MBA Admissions Blog by ApexWriters

When you are eligible for both the programs and India is your destination, the choice is not easy. We keep hearing from our applicants, the questions like – What are the differences between ISB and IIM? Which of these programs is better for my profile and aspirations? Is ISB PGP better than IIMA PGPX? In our attempt to find an answer, we have compiled this table with the relevant facts about both the programs. Analyzing carefully, you can evaluate your choices and freeze ‘your’ school.

ISB -vs- IIM-Ahmedabad

ISB-OR-IIMA

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Admissions Blog at Cornell confirms that the essays have been released.

Here are the Essay Questions for 2011 application:

1) What career do you plan to pursue upon completion of an MBA degree and why?
We are obviously looking at your career pathing and focus.  The adcom wants to see that you have done your due diligence on your career trajectory and what is it about b-school (hint: why Johnson) is the right fit and time in your life.

2) You are the author for the book of Your Life Story.  Please write the table of contents for the book.  Note: Approach this essay with your unique style.  We value creativity and authenticity.
We have been asking this essay question for the last two years.  It is a favorite to read and to write for our applicants.  Keep the creativity and personality because we enjoy learning more about who our applicants are!

3) What legacy would you hope to leave as a Johnson graduate?
The adcom wants you to really evaluate what “fit” means to you for Johnson.  “Fit” is different for everyone, so we want to see how authentic and purposeful you are about applying.

Deadlines will be forthcoming, and according to the admissions blog at Johnson, the application is set to go live on July 18th.

If you need professional help while framing your Cornell-Johnson application, please consider ApexWriters’ MBA Admission Consulting and Cornell-Johnson Essay Editing Packages. We offer ISB application guidance, essay editing, resume editing and interview preparation.

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PGP Admissions essays and writing tips for the class of 2013

1. Please detail, your two most significant achievements. These could be either professional or personal but relevant to your application to the ISB. (300 words)

Ideally pick up one substantial professional and one personal achievement -dont go into details about how you achieved these milestones, rather focus on why they were important and meaningful to you e.g. your perseverance with a tough client paid off as your organization eventually bagged a long term contract through your efforts. Your achievements should also showcase your qualities -which in turn will strengthen your application. e.g you have strong leadership qualities etc. There may be many combinations to this question. Choose what fits you. For instance, one achievement may be personal best, and other may be significant as viewed by the world. One may be personal / community / extracurricular and other professional. One may highlight your emotional quotient and other analytical ability. Innovate innovate innovate? Try to view the same stories and incidences in a different light altogether. All ISB questions sound simple, so they appear to majority of the applicants. Focus on things which may surprise or shock the reader. If you?ve a technical background, gauge the business impact of your works. For instance, think what will happen if you do not do your job well?

2. Where do you see yourself three years after you graduate from the ISB? (300 words)

A goals question that should bring out the industry, function etc in which you would like to be post MBA from ISB. The exact role is not so important, instead, link your existing professional path with your interests and go on to explain how the ISB MBA can help you build on your interests, by taking you on your desired career path. E.g. As an engineer with a penchant for Finance, post MBA from ISB, you see yourself in the Financial Analytics domain. This question will show how well you have assessed yourself and how much motivated / inspired you are to achieve your goals. How would you differentiate yourself in the response to this essay ? through structuring of the essay or through goals statement or through your current skill set? How would you strike a balance between too much ambitious goals, fine well-calculated goals and modest goals? Would you just state your goals and then explain or would you prepare a background and then approach your goals gradually in the essay? This essay will be a fine balance of many things.

3. Please provide additional information, that will significantly affect the consideration of your application to the ISB.(300 words)

Use the opportunity to highlight some specific managerial or leadership qualities, placing these against the context of your professional/personal achievements. Don?t make it a rehash of answer to q1 and also avoid wanting to put in too many points about yourself. Choose 2-3 points that you believe differentiate you. Provide crisp stories wherein you have demonstrated those qualities.

If you need professional help while framing your Indian School of Business application, please consider ApexWriters’ MBA Admission Consulting and ISB essay editing packages. We offer ISB application guidance, essay editing, resume editing and interview preparation.

