Monday, November 13, 2006

ISB interview

I had my interview with ISB Hyderabad this Sunday. My experience went thus:
On arriving I was handed over a peice of paper to write a 50 word essay.
The topic was 'Government of India'
Now dont get me wrong but honestly such an open ended topic to be dealt with in 50 words? There is no sense of doing any justice to it or even revealing some brilliant prespective from your end. All in all a very half hearted attempt to put another aspect to the interview - not thought out properly according to me. Even if they were looking for a concise get-to-the-point type essay the questions could have been more tickling. Anyways thats my feeling
I was made to wait in a room with about 6 others, they were very nervous and some even paced up & down all the time. Everyone made an effort to get along. I think its got something to do with the emphasis on being a team player. Ooh cynical me :)

Interview started 10 minutes late, was informed right in the beginning not to be nervous as their style is 'zero stress' based. Took the advice on face value and talked thru the interview as a conversation.

All the questions were geared on my carrer and profile. I have a slightly unconventional profile, coming from the world of films with a creative background.
They asked many pointed questions on what are the revenue streams, how the industry works. If I were to consult someone who wanted to make a movie what would be my advice. If I were to launch a production company what would be my primary motives, business plan and how would I go about it.
How does television work, what are the revenue models for it.
Will Big Brother work in India? It has just started its innings in India. They asked this very pointedly - in the long term as well as in repeated seasons etc. Tried my level best to give a knowledgeable reply but honestly my line of work in so notorious precisely because we can never predict an outcome.
Towards the end they specified that their only concern is if I will be able to cope with the academic rigour at ISB with my profile
Found this slightly insulting - does being creative automatically typecast you as someone who cant follow 'academic rigour'?
Answered that I was really not intimidated and had already started reading up on finance & stats - the only areas I have less experience in but that with Economics in my undergrad I dont see it as a big problem
Now it was my turn and if I had any questions. Unfortunately I did seem to have a few. I asked them about recieving other people in the past with similar profiles - they cited that they had. So asked them if those had any difficulty following the academics. Answer was a very wishy washy "yes and no"
So i pointed them to my GMAT score and said it should answer their trepidition since i hit the books only 2 months before the test while still working 12 hour days.
They asked me if I was satisfied with my score.
Strange question - I mean if I got 800 i would be satisfied but I did mention that i found it very easy over all and not much of a stretch.

I have no idea how the interview went. I came out feeling good, and I think I answered every question confidently. I just have a problem with being judged and all interviews are basically a process for pronouncing judgements. I think in the end I put a bit of pressure on them too with a few questions. Did it in a very 'zero stress' friendly style :) but came out feeling that I really didnt get any answers. So thats my judgement.
Will have to wait another month to hear their side of this story.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

> The topic was 'Government of India'

Reminds me of a scene in "Thank you for smoking" where the protagonist's (Nick Naylor) son has to write an essay about "The Govt of the US is the best in the world". He tells his son to bullshit all the way :D

Hey.. am looking to get into Insead in Sep 2008. Hope I can make it.

AJ said...

Definitely found the anecdote about the counter question on the performance of other students with ur profile in the past amusing.

Follow this up with an update though. If you got in or not. Liked the attitude, just want to know if it paid of for u.