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NUS MBA Essay Topics 2011-2012

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
National University of Singapore (NUS) MBA Essay Topics 2011-2012
Q1Choose one of the two questions below: a. Describe your most valued accomplishment and explain why you view it as such OR b. Describe a time when you failed. What did you learn from that failure? How has that failure made you better equipped for the future? (300 words)
Q2Name one current issue (economic / social / political) that Asia is facing and identify a couple of strategies that you feel may adequately address the issue. (300 words)
Q3“Rampant consumerism (seeking material goods without the ability to afford them) is one of the main causes for the current global economic crisis. Restraining consumerism remains a key task for developed countries like the US and Western Europe.” What are your views?  (300 words)


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Cambridge-Judge MBA Essays 2011-2012-Writing tips

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011

What are the key issues facing organisations in your sector over the next three years? What course of action would you recommend to such organisations? 300 words
The key points are ‘your sector’ and the time horizon of ‘three years’ – with your current role in this sector, you would be expected to have this kind of perspective. So if you are in the financial services sector working in XYZ country, you could consider the impact of things like say, consolidation, or global influences etc. How should organizations deal with such issues – be pointed in giving solutions. Your solutions need not be long winded –just a line or two will suffice to indicate the general direction in which solutions need to be thought of.
What did you learn from your most spectacular failure? 200 words
What is your attitude to failure and how do you learn from it? Describe a situation where you failed to meet your objectives – what were your goals and why did you fail in achieving them. Who else was involved and what did you do when you realized that you had failed? Were you able to salvage the situation somewhat later? What insights did you get about your own way of working/thinking which you improved upon consequently?

What are your short and long term career objectives? What skills/characteristics do you already have that will help you to achieve them? What do you hope to gain from the degree and how do you feel it will help you achieve the career objectives you have? 500 words
What do you intend to do immediately post MBA from Cambridge e.g. what kind of role, which industry? How does this follow as a logical consequence of your previous experience, qualifications and the skills/knowledge you have acquired through the Cambridge MBA? This will also answer the second part of the essay prompt regarding ‘what skills/characteristics’ you already have and what more you need to learn. How will the Cambridge MBA benefit you particularly in achieving your career aims– research the school’s offerings through its website, talking to alumni etc to answer this. Also, you can round off the essay by briefly stating the broad career path you have chosen for yourself in the long term.

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ISB Executive MBA (PGPMAX) – Essay writing tips

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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.

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ESADE MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

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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.
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HKUST MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

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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.

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HEC MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

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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.

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MIT Sloan Fellows Program Essays Analysis 2010-2011

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MIT Sloan Fellowship-Innovation and Global Leadership

Q1. What are your immediate and ultimate professional objectives for attending the program. Specifically, please indicate how your objectives fit with the purposes of the MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership and indicate what you would contribute to the Sloan Fellows community.

This is a program which demands a lot and returns even more to those mid-career executives who want to study among the brightest minds in the world and at the world’s leading innovation institute. Therefore, as an applicant, make sure you demonstrate that you realize the enormous benefit that going through such a program can give you. Accordingly, your goals post the Fellowship should be challenging enough – something beyond what you can hope to achieve by simply going up the corporate ladder. Are you a high-performing mid career manager who senior management thinks is capable of setting up a new international business? Some of the greatest positives that you can get from the program are its networking opportunities, the international business experience and the experiential learning – so explain how these tie in with your future goals? And what unique experiences/skills will you add to the community –much of the learning from such a program depends on the experiences and background of its participants – therefore summarize such outstanding achievements.

Q2. Discuss a defining experience in your development as a leader. How did this experience demonstrate your strengths and weaknesses?

First of all, explain the leadership position you were in – what was your primary deliverable as the leader and what kind of team you were working with. Since it asks about a defining experience, choose a situation where, the way you led your team, taught you much about the principles of leadership itself as well as about your preferred style of leading. For instance, perhaps one of your most capable team members was indulging in some unfair practices with respect to the rest of the team. How did you deal with this? What did it teach you about how to lead e.g. though it might have been tempting to overlook this team member’s actions, since he was such a high performer and was excelling in the tasks assigned to him, you had to take a strict view of things, so as to not demoralize the rest of the team. In doing so, what strengths and weaknesses did you find in yourself?

