A crash course in consulting, ELP offers an unparalleled experience in gaining industry-level insights while working at the grassroots level to solve pressing issues

“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice”,

Anton Chekhov said it best, more than a century ago! And with geniuses like Albert Einstein also advocating the merit of practical learning, the most premier academic institutions across the world took note and strived to put together a more comprehensive curriculum.

In line with other global b-schools, Indian School of Business also stands at the forefront of reinforcing this age-old adage with its Experiential Learning Programme (ELP) offering.

WHAT IS ELP?

One can interpret ELP as a short-term consulting project taken by students in groups of 3-4 to help companies solve pressing problems across functions like customer acquisition, expansion, operations, supply chains amongst others. It is more strategic in nature, with companies executing the plan internally post approvals.

ISB, with its uniquely premium status in the Indian corporate world, attracts these projects from a wide spectrum of companies, both industry bigwigs and booming startups! These projects are then presented to students in two batches – once around the end of term 2 and then again around the beginning of term 4.

Key objective of ELP is to enhance the learning ISB students can extract out of the fast-paced one-year PGP. It is a win-win situation for both parties as students get to learn from the real life applications of core concepts learned inside ISB classroom, while the companies get to benefit from the expertise and creative problem solving approach of the best young business minds of the country.

APPLYING FOR AN ELP

ISB has partnered with over 450 companies and successfully delivered on 800+ projects since 2004, and so goes without saying that students have a wide offering to choose from every year.

• Once the ELP list is introduced, the first step is team selection. Interested students organize themselves in groups of 3-4 depending on common interest in pursuing a particular ELP. This step is extremely crucial as the combined expertise and diversity of the team often becomes an evaluation criterion for companies
• Students are then required to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) in a standardized ppt format to companies for consideration. The EOI includes and elaborates on details like background of the team members and problem-solving approach they plan to undertake. A series of intense discussions along with primary and secondary research goes into preparing this EOI document
• The shortlisted teams are invited for an e-interview by the clients before finally announcing the winners

The teams that win the ELP are matched with a faculty advisor who guides them through the course of the project.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW

While extremely interesting in concept, ELP comes with its fair share of advantages and disadvantages. Compiled below are a list of important things to keep in mind while making the decision to apply for an ELP

• ELP costs each of the participating students (if they win) 250 bidding points from the virtual kitty of 4500 points and qualifies towards 1 credit in term 6, thus requiring competition of only 17 elective courses instead of regular 18 through Term 5 – Term 8
• Students who take ELP, work around tight deadlines mutually agreed upon with the client in a signed charter, putting in close to 150-200 manhours over a 5-month period from July to November. They are required to ensure satisfactory completion of the project along with managing their regular coursework, exams, and extra-curricular commitments
• ELPs come with a massive upside of a possible shot at Pre-Placement Interview (PPI) or Pre-Placement Offer (PPO) by the partner company if students manage to create an impact
• The real-world learning edge offered by ELPs is unmatched – getting to work on the grassroots level to solve real problems arm students with a stronger professional perspective
• Some ELPs may also involve a 10-day travel to project site/client office during a dedicated ELP-week, further allowing the students to strengthen their relationship with the client

About ISBmantra

With a strong focus on ISB and a team of Former ISB Admissions Officers onboard, ISBmantra offers personalized Application Consulting & Interview Prep services. Feel free to send your profile to info@isbmantra.com for a free profile evaluation.

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Getting an ISB admit is only half the battle done, the other half starts when you step into the campus.

A lot of people mistake getting into ISB as the final win, but little do they know that ISB is a constant war zone. And no we are not talking about section wars or SV wars, but the ultimate monthly bidding wars.

To ensure a fair fight amongst the brightest minds of the country, ISB allocates a virtual kitty of 4500 points to each student.  These points are used to pay for Experiential Learning Program (ELP), international exchange and desired electives to complete one’s specialization.

If a student wins an ELP project – for which there is a separate application process where students present their ideas to the company offering the ELP – 250 points are debited from their virtual kitty. The upside is that ELP also counts towards a full credit, meaning students with ELP have the liberty to take up one less elective as compared to others. You can read about ELPs in detail here.

BIDDING PROCESS

Bidding happens via an online portal that goes live for all students simultaneously. Students are informed in advance about the bidding rules and working of the platform via detailed seminars.

