ISB PGP YL Guide: Eligibility, Essays, Fees and Deadlines for the Class of 2029

Last updated: 24 October 2026. Facts come from ISB’s PGP YL pages (eligibility and requirements, deadlines, fees and scholarships, FAQs, class profile and curriculum), ISB’s fee schedule for 2027-29 and ISB press releases from 2024 to 2026.

What you need to know in 60 seconds

• PGP YL (Post Graduate Programme in Management for Young Leaders) is ISB’s 20-month, full-time, residential programme at its Hyderabad campus, for fresh graduates and people with up to 24 months of work experience. It replaced ISB’s Young Leaders Programme (YLP) and Early Entry Option (EEO).
• Applications are open for the Class of 2029 (2027-29). Round 1 closes on 20 December 2026 and Round 2 on 15 February 2027.
• You need a bachelor’s degree (three-year degrees count) and a GMAT, GRE or CAT score taken at a test centre. You write three essays, get one recommendation and, if shortlisted, sit an interview that includes two on-the-spot essays.
• The fee for 2027-29 is ₹25,60,000 plus GST for shared accommodation paid in one instalment. ISB’s fee schedule totals ₹29,69,700, including GST and a refundable deposit.
• Merit and need-cum-merit scholarships go up to 100% of tuition.
• The current class (Class of 2028) has 132 students, 48% women and an average age of 23. 42 of them joined with no work experience.
• The first class had 175+ summer internship offers from 38 companies. ISB has not yet published final placements, because that class graduates in 2027.

What is PGP YL?

ISB announced PGP YL in September 2024 as a 20-month, MBA-equivalent programme for fresh graduates and early-career professionals. The first class of 130 students started in July 2025, and the second, of 132 students, in July 2026.

PGP YL replaced ISB’s two deferred-entry routes. ISB’s PGP pages say the Young Leaders Programme (YLP) and the Early Entry Option (EEO) “have been discontinued”. Our older articles on the YLP and EEO are now kept as archive pages and marked as out of date.

Like the PGP, PGP YL ends in a certificate of completion rather than an MBA degree. ISB explains that Indian regulations don’t allow independent institutions like it to award a master’s degree. The programme runs only on the Hyderabad campus.

PGP YL vs PGP

Which should you choose? If you have less than two years of experience, the PGP isn’t open to you yet, so the real choice is between PGP YL now and the PGP after a few more years of work. PGP YL gives you a mandatory two-month summer internship and a longer runway, which helps if you want to move into a field like consulting or finance. The PGP is shorter, and you bring more experience into the classroom and into placements. For the PGP, see our ISB PGP application guide.

Who can apply

• Degree. You need a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Three-year degrees are accepted.
• Final-year students. ISB’s pages disagree here. The PGP pages say students in their final year of undergraduate or postgraduate study may apply directly to PGP YL. The PGP YL pages say you must have completed a bachelor’s degree and don’t give a completion deadline. If you’re in your final year, confirm with ISB admissions before you apply.
• Work experience. Not required. The maximum is 24 months of work experience as of 15 June of the year you join.
• Age and marks. ISB publishes no age limit and no minimum percentage or CGPA.
• English. A TOEFL or IELTS score is mandatory if your undergraduate teaching wasn’t in English. No minimum score is published.

Deadlines for the Class of 2029

• Deadlines close at 23:59 IST. Each round opens about two months before its deadline.
• A late Round 1 application moves to Round 2.
• You can apply only once in an academic year, so a Round 1 rejection means waiting for the next cycle.
• Reapplicants pay a reduced fee and write a reapplicant essay.

Which round? Apply in Round 1 if your test score and essays are ready by mid-December. If you’re relying on a CAT score, check when the CAT results you’ll use are due. If they arrive after 20 December, Round 2 is the realistic option.

Tests

• ISB accepts the GMAT (10th or Focus Edition), the GRE or the CAT. It sets no minimum and states no preference.
• Only scores from a test centre count. ISB doesn’t accept online or at-home scores for PGP YL.
• For the Class of 2028, ISB accepted only CAT 2025 scores. It hasn’t yet said which CAT year it will accept for the Class of 2029.
• ISB’s codes are N2D-J5-01 for the GMAT and 7010 or 7892 for the GRE.

The Class of 2028 averaged 684 on the GMAT Focus Edition, 330 on the GRE and the 99.09 percentile on the CAT. “No minimum” doesn’t mean the score doesn’t matter: if you’re applying with the CAT, you’re competing with applicants at the very top of that test. Our guides to the GMAT Focus Edition and GMAT vs GRE can help you pick a test.

PGP YL essays

These are the prompts on ISB’s PGP YL eligibility page. That page still carries banners for earlier classes and the Class of 2028 test rules, so confirm the prompts inside the application portal before you write.

These are different from the PGP essays, so don’t reuse a PGP draft.

Our advice on each essay

Leadership. The prompt asks for leadership without formal authority, which suits applicants with little work experience. College clubs, fests, sports teams, research projects, internships and volunteering all work. Pick a situation where people had a reason not to follow you, and show how you persuaded them rather than told them. Spend real words on the challenges and on what you learned about yourself. That last part is where most drafts go vague.

Diversity in Thought. This isn’t about demographic labels. It asks which experiences give you a perspective your classmates won’t have: growing up in a small town, a gap year, a family business, research, a different degree such as law or design, or a job in an unusual field. Then show how that perspective would change a class discussion or a group project, with an example.

Post-Programme Plan and Impact. Be specific. Name a realistic first role after the programme and where you want to be in five to ten years. ISB also asks for the challenges you expect. Name a real one, such as limited work experience or a switch into a new field, and say how you’ll handle it. A vague goal with no challenges reads as unprepared.