Q3. Discuss a time when you made an unpopular decision. What did you learn from the experience?

The Adcom wants to understand how you go about your decision making process –even if it means that sometimes, all parties involved are not in complete agreement with the process or the final decision. Pick a situation where you were in the forefront for making a decision regarding following a certain approach/ adopting a particular solution. Who were the others involved with you in the process or who were the parties who were going to be affected by your decision? Why were they unhappy with the decision? And in order to finally minimize their resistance to accepting it, what steps did you take e.g. did you offer them some other compensatory benefits/ did you take action to ensure that they would be able to adopt the decision easily? What did you learn about yourself in terms of say persuasive skills or how you overcome a problem situation?

Q4. Please describe a time when you came to see something from someone else?s perspective, or when your opinion was changed by listening and learning from others.

The purpose of this essay is to know how flexible and open minded you are, so as to be able to absorb new ideas. So give an example where you had a particular viewpoint, explaining with reference to the context, why you felt that was right. Then contrast this with the different viewpoint of the other stakeholder/party, and the reason behind that. What was the main motive which made you choose to change your perspective? How did you feel about doing so –did you feel a loss of face/ resistance etc (which were perhaps natural) and how did you overcome these feelings? Finally, you could conclude with a brief line on what was the result of your having accepted the other perspective e.g. the project was a great success and you could build a strong professional relationship with the person whose ideas you accepted.

Q5. Please give an example of a significant innovation (product or process) that you developed for your organization

MIT is known for its culture of innovation – so as a prospective student, you need to show that you can foster this culture with your ideas. At work, have you ever introduced a major innovation – maybe in terms of a new system or a new product? What was the motivation for this innovation – what significant benefits did you expect to generate through this innovative idea. What process did you follow to put the idea into practice and what did you learn through this? You could conclude with a couple of lines on the impact of your innovation e.g. new business worth XXXX achieved through the new product or XXX saved through the new system you proposed.

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New York University – Stern MBA Essays Analysis

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
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Job responsibilities
Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (250 words)
A) This question asks for numbers and data so be as specific as possible. Take an overall view of your job avoiding the details about individual projects. Write about broad skills or functional competencies that you have developed, e.g. planning and budgeting skills, and then justify this with relevant data/ numbers. To respond to the part on employees under your supervision, don’t just mention a certain number but also add in what capacity you supervised them, bringing out the extent of managerial responsibility you held.
Q6 Career description
Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)
A) Share your unique growth story. If you have been through several role changes and level changes, you can showcase your accomplishments and hence growth. Without repeating the job responsibilities, talk about how you have been vested with increasing levels of responsibility or how have you broadened your exposure to different areas/industries through your role changes. As far as your next position with your employer goes, you can sneak in a bit about your special accomplishments that propel you towards the next level of responsibility/seniority. You can also touch upon what opportunities you will forego in order to pursue an MBA at INSEAD.
Q7 Description of yourself
Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors, which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words)
A) This seems like the easiest question, because it talks about the person most familiar to yourself – you. However, resist the temptation to make it a set of adjectives for a matrimonial posting. Rather, dig into your experiences and find qualities which will help you stand out at INSEAD ? like show your academic promise or leadership potential. Do not be shy while talking about your weakness/es ? this shows your self-awareness and maturity. Be honest and select weaknesses which are mild and workable. Divide your write-up among 2-3 strengths and 1-2 weaknesses, giving example of each.
Q8 Most substantial accomplishments
Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words)
A) A good approach is to select two accomplishments from two different realms – one professional and another to do with a hobby/ an academic achievement. Why these achievements were substantial – because of the results you achieved or the exceptional effort you put in or the challenges you overcame to succeed? Paint a broad picture of the landscape against which you achieved the results, such as the extent of competition, the scarce resources that you had to work with or the punishing deadline you met. At INSEAD, show strengths like ability to contribute to the class, cultural acclimatization, maturity and leadership.
Q9 Personal objectives
Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words)
A) Can you analyze a situation where you failed and draw lessons from it?
It is important that you cite the objectives, your role, failure statement, analysis of what went wrong and your learning. Therefore, the failure itself is not as important as how you viewed it, how you introspected and improved for similar future assignments. Thus, devote good words to explain how you were affected by the failure and what did you learnt from the whole incident.
Q10 Career goals
Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words)
A) Get to the goals straight and do not talk about career summary or progression.
Think hard about the career choice you wish to make post MBA. Again, it is not so important that you have the next twenty years of your career path neatly charted out but it is important that you understand your personal aspirations and the impact of an MBA, an INSEAD MBA on your future.
Get to learn more about academics, experiences and opportunities at INSEAD (read http://mba.insead.edu/academics/ and http://knowledge.insead.edu/home.cfm) and attend information sessions, meet current students or alums, research INSEAD?s online resources and visit the campus, if possible.
Q11 Culture shock
Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words)
A) The intention here is to find out if an applicant can acclimatize in an alien environment.
INSEAD is acclaimed for diversified cultural interactions and it is very important for a new student to feel comfortable. Talk about incident/s when you experienced a new culture, found something out of your perceived notions and were in for a shock! Now, talk about how you coped with the frustrations, adjusted to the surroundings and came out as a winner. This experience could make you learn something about yourself, help you look at things from a different perspective, give you a new professional direction or gradually appreciate the goodness in that new setting.
Q12 Foreigner
What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words)
A) Are you knowledgeable about your country and can you help others to enjoy their stay? Keep the tone of this answer even and balanced. You neither have to sing paeans in praise of your country or its culture, and nor should your answer read like a list of do’s and don?ts for a foreign immigrant. The question has to be answered more in abstract and general terms and you should not unnecessarily get into factual details about your country. Informative advice can be the main theme. For example you can write about common social and cultural etiquette followed in your country that can help an immigrant acculturate himself in dealing with your country’s people. You could also point out some interesting pursuits or activities or suggest groups which he could associate himself with in order to learn more about and establish a social network in your country.

