Even as the Indian School of Business (ISB) has started taking freshers – it previously used to have programmes only for working professionals – the role of admissions consulting organisations such as ISB Mantra won’t change. “Our aim is to match students with the right consultants who can give them the right guidance and advice – be it for the PGP (for working professionals) or the PGP YL (for freshers),” says Prashant Tibrewal, founder & senior consultant, ISB Mantra. In an interview with FE’s Vikram Chaudhary, he adds that ISB Mantra has onboarded former ISB employees who can help students identify the right career plans. Excerpts:
What’s the connection between the ISB and ISB Mantra?
We are an independent organisation, with no direct or indirect association with the ISB. We are a company that helps students – who are targeting the ISB – identify the right career path. We, at times, also guide them on other institutes. But we do have former ISB employees working with us. For example, AM Kannan, who was the director for admissions at the ISB for seven years, is with us, as do former ISB employees like Vikram Singh and Naveen Das.
But didn’t the ISB object to a name like ISB Mantra?
I think it’s a generic name – it’s something like InsideIIM (which is an education consultant having no relation with the IIMs).
You have former ISB employees on the board, you have the name ‘ISB’ in ‘ISB Mantra’ … won’t that give students who approach you undue advantage over students who cannot?
I don’t think a top school such as the ISB will give any favour to any candidate coming from any particular institute. They have a set procedure to admit students and that procedure will be followed. Our job is to give the students the right guidance, and at the end of the day, it depends on his/her capabilities whether he or she gets into the ISB or not.
Yes, we have former ISB employees on board, who tell students – using their own experience – how to take admission in the ISB, or if they are suited for another institute.
Is a high GMAT score needed for getting into a top school such as the ISB?
You need a minimum score, but after that it depends on your IQ, EQ, common sense, smartness and so many other things – I mean you have to crack the interview and you have to convince the institute that you are the right person to get into their next big programme. GMAT and GRE aren’t the entry criteria, they test your aptitude – after that what matters are your personality, confidence, soft skills, etc.
The ISB has now introduced an MBA for freshers. How will your role change?
New programmes and courses keep getting launched. For example, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has created a 10-month Master in Management programme, aimed at recent college graduates. The INSEAD has also started such a programme. For the first time, the ISB will accept CAT scores (for the PGP YL), and there will be more applicants. Our role remains the same – matching the students with the right consultants who can give them the right career advice.
But why did you start ISB Mantra?
I started my career with IMS, which is a leading CAT, GMAT and admissions training company, where I started realising that there are so many students who need more advice than just test preparation. Post that, I went to the MIT Sloan for higher education, and in 2012 I started an admissions consulting company that was catering to top global universities. Here, I saw that most Indian students who took the GMAT were very keen on applying to the ISB, and it meant there was a clear need of a separate vertical for the ISB. That vertical is called ISB Mantra. We have catered to over 10,000 students applying to the ISB, and more than 30 ISB alumni work with us.
Have you restricted your role by using the name ISB Mantra?
No, we have other verticals such as Admit Square, where we guide students who want to go to global B-schools like the Harvard or Kellogg; ISB Mantra is for students whose first choice is the ISB.