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Jul 21, 2010 0

Tuck MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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.

Dartmouth-Tuck essay questions 2010-2011

Q1 Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you? (500 words)

Why is an MBA important to you at this stage – how will it add value to your professional experience and assist you in following the career direction you have chosen for yourself? In the short run, how will the MBA lead you to fulfil your career goals – here you need to be specific on your immediate post MBA career plan. And in the long term, what direction do you seek for your career, for which the MBA will be useful? On the Tuck MBA itself, Tuck is the only Ivy League school to offer only a full time MBA program, with a small class size and an emphasis on general management and a strong team based approach to learning. How do these factors make it the best choice for you?

Q2 Discuss your most meaningful leadership experience. What did you learn about your own individual strengths and weaknesses through this experience? (500 words)

The MBA program is based on the premise that everyone can learn leadership and particularly through real leadership experiences. Therefore, describe a time where you were either a formal/informal leader – what was your and your team’s deliverable. Mention briefly your role vis-a-vis the team’s e.g. you were leading a sales team in a new territory -how you extensively worked in the market with them, trained them on selling techniques etc. Why was the experience meaningful-e.g. team members gave you a resoundingly positive feedback making the experience very satisfying etc. In the course of leading, what did you right, which you found to be your leadership strengths, and what could you have done better, which were your weaknesses as a leader?

Q3 What is the greatest challenge or hurdle you have overcome, either personally or professionally, and how did you manage to do so? (500 words)

The Adcom will evaluate you for both the challenging incident you choose, and on your description of how you overcame the hurdle. Therefore select a situation which hasnt been written about in any other essay – explain how different factors combined to make the situation very challenging and why this was the greatest challenge ever e.g were you thrown into a new team/business without any training and expected to deliver a critical project etc. How did you respond to the challenge – outline the action steps you took and your mental response, such as drawing on past stressful situations to find your reserves of strength to handle this one.

Q4 Tuck seeks candidates of various backgrounds who can bring new perspectives to our community. How will your unique personal history, values, and/or life experiences contribute to the culture at Tuck? (500 words)

This essay gives you the opportunity to showcase your unique experiences and attributes, going beyond the professional and academic realms. So, without making this read like a mini-biography, pick up some important ‘life’ experiences -which have perhaps significantly affected your development and shaped your personality e.g having seen your dad, establish a business from scratch, you have a personal view on entrepreneurship and practical experience of having assisted him. Remember to connect the experiences/values you talk about to how they will help you contribute at Tuck – e.g. through participation in particular student clubs, classroom courses etc

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

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Jul 21, 2010 0

Cornell-Johnson MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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.

Cornell Johnson MBA essay questions 2010-2011

Q1 Describe your greatest professional achievement and how you added value to your organization. (400 words)

As you describe your significant professional achievement, you need to bring out why it was personally significant as well as how it made a measurable impact on your organization. Was this achievement one that came in the face of several obstacles, making it special for you? Or was it a new initiative/idea which had remarkable results? What new potential/skills did you find in yourself after achieving this? What kind of difference did you make to your organization e.g. you saved huge expenses to the company through your idea -try to be specific and provide facts here.

Q2 What career do you plan to pursue upon completion of an MBA degree and why? How will the Johnson School help you achieve this goal? (400 words)

The Adcom wants to know if you are clear about your post MBA career goals and the role of the Johnson MBA in helping you get there – so answer these two parts pointedly. Briefly summarize your past professional experiences and the bank of skills/knowledge you have acquired through these. Now, to get to your short term career goal, what else is required-new skills, conceptual knowledge, leadership experience, exposure to global business etc- how does the Johnson School fill these gaps. Research the school’s offerings thoroughly e.g if you want to be an entrepreneur, then you will benefit from Cornell’s Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise Program (EPE). In general, Johnson has a smaller MBA class compared with some other Ivy League programs-how could that benefit you?

Q3 You are the author for the book of Your Life Story. Please write the table of contents for the book. (400 words)

What do you consider important stages in your life story so far – these will form the table of contents of your book. Don’t be creative at the cost of getting your point across, therefore, your content/chapter captions shouldnt be too cryptic. Also, you could be chronological about your life story or group your experiences in terms of how they developed specific attributes of your personality and accordingly write a few lines following each caption. Try not to be plain biographical and factual – rather use the essay to show who you are as a complete individual and this includes how uniquely you can describe your life story.
If you require any help with your Cornell 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 Cornell, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at Cornell MBA Application Packages.

Connect with us:

We are on Facebook: Join the ApexWriters Fan Page , or become a friend.

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Jul 18, 2010 0

MIT Sloan MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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 Sloan essay questions 2010-2011
Q1 Please describe a time when you went beyond what was defined, expected, established, or popular. (500 words)

Aim to bring out the extent to which you surpassed the expected results and the process you followed to achieve this. You could begin by explaining what was your personal motivation to go the extra mile and accomplish something beyond expectation. Were there others who helped you in the process – you could touch upon their roles too. In achieving the extraordinary results what personal strengths did you employ – leadership, initiative, strategic insight? And did the entire effort help you discover some hidden potential/strength in yourself?

