ISB PGPpro Essay Analysis

The Post Graduate Program in Management for Working Professionals (PGPpro) is a part-time Executive MBA program offered by ISB. Here, we present the ISB PGPpro essay analysis, to maximize your chances of admission to ISB PGPpro.

ISB PGPpro Application Deadline

Round-1 (Mumbai & Bengaluru); Final Round (Delhi & Hyderabad): May 19, 2024

Essay 1 for ISB PGPpro (Leadership)

One of the intrinsic values at the Indian School of Business is “to develop principled, future leaders who improve lives around the world…” Please discuss how you will contribute towards this mission citing examples from your past work experience and activities? (400 words max)

Through this essay, ISB wants to know about the instances of leadership that you’ve demonstrated in your past. These instances are an extrapolation of your leadership potential in the future.

Do remember that leadership is not just about heading 100-200 people. Neither is it about indulging in some mega-philanthropic activity or humanitarian effort. Every initiative that you took at work, every task that you completed, and every milestone that you achieved, is an indicator of your leadership potential and hence qualifies to be a part of this essay.

In order to improve lives around the world, you need not have actually contributed to humanitarian causes. Whatever you do as part of your daily job, in some way impacts life of people around you.

For instance, the software that you develop or the software that you maintain perhaps automates a manual procedure and hence, makes the life of the end-user considerably easier.

• Perhaps you executed a project in a multi-cultural environment in very difficult circumstances or against tight headlines.
• Perhaps as a risk-management professional, you ensure that the Financial entity operates strictly within the designated risk-limits, thereby improving the lives of investors.
• Perhaps as an Operations executive, you have taken steps to identify and implement process improvement initiatives, which have improved the overall efficiency of operations for your firm.

All such instances, wherein you made some positive difference to your work-environment, are candidates to be highlighted in this ISB PGPpro essay.

We hope that ISB PGPpro Essay Analysis presented above will help applicants effectively work on their PGPpro application.

Essay Tip #1
Treat essays no differently from critical reasoning: There should be a logical flow of ideas and coherent cause and effects. Statements loosely "hanging in the air" disrupt the flow of the entire essay.

Essay Tip #2
Even if you are not seeking professional editing services for your essays, make sure you send across your essays to at least two people, whose judgment and expedience you trust. Essentially it is important to get an Independent third-party view of your essays.

Essay Tip #3
Applicants should be wary of mentioning philanthropic activities or stipulate ambitions of Entrepreneurship, just in the hope of winning favor with Admissions committee. Unless you have a strong case to make, such claims actually have a reverse effect, making your entire application weak.