The bidding process at ISB is extremely transparent and easy with information like winning bids, maximum seats available and number of students competing for a particular course/exchange university being visible to all participating students. This enables students to make an informed decision whether or not to continue fighting. While there is only one bidding round for international exchange, there are 3 rounds of bidding for elective selection.

Bidding for Electives

Stakes are very high as students have to ensure completion of at least 18 credits (electives) with these 4500 bid points. And so it should come as no surprise that a lot of thought and careful consideration goes into planning the bidding strategy.  Take our word for it when we say every ISB student becomes a mad scientist experimenting with different bidding points, subject combinations, and respective class timings before and during the bidding session.

While the bidding per elective opens at 100 points, bidding for crowd favorite subjects or professors often drive the winning bid up to 1000 or even more points! Since there is an upper cap on the number of seats available per elective, bidding is the only way to fight it out and ensure that every PGP student gets to complete the specialization of their choice. This obviously also results in students having to ‘drop out’ at times. Saving enough bidding points for the rest of the year becomes of umpteen importance, especially if ones wishes to snag the desired or most popular courses in later terms.

Prior research, alum interactions and review of course material in advance often help students navigate the bidding process successfully. ISB further simplifies the process by allowing students to sample all courses after first round of bidding and having the option to change their selections in round 2 and 3. Students who have paid a hefty price for a certain subject in Round 1 often use these rounds to drop out and re-bid for the subject at a lower price. While this might come with the risk of losing the subject for good or even having to pay a higher price, ISB students put concepts of demand, supply and market reaction learned in Term 1 Economics class to good use to minimize this risk.

ISB Trivia: Section bonding is taken to new heights with students from each section bidding together in an extremely fun war zone like environment, constantly glancing over each other’s screens to keep track of winning bid and seats left!

Bidding for International Exchange

Students are informed well in advance about the international colleges up-for-grabs in the bidding process and thus have sufficient time to research and make a choice. The minimum bid for all colleges starts at 400, with the maximum being capped at 1800 points. Since there are a large number of students from both campuses fighting for limited seats and premier universities, more often than not they end up bidding 1800 points. To resolve the many ties, ISB uses a lucky draw method of sorts – the bidding portal randomly assigns a numeric ID to all competing participants and the one with the smallest assigned ID number, wins.

Some students may also decide against applying for international exchange as it comes with the downside of a drained kitty, meaning potential compromise on choice of electives for the remaining terms at ISB.

Bidding, therefore, is an essential and interesting part of the ISB academic setup and is probably one of the most crucial practical lessons on campus – both in economics as well as resource-management!

About ISBmantra

With a strong focus on ISB and a team of Former ISB Admissions Officers onboard, ISBmantra offers personalized Application Consulting & Interview Prep services. Feel free to send your profile to info@isbmantra.com for a free profile evaluation.

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Read on, as we walk you through a term wise academic experience of the ISB Post Graduate Programme (PGP)

Indian School of Business, with its unique one-year MBA-equivalent program offering, has set a new benchmark in the global academic world. But spawning 850 highly competent and outstanding business graduates every year is no mean feat!

The ISB PGP is carefully crafted as a 52-week highly engaging and extremely fast-paced program, with five key objectives –

• Promoting interpersonal awareness and teamwork
• Developing critical and integrative thinking
• Building awareness of global issues and their business impact
• Cultivating effective oral communication
• Encouraging ethical responsibility

These objectives are brought to life both in curriculum and pedagogy.  

Course Structure and Overview

The 12-month program requires successful completion of 32 credits to graduate across its 8 terms (typically of 5-weeks each), where-in students were traditionally required to complete 4 credits in each of the first 4 terms and then choose to take on between 3-5 credits in each of the remaining elective terms.

But with PGP 2.0, which has been introduced from Class of 2021 onwards, ISB has enhanced its curriculum with a larger focus on hybrid learning (digital + in-class). The first term has now been replaced with a 10-week Digital Headstart Module or DHM, with the overall course duration remaining unchanged.

Terms 1-3 | Core Terms

The first three terms focus on helping students build strong foundational business concepts and consist of 4 courses each. PGP students are required to take mid-term and end-term examinations, along with weekly written tests for all subjects during these terms. Since the ISB curriculum is designed to promote teamwork, each course also requires mandatory submissions of multiple group assignments, for which students are by default divided into study groups of 4-5 by the school. It is also during the core terms that elections for student body and all professional & social clubs are held, thus constantly keeping students on toes.

DHM

This module is a digital replacement of the first term, created with the objective of offering extended practical learning opportunities to students.