NYU Stern essay questions 2010-2011

Q1.Think about the decisions you have made in your life. Answer the following: (a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position? (b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life? (c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?

Trace your professional experience until now explaining key roles held and the attendant skills and knowledge you picked up. Why did you choose these roles/career path -your academic background influenced your choices, or was it special kind of responsibilities you were seeking which affected your career moves? Now that you have reached this stage, where do you see yourself going next and to get there, what role does the MBA play? What gap will it fill in your skills portfolio or what additional knowledge will it give you? Outline clearly your immediate post MBA goal in terms of specific industry and role. For the long term you could mention a broad direction for your career.

Q2.We take great care to shape the Stern community with individuals who possess both intellectual and interpersonal strengths. We seek individuals who are highly intelligent, collaborative and committed to flourishing as Stern leaders. Please answer the following questions: (a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? Tell us what actions you have taken to learn about us. (b) Describe what most excites you about Stern from both an academic and extracurricular perspective. (c) How do you anticipate making your mark on the Stern community? Be specific about the roles you will take on and the impact you hope to achieve.

The Adcom wants to know if you are serious about choosing Stern to have done your homework on this thoroughly enough. So don’t try to bluff on this one- what have you done to know more about Stern-attended Stern talks, made campus visits, met current and former students, taken sample classes. What you mention here will also set the stage for the answer to part b. Among the things you have learnt about Stern from the above actions, which ones have you most identified with or felt strongly positive about e.g. excellent alumni networking and access. Finally, based on your research, where do you think you fit into the Stern community and what steps will you take to strengthen your involvement with this community e.g. participation in clubs, events, volunteer service etc. Limit your answer to 2-3 points and develop them clearly.

Q3. Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use almost any method to convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative.

A prompt much like Booth’s open ended question – but dont be tempted to copy that essay here. This is not an autobiography, nor is it aimed at impressing the Adcom- remember, the prompt says ‘describe to your classmates’. So keep the tone light and balanced – as if you were at a social gathering of peers, how would you break the ice and introduce yourself? How about being creative and caricaturing yourself playing your favorite sport or if you prefer writing, do you have a favorite character/song that you identify with. Anyway, if creativity is just not your cup of tea, no worries – keep it straight and simple, like perhaps you would talk about your interests and your background briefly when meeting new colleagues.

