More Insights On The ISB PGP YL

Summary

The speaker shares takeaways from an ISB admissions-team information session in Delhi about the PGP YL, a 20-month MBA for college graduates and early-career professionals. The program launched in September 2024.

Main Takeaways

• Leadership is a major emphasis. Two of the three application essays focus on leadership: one asks for a personal example, and another focuses on professional leadership. Leadership experience can come from college clubs, internships, work, sports, performing arts, or founding an organization.
• The curriculum combines foundational preparation with MBA subjects. Since students may be recent graduates or early-career professionals, the program includes foundational courses before more advanced functional subjects.
• The program includes distinctive experiential and communication components. The speaker describes these as additions compared with the regular PGP, including an internship and courses on working effectively in organizations.
• Terms are short and the schedule is intensive. Terms typically last five to six weeks. Internship recruiting and placements begin early in the first year.

Curriculum

Foundational module — mandatory courses:

• Critical thinking
• Data science
• Economics fundamentals
• Financial accounting
• Statistics
• Ethics

Functional subjects:

• Comparative strategy
• Corporate finance
• Investment analysis
• Frontier technologies
• Marketing management
• Operations management

Working Effectively in Organizations:

• Verbal communication
• Written analysis and communication
• Behavioral foundations of work and management

Experiential learning:

• Ideas and Pivot
• Summer internship

Elective areas broadly resemble those in the PGP, including strategy and leadership, finance, marketing, information management, operations, and entrepreneurship.

Timeline Shared by the Speaker

Using a hypothetical student starting in July 2026, the speaker outlines this sequence:

• July 2026: Year 1, Term 1 begins
• November–December 2026: Interviews for summer internships
• March–April 2027: Summer internship
• June 2027: Year 2 begins
• December 2027: Final placements

Cohort Profile Reported at the Session

• Cohort size: 130
• Average age: 23
• Work experience: 68% had some work experience; 32% were freshers
• Average test scores: GMAT 677, GRE 327, CAT 99.1 percentile
• Industry backgrounds: Consulting and technology were common. The speaker also reported a notable automobile and manufacturing group, comprising 24% of the cohort.
• Functional backgrounds: 30% came from IT or technology consulting, and 17% from consulting and business strategy. Financial services was also described as a significant background.

Speakers and Sources

• Speaker: The video’s narrator, who attended an ISB admissions-team information session in Delhi and relays its contents
• Source: ISB admissions team’s information session
• Additional context: The speaker says some mentees encouraged him to share the information more widely.