• Nov 5
    • 6 min read

Who gets selected to ISB PGP?

Updated: Nov 23

To understand who gets selected to ISB PGP, we must evaluate the ISB PGP class profile. When we decode the ISB PGP class profile over the last two years i.e. Class profile for 2022 and 2023, there are quite a few revelations here.


1. There is always a range of the GMAT or the GRE scores that gets admitted to the ISB cohort.

2. A high GMAT or GRE score is not an indicator of the success that the candidate will have in the ISB admission process.

3. There are two parts of the profile of ISB PGP admits - Academic profile and Leadership profile.

4. An equal focus on both the academic profile and the leadership profile are the best indicators of success in the ISB PGP admissions process.

5. The story that your application communicates to the admissions committee surely matters.


Some facts about the ISB PGP program:

  1. ISB PGP program Duration: 1 Year

  2. Format of the ISB PGP program: Full-time residential program

  3. Minimum Work Experience required to apply to the ISB PGP : 2 to 20 years

  4. Qualifying Exam Scores to be submitted to apply to the ISB PGP: GMAT/GRE

  5. Next Application Deadline for ISB PGP 2022 - Round 2: 4 December 2022

  6. Application Fees for ISB PGP round 2 : 7500 INR

  7. ISB Placements 2022 and past trends

MBA Global Ranking 2022 for ISB PGP:

  1. FT Global MBA Ranking 2022

  2. Rank 4 in Asia

  3. Rank 1 in salary increase

  4. Rank 1 in India

  5. Rank 32 in World

Academic Calendar Class of 2023-24 at ISB PGP:

  1. Orientation Week:April

  2. Term 1 (On Campus):10 weeks (April-June)

  3. Term 2 (On Campus):5 weeks (July-August)

  4. Term 3 (On Campus):5 weeks (August-September)

  5. Term 4 (On Campus):5 weeks (September-October)

  6. Term 5 (On Campus):5 weeks (October-November)

  7. Term 6 (On Campus):5 weeks (December-January)

  8. Term 7 (On Campus):5 weeks (January-February)

  9. Term 8 (On Campus):5 weeks (February-March)

Coming to the question of who gets into ISB or who gets selected to the ISB MBA, we can evaluate at 7 different data points as below:

1. Academic profile ie. GMAT or GRE scores

2. Gender representation

3. Undergraduate background i.e. engineers vs non engineers.

4. Age of the applicant

5. Years of experience of the ISB PGP applicant

6. Industry background of the ISB PGP applicant.

7. Function or role of the ISB PGP applicant.


Class of 2022 vs 2023 profile for ISB PGP intake:

ISB Class Profile 2023

  1. Class size for ISB PGP: 843

  2. Women representation at ISB PGP : 37%

  3. GMAT Mid 80% Range: 690-760

  4. GMAT Mean (Mid 80%): 720

  5. GMAT Median (Mid 80%): 710

  6. GRE Mid 80% Range: 322-334

  7. GRE Mean (Mid 80%): 328

  8. GRE Median (Mid 80%): 328

Gender groups represented in the class at ISB PGP Class of 2022:

  1. Male: 63%

  2. Female: 37%

This is by far the best represented school for females in India. In case the applicant is a female applicant, it is safe to assume that they have a good chance of getting into ISB.

Age groups represented in the class at ISB PGP Class of 2022:

  1. 22-26 years: 42%

  2. 26-30 years: 48%

  3. Above 30 years: 10%

Work Experience range in the ISB class of 2023:

  1. 8 Years and above work experience: 50 or 5.93% of the ISB PGP class

  2. 5 Years to 8 Years Experience: 224 or 26.57% of the ISB PGP class

  3. 3 Years to 5 Years Experience: 358 or 42.46% of the ISB PGP class

  4. Up to 3 Years Experience: 211 or 25% of the ISB PGP class

Work Experience range in the class at ISB PGP Class of 2022:

  1. 02-05 years: 73%

  2. Above 5 years: 27%

The details provided above describe the work experience distribution across the ISB PGP cohort. A profile evaluation of the applicant vis a vis the duration of work experience they come from makes it pretty evident for them to realise where they fit.


