As part of application process, most global B-schools require applicants to provide letters of recommendation. At ISB, the PGP application process also requires something similar: the independent evaluation. All PGP applicants have to choose two evaluators who can provide good insight on the candidate’s abilities. The evaluations go a long way in determining the applicant’s fit with the school and consequently influences the admission decision.
This is how the process works: At the time of filling up the application, the candidate nominates two people as his/her evaluators, by providing their names, designation and official email id. We will then send each of them an evaluation form by email and instructions on how to fill them. The form has a few simple questions to rate the applicant’s strengths, areas of improvement, achievements, leadership potential, etc. These forms should then be submitted to ISB directly by the evaluators. The evaluations give us an overall understanding of the candidate and also provide us two independent validations. We take into account these insights before deciding on whether to shortlist the applicant for an interview or not.
From the applicant’s side, selection of evaluators is important. You should ideally nominate someone who has had a chance to observe your work closely in the recent past. For example, your immediate supervisor or manager would be familiar with your abilities as well as areas of improvement. In instances where you may not be comfortable nominating your current boss, you can nominate others who have had a chance to observe your working style and personality – a previous manager, a mentor, a client, etc. Note that the nominee’s ability to evaluate you is far more important than his/her designation. For example, some applicants believe that getting a recommendation from their CEO would be impressive. That is true only if they have actually worked closely with the CEO. If not, the CEO may respond “Unable to evaluate”, which is an option available for each question on the form. If that happens even on a few questions, the applicant’s chances of an interview call would drop drastically. So choose your evaluators wisely.
It goes without saying that candidate should not try to influence the evaluators in any way, as that could lead to disqualification of the application. You are welcome to have an initial discussion with your evaluators to provide context about the school, your career goals, etc but it should be limited to that.
Typically, there have been two ways to submit the evaluations: either online or offline. Online evaluation is preferred and most evaluators find it more convenient. It requires the use of the official email ID issued by the evaluator’s place of work. In cases where access to official email is not available to the outside world, such as in the military, a printed evaluation form can be given to them to fill, and we will accept that completed evaluation sent to us offline via post/courier. This year, one more option is available. On request, we will forward to the evaluator’s email ID the offline evaluation form and an upload link. The form can then be printed out, filled in, signed and scanned into PDF format, to be uploaded to the link and submitted.
Now, given that evaluators tend to have busy schedules, it is in your best interest to start the process early. They may have critical milestones, travel commitments, important meetings, vacation time, etc coming up that could take their attention away from your evaluation, so please provide them with sufficient advance notice. The extra time also allows them to gather their thoughts on this matter. I am sure you realise that if you approach your evaluators on the last day and pressurise them to complete this, you will not be helping your case. My suggestion to you is to reach out to them early and set the ball rolling. It also doesn’t hurt to send a gentle reminder closer to the deadline. Note that you can change your evaluator at a later date if the evaluator is unable to participate after initially agreeing. To do so, all you need to do is give the name and contact details of the new evaluator on the application portal. It may at times be necessary for you to contact the Admissions Team to make the change, in which case it will take about 24 hours to effect the changes.
All evaluations have to be submitted to the ISB PGP Admissions Office directly by the evaluators before the application deadline for that round (Sep 15, 2013 for Round 1; November 30, 2013 for Round 2; January 15, 2014 for international applicants). Only in very rare cases would we consider providing an extension, and even that will be for a day or two at the most. So as an applicant, please plan in advance.
A good evaluation can go a long way in helping you secure an offer of admission to the ISB PGP, so I encourage you to spend the necessary time in identifying the right evaluators and enabling them to submit their evaluations on time.
All the best!
What is the last admission date?
For Round 1 it is September 15, 2013. You can get all the details about our application deadlines here: http://www.isb.edu/pgp/admissions/admission-calendar/For-Indian-Passport-Holders
Hi Sir ,
First of all thank you for such detailed explanations not only in this posts but also in all other posts.
I have a query on the recommendation process.As Far as I understood from your posts , the link for recommendation will be triggered to the evaluator only when one completes the application and submits the same. But Sir I will be taking my GMAT in 3rd week of November and thus will not be able to finish my application before the last week.In such cases if one submits his/her application on the last date , i.e 30th November how can his evaluator submit his recommendations on the same date ? Or is there any process by which the evaluation link can be sent to the evaluator beforehand ?
Submitting the completed application and submitting the evaluator details are two different aspects of the application process. You can identify the evaluators at any time and submit their details. The evaluators will get a link to fill in the evaluations immediately. Once you have completed the application in all respects, including identifying the evaluators, you can submit the application.
