As we get closer to the application deadline, I hope you have done some introspection to collect insights about yourself, your goals and your plan of action for achieving them. Today, I will share some thoughts about how you can present that information in a cogent and convincing manner. One of the most powerful tools available to narrate your story is the application essay, something we give a tremendous amount of attention to while reviewing an application.
Those who have already started the application process would have noticed that the form captures data on one’s academic record, work experience, awards and achievements, etc. Essays give you an opportunity to provide context for that raw data, highlight the most important information, and build a convincing argument as to why you should be part of the ISB PGP.
To start off, the most important thing to keep in mind while writing your essays is to answer the questions asked. Often, applicants only partially answer a question or even miss the point entirely! Think about it: we are asking you for specific information because we need it to evaluate you. If you don’t answer a question to the point, you are giving us incomplete or irrelevant information and adversely affecting the evaluation of your candidacy.
Next, let us take a look at each of the essay topics and I’ll give you some insight into what we are looking for in each one:
Essay #1: Attitude, skills and knowledge differentiate people. Elaborate with two examples on how you would differentiate yourself from other applicants to the PGP. (300 words max)
The question is straightforward. Give us two (not one, not three) examples that you feel will help you stand out from the crowd. The motivation for asking is this: We get a large number of applications from several promising candidates every year. We want to select the best mix of them so that the class as a whole is highly accomplished, experienced and diverse, since that leads to the most effective peer group learning and sharing. So use this essay to highlight your best qualities/strengths that you feel differentiates you from the rest. If you are struggling with this task, here are some ideas on how you can identify your differentiators.
Essay #2: How does the ISB PGP tie-in with your career goals? (300 words max)
We want to know what your career goals are and what is holding you back from achieving those goals currently. Think about short term, medium term and long term goals. We also want to know how you intend to utilize the learning, experiences, resources, etc that ISB can provide you to achieve those goals. If there are specific facets of the programme that most appeal to you, elaborate on them.
Essay #3: Pick the most significant achievement (professional or personal) you have had and elaborate on the key learning you took away from it. (300 words max)
I have emphasized this point many times already, but it is worth repeating again. To us, more important than your successes, awards or achievements is the learning you took away from your challenges. In this essay, pick one achievement of yours that had a huge impact on any or all of your team, your company, your client, your society, etc. This achievement should also have influenced your personal development. Give us context about the situation and the actions you took, briefly talk about the results it had and then elaborate on what you learned from it. How has this learning influenced your thoughts and actions since then?
Essay #4 (Optional): Please provide additional information, if any, that will improve your chances of being considered by ISB. (300 words max)
If there is something significant that you want to communicate to the Admissions Committee and it hasn’t been covered anywhere else in the application, this is right place to do it. Some ways to use this space well would be to provide context for any gaps in education or employment, talk about interesting causes or projects that you have taken up, discuss unique life experiences, address any specific concerns, etc. There are many other things that you can write about here, so please use your best judgement on how to go about this. Note that you should not feel obligated to use this space just because it is available – if you write something here that is neither informative nor impressive, you are only diluting the rest of your application.
Essay #5 (for Re-applicants): How has your profile changed from the last time that you applied to the ISB? (300 words max)
Once again, this is a straightforward question. We want to know how you have improved your candidature since our previous interaction. One year is a long time, and we hope to see a significant self-development effort on your part in that time, with commensurate results. If it has been more than a year since you last applied, then we expect to see even more self-improvement in that period.
So, while all 5 questions are simple, one important thing to note here is that you have limited space and the Admissions Committee has limited time, so please ensure that you provide only necessary and sufficient information to make your case.
Finally, before submitting your application, ensure that you have done a thorough spell check and grammar check to correct any errors that may have crept in. Applicants are most certainly evaluated on their communication skills and can be penalised heavily for carelessness or shoddy work. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to you if you are aspiring to be a business leader in a global setting! My advice to you is to start the application process early, write your essays well, spend sufficient time reviewing and improving them, and finally submit a great application.
All the best!
Hello. This is a great piece of information. I want to know something. Say that I have got 80% in 10th. 90% in 12th and around 65% in college and have done exceptionally well in extra curricular and GMAT. How much will my overall academics affect my chances of getting an admission into the ISB PGP considering that my academic scores are moderate.