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ISB admissions 2012

ISB has released the deadlines and the online application for the session commencing 2012.

Deadlines:

Cycle1: September 15, 2011

Cycle2: November 30, 2011

Essay Questions:

Q1. Please detail, your two most significant achievements. These could be either professional or personal but relevant to your application to the ISB.

Q2. Where do you see yourself three years after you graduate from the ISB?

Q3. Please provide additional information, that will significantly affect the consideration of your application to the ISB.

We will soon update essay analysis and writing tips.

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Godrej group chief Adi Godrej, on April 2, took charge as the chairman of Indian School of Business (ISB). Making the announcement, Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB said, “Adi has been closely associated with the ISB since its inception. Over the years, he has provided valuable guidance towards making ISB one of the largest management institutions of quality in the world. As the Chairman of the Godrej Group, Adi has a strong reputation as a business leader and is committed to an inclusive India. We welcome Adi as our new Chairman.”

You can refer to the official news here

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ISB -EMBA (PGPMAX program)

Q1.What has been your most significant achievement to date? Please explain why you consider it to be so.

You are a very senior professional -so your achievement should reflect substantial value added to the organization e.g. you turned around a failing business unit, you secured key client partnerships worth XXX etc. Highlight the role you played in terms of your leadership, the strategy you employed, the major obstacles you faced and how you overcame them. Bring out your key strengths through the example e.g. skilled negotiator, leading large teams spread across different countries etc

Q2. What is your motivation to pursue an Post Graduate Program in Management for Senior Executives?

You are already in a senior position, but where do you see yourself going in a span of 5-10 years more e.g. CFO, CEO, Global Head of Marketing etc? Considering this, why do you think an MBA will add value to you e.g. you want to maximize your international exposure, you want a cross industry strategic perspective, you are already a functional head and now want a general management role? Therefore by understanding the key offerings of the ISB PGPMAX, which aspects of the program will benefit you most.

Q3.The programme requires a lot of understanding of management theory and mathemetical concepts. It also incorporates examinations and other forms of assessment? After many years of being away from formal studies, how do you plan to adjust to an extremely rigorous academic life and how can ISB be assured of you successfully completing the programme?

You need to demonstrate that you have been successful in situations of extreme rigor at work as well as the fact that you have an inclination towards advanced learning. You could therefore refer to advanced skills training programs (e.g. Financial concepts, Six Sigma, Market Research Techniques) that you may have been a part of, including your performance in these. If you have taken tests such as GMAT etc during the course of your professional life, and your performance in these has been reasonably good, you could also mention this.

For Essay editing help on ISB’s executive MBA, please visit our MBA Essay editing page

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ESADE-MBA essay questions 2010-2011

Q1. Write a brief explanation of your most important professional and personal achievements to date.

The essays are all pretty short – so there?s not much room for too much of an intro para. You could therefore pick 1-2 important professional achievements, e.g. securing a contract from a vital client, implementing a six sigma project which saved the co XXX amount etc and 1 noteworthy personal achievement. Also add why you consider these achievements special. Dont make this essay read like a resume -so avoid cramming in too many points.

Q2. What do you consider your most powerful strength or asset? Describe a situation where you demonstrated this strength or asset?

Are you a great innovator or maybe you have excellent strategic thinking skills/ leadership ability – introspect about what is your USP and how it differentiates you from others. How have you demonstrated this quality, and what positive outcomes have been generated owing to your particular strength?

Q3. If you could pick the one quality that characterizes a good leader, which would you choose and why?

The Adcom wants to know what your preferred leadership stance is i.e. do you believe that leadership is most importantly about vision or is it about being able to bring people together or about managing change etc- follow the essay prompt and even though your conception of leadership maybe a composite of many qualities, focus on 1 quality which is above others in importance. You could even mention a famous leader who may be the inspiration behind your thinking.

Q4. What are your mid- and long-term goals after doing the MBA?