DHM comprises the following:

• 4 easy-paced, core courses: Financial Accounting & Decision Making, Managerial Economics, Marketing Management & Statistical Methods for Management Decisions
• Independent research project opportunity under Faculty guidance
• Learning and career growth events
• O-week and LEAD: a 3-day program aimed at equipping students with a better understanding of their strengths & areas of improvement

Terms 4 | Crossover Term

Term 4 is referred to as the crossover term at ISB and eases the transition from core terms to elective terms. This term offers 2 mandatory core courses, while granting students the freedom to choose remaining 2-3 courses of their choice. Students zero-in on these electives basis their desired functional/industry specializations.  

Term 5-8 | Elective Terms

If you thought life during core terms sounded hectic, wait till you read on about elective terms.

Evening yoga sessions, dance bonanzas, the club meets, marquee events, professional expert seminars, placement prep, case comps, alum resume reviews and unending electives to choose from – welcome to terms 5 to 8! Things definitely pick up during these terms – both academically and socially.

ISB offers six functional specializations (called Majors), in Finance, Operations, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Information Systems and Strategy & Leadership along with four industry specializations, in Healthcare, Public Policy, Manufacturing, and Infrastructure. While industry specializations are optional, students must major in at least one functional specialization, with maximum capped at two.

ISB offers options galore at both Hyderabad & Mohali campus, for students to choose their electives from. However, each functional specialization has 2-3 subjects marked as ‘mandatory’ and students are required to take at least one of them amongst the required 6 credits per specialization quota to fulfill graduation requirement. Students often evaluate their electives on multiple parameters like faculty expertise, relevance to post ISB-goals, subject popularity, course structure and even, absence of written exams!

PS: Students are free to pick their own study groups during elective terms.

This comprehensive breakdown of the course structure allows each student to tailor their ISB PGP experience as per their needs and future goals, while also being exposed to global business best practices. Furthermore, the relative grading pattern followed by ISB across all terms creates a rich and healthy learning environment.

About ISBmantra

With a strong focus on ISB and a team of Former ISB Admissions Officers onboard, ISBmantra offers personalized Application Consulting & Interview Prep services. Feel free to send your profile to info@isbmantra.com for a free profile evaluation.

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ISB promises and delivers on the best mix of master academicians from across industries, each backed by cutting-edge research and a global experience

Amongst its many impressive offerings, outstanding and world-renowned faculties stand out as one of the biggest USPs of ISB experience. ISB classroom learnings are rendered memorable by a great mix of resident/in-house and international visiting professors – many of whom are from premium B-schools like Wharton, Kellogg, Yale, Stern and Harvard.

While choosing the top professors from such a vast network was a herculean task, we have compiled a list of the 6 most popular ones whose teachings have left indelible marks on the minds and hearts of ISB students.

Star Professors | Core Courses

Milind Sohoni (Operations & Supply Chain)

Deputy Dean – Hyderabad Campus, Prof. Milind Sohoni is a crowd-favourite when it comes to navigating the complicated world of Decision Making & Optimization (DMOP). An important foundational course that has given many students sleepless nights is broken down and made easy by Professor Sohoni in his classic and fascinating teaching style. With a constant smile on his face – even when bombarded with endless doubts by students inside and outside the class – his passion for teaching and expertise in operations and supply chain stands unmatched.  He is also a visiting faculty at the prestigious Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Prashant Kale (Corporate Strategy)

Named as one of the most influential corporate strategy faculties globally, Prof. Prashant Kale is no less than a celebrity at ISB and has won the “Professor of the Year – Core Terms” award multiple times including for the Class of 2020. Having consulted CEOs of many Fortune 500 companies, he follows a no-nonsense attitude in classes and constantly engages students through his ‘take a stand’ approach. Prof Kale is known for doing his homework and in fact in the first class itself, he had memorized the names and professional backgrounds of all the students!

His masterful engagement with students of different backgrounds to extract the practical application of concepts taught in the class, combined with enlightening and intense case discussions, motivate students to double their efforts and expand their thinking. No doubt then, he received a standing ovation at the end of his sessions by every single section!

Affiliations: Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the Jessie H. Jones School of Business, Rice University.

Sarang Deo (Operations Management)

With a PhD from UCLA Anderson School of Management, MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and BTech from IIT Bombay, Prof. Sarang Deo teaches the core course of Operation Management at ISB. His energy in classroom is unmatchable as he explains the complex concepts of operations in layman’s terms. ISB alums claim to remember his teachings and classic examples vividly even after years of graduation. An ex-management consultant and with teaching stints at Kellogg School of Management, Prof. Deo understands the diversity of his class and goes out of his way to help all students master the subject, regardless of their familiarity with statistics.

