The quality of your application is a vital part of the selection process. It offers you an opportunity to highlight your background, accomplishments and plans for the future. It is strongly recommend that you go through the process judiciously, spend adequate time thinking about your application, and put together the necessary material to best present yourself. As we get closer to the Round 1 application deadline for our flagship 1-year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP), here’s a checklist of things you need to cover. You may want to bookmark this page for easy reference later.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS CHECKLIST
- Applicant account – The PGP application process is fully online, making it convenient for you to apply from anywhere in the world. This requires the creation of an applicant account with which you can manage your application. To create your account and start the application process, visit the application portal at http://pgpapp.isb.edu. The application portal allows you to visit the application as many times as you want. You may edit all you have entered and written as many times as you want. You can also enter the information in any order that you are comfortable with.
- Applicant information – Fill in information about your academic record, professional experience, extracurricular activities, any awards and achievements, etc. In order to make the application process more efficient, we do not require these documents to be uploaded at the time of submitting the application. If you are shortlisted for the interview, you will be required to upload them at that time. Needless to say, sufficient time will be given to upload the documents, but if you need to collect documents from different locations like your home, college, previous workplace, etc, now would be a good time to get started. The full list of required documents is available in the application portal.
- Essays – You will need to prepare and upload 4-5 essays this year. While each essay is short and the essay topics straightforward, it is in your best interest to introspect and prepare convincing arguments. The topics for this year are:
- Essay # 1: Innovation or doing things differently, it is said is a key to future success. Could you substantiate or negate this idea based on your experience. Please provide examples from your own experience – either examples of your own innovation or examples of others whom you have worked with. (300 words max)
- Essay #2: Applying to and enrolling in a Business School is an important career decision. Critically look at your career to date, the choices you have made, the key influences behind those choices, your goals for the future and how you expect to benefit from the ISB experience in achieving your goals. (300 words max)
- Essay #3: One of the following (200 words max)
- This experience completely changed my way of thinking;
- An instance when you went out of the ordinary to achieve something significant, but in hind-sight feel you could have done better;
- Tell us about your role in a team that made a significant contribution to the organization;
- Contribution to peer learning and engagement with the ISB student body are important aspects of the ISB experience. What contribution do you expect to make in this direction during the one year at ISB.
- Essay #4 (Optional): Please provide additional information, if any, that will significantly affect the consideration of your application to the ISB. (200 words max)
- Essay #5 (for Re-applicants): How has your profile changed from the last time that you applied to the ISB? (300 words max)
- Recommendations – Two evaluations/recommendations from your work place or professional area are required. They should be from those who know your professional background and can assess your strengths, weakness, learning needs and areas for improvement. Some recommenders may have hectic schedules, so I would suggest that you request them in advance and allow sufficient time for them to respond. The recommendations must follow a certain format (available in the portal) and can be submitted either online or offline, the online mode being the default option.
- Test scores –
- Submit your GMAT score, which is mandatory for all applicants. The School Code for ISB for GMAT is N2D-J5-01. I want to reiterate here that ISB does not have any “cut-off” scores for admission to the PGP and all applications are assessed holistically for ability and fit. To learn more about GMAT and to take the test, visit their official website www.mba.com.
- If your medium of instruction in your undergraduate programme was not English, only then will you need to prove language proficiency by submitting TOEFL or IELTS scores. The School Code for ISB for TOEFL is 9047. To learn more about TOEFL and to take the test, visit http://www.ets.org/toefl. IELTS score reports should be sent to “Indian School of Business”. You can learn more about this test at http://www.ielts.org.
- Application fee– The application fee is INR 3,371 for first time applicants and INR 1,124 for re-applicants. Payment can be made using any VISA / MasterCard or Internet Banking option.
- Other documents – Please upload a passport size photograph, scanned copy of passport and Statement of Integrity (format available in the application portal). A passport is mandatory for all applicants since there are many international components to the PGP, such as international exchange, global B-plan competitions, foreign placements, etc. Applying for a passport during the programme introduces unnecessary logistical problems and uncertainties/delays. It would be a shame to miss out on international opportunities during the programme due to a completely avoidable documentation problem. So please do apply for a passport now itself, if you do not already have one.
Your application will likely be completed over a period of time rather than in one sitting, so the application portal is also designed to allow multiple sessions. You can work on your application for some time, save your progress, and return to it later to continue from where you left off. The Application Inspector which is available in the portal checks if you have missed any essential or mandatory fields or documents.
RESOURCES
As you can see, applying to the PGP is a simple 7-step process. To further streamline the process and make it easier for you to apply, we have made multiple resources available to you:
- When you create your online account and start your application, you will receive a Ready Reckoner and a Terms document via email. These are detailed documents that can guide you through the entire application process.
- The PGP brochure gives you important facts and figures and an inside look at the programme. You can also visit the PGP website at www.isb.edu/pgp.
- You can attend Admission Information Sessions that we host regularly in various cities across the world or online in the form of webinars. This gives you a chance to interact with Admissions Officers, faculty, current students and/or alumni who may be present at the session. It is a great opportunity to have an informal discussion with them and learn more about how the PGP can benefit your career and life.
- This blog itself is another useful resource. I will be sharing more information and insights on how you can prepare and submit a strong application to the PGP, so do check back every week.
- The PGP FAQs section has detailed answers to many of the questions you may have, so do browse through it once.
- We are present on various social media and discussion forums, so you can stay in touch with us and get the latest information about PGP and ISB.
- Finally, if you have any questions at all that you are unable to find answers to anywhere else, please do not hesitate to contact the Admissions Team. We are here to help.
If you haven’t bookmarked this post or logged into the application portal already, I suggest you do so now. Both can also be reached from any page in the PGP website by clicking on Apply Now or on the WordPress icon in the right panel. With all these resources at your fingertips, you can focus on preparing a solid application without getting distracted by logistics and other non-essential tasks.
I look forward to receiving your application and welcoming you to our campuses!
– Admissions Director (Post Graduate Programme in Management)