Engineers vs non engineers in the class at ISB PGP Class of 2022:

  1. Engineers: 57%

  2. Non Engineers: 43%

This indicates that both the engineers and non engineers stand a good chance of getting into ISB.


Get a profile review for ISB admission process.


Industries represented in the class of 2023 at ISB PGP:

  1. Advt/Media/Comm/PR/Entertainment: 3%

  2. Banks/Financial Institutions/Financial Services/Insurance: 10%

  3. Conglomerates/Diversified: 1%

  4. Consulting & Professional Services: 20%

  5. Education/Teaching & Training: 2%

  6. FMCG/Retail/Consumer Durables/Ecommerce/Agri: 7%

  7. Govt/PSUs/NGO/Forces/Services/Multilateral Organisations/Foundations: 4%

  8. Manufacturing: 7%

  9. Infrastructure/Construction/Real Estate: 2%

  10. Oil/Energy/Petroleum/Minerals: 6%

  11. Others: 22%

  12. Pharma/Biotech/Healthcare/Hospitals: 2%

  13. Technology: 12%

  14. Transportation/Logistics/Travel and Hospitality: 2%

Industries represented in the class at ISB PGP Class of 2022:

  1. Consulting: 18%

  2. BFSI: 17%

  3. IT, ITeS: 16%

  4. FMCG, Retail, Consumer Durables: 5%

  5. Manufacturing: 5%

  6. Oil, Energy, Petroleum, Minerals: 5%

  7. Government, PSUs, NGOs, Armed Forces and Services: 5%

  8. Pharma, Bio-Tech, Healthcare, Hospitals: 4%

  9. Engineering: 3%

  10. Others: 22%

The above distribution of industries in the class at ISB PGP shows that the school has a preference for almost all the sectors across the board.


More details about the ISB application process.


Functions and roles represented in the ISB Class of 2023:

  1. Analytics: 5%

  2. Consulting: 21%

  3. Finance: 13%

  4. General Management / Strategic Planning: 11%

  5. Operations: 8%

  6. Others: 7%

  7. Product Management: 11%

  8. Project Management: 3%

  9. Sales & Marketing: 12%

  10. Technology: 9%

Functions and roles represented in the class at ISB PGP Class of 2022:

  1. Sales and Marketing: 17%

  2. IT: 15%

  3. Finance: 12%

  4. Engineering: 8%

  5. Consulting: 8%

  6. Operations: 7%

  7. General Management, Strategic Planning: 5%

  8. Product Development: 5%

  9. Project Management: 3%

  10. Research & Development: 2%

  11. Others: 18%

In terms of the functions represented in the class at ISB, we again see ample diversity and the point to be drawn home in terms of who gets into ISB based on this information is that every function is well represented so the competition at this level is also intense. The others being 18% show the level of diversity that the MBA program is open to.

The Global ISB Network:

  1. Alumni across PGP, PGPMAX, PGP MFAB and PGPpro: 13500+

  2. Alumni entrepreneurs / in family business: 600+

  3. Alumni at CXO level / top leadership: 550+

  4. Countries: 60+

  5. USA: 8%

  6. Netherlands: 2%

  7. Europe: 5%

  8. South Africa: 2%

  9. Middle East: 2%

  10. India: 79%

  11. Southeast Asia: 3%

  12. Malaysia: 2%

  13. Singapore: 2%

Not sure if you want to write the GMAT or the GRE? Know about the ISB Executive MBA.


How are the ISB Placements?

Career Shifts:

Functional Shifts: 79%

Industrial Shifts: 78.50%

Functional and Industrial Shifts: 65.28%


Top Recruiters at ISB PGP:

1. Accenture

2. Adani Group

3. Aditya Birla Group

4. Amazon

5. Apple

6. Axis Bank

7. Citi Bank

8. Cleartrip

9. D. E. Shaw India

10. Deloitte

11. Dr Reddys Laboratories

12. Ernst & Young

13. Facebook

14. Flipkart

15. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

16. Google India

17. McKinsey & Company

18. Microsoft

19. Nestle India

20. The Boston Consulting Group


More Updates from ISB Hyderabad:

  1. An annual finance conclave called Artha was organized at the campuses in Mohali and Hyderabad by ISB in September 2022. This year's conference has the subject "Digital Tomorrow." Ajay Tyagi, the former chairman of SEBI, and Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, MD and CEO of Bandhan Bank, were two of the notable speakers.