Star Professors | Elective Courses

Ashish Kohli (Financial Modelling)

A seasoned investment banker and with teaching experience at leading colleges like New York University, London School of Economics and Columbia amongst others, Prof. Ashish Kohli also won the Best Professor of the Year Award for elective terms for the class of 2020. With his reputation preceding him, only a lucky few get to attend his class due to the fiercely competitive bidding!

His energy in class is infectious – it isn’t uncommon to see him move quickly, practically run, from one end of the classroom to another to answer a student’s query, or jump with excitement when a student correctly answers his trick question. Prof. Kohli’s class has a perfect blend of theoretical knowledge and real work applications, with the theoretical aspect being supplemented with industry treks and guest sessions by industry professionals.

Affiliation: Adjunct Professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Ed Rogers (Managing Complexity)

The fact that he has was the Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA from 2003 until May 2020 says more than enough! A celebrity in his own right, Prof. Rogers has been a visiting faculty at ISB for more than a decade and hence it should come as no surprise that students are motivated to sneak into his sessions even after losing the subject during cut-throat bidding!

Not only does he teach the extremely pertinent art of managing complexity, but also supplements it with real world anecdotes of the challenges he confronted during his time at the world’s most coveted space research organization!

Fun Fact: Prof. Ed Rogers especially designed the Managing Complexity course for ISB – the only B-school in the world where he teaches.

Piyush Kumar (Marketing Services)

One cannot have enough of Prof. Piyush Kumar’s unparalleled classroom experience, with no two days being the same.  With multiple Professor of the Year awards under his belt, Prof. Kumar is known for challenging preconceived notions and inherent biases amongst students. His understated sense of humour while explaining evergreen takeaways about the disruption in service industry creates a blink-and-miss environment in classes.

PS: Prof. Piyush Kumar is also known to do a bone-tickling stand-up act every year while visiting ISB!

Affiliation: Associate Professor of Marketing at Terry College of Business, University of Georgia

Seoyoung Kim (Financial Technology)

One of the most popular Finance professors at ISB, Prof. Seoyoung Kim usually teaches the Introduction to FinTech course in Term 7. Her class is crafted around the innovations and disruptions that have transformed the financial world in recent times. A dynamic personality, Prof. Kim is known for impactful delivery of complex subjects. She holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Rice University and Ph.D. in Finance from Emory University.

Affiliation: Associate Professor of Finance and Business Analytics at Santa Clara University

S. Arunachalam (Marketing Strategy)

Easily the funniest, happiest, and most entertaining professor at ISB, Prof. S. Arunachalam packs a full house in classes, with his elective being offered twice through the year due to student demand. He goes out of his way to make the class lively and engaging and ensuring students feel heard. His end of lecture summaries are known to stick with you forever. Prof. Arunachalam is a PhD. From Iowa State University and worked as EA to the Managing Director, Godrej Industries.

Bonus Tip: Do watch out for his grand references to Mickey Mouse!

Ahmed Timoumi (Retailing)

A resident faculty at Mohali Campus, Prof. Ahmed Timoumi holds a PhD from the esteemed Koc University of Turkey. He is the reigning authority when it comes to understanding any part of the retail value chain and is popular for his extremely interactive teaching style. There is never a dull moment in his class, which is divided into two halves – one focusing on theoretical concepts and trends in the industry, others dedicated to activities like group simulations and thought-provoking debates. Prof. Timoumi is also known to be extremely approachable and often finds himself surrounded by curious students with unending queries even after the class!

Francis Kim (Entrepreneurship)

With being entrepreneurial becoming a new way of life, Prof. Francis Kim’s subject – Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital is more relevant than ever. His nuanced understanding of the subject, further enhanced by corporate experience as ex-Associate Strategist at Goldman Sachs makes for an extremely unique classroom experience. He encourages students to work as teams on real-world ideas and present an end-to-end business plan to deepen the learning. Prof. Kim holds a Ph.D from Oxford University.

About ISBMantra

With a strong focus on ISB and a team of Former ISB Admissions Officers onboard, ISBmantra offers personalized Application Consulting & Interview Prep services. Feel free to send your profile to info@isbmantra.com for a free profile evaluation.

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