Job Hunt

Consulting is inherent in ISB's legacy and therefore you will see a heavy stress in consulting related recruitment on campus.

If you are a budding business consultant then ISB is the place for you. That said, there are equally excellent opportunities available for those who want to take up IT, general management, business development, and finance roles.

The only advise that I have for upcoming classes is to focus on your life's priorities. Many get carried away in the melee of cohorts applying to consulting companies that they forget the very reason they came to the ISB.

Pursue you passion and not whats fashionable at the ISB. Its your passion that will stand you in good steed in the numerous decades ahead of you. 

Bidding for International Exchange

The international exchange program at the ISB is another avenue for students to gain from the experience of studying at a foreign institution. Unlike its inception years, the recent classes at the ISB lack the participation of students from diverse nationalities. Therefore, an international exchange program can help students experience a truly diverse class room.

Bidding Suggestion

Since students interested in opting for international exchange will all be willing to spend the maximum possible bidding points, the deciding factor boils down to the random number that is generated for each student who evinces interest in a given institution. The lowest random number wins. This system may provide an opportunity for collusion among groups of students.

During the final few minutes of the bidding process, collaborators often manipulate their bids (quid pro quo)  so that the collective chance of their group winning the bids increases. In case you are bidding alone, I would suggest not to make your best bid until the last fifteen seconds so that your competition does not have time to switch bids and your chances of winning are the highest.  

Bidding for Inter-Campus Exchange

The ISB campuses at Hyderabad and Mohali have their distinct characteristics. While on one hand the Hyderabad campus with its large class size, multiple concurrent programs, and sprawling expanses replete with a lake, greenery, and beautiful peacocks gives the impression of a quintessential grand educational institution, the Mohali campus with its smaller class size, contemporary design, and ever flowing enthusiasm makes one feel at home where every face is recognised.

I strongly suggest that students should opt for a couple of terms at each of the two campuses to absorb all that ISB has to offer. Having said that, there are a few practical reasons as well why one might want to go for an inter-campus exchange. During the elective terms, quite often the same courses are taught at both the campuses during different terms. So in case you loose out on a subject of your choice due to paucity of bidding points, you may try to bid again for the same course at the other campus during your exchange term.

You may also want to go an exchange to participate and attend the flagship events 'Solistice' Hyderabad or 'equinox' Mohali. Finally some of the world's foremost teaching minds visit ISB campuses for conducting specific courses. So in case you yearn to attend a course that's conducted by a rock star professor , you may want to opt for the inter-campus exchange route.

Team Assignments

At the ISB, interpersonal awareness and working in teams is one of the key learning objectives and hence great stress is laid on team work. Nearly all courses taught at the the ISB have a graded team work component. Therefore, for the academically inclined it would be worthwhile to note that a sub-optimal group performance has the potential to spoil overall grades despite one's otherwise good performance in individual components.

Team work will be a lot of pain but despite the accompanying sweat and risks, I strongly believe one should embrace it and try to make maximum use of group projects. Collaborating among cohorts with no hierarchical authority or formal rules of engagement to deliver productive work is a precious experience that is sure to come in handy during similar real life situations.

In fact a planned approach to team work can yield excellent returns, much better than what one can accomplish through individual effort. 

Core Terms:

Your core term groups will be formed via random allocation by the college. The first grouping would continue for the first two terms followed by another group formation for the remaining two core terms. Chances are high your core term study group members along with your quad mates would form your inner friend circle at the ISB.

Diverse as our world is, it will always be the case that not all group members will bring in equal levels of motivation. The spectrum of participative enthusiasm may spread from 'free rider' to 'champion crusader'. My suggestion to those who strive for excellence is to seize initiative and try to ensure maximum participation from all group members. It might not be possible to get everyone to participate equally but its always worthwhile to try to run the group under maximum 'possible' efficiency. Remember that this is also the time that establishes your 'currency' in the ISB marketplace. People tend to notice your dedication for good work and later during elective terms this will be your gateway to high performing teams that keep away free riders.

Elective Terms:

Post the elective terms students will be free to choose their own groups. This is the time for you to approach like minded individuals as soon as ASA releases class student lists. Remember that there will be frenzy for group formation once classes start and you do not want to be in a position of disadvantage that forces you to partner with left overs.

ISB Library

Hyderabad

The ISB Hyderabad library is in many ways represents the heart of the Campus. For one, this facility is symmetrically located right in the middle of the main building and offers a splendid view of the entire campus from the top floor. I particularly enjoyed sitting next to the windows that face the lake. Apart from the location, this facility is also the centre of activity when the academic session is at its peak. With study groups scattered on all the three floors working hard late into the night truly earns this place its pseudonym.