Hi, I have 2 questions about independant evaluations
1) If the evaluators have requested for a physical form, how can this be sent to them?
2) Are there any other letter of recommendations requried in addition to these evaluation forms?
1. We will send an email to the evaluators with the blank evaluation form as an attachment. The evaluators will have to print it out, fill it up and then post it back to us.
2. There are no other forms of evaluation required.
Sir,
I have a query regarding evaluator selection.
Can I select a customer as an evaluator with whom I have been working closely in past few years.
Dear Manish,
Thank you for writing in.
Clients can be your evaluator. Please write an email to pgp@isb.edu with details of your work for more clarity.
Thank You.
Respected Admissions Director,
I am applying for PGP-2016 Batch.
The blog has enough details on Evaluations in Application
However I have 2 queries following
Query 1: My work experience is based out of family Business so who is the recommended evaluator I can nominate on my behalf and also is mandatory we should nominate 2 evaluators ?
Query 2: Can I get a copy of the Evaluation form so that I can present it to my evaluator for him to have a idea on what he should provide ?
Regards
Hemant M
Respected Admissions Director,
I am applying for PGP-2016-17 Batch.The blog is very clear on details about Evaluation,however I have 3 queries.
Query #1 : My work experience is based out of Family business ,so I’d like to know who is the recommended Evaluator ,can I consider my Client (Senior Manager in a leading Bank) as a evaluator ?
Query #2: Can I get the sample Evaluation form through mail so that I can present it to the evaluator on beforehand so that he can have an idea of what to assess.
Query #3 : Is it mandatory to nominate 2 evaluators ?
Regards..Awaiting for reply…
Dear Hemant,
Your client can be your evaluator in the PGP application.
We will send the evaluation form directly to the evaluator after you submit the official email ID of the evaluator.
We need only one evaluation for PGP 2016-17.
Thank You.
Respected Sir
what is the procedure of changing the evaluator? In the blog it is mentioned that “Note that you can change your evaluator at a later date if the evaluator is unable to participate after initially agreeing. To do so, all you need to do is give the name and contact details of the new evaluator on the application portal.”
But in the application portal I am unable to find any such link. Please guide on whether the evaluator can be changed at this stage. Also whether changing evaluators will create any negative impression in the application process?
Thanks
Silpi
Dear Shilpi,
You may drop an email to pgp@isb.edu with the details of the evaluator.
We will delete the evaluator details, however you will have to re-enter the new details and click on ‘Send Request to ISB’
Thank You.
Team Admissions
Hi Sir/Madam,
I’m applying for Session of 2016-2017.
I had a query about my evaluation:
My supervisor or department bosses are not comfortable with the idea of youngsters leaving the company. My previous boss (who is willing to evaluate me) supervised me 3 years ago.
Whereas, I have a senior who was in a deptt closely linked to mine. He is one post senior to me, has closely worked with me on many projects, has even mentored me on company environment. He is still at our company but has been transferred to another city office.
Can this senior act as my evaluator? I mean as far as commenting on my growth is concerned, he is a very good choice for me. But will his evaluation be considered weak just because of his designation / less senior post / recent transfer / different department within the same unit?
Please help. Thanks for reading.
Dear Abhinav,
You may take the evaluation from any senior colleague in the current organization.
However, you can also get it from the previous supervisor.
Thank You.
Team Admissions
Hi Sir/Madam,
thanks for the earlier response. I have some queries regarding documents upload process and scholarships.
1) Is the “200 dpi” format compulsory. I mean somehow i have reduced the size to 300 dpi but i don’t know how to reduce it further. In case it is compulsory please suggest some method to do so.
2) Is it compulsory to upload black & white documents? If the size is less can the pdf formats be colored?
3) while calculating eligibility for need based waiver, should the applicant’s income be taken into account, since the applicant would obviously be not earning while at PGP.
Please help.
Thanks for reading.
Dear Abhinav,
You may upload the 300 dpi picture. Our team will get back to you if the picture is not clear.
You may also upload the colored documents.
Yes, you will have to enter the applicants income too while applying for the Need based scholarship.
Thank You.
Team Admissions
How many days after ISB application, do they send link for evaluation form, via e-mail?
Dear Anurag,
We send the evaluation link in 48 hours after you click on ” Send request to ISB ”
Thank You.
Team Admissions
Hi Admissions team
Is it possible to change an elevator after they’ve submitted an evaluation? This is because I have identified a different supervisor (who was traveling previously) who i think will be a better person for the evaluation
Upasana,
Please write to apphelp@isb.edu
The team will assist you with the same