This is different from other MBA essays which usually ask for short term or post MBA goals and long term ones. Here the purpose is to know what sort of career direction you have envisaged for yourself, rather than a specific role post MBA. So you could mention a functional area in which you see yourself growing or a career path in a certain kind of industry, about 5-7 years down the line. Focus more on the kind of responsibilities/job scope you see for yourself in the medium and long term.
If you require any help with your ESADE MBA application, please check out ApexWriters’ MBA essay editing and admissions consulting services. Our complete application package includes brainstorming discussions on your profile and application strategy, essay editing  for ESADE, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at ESADE MBA Essays Service.

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Hong Kong University of Science and Technology -  MBA essay questions 2010-2011

1. Please tell us your motivations to pursue an MBA program, and why is now the best timing to do one.

All the essays are fairly short – so be concise and pointed about what role the MBA will play in helping you reach your future goals. There is a separate question on goals – so no need to elaborate the goals part itself. Instead focus on what skills/knowledge you have gained so far through your professional experiences and to progress to your chosen career, what further skills/knowledge will the MBA help you add. Also why an MBA now – as opposed to continuing in your present job or doing an MBA at a later stage – write a few lines on this.

2. Please elaborate on your career goals. How will your academic training, professional experience coupled with an MBA education at HKUST help you achieve your goals?

What are your career goals post MBA and in a longer term of say 5-10 years? How has your past experience and academic foundation prepared you in terms of skills/knowledge to reach these goals – e.g you want to become a Financial Analyst in an investment bank – you could write about your strong analytical skills through your engineering degree and your subsequent experience of developing IT applications for financial sector firms like banks, which has given you exposure to this area and made you interested in it. Round off with a couple of lines on the MBA’s role also in taking you to your goals.

3. If you were admitted, how could your participation at HKUST MBA enrich fellow students’ experience inside or outside classroom?

This one tries to find out what sort of diverse skills/experiences you have, because of which you will be able to contribute to classroom learning in the form of case discussions etc and also add to the diversity of the student population at HKUST. Do you have distinctive experiences e.g. you have led product development teams and hence can enrich the knowledge of your peers regarding both leadership aspects and about new product development process and its challenges? Any non-professional experiences such as achievements in sports/hobbies etc could also be mentioned –along with how they have added to your overall personality, because of which you can add to your peers’ experiences.

4. Option1:Describe a situation where your initial attempt to solve a problem failed. Tell us how you get around to finally solve the problem.

Are you a determined person or a quitter – therefore in the face of failure, what was your response. Describe the situation in terms of what you expected to achieve, what went wrong in the process and how you failed to achieve your target. After this, how did you overcome the disappointment and what did you do, including what you did differently this time around, to finally solve the problem?

Option2: Describe a situation where you created opportunities for yourself and led to a favorite outcome.

Good business managers should be able to spot the opportunity and act on it by taking initiative – your answer to this should demonstrate this quality. What was the opportunity you saw and what would have been the benefit to you and to your organization by working on that opportunity? Accordingly, what action did you take to make the most of it? Finally, what were the results?

5. Option1: Tell us a situation when you experienced challenges in team setting, and what you have done to help the team achieve its goals

Describe your role in the team i.e. were you a team member, the leader etc. What was the team expected to deliver as a whole and what kind of problems cropped up along the way, which were mainly due to difficulties in teamworking e.g  some members not performing their due responsibilities, or conflicts among the members etc – to get the team back on track, what corrective action did you suggest and how did you implement this?

Option2: Describe a situation when you got frustrated over differences in culture or work style. What have you learnt from that experience

Will you be able to fit into the diverse peer group at HKUST – this answer will give a clue about that. Therefore describe an incident where you had to face difficulties due to cultural differences e.g. you were working in a foreign country and your team members who were both own country and foreign nationals had differences with respect to working on weekends in order to cope with work pressure – how did you tackle the situation and what did you learn from this?

6.Please tell us a situation where you faced an ethical dilemma. How did you handle the situation?

Business schools stress Ethics in Business and Leadership and often rely on discussions around ethical dilemmas that students have faced in their past professional experiences, to explain the different issues involved. Therefore, can you cite an example where you felt torn between following a certain principle or ethic and maybe going against that ethic for immediate results/or based on the orders of a superior/client etc. How did you make the final decision and what did that teach you?

7.What do you want the Admissions Committee to know about you as a person?