Mohali

Although much smaller that its sister at Hyderabad, the Mohali library too buzzes with infectious activity during the peak of the academic sessions. Despite the smaller scale, all facilities are in place to cater to the smaller class size at the Mohali campus. In time I heard that, as the Mohali campus scales, plans are afoot to upgrade the library to match the scale and grandeur  of the Hyderabad facility.

Another great feature of the 'one college two campus' philosophy of the college is that, students at both campuses can search the common repository for books of interest and any book that is not available in their base campus will be couriered from the remote campus and issued to the student. However, given the super compact size of each term, I do not see this of much benefit for term studies but can definitely come in handy for research projects.

Recommendations

During your time at the ISB, there are two type of books that you will need. The first type are called required textbooks and the second recommended textbooks. Required textbooks form the core of a course and students should ensure access to a copy for quick access.  For those who like to underline and annotate text while studying, I recommend buying the required textbooks. An additional reason to buy textbooks would be to have a robust library for professional reference later in ones career. 

Some students prefer not to purchase required textbooks and use the library copies that are issued for two hours at a time against a deposit of a student's identity card. This approach is perfectly fine as well and the choice totally depends on one's priorities. However note that sometimes the number of copies available in the library may be limited and may lead to non availability situations particularly before the exams.

The recommended books are available in sufficient quantity in the library and need not be bought.

For quantitative subjects for example statistics, a handful of solution books to the required textbooks are available in the library. It is of immense help if one can get these book issued as the textbooks do not carry solutions to all problems.

A generic approach to making the best use of the library would be to make a list of subjects in the upcoming before hand and get the relevant books issued in time. Talk to previous classes or ASA to get the list of books required in upcoming terms.

  

ISB Academics

Academics at the ISB is a hard fought battle. Although the school does not mandate that students display their CGPA on their resume, yet my ISB experience taught me that grades do matter. During my job search, I initially did not publish my CGPA on my resume as per global standards, but during interviews, I was explicitly asked about the same. May be this is a direct result of the number centric Indian culture. That added to the fact that the ISB is a young college with a growing annual intake creates significant pressure to differentiate oneself from the vast pool of MBA students graduating from top schools throughout the country and vying for the same top jobs. Having said that, this does not mean that without a stellar CGPA there is no hope of a great placement. Except a handful of companies, grades did not play as much of a role in ensuring shortlists. If I have to realistically quote a value, I would advise students to strive to keep a CGPA above 2.8 and beyond that, the more the better. Anything above 3.5 would be just awesome.  

Now that I have harped on the importance of decent grades at the ISB, let me share an approach to ensure the same. The first four terms (core terms) are quant, economics, and finance centric and hence relatively tougher. Although the latter terms do contain subjects that are equally academically challenging, yet they mostly build upon the basics taught in the core terms, and hence are relatively easier to navigate. Another point worth keeping in mind is that the bulk of placements happen when the CGPA distribution for terms 4, 5, and 6 have been declared. This in term in heavily impacted by the grades in the first four terms. Any slack during the initial terms takes a herculean effort to overcome later. Therefore to be on top of your game, I advise students to start preparing even before they start college. The following are a few useful tips.

1. Statistics is the backbone of business education. To encapsulate returns and the associated risks of any business decision, business literature heavily relies on mean returns of a representative frequency distribution and the associated standard deviation. Without a thorough understanding of the basic concepts of statistics, efforts to score well in many subject will be jeopardised.
   
   Subscribe to the Pre-Term HBS online course that ISB offers. The "Quantitative Methods" course is a great starting point.
   
   In parallel check out Sal's Khan Academy Videos on the same topics for a deeper understanding. In particular go through :
   
   Independent & Dependent Events : Basic Probability, and Introduction to Random Variables
   
   Statistical Studies : Correlation and Causality, Simple Hypothesis Testing
   
   Descriptive Statistics : Mean, median, and  mode, sample mean versus population mean, reading box and whisker plots, population standard deviation.
   
   Random variables and probability distributions : Almost all topics important. One should aim to understand the meaning of probability distribution, binomial distribution, and basics of Poisson distribution.
   
   Regression : The holy grail of MBA. Almost all topics important especially understanding the the meaning of R square.
   
   Inferential statistics : The most important section after Regression. Almost all concepts important. Strive to understand the meaning of Z statistics, T statistics, confidence interval, Chi-Square Test. ANOVA may be skipped till one takes the Forecasting of Business Analytics subjects during electives.
2. For those like me who are not so at home with quants, some exposure to Financial Accounting would go a long way in maintaining a healthy CGPA.
   
   Subscribe to the Pre-Term online course that ISB offers. The "Financial Accounting Online Course" is a great starting point. The term one paper will hundred percent quant so practise practise practise!
   
