What do B-Schools look for ?

I get asked this one question many times in one way or another. Having a YLP Admit has helped me connect with students far more awesome than me. Over my interactions with many of them, I was able to come to a surprisingly simple one word answer – Drive.

Merriam Webster defines “drive” as “to carry through relentlessly.”

Drive essentially comes from having a mission and a series of nearly definite steps to achieve it. Developing a new product is a mission. Getting into the industry of the product, networking with the experts, conducting product feasibility studies, conducting market demand studies, product pricing, distribution channels, etc. are some of the steps.

B-Schools drool over candidates with drive. They want to be a part of candidate’s journey to achieving his/her mission. They don’t want themselves to be the endpoint. I use one analogy to help people remember this point. Think of yourself as a race-car, zipping through turns towards your finish line (mission). Think of B-Schools in this scenario as nitrous boost. They like to envision themselves as an entity helping you to reach your finish line faster. Want to learn how to conduct feasibility studies? Here, we have a course for you. Want to reach out to experts? Here, have access to our alumni and their networks. Want to learn about effective product development strategies? Here, have a lot of case studies to go through.

So now you know the answer to – What does ISB (and in general B-Schools) look for. Drive.

To judge a candidate (most probably a Junior year or Senior year student), with work experience rarely more than half a year, ISB uses variety of data points. Resume, Essays, GMAT score, Letter of Recommendation, etc. It is quite interesting to know how the different parts of the application work out.

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