  2. In an effort to strengthen academic links, enable academic collaboration, and advance communication between the two institutions, the Indian School of Business and ESMT Berlin have entered into a Student Exchange Agreement in September 2022.

  3. At the PGPMAX Leadership Summit on the ISB Hyderabad campus, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Hon'ble Governor of Telangana, and the Lt. Governor of Puducherry addressed the attendees.

  4. The PGPMAX Leadership Summit 2022 was conducted in October 2022 at the ISB Hyderabad campus and was organised by programme alumni and students. Influential executives from a variety of fields shared their management and leadership views at the PGPMAX Leadership Summit.

  5. Two days of training will be held at ISB's Thomas Schmidheiny Center for Family Enterprise on the topic of "Next Generation in Family Business: Getting Future Ready." The curriculum will give a thorough overview of family business management and all of its complications. The programme will take place at the ISB campus in Hyderabad on November 10 and 11, 2022.

  6. As part of celebrating the School's 20-year history, ISB launched a week-long picture display at the Chandigarh Sector 17 underpass from October 12 - 18, 2022. The exhibition was formally opened by Professor Ramabhadran Thirumalai, Deputy Dean, Kuldeep Chahal, IPS, SSP, Chandigarh, Manraj Grewal, Resident Editor, The Indian Express, Munish Jauhar, Co-Chair, NASSCOM, Sameer Jain, Co-Chair, NASSCOM, Mac Sarin, AIKYA Family, and Robin Aggarwal, President, TiE Chandigarh, yesterday.

  7. The Quality Council of India (QCI), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, presented Professor Vijaya Sunder M with the QCI Quality Champion "Gold" Award. This national honour is given in appreciation for his outstanding work in creating top-notch management courses for management students.

  8. The 8th CII Indian Women Network Telangana Leadership Conclave 2022 in October 2022 featured a panel discussion on "Smart-Financial Inclusion," with Professor Bhagwan Chowdhry, Faculty Director, I-Venture at ISB, participating. The panel talked about and exchanged knowledge about making wise financial decisions, have the knowledge to handle your own finances, and having the risk-taking attitude necessary to advance professionally.

  9. 17 October 2022 According to the results of the Financial Times' Executive MBA Ranking for 2022, the Indian School of Business is the best in India and ranks 44th worldwide. ISB has achieved high rankings on a number of international metrics, including foreign course experience (#16), current wage (#20), career advancement (#28), research (#52), and ESG (#9). These rankings were determined using a survey administered by FT to members of the PGPMAX Class of 2019.

  10. The ISB PGP MAX Class of 2021 has chosen Professor Prashant Kale and Professor Milind Sohoni as "Teacher of the Year." 1

  11. Aspiring data scientists and business analysts are invited to participate in the ISB Institute of Data Science (IIDS) Datathon 2022 in October 2022 to work on challenging challenges and have the chance to report their findings to faculty and industry leaders.

  12. The class of 2021 for the Post Graduate Programme in Management for Family Business (PGP MFAB) has chosen Professors Kiran Pedada and Kavil Ramachandran as "Teachers of the Year."

  13. In order to study and recommend comprehensive and effective assessment and evaluation systems for Telangana's higher education system, Indian School of Business has entered into an agreement with the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) and Commissionerate of Collegiate Education, Telangana State (CCETS) in October 2022.

  14. On December 2, 2022, at the ISB Hyderabad Campus, the Indian School of Business will host the Data Science Summit 2022, which will focus on the topic "Impact of fintech: How are global firms employing technology to better business?"



Get a profile review for the ISB PGP from an MBA admission consultant at GOALisB.

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