   Do not hesitate in taking help from the numerous CAs' and financial analysts that would be your peers at the ISB.
3. Apart from Statistics and Financial Accounting the one other subject that would constantly accompany a students through their MBA journey is Micro-economics. The concepts learnt in this subject would lay the bedrock to solving future business strategy problems. With Micro-economics, what starts as a simple exposure to supply and demand quickly get complicated with numerous concept heavy topics covered on steroids. For a happy MBA journey, I recommend some exposure to the following topics. Again for this some wonderful videos are available on Khan-Academy's Micro-economics section. In particular, pay special attention to:
   
     Market Demand and Supply Curve
     Industry and Firm Demand Function
     Price Elasticity of Demand
     Cost Function
     Competition and Equilibrium Conditions
     Price Discrimination
     Bundling
     Game Theory - Nash Equilibrium
   
   Rest assured that the exam and assignments would be quant heavy. It is crucial to practise numericals based on the above concepts.
    
4. Although Macro-economics would not bother those with an economics background, those with no exposure to economics must be weary. Spend some time on understanding topics that are frequently tested on the exam.
   GDP and its measurement
   Consumer Price Index and Inflation
   Calculation of unemployment rate
   Federal Interest Rate for Government Bonds and its effect on Money Supply
   Fiscal Deficit Currency Devaluation and Hyperinflation
   
   On the test write as much as possible and illustrate the concepts tested with as many graphs as possible. Being verbose on this test makes an impact.
5. Beyond the core academic subjects, one additional skill that I recommend an MBA candidate should gain some exposure to before starting college is basic Microsoft Excel Modelling skills.
   
   Use basic mathematical formulae
   Basic cell formatting
   Creating charts from tables
   Using the excel solver and goal seek
   Pivot Tables (Good to have)

Exam Tips

During your exams, you will see two kinds of question papers. The first wherein the type of questions closely resemble the subject matter discussed in class and the second in which the difficulty level and nuances are way beyond what was taught. This is sometimes clubbed with a paucity of time to create a pressure cooker situation. While I deeply appreciated the first kind of question papers, I could never fathom why someone would set question papers of the second kind. Perhaps to identify the real geniuses  of the class. Whatever may be the case, the type is question paper has enough potential to ruin your hard work. Your best bet is to use some foresight and also reach out to alums to get a sense of what would be on the question paper.

Some professors allow a cheat sheet. Use this freedom to the best extent possible. Since numericals generally follow a predefined rule, it makes sense to micro copy complete sample questions instead of just formulae. It is much easier on the brain during crunch time to just substitute values and blurt out the solution rather than actually solve a problem. For descriptive questions I already recommended a verbose approach, but for lengthy quantitative questions, be as concise as possible in the interest of answering as many questions as possible. You might observe later during the paper viewing sessions that even the answer keys provided by the professors are concise. Teaching associates generally follow the answer key by the book, and therefore to the point answers to maximum possible questions will give you maximum returns on your efforts. Remember that during electives you might have sometime to prepare during the day before the test. But in case of core terms two back to back days with two exams per day will leave little time to prepare a day before the test.

Bidding Tips

Use your bid points judiciously. Try to avoid bid wars. Look for other options to lower your bid point requirements such as opting for the early morning/lunch hour class or taking up the same course during term exchange or a similar course in international exchange.

Remember bidders sometimes go for the most sought after subjects 15-30 seconds before bids close. If you are in such a race, make your best bid only 10-15 seconds before bids close so that competition does not have time to react.

ISB Clubs

There are numerous clubs active at the ISB. In this post i'll cover only what I found of value in the clubs that  I enrolled into.

Professional Clubs

Business Technology Club

The BTC conclave held around August - September at the Hyderabad campus is a grand event. Many eminent personalities from the technology field come down to campus and discuss the latest trends in the technology field. I suggest that all technology enthusiasts should try and attend the topics of their interest. A similar event in held at the Mohali campus and is slowly growing in scale to match the spread of events at the Hyderabad campus.

Marketing Club

The marketing club brought in an industry practitioner from Nielson  who conducted  a workshop on marketing research. The insights provided in the workshop were a great window to how companies uses marketing research in the real world. Such workshops greatly benefit those looking to further their career in sales and marketing.

Entrepreneurship Club

The industry visits to premises of Start-Up companies and pitching b-plans to VCs'  are some interesting events.

Social Clubs

ToastMasters Club

A standard ToastMasters club active at both campuses. During my time at ISB, I came to appreciate the importance of making super-crisp presentation. I suggest that people join this club even if they believe that they are naturally good speakers.

Music Club

For all the musicians in forthcoming classes, it is always great to learn from fellow musicians. A word of caution though, musicians are in great demand throughout the year for the numerous events conducted at the ISB. Manage your time well if you are academically inclined.