[Intro by Arvind Kumar]
Dreaming of ISB but unsure how your diverse experiences fit together? Nikhil’s journey is proof that clarity, consistency, and the right guidance can turn that dream into reality.
With a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from MIT Manipal and ~5 years of experience at ZS Associates, Nikhil had already worn multiple hats – leading market research to market intelligence projects across pharma and CPG sectors.
But he knew that to truly pivot into strategic roles and drive broader impact, an MBA was the right next step. With a strong preference to stay in or near India, ISB was his primary choice.
When he reached out to me (admitStreet), he had a strong GMAT score (695) and was looking for someone who could help him craft and connect the dots in his story. After speaking with a few consultants, he felt our initial conversations struck the right chord, and that’s how we started working together.
Our journey began with the admitStreet StreetMap questionnaire, where we dove deep into Nikhil’s career story, life experiences, and ambitions.
We then worked together to help Nikhil reflect on his most impactful anecdotes, build a strong and consistent narrative, and highlight his motivation for an MBA and career goals. Multiple rounds of feedback helped us refine the CV and essays, ensuring they stayed true to his voice and story.
Finally, our mock interview sessions concentrated on structuring responses effectively, articulating career goals with clarity, and helping him approach the ISB interview with confidence and composure.
All that preparation and perseverance led to the result we hoped for – an admit to ISB!
Nikhil was also shortlisted for interviews with two other global programs, but chose to go ahead with ISB, given his preference for staying closer to home.
This success story dives into Nikhil’s background, his motivation for an MBA, his application strategy, ISB WAT/ interview experience, and advice for future applicants.
Over to Nikhil to share his journey in his own words!
Background and Motivation
I’m a chemical engineer from MIT Manipal. After graduation, I worked for around six months with a startup that also functioned as a creative agency, before deciding to move into consulting. I then got an opportunity at ZS, where I’ve been since February 2021.
At ZS, I started by working with a pharmaceutical client for nearly a year. After that, I transitioned to projects on the consumer side, specifically in food and beverage. I got the opportunity to work extensively on marketing strategy, brand strategy, and growth marketing projects. Although I enjoyed the work, it was close to heart and I genuinely liked every bit of it, I felt that to take things a notch higher, an MBA would be a good opportunity.
I’ve never had formal business education. My bachelor’s was in technology and engineering, and gaining that exposure and knowledge is what really pushed me to pursue an MBA at this point.
Why ISB
I see myself in India in the longer run. So, building a strong network and staying connected and relevant in India was one of the primary reasons I wanted to get into ISB.
Given my experience, I also didn’t want to incur a high opportunity cost. The ISB PGP is a one-year program with a strong reputation in consulting and a solid consulting network. That aligns well with my career aspirations, and that’s how ISB became my priority one school.
I applied to 3 schools, and was shortlisted to interview at all 3. By the time I was about to hear back from the other schools, I already had the offer from ISB (my #1 choice), hence I decided to go ahead.
Application Strategy
Once I had my GMAT score, I had around a month and a half left for Round 2 deadlines. Honestly, I didn’t feel that was enough time to properly research, get reviews from multiple people, and gather diverse perspectives to craft a strong application.
That’s when I decided to take the help of a good MBA admissions consultant. I spoke to a bunch of consultants, and before signing up with Arvind (admitStreet), I was clear that I needed someone who could help me build and weave my story well, to truly bring out the best in me. In our initial conversations, I felt that could be possible with admitStreet, and that’s how we began working together.
Brainstorming and CV Revisions
The admitStreet StreeetMap questionnaire and the initial brainstorming sessions helped me reflect on different aspects of my profile: going back to college days, recalling work details, and identifying my strengths and weaknesses. It was a much-needed refresher on my 25-year journey prior to applying.
Another major part I remember was prioritizing what to include in the final CV and what to leave out. There was a lot of content – enough to make it a three-pager, but we aimed for a crisp and impactful one-pager.
Small details, like how to reflect my promotion at ZS, and what level of detail to add, were key. These might seem small, but if missed, they could leave a negative impression, so it was crucial to get them right.
ISB Essays
We went through numerous versions before finalizing the submission-ready drafts of essays. Arvind would nitpick small things, suggest changing a word or phrase, and his nudges really helped shape the essays.