Recommendation and interview

Recommendation. ISB asks for one, submitted online by the round deadline. It can come from a current or past supervisor, a project mentor, a professor or a professional colleague, and the recommender must use a professional or institutional email address. ISB says recommendations from its alumni carry no extra weight. For a fresh graduate, a professor who supervised your project or the manager from your best internship is usually a better choice than a well-known name who barely knows your work.

Interview. Shortlisted candidates get three to seven days’ notice for an interview of about 30 minutes with a panel of ISB faculty, alumni and senior staff. ISB’s eligibility page says the interview is on Zoom or in person in a tier-1 city, and that both formats are evaluated equally. Its FAQ says interviews are typically in person. During the interview, you write two on-the-spot essays. ISB doesn’t publish the topics.

Expect questions on why PGP YL now rather than after a few years of work, how realistic your career plan is, what you did in your internships and projects, and current business news. Our ISB interview preparation covers the format.

Timing. ISB verifies applications within about 20 days. The FAQ says to expect a response within 45 days.

Fees for 2027-29

ISB’s headline fee is ₹25,60,000 plus GST, for shared accommodation and a single-instalment payment. ISB calls the fee indicative. Its fee schedule for 2027-29 breaks it down like this:

• ISB estimates other expenses (books, laptop, meals and miscellaneous) at ₹2,25,000 a year.
• Late payment costs ₹10,000 plus taxes.
• If you choose an international exchange, you pay your own visa, travel and boarding.
• The headline fee has stayed at ₹25.6 lakh for all three classes so far.
• ISB doesn’t publish the application fee on its public pages.

Scholarships and loans

• Merit scholarships go up to 100% of tuition. ISB considers every applicant automatically.
• Need-cum-merit scholarships go up to 100% of tuition if your family income is up to ₹8 lakh, and up to 75% if it is above ₹8 lakh and up to ₹20 lakh. They are decided after a scholarship interview.
• ISB also lists an ISB Develop India Scholarship, without an amount.
• You can receive only one waiver. Scholarships are stated as a share of tuition (₹18,65,000 for 2027-29), and accommodation and other costs are separate.
• Donors funded awards for the Class of 2027, including Bharti Airtel Foundation, DSP, MPS Limited, Regal Rexnord, the Taparia Family, J.C. Flowers ARC and Adani.
• ISB says up to 40% of the class receives scholarship support. According to ISB’s press releases, 36% of the Class of 2027 (37 full and 9 partial waivers) and 24% of the Class of 2028 (17 full and 14 half waivers) received waivers.
• ISB’s partner banks for loans include Axis, Bank of Baroda, Canara, Central Bank of India, Credila, ICICI, Indian Bank, PNB, SBI and Union Bank.

ISB’s pages give two different income limits for need-based support: below ₹18 lakh on the eligibility page and up to ₹20 lakh on the fees page. Check the current limit with ISB if you’re near it.

Class profile: Class of 2028

The work-experience chart on ISB’s site has no unit label. We have read it in years, since the bands run from 0 to 2. ISB also publishes industry and function splits without saying what share of the class they cover. The largest industries are IT-enabled services, professional services and R&D (38%) and banking and financial services (23%).

For comparison, the first class (Class of 2027) had 130 students, 50% women and an average age of 23. 32% were fresh graduates, and their average prior experience was 11 months.

What you study

• Core courses include critical thinking, data science, economics, financial accounting, statistics, strategy, corporate finance, marketing, operations, organisational behaviour and business communication.
• Electives come from six areas: entrepreneurship, finance, information and technology management, marketing, operations, and strategy and leadership.
• Practical work includes iDEAS, a business design lab, and PiVOT, a 12 to 13 week team project on a real business problem with company mentors. There is also a Global Perspective Term, simulations and industry immersion.
• A two-month summer internship at the end of Year 1 is mandatory. Final placements take place in Year 2.
• ISB says it has 15+ international exchange partners.

ISB doesn’t publish the term structure.

Internships and placements

ISB’s figures for the first class’s summer internships (Class of 2027):

• 175+ offers from 38 companies
• Average stipend ₹3.2 lakh, highest ₹7.3 lakh
• Consulting 47%; finance, investment advisory and private equity 19%; FMCG 11%; technology 10%; conglomerates 7%; other 6%
• Accenture made 37 offers. McKinsey, Bain and BCG together made 19.

ISB hasn’t published final placement results yet, because the first class graduates in 2027.

Is PGP YL right for you?

PGP YL suits you if you’re sure you want a management career in India, you can compete on the GMAT, GRE or CAT now, and you’d rather start early than spend three or four years in a job you don’t plan to keep. The first class’s internship results, heavy on consulting and finance, suggest it works well if you’re aiming at those fields.

It’s a weaker fit if you’re aiming for a career outside India, or if your work experience is likely to grow into a strong story in a few years. In that case, look at a Master in Management abroad (see our guides to the top MiM programmes and MBA vs MiM), deferred-admission MBAs such as Harvard 2+2 (see our guide to early-admit MBAs), or the PGP after two or more years of work.

Check these with ISB before you apply

• Whether you can apply in your final year, and by when your degree must be complete
• Which CAT year ISB will accept for the Class of 2029
• The essay prompts in the Class of 2029 application portal
• Whether your interview will be on Zoom or in person
• The application fee

Applying to PGP YL?

With little work experience, your essays, recommendation and interview carry more of the application than usual. GyanOne has covered ISB admissions since 2013, including the YLP and EEO routes that PGP YL replaced. See our ISB application support, or get a free profile evaluation to find out where you stand.