Our evaluation process takes into account all aspects of your application. Based on these, the candidates are shortlisted for interview. The final decision is based on all factors including the interview performance. It is therefore not possible to give an answer to your question on what your chances are.
Sir,
Thanks for guidance on the subject matter of the first 4 essays. We would be interested in having some insight on the scholarship essays and as for how two differentiate the essays in the Need based scholarship essay from the Nurture scholarship essay.
Thanks
In the scholarship essay, you have to justify why you need the scholarship. The Nurture India Scholarship is an alumni-funded scholarship and aims at providing financial support to a candidate who is typically the sole breadwinner for a family. The Nurture India Scholarship essay therefore has to focus on that point.
Sir,
Thanks a lot for this blog. It has come up at a very appropriate time and will prove very useful to the R1 applicants. I wanted some clarity on Essay 1 subject. Question clearly asks about two examples but this is not clear whether there is any specific limit on number of differentiating factors or unique strengths an applicant can mention. There can be following derivatives of the question:
1) Two strengths with one example each.
2) One most important strength with two examples.
3) Explanation of two examples, and then listing all strengths (attitude, skills, knowledge), that each example indicates.
Please clarify.
Also, is it necessary that examples have to be an incident? Sometimes it may not be any particular incident, but a collection of small initiatives taken over a period of time that reflect an individual’s attitude, skills or knowledge. Such an essay would contain multiple small examples to explain one major differentiating strength. Will that be acceptable?
Thanks & Regards
Apurva Prabhakar
ISB CO 2015 Aspirant
We accept all permutations and combinations that you have talked about. Multiple differentiators or a collection of instances in the two examples are okay but take care not to spread yourself too thin in the limited space of 300 words. Remember, it is better to provide in-depth details about incidents/examples so that we can draw insights from them, rather than just touching upon many. If you are not sure which examples to pick, I suggest you write multiple essays offline with various combinations and choose the one in your opinion that makes the most impact.
Bottom line: your essay should show us how you stand out from the crowd, so use your best judgment to do that.
Sir,
The 2nd part of 3rd essay question asks to elaborate on the key learning. Do we have to focus on the most important takeaway from the achievement or can we elaborate on multiple learnings?
It is your choice, but remember that you have a limit of 300 words. Present your essays to make the most impact.
Sir,
In essay 1 do I have to provide two examples which differentiates me on all the three parameters mentioned i.e Attitude, Skills and Knowledge or is the essay just asking about my strengths with examples and the strengths can be anyone of attitude, skills and knowledge and not necessarily cover all the three parameters mentioned?
For whatever strength you mention, you need to give at least one example to show how you have demonstrated it. It is not necessary to talk about all three i.e. skills, knowledge and attitude. If you have other strengths that you consider more significant and that can distinguish you better, you are most welcome to talk about that. Skills, knowledge and attitude are just one set of strengths that we have mentioned to get you thinking. You are welcome to cite other strengths that are your differentiators.
Dear Sir,
I am applying to the PGP and have a query. For the first essay, are we required to simply state ourskills, attitude and knowledge and how these differentiate us from others? Or should we focus on situations/incidents where we have been able to use these?
Looking forward to your response.
Regards,
Pooja Nayyar
It is not enough to just state the skills, knowledge and attitude. It is equally important to illustrate how you have used them to your advantage and made a difference. You may use incidents, career challenges, some goals achieved, etc to illustrate your strengths. Skills, knowledge and attitude are just one set of strengths that we have mentioned to get you thinking. You are welcome to cite other strengths that are your differentiators.
Hello Sir,
I had a query related to the evaluations/recommendations:
After working two years in the same organization, we step up in our career and join a different organization around August (applying to ISB in same year). We have two managers who have worked with us closely in the old organization. But consider a recommendation by the manager in the new organization to add different value to the application process. Is it advisable to provide recommendations by one manager in each organization?
Will the very short span of 4 months of working under the new manager versus two years with the old managers decrease the impact of the recommendation?
Thanks in advance for answering the query.