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IE Business School (Instituto Empresa) MBA Essays Analysis

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
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Job responsibilities
Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (250 words)
A) This question asks for numbers and data so be as specific as possible. Take an overall view of your job avoiding the details about individual projects. Write about broad skills or functional competencies that you have developed, e.g. planning and budgeting skills, and then justify this with relevant data/ numbers. To respond to the part on employees under your supervision, don’t just mention a certain number but also add in what capacity you supervised them, bringing out the extent of managerial responsibility you held.
Q6 Career description
Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)
A) Share your unique growth story. If you have been through several role changes and level changes, you can showcase your accomplishments and hence growth. Without repeating the job responsibilities, talk about how you have been vested with increasing levels of responsibility or how have you broadened your exposure to different areas/industries through your role changes. As far as your next position with your employer goes, you can sneak in a bit about your special accomplishments that propel you towards the next level of responsibility/seniority. You can also touch upon what opportunities you will forego in order to pursue an MBA at INSEAD.
Q7 Description of yourself
Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors, which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words)
A) This seems like the easiest question, because it talks about the person most familiar to yourself – you. However, resist the temptation to make it a set of adjectives for a matrimonial posting. Rather, dig into your experiences and find qualities which will help you stand out at INSEAD ? like show your academic promise or leadership potential. Do not be shy while talking about your weakness/es ? this shows your self-awareness and maturity. Be honest and select weaknesses which are mild and workable. Divide your write-up among 2-3 strengths and 1-2 weaknesses, giving example of each.
Q8 Most substantial accomplishments
Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words)
A) A good approach is to select two accomplishments from two different realms – one professional and another to do with a hobby/ an academic achievement. Why these achievements were substantial – because of the results you achieved or the exceptional effort you put in or the challenges you overcame to succeed? Paint a broad picture of the landscape against which you achieved the results, such as the extent of competition, the scarce resources that you had to work with or the punishing deadline you met. At INSEAD, show strengths like ability to contribute to the class, cultural acclimatization, maturity and leadership.
Q9 Personal objectives
Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words)
A) Can you analyze a situation where you failed and draw lessons from it?
It is important that you cite the objectives, your role, failure statement, analysis of what went wrong and your learning. Therefore, the failure itself is not as important as how you viewed it, how you introspected and improved for similar future assignments. Thus, devote good words to explain how you were affected by the failure and what did you learnt from the whole incident.
Q10 Career goals
Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words)
A) Get to the goals straight and do not talk about career summary or progression.
Think hard about the career choice you wish to make post MBA. Again, it is not so important that you have the next twenty years of your career path neatly charted out but it is important that you understand your personal aspirations and the impact of an MBA, an INSEAD MBA on your future.
Get to learn more about academics, experiences and opportunities at INSEAD (read http://mba.insead.edu/academics/ and http://knowledge.insead.edu/home.cfm) and attend information sessions, meet current students or alums, research INSEAD?s online resources and visit the campus, if possible.
Q11 Culture shock
Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words)
A) The intention here is to find out if an applicant can acclimatize in an alien environment.
INSEAD is acclaimed for diversified cultural interactions and it is very important for a new student to feel comfortable. Talk about incident/s when you experienced a new culture, found something out of your perceived notions and were in for a shock! Now, talk about how you coped with the frustrations, adjusted to the surroundings and came out as a winner. This experience could make you learn something about yourself, help you look at things from a different perspective, give you a new professional direction or gradually appreciate the goodness in that new setting.
Q12 Foreigner
What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words)
A) Are you knowledgeable about your country and can you help others to enjoy their stay? Keep the tone of this answer even and balanced. You neither have to sing paeans in praise of your country or its culture, and nor should your answer read like a list of do’s and don?ts for a foreign immigrant. The question has to be answered more in abstract and general terms and you should not unnecessarily get into factual details about your country. Informative advice can be the main theme. For example you can write about common social and cultural etiquette followed in your country that can help an immigrant acculturate himself in dealing with your country’s people. You could also point out some interesting pursuits or activities or suggest groups which he could associate himself with in order to learn more about and establish a social network in your country.

