As most of you would know, over the past few years, the GRE has begun gaining acceptance as a test that can be used by business schools to evaluate potential applicants, with quite a few international b-schools now accepting the GRE along with the GMAT. Reflecting this trend, one of India’s premier business schools, Indian School of Business (ISB) has announced that it is going to accept the GRE as well for its Young Leaders Program.

The ISB YLP is a pathway for students who are pursuing their graduation or post-graduation to apply to ISB, secure an admission into their flagship PGP in Management and join the course after they acquire the mandatory 2 years of professional experience. In the 2-year period following their graduation (or post-graduation), YLP students will have a mix of online and on-campus modules that will prepare them to make the transition to the PGP.

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The ISB YLP Admission process

The YLP Admission is a three stage process:

Stage 1: Application Form + 1 Essay + Application Fee – MARCH 25 DEADLINE

At this stage you are only submitting your profile for a shortlist. You need not submit any test scores.

Based on your academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular profile as well as your essay they will decide whether you have the potential to be a right fit for the YLP Program. This is something that all applicants appreciate they need not invest and prepare for any of the tests GMAT/GRE if their profile does not make the cut. This is something that is specific to the YLP — score not being a pre-requisite to apply for an initial shortlist.

This does not mean that you can never apply to ISB, you can always apply to the PGP after securing two years of work experience along with your GMAT Score.

Those whose profile is shortlisted for the next stage will be intimated of the same on 30-April.

Stage 2: GMAT / GRE score, Two essays & One Evaluation – AUGUST 31 DEADLINE

Once your profile has been shortlisted you would need to submit one of the two test scores GMAT/GRE along with two essays and one evaluation (letter of recommendation).

This timeline is perfect since 4 months of focussed effort is the ideal time to prepare for either the GMAT or the GRE. Also part of this duration will overlap with the semester/term break that most colleges will have, enabling applicants to prepare and secure a good GMAT/GRE score.

Stage 3: Personal Interview – SEPTEMBER 15 to OCTOBER 15

Those whose clear the Stage-2 shortlist will have to attend a personal interview post which the final results will be announced on Oct 31.

The ISB YLP Program as mentioned earlier is aimed at students who are still in college. So only those who are in their Pre-Final Year or Final Year can apply. This applies to those pursuing a 3-year, 4-year or 5-year graduation program or even a post-graduation program.

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Maximize your options through GRE

Most students pursuing their engineering will be considering both MS and MBA options since they lack the professional experience to definitively align themselves to one stream or the other.

One student of mine from IIT-Madras decided to take all three tests — CAT, GMAT & GRE — since he was not very sure about where his skill sets lay. He was in his second-year at that point of time and his rationale was that if he gets more clarity by the time he graduates he should have the best options in hand in terms of colleges.

So he took the GRE in his second year and secured a 326, the GMAT in his third and secured a 760 and the CAT in his final year. By the time he was ready to graduate he was clear that he was more suited to a career in management. He had secured admission into ISB YLP through the GMAT, went on to join PWC and will complete 2-years of professional experience this March.

With ISB now accepting the GRE, students can use the test to apply to both MS Programs abroad as well as a premier management program in the country such as the ISB YLP.

The ISB YLP with its deferred admission (you can choose to postpone your admission by another year) already gives aspirants a lot of flexibility. This new move to accept the GRE will further reduce the burden on aspirants both in terms of exam prep and test fees.

So it need not be an EITHER/OR — MS or MBA choice after all, you can take the GRE and take a shot at both while you decide. I have always believed that it is more of a question of MBA when rather than MS or MBA!

Feel free to post whatever queries you might have in the comments section.

 

 

P.S: All pictures are of the ISB Campus at Mohali, more here