ISB Essays and how to answer them

ISB Essays pose a challenge to newbies and might seem difficult to crack at first sight; but as per experts, with practice and a methodical approach one can master them.

For this what one needs is clarity of thought and purpose and the ability to piece together in a cohesive way facets of one's professional life that suitably portray the positive side of an individual and his/ her suitability to the ISB PGP for MBA.

Practically speaking what this means is that an applicant should focus only on the positive side of things and should not bring up negative factors or unimportant issues. Why this selective profiling? The reason is very simple. Readers particularly members of the selection committee like to see and hear about positive matters and not negative issues. It is this basic quality of human nature that works in the case of ISB Essays also. Even in cases where an applicant has had a negative experience in professional life then it should be a brought up as a lesson that provided good learning and helped the applicant understand why it happened and how it could have been avoided – lessons that prove to be valuable in one’s professional career.

Second tip: Applicants should ensure that they provide complete answers to the questions that are asked. Partial answers do not go well with the selection committee. Some applicants make the mistake of not reading the question well and so misinterpret the point that has actually been asked. They make the mistake of writing too quickly and submit answers that turn out to be incorrect in the eyes of the selection committee.

Third tip: Goal orientation should be clearly visible in the essay. ISB Essays are usually of 300 words and applicants are expected to state their short, medium and long term goals in professional life and how they intend to utilize the resources, skills and learning from the ISB PGP Program to achieve these goals. Here it is important that the tone and voice of the essay sounds convincing and creates a positive impact on the selection committee.

Fourth tip: Applicants should differentiate themselves from other applicants on the basis of their attitudes, skills and knowledge. There is no clear cut formula of how one can do this in a convincing way but experts believe that applicants should give a thought to this question and pick up at least two examples that appropriately bring out the differentiation. This is a critical question because each year ISB receives applications from several promising applicants but the seats available are limited.

Fifth tip: Applicants should be well versed with the current global economic conditions and the impact they have on the Indian economy. Matters related to inflation, stock market index, interest rates and relevant examples from them should be cited in the essay wherever necessary. Thought leadership should be clearly visible in the essay on issues related to advertising, branding and consumer behavior. In a nutshell the essay should be a unique piece of work that brings out the story of the applicant in minimum words and with maximum impact.

Author is an avid writer, author and reader, and has over 15 years of experience in the industry for writing Isb Essays & Isb Sample Essays

This article is written by a professional author