IE Business School essay questions 2010-2011

Q1.  If you had the opportunity, what would you ask the president or leader of your country, and why?

IE students are expected to be socially responsible business leaders and the school emphasizes the role of business in driving social change.With this in mind, what issue do you find pertinent to both your future professional role and to your country’s social and economic environment, which you think you could discuss with the country’s leader? Explain how this issue impacts you and your country. You could also state your position on the same issue.

Q2.  Cite the most difficult situation you have faced in your professional life and how your input helped to resolve it.

The Adcom wants to get a sense of what you consider challenging and how you respond to it. From a difficult work related experience, explain what combination of factors made it especially so e.g. tough client, recessionary environment, new team etc. What was the impact of all these upon you and others who might have been involved in the experience? What steps did you proactively take to work around these complexities, and how did they help in solving the problem?

Q3.  Cite at least one example in which your leadership impacted or changed a situation and discuss how you think IE Business School will help you refine, focus, or enhance this skill.

From your bank of leadership experiences, which one stands out in terms of organizational impact and where you think a certain positive aspect of your leadership played an overwhelming role in helping you succeed? Perhaps, you played a key role as a leader in bringing about an understanding among rather divergent stakeholders -your negotiating and persuasive skillswere at the forefront. Describe the incident highlighting how you applied this quality. At IE what factors such as the tremendous diversity -by requiring you to understand and reconcile so many diverse viewpoints, will help you refine this skill?
If you require any help with your IEBS 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 IE Business School, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at IEBS MBA Application packages.


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MIT-Sloan executive MBA essays analysis

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Job responsibilities
Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (250 words)
A) This question asks for numbers and data so be as specific as possible. Take an overall view of your job avoiding the details about individual projects. Write about broad skills or functional competencies that you have developed, e.g. planning and budgeting skills, and then justify this with relevant data/ numbers. To respond to the part on employees under your supervision, don’t just mention a certain number but also add in what capacity you supervised them, bringing out the extent of managerial responsibility you held.
Q6 Career description
Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)
A) Share your unique growth story. If you have been through several role changes and level changes, you can showcase your accomplishments and hence growth. Without repeating the job responsibilities, talk about how you have been vested with increasing levels of responsibility or how have you broadened your exposure to different areas/industries through your role changes. As far as your next position with your employer goes, you can sneak in a bit about your special accomplishments that propel you towards the next level of responsibility/seniority. You can also touch upon what opportunities you will forego in order to pursue an MBA at INSEAD.
Q7 Description of yourself
Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors, which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words)
A) This seems like the easiest question, because it talks about the person most familiar to yourself – you. However, resist the temptation to make it a set of adjectives for a matrimonial posting. Rather, dig into your experiences and find qualities which will help you stand out at INSEAD ? like show your academic promise or leadership potential. Do not be shy while talking about your weakness/es ? this shows your self-awareness and maturity. Be honest and select weaknesses which are mild and workable. Divide your write-up among 2-3 strengths and 1-2 weaknesses, giving example of each.
Q8 Most substantial accomplishments
Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words)
A) A good approach is to select two accomplishments from two different realms – one professional and another to do with a hobby/ an academic achievement. Why these achievements were substantial – because of the results you achieved or the exceptional effort you put in or the challenges you overcame to succeed? Paint a broad picture of the landscape against which you achieved the results, such as the extent of competition, the scarce resources that you had to work with or the punishing deadline you met. At INSEAD, show strengths like ability to contribute to the class, cultural acclimatization, maturity and leadership.
Q9 Personal objectives
Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words)
A) Can you analyze a situation where you failed and draw lessons from it?
It is important that you cite the objectives, your role, failure statement, analysis of what went wrong and your learning. Therefore, the failure itself is not as important as how you viewed it, how you introspected and improved for similar future assignments. Thus, devote good words to explain how you were affected by the failure and what did you learnt from the whole incident.
Q10 Career goals
Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words)
A) Get to the goals straight and do not talk about career summary or progression.
Think hard about the career choice you wish to make post MBA. Again, it is not so important that you have the next twenty years of your career path neatly charted out but it is important that you understand your personal aspirations and the impact of an MBA, an INSEAD MBA on your future.
Get to learn more about academics, experiences and opportunities at INSEAD (read http://mba.insead.edu/academics/ and http://knowledge.insead.edu/home.cfm) and attend information sessions, meet current students or alums, research INSEAD?s online resources and visit the campus, if possible.
Q11 Culture shock
Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words)
A) The intention here is to find out if an applicant can acclimatize in an alien environment.
INSEAD is acclaimed for diversified cultural interactions and it is very important for a new student to feel comfortable. Talk about incident/s when you experienced a new culture, found something out of your perceived notions and were in for a shock! Now, talk about how you coped with the frustrations, adjusted to the surroundings and came out as a winner. This experience could make you learn something about yourself, help you look at things from a different perspective, give you a new professional direction or gradually appreciate the goodness in that new setting.
Q12 Foreigner
What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words)
A) Are you knowledgeable about your country and can you help others to enjoy their stay? Keep the tone of this answer even and balanced. You neither have to sing paeans in praise of your country or its culture, and nor should your answer read like a list of do’s and don?ts for a foreign immigrant. The question has to be answered more in abstract and general terms and you should not unnecessarily get into factual details about your country. Informative advice can be the main theme. For example you can write about common social and cultural etiquette followed in your country that can help an immigrant acculturate himself in dealing with your country’s people. You could also point out some interesting pursuits or activities or suggest groups which he could associate himself with in order to learn more about and establish a social network in your country.