You can get both recommendations from your previous managers if you believe they will be able to provide more insights about you than your current manager, who you have worked with for only a short duration. However, if the interaction has been significant even in that short duration, you can opt to get recommendation from your current manager. What is important for us is that the evaluators you choose should be knowledgeable about your abilities, skills, areas of improvement, etc.
Thank you for taking time to write this.
Information here is really very helpful.
Sir,
Essay question 1 and essay question 3 :
What if my key strength and corresponding example also coincides with my biggest professional achievement? Meaning, if the example for the professional achievement reflects the same skill or same example?
Try and use Essay 1 to highlight the strengths and also show how you have used these strengths over time to make an impact to both your professional career and personal growth. Essay 3 asks for a specific achievement, so the focus should be on the achievement. You could talk about the challenges you faced and actions you took to overcome them. Of course, you can also talk about how you brought your strengths to play in achieving what you did.
Sir,
The word limit on the essays – is it very strict? Is under 320 words Ok? Is there some leeway atleast?
Thanks.
The system automatically cuts out anything over 300 words, so you will need to present your case within the prescribed word limit.
Sir,
I, being a mechanical and aeronautical engineer, have worked for an year in an IT industry, then worked as a technical officer at Indian air force for two years and I am now in the energy sector. I wanted to know if the companies from the energy and aviation sector visit ISB, and if they do, can you please share the names.
Yes. Here is an indicative list of some of the companies that recruited from ISB last year: http://www.isb.edu/pgp/careers/Recruiting-Companies Note that consulting companies may also be interested in hiring candidates to work on energy or aviation assignments.
Dear Sir,
I have a query related to essay 3. Is it necessary that the most significant achievement should have had a huge impact on any or all of my team, my company, my client, my society etc ? Is it fine If I mention some achievement which had the most significant influence on me, but no such influence on others ?
If you think that this achievement would be compelling enough, you can go ahead.
Sir,
I wanted to seek some clarification on the recommendations. Can the recommendation be from a senior or from a peer ( ie. not a manger ) . Or is it preferable that the recommendation comes from a manager or above?
Thank you for your help!
Regards
Priya khosla
You may choose a senior or a peer for the recommendation. The key thing to keep in mind when choosing a recommender is to choose a person who is most familiar with your achievements and hence is able to critically evaluate your performance.
Dear Sir,
Firstly, I want to thank you for the above blog and ‘ideas on how you can identify your differentiators’ as it really helped in getting the ball rolling and identification of my unique qualities.
I had a query with reference to the 1st essay wherein we are required to explain our strengths / differentiators with the help of 2 examples.
I have identified 2 strengths but there are multiple examples I can quote to corroborate each. Is it fine if I quote several examples or do I need to stick to 1 example for each strength?
Looking forward to hear from you.
Regards,
Rahul
Your are free to quote multiple examples to reinforce your strengths. However, do remember that the word limit for the essay is 300 words.
Sir,
With regards to the 3rd essay, keeping in mind the 300 words limit, to what extent (approx no of words or portion of the essay) should we elaborate the learning from the achievement versus the actual achievement and the steps taken to earn the achievement. Should the learning be given more priority or the situation, actions and results?
Thank you.
Please use your best judgement. Be aware that we will be assessing your communication skills also through the essays, so figure out how you can best use the available space to get your points and ideas across effectively.
Dear sir,
Iam a state government employee applying for 2014 pgp. my recommender doesnot have a official mail id. Is he eligible to recommend?
Yes, he can recommend. You may choose the offline mode of recommendation. Please write to apphelp@isb.edu to get the details of the procedure.
My father is a pensioner, I am the sole breadwinner in the family. But my compensation is greater than 10 lacs, can I still avail of any scholarship ?
You may apply for the need-based scholarship. If you make a strong enough case, the admissions committee may offer you a scholarship if you are selected.
Well said – attitude, skills and knowledge differentiate people which give unique place to them particularly in life career.
Sir
I am an Architect with 6 years of experience with a design consultancy. Do you think pursuing the PGP course will help me enhance my role as a consultant? Is it a good option for an architect to study management at this stage? What are the opportunities for this kind of profile?