we answered that survey and got a very detailed description of our personality in terms of our strengths, weaknesses, etc., and we were rated on different aspects like extroversion.
They asked us to reach out to our previous employers, asked them to fill in certain surveys and the result of which was given to us. So all of these were like a part of introspection the school made us do during our first week at ISB. Apart from that, we had this entire course called LEAD – leadership & development – where we were made to make a timeline of our time at ISB. What we wanted to do, our goals, how we wanted to achieve them at ISB, etc.
I think all of that makes one’s thought process very focused and that was the initial sort of support that was given to us. During our entire time at ISB, we were kept in touch with alumni from our industry, so that we could talk to them and tell them about our previous work experience and our current experience at ISB and what would be our best way forward. They would actually advise me on what to do, which club would give me the most benefit, or any activity that I should undertake.
Even things that I shouldn’t do, that wouldn’t be so helpful, because there is limited time at ISB. There are all of these club events that introduce you to various aspects of a particular domain e.g. marketing club might introduce you to life in marketing. All of these help you make decisions around what you think you are getting yourself into. Closer to placements we have resume reviews, we have mock interviews, and all this support is constantly there from ISB to help you figure out and reach where you want to.
Prashant: 25:10: The entire placement process is very demanding the support is essential. Before we close would you have any final thoughts to candidates looking for YLP or even the Early Entry Option (EEO), which is kind of built on the same model?
Agrima – 25:38: One thing I would really like to say is that ISB looks at profiles very holistically, so don’t get too stuck up on your GMAT/GRE score. Of course, it’s important, but it’s not a make or break factor.
Try to present the best version of yourself, try to present yourself as holistically as possible. One very important thing that I would recommend is to focus on what you bring to ISB in terms of diversity – it could be in terms of the extracurriculars that you have done, in terms of the education that you have, any sort of projects that you have completed, etc.
All of that might seem small right now, but these together make you stand apart and help you get into the school. Finally, it’s very important to have a clear understanding of your short-term and long-term goals and how ISB would really fit into that story. I think focussing on these 3 things would help smoothen the journey.
About the author
Prashant Tibrewal is the founder of ISBmantra and has mentored 1000+ MBA aspirants to get into their dream schools. As the only consulting company with Former ISB Admissions Officers on Board, ISBmantra boasts a success rate of over 80% with its ISB applicants. You may send your details to info@isbmantra.com for a free profile evaluation.