MIT EMBA essay questions 2010-2011

1. A statement of purpose, indicating your qualifications and why you are pursuing the MIT Sloan MBA for Executives. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

The part on your own motivation to pursue an EMBA and your professional background and qualifications is straightforward to answer. Highlight strengths such as leadership, global business experience and also show how you are prepared to handle the rigor of being back to academics and a demanding curriculum e.g.your past performance in high level training programs within your organization itself.

Given the next stage of your career goals, why do you think you need an MBA to get to these goals? For e.g. you may have acquired significant exposure and experience in a specific functional area in your industry, but lack the breadth of experience or general management exposure to be considered for top management roles. Considering that MIT EMBA program has just been launched, you have mostly their website to research regarding why you want to pursue this program. But bear in mind that the program will draw on the expertise of MIT Sloan’s well known faculty and their extensive real world business knowledge- plus how do you plan to utilize linkages such as MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership.

2. The educational mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to “develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world.” Please discuss how you will contribute toward advancing this mission. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

The answer to this prompt must emphasize your commitment to innovation, improving global business and the leadership role you will play in doing this. It sort of asks you about your long term goals in an indirect way, such that your goals are expected to bring about all of the above. Therefore, lay out the general direction for your career in the long term – how do you propose to encourage ethical business and innovation in getting to this goal? What kind of leadership role will you assume e.g. as an entrepreneur who sets up a solar energy company or as an investment banker who will champion new regulatory norms etc.

3. Please describe a time when you changed your opinion, and why. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

The Adcom wants to evaluate your analytical abilities through this -from the position where you held a certain opinion, because of particular reasons, how did you evaluate the situation which finally prompted you to change your opinion. Your answer must therefore, explain your earlier position and also the course of reasoning you followed which made you change your opinion. What were some compelling points which motivated you to do so? You could end by briefly stating what impact this had on you – how you felt when you had to change your opinion and what you learnt about how such a change affected you.

4. Please discuss an occasion when your resources and time were limited and you needed to achieve a significant organizational goal. What did you do, and how did you do it? (500 words or less, limited to one page)

All MIT EMBA candidates are expected to have at least a decade of professional experience, so selecting one such instance which fits the essay prompt should not be difficult. Describe the goal and what kind of resources you needed to achieve the given goal. What factors made such resources scarce e.g. you were setting up business in a new country and you needed to assemble a team very quickly. How did you meet the challenge – did you think laterally and come up with innovative ideas to beat the resource and time crunch? Finally, you could summarize your learnings in a line or two.

If you require any help with your MIT-Sloan EMBA 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 MIT-Sloan EMBA, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at MIT EMBA Application Packages.

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