An open ended question which lets you highlight some significant non-work related attributes of your personality – you could do this but keep in mind that the attributes themselves should be those that strengthen your case as a prospective student e.g. you can say that you have grown up in unusual circumstances or in a variety of environments – making you sensitive to all kinds of people/situations which normally people don’t encounter in regular life. This in turn has equipped you to deal with uncertainty.

If you require any help with your HKUST MBA application, please check out ApexWriters’ MBA essay editing and admissions consulting services. Our complete application package includes brainstorming discussions on your profile and application strategy, essay editing  for HKUST, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at HKUST MBA Application Packages

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HEC Essays Questions 2010-2011

Q1. Why are you applying to the HEC MBA Program now? What is the professional objective that will guide your career choice after your MBA, and how will the HEC MBA contribute to the achievement of this objective?

What are the skills/knowledge that you have picked up through your professional experience so far? And what are your career goals? Based on these two answers, how will pursuing an MBA help you i.e. what skills can you add which will take you to your career goals? Why is your career choice significant to you? What is the role of the HEC MBA in taking you to your goals – especially its notable features such as its highly international character, the placements in Europe, specific courses/electives offered etc

Q2. What do you consider your most significant life achievement?

You could go down the usual route and write about a major professional accomplishment or you can describe how you achieved something substantial outside the work sphere e.g at a community service organization or even with respect to doing something for somebody. Whatever achievement you choose, it should bring out your strengths and show how the results you achieved, were significant- in terms of how it made a difference to a single individual or to an organization/larger group. Describe your role in making this happen and also add why you hold this achievement close to your heart.

Q3. Leadership and ethics are inevitably intertwined in the business world. Describe a situation in which you have dealt with these issues and how they have influenced you.

Today business schools emphasize teaching of ethics and often rely on discussions by class students regarding situations that involved practice of certain ethics, to discuss and debate these issues. Therefore, take a situation (you could either be the leader or the team member interacting with the leader) where some principle or ethical issue was at stake. If you were the leader, how did you ensure following the ethics, while also dealing with sensitive people management related issues. Conversely, how were you affected by the way your leader handled these? In addition, what was your take away from the whole situation?

Q4. Imagine a life entirely different from the one you now lead, what would it be?

Do you have vision/ can you dream of something unique/bold– these are qualities of a leader. So how can you demonstrate these qualities through your choice – maybe you are a great people person and have a passion for sports…instead of your regular IT job, you see yourself as a cricket/tennis coach. Your choice should be consistent with more or less the kind of person you are and you need to explain why your choice is meaningful to you.

Q5. What monument or site would you advise a first-time visitor to your country or city to discover, and why?

What according to you is a good example to showcase your country’s culture or values – pick such a monument/city etc and explain what facets make it a fitting example. Also write why these aspects of the country’s culture are personally important to you, making that site/city meaningful to visit. For e.g. as an Indian, you could write about Bangalore being the IT hub of India and therefore reflecting the face of new India.

Q6. Certain books, movies or plays have had an international success that you believe to be undeserved. Choose an example and analyse it.

Business leaders need to be able to find inspiration from all around them and that includes literature and cinema. Therefore, you must be able to analyze these and present your opinion on what you feel deserves success and what does not. This question tries to uncover what are some of your personal likes/dislikes. Explain what elements of the option you choose, did not live up to their promise, despite the commercial success e.g. you felt that the treatment of a social issue in a particular book, was biased/superficial etc

Q7. What figure do you most admire and why? You may choose from any field (arts, literature, politics, business, etc).

Another question about your preferences –in an attempt to understand you better. You could pick a political/business figure/sportsperson/someone from the arts field – although the choice is up to you, you might be better off, choosing someone who has an international appeal/is known internationally. What qualities do you most admire in that person e.g. resilience in the face of repeated failures/ humility despite major success etc – you can write about 2-3 such qualities.

If you require any help with your HEC MBA application, please check out ApexWriters’ MBA essay editing and admissions consulting services. Our complete application package includes brainstorming discussions on your profile and application strategy, essay editing  for HEC MBA, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at HEC MBA Application Packages.

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