Specifically with respect to the ISB essays, I’d say the strengths and weaknesses section may seem like a simple one-word answer: “X is my strength,” “Y is my weakness”. But what really matters is building a story and presenting it with a good narrative. That’s something I found to be critical in the application process. It should be backed by facts and, most importantly, it should be genuine.
Arvind really helped a lot with that process – especially helping me reflect on what could be considered strengths/ weaknesses and what instances helped me build them. For example, saying “I’m a perfectionist” is not really a weakness. So figuring out what exactly to include and backing it up with real experiences was key.
Similarly, for the second essay on MBA motivation, it was crucial to be authentic yet have a compelling narrative. For me, the decision to do an MBA wasn’t one that came up overnight. It evolved over time through various moments – like realizing there’s a knowledge gap when watching two partners talk at work and not understanding their conversation, or during a project where I had to do extensive research just to keep up. Those small but important moments became the triggers that helped me realize I needed formal education to bridge those gaps. Structuring and weaving these into the essays proved crucial.
I would like to thank Arvind (admitStreet) for all the support throughout. He has truly been a one-stop solution for all my queries, no matter how small. Whenever I had even the slightest doubt, I could just reach out to Arvind, he was always just a message or a call away. We’d often schedule a call the very next morning and go over the details. So yes, I believe Arvind (admitStreet) played a significant role in my application journey.
ISB WAT Experience
Based on my preparation and conversations with other applicants, I got to know that the WAT mostly focused on situational questions. Arvind had also shared a preparatory document with sample questions to help prepare for the WAT.
The best (or worst) part is that we’re so used to blue and red underlines while typing in Word or emails. But in WAT, you don’t get that. You just have to trust your grammar and vocabulary skills and go with it. I’m not entirely sure how much weight it carries, but I think it’s something you don’t need to over-prepare for. Just having a good understanding of the kind of situations that might come up would be enough.
ISB Interview Experience
I opted for an in-person interview, but it eventually happened virtually and with professors (not alums), so it was quite different from what I had expected. Usually, you hear that alums take the interviews, so I had prepped in a particular direction. But the actual experience was a 180-degree flip.
There were a lot of deep-dive questions in my interview as well. I even got a minor case study based on one of my earlier responses. A follow-up question was something like, “Let’s say you were in X situation and ABC is the problem. How would you tackle it?” It was a very vague scenario, not a typical quantified guesstimate, but still a case-like question. That was something I hadn’t expected.
Another thing that really stood out was the importance of not just preparing how you want to present yourself, but really refreshing all the facts about yourself: breaking it down into your strengths, weaknesses, projects you’ve worked on, the tools you’ve used. This helps because you just can’t predict the exact questions you’ll be asked. It’s more about having a clear thought process going into the interview, and that clarity usually comes from preparing a lot of content, not just rehearsing direct answers.
Arvind gave me really helpful nudges during my preparations. We had a mock interview, which helped me understand how to structure answers, what level of detail to give, how to manage time and pauses. He also arranged a mock with an ISB alum, which gave me an insider’s perspective.
Advice for Prospective Students
My first advice for applicants is to not simply go by the brand or the market value of an MBA. You should have a good reason, a clear trajectory, and a solid plan in mind: what you’ve done so far and how an MBA would help you grow further.
Let’s say it’s just about financial growth: there are n number of ways to achieve that. If it’s just about knowledge or information, we’re in the generative AI age: anything you put on ChatGPT or similar AI tools will give you more information than you might even get through textbooks at school.
But what exactly is it that you’re looking for from an MBA? That’s very critical. Don’t just go by the trend or any societal factors. That, I’d say, is the number one thing to consider before applying to any college.
An extrapolation of that is choosing the right college. This isn’t just about MBA in general—each college has its own strengths. Of course, some schools are ranked higher than others, but what really matters is where you want to be post-MBA. If your goal is to work long-term in the US, go for a US college, not ISB. But in my case, I wanted to stay in and around India, and that’s how ISB became my primary target. So, understanding your post-MBA goals early on is important.
The other tip I would give is: don’t read others’ essays before writing your own. If you do, you might subconsciously start comparing your story or even try to include points from someone else’s story that don’t belong to yours. Trust your own story and stay true throughout, because even one small lie or false claim can backfire and undo all the hard work you’ve put in.
And finally, I’d say: stay consistent. This process needs a lot of iterations. You won’t get the perfect essay in one go. Even if you start a year early, you’ll probably still be editing it till the last moment. So, persistence is key to building a strong application and putting your best foot forward.