Q2 Please describe a time when you convinced an individual or group to accept one of your ideas. (500 words)

This is to know about your style of nagotiation. How do you go about making a convincing case around your ideas? Talk about a situation where you had a different view point than others. What was your thought process and why did you believe that your idea was better. Then, what approach did you follow to communicate and sell your idea. Are you assertive, pushy or fact based and logical? Remember that the idea itself is not too importnat, so do not devote to many words to it.

Q3 Please describe a time when you took responsibility for achieving an objective. (500 words)

This one is on goal orientation and your answer will be judged both by the example you choose and how you put it across. Select an instance where you had primary responsibility to achieve an objective – what was this objective and what was your given role? It might even be a situation where you had to step in and assume additional responsibility beyond your usual ones – mention this if relevant. How did you go about pursuing your goal – if you came across hurdles, mention briefly what they were and how you surpassed them. What personal qualities helped you in achieving the objective – determination and perseverance, relationship building skills etc.

Q4 Prepare a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Describe your accomplishments and include an example of how you had an impact on a group or organization. Your letter should conform to standard business correspondence and be addressed to Mr. Rod Garcia, Director of MBA Admissions. (500 words)

This essay is on the tone of ‘why should we accept you’ – so you need to highlight how your personal accomplishments (professional, academic, extra-curricular) make you stand out. And one such achievement needs more elaboration to show how you significantly affected an organization. To answer the first part i.e on general achievements – keep to 2-3 points, taking care not to be too brief or too verbose about any. The key is to use these achievements to show some important capabilities and strengths. For the latter part, pick up one significant achievement -perhaps, in the leadership role of a non-profit, you secured a substantial grant through a fund raising campaign, enabling the organization to expand the scope of its programs. What role did you play and with what results? Also remember, this essay is not really on ‘why MIT’ – so don’t devote words to this.

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

Connect with us:

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Jul 15, 2010 0

Columbia MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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.

Columbia essay questions 2010-2011

Q1 What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals? (750 words)

After writing a short piece on your professional experience until now, can you paraphrase what skills/knowledge you think are needed for you to move to the next step in your chosen career? How does the MBA program help you in acquiring these skills/knowledge? Your answer must be tied to the short term career goal you have post MBA e.g. you want to be a Financial Analyst and therefore intend to specialize in Finance and Economics at CBS. Lay out clearly how the CBS program benefits you and for that research the school’s offerings well e.g Columbia’s CaseWorks program grounded in research of top faculty, including Nobel laureate faculty, will give you real world decision making ability. Make sure that the benefits link up with your short term and long term career goals.

Q2 Please tell us about yourself and your personal interests. The goal of this essay is to get a sense of who you are, rather than what you have achieved professionally (500 words)

Follow the essay prompt – therefore DO NOT rewrite your resume/sop facts here ! The Adcom wants to know how you as a complete individual stand out among the applicants. This includes your interests, values and unique experiences. Don’t try to cram too many points – rather, take 3-4 points and develop them well in terms of bringing out your particular qualities e.g. you are an avid debater, because you enjoy analyzing an issue and you have good persuasive skills. You could also mention what values/goals are personally meaningful to you.

If you require any help with your Columbia 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 Columbia, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at Columbia MBA application packages.


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Jul 15, 2010 0

Chicago Booth MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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.

Chicago(Booth) essay questions 2010-2011

Q1 The Admissions Committee is interested in learning more about you on both a personal and professional level. Please answer the following (maximum of 300 words for each section):

a. Why are you pursuing a full-time MBA at this point in your life?

b. Define your short and long term career goals post MBA.

c. What is it about Chicago Booth that is going to help you reach your goals? (900 words)

Your mandate is to lay out how the Booth MBA will help you to take your career in the direction you have chosen. On why the MBA is relevant now – what aspects of the MBA do you think will add value to your existing professional experience and skills for e.g. international perspective through curriculum and diversity of peers, exposure to particular functional areas which will enable a career transition etc. Therefore, briefly mention what kind of experience you have had so far and thus, why the MBA fills a gap. For the next part, mention as specifically as you can, your immediate post MBA goal e.g. product marketing in a global consumer goods major etc. It is enough to mention a general direction for your long term career. Wrap up by highlighting what the Booth advantage to you is e.g highly specialized curriculum for your chosen functional area etc

Q2 Chicago Booth is a place that challenges its students to stretch and take risks that they might not take elsewhere. Tell us about a time when you took a risk and what you learned from that experience (750 words)

The AdCom wants to know what you consider as risk taking and also your way of going about this. What do you understand by risk – is it going against popular opinion to come out with a novel idea, or taking on a critical project without adequate resources but with the promise to deliver results etc. Explain what factors made the situation risky and how you dealt with them. What were your takeaways from the incident – did you learn to tap into informal networks to garner support, or did you learn about personal response to uncertainty etc?

Q3 At Chicago Booth, we teach you HOW to think rather than what to think. With this in mind, we have provided you with ?blank pages? in our application. Knowing that there is not a right or even a preferred answer allows you to demonstrate to the committee your ability to navigate ambiguity and provide information that you believe will support your candidacy for Chicago Booth. We have set forth the following guidelines for Q3:

• The content is completely up to you. Acceptable file formats are PowerPoint or PDF.

• There is a strict maximum of four pages, though you can provide fewer if you choose.

• The document will be printed in color and added to your file for review; therefore, flash, hyper links, embedded videos, music, etc. will not be viewed by the committee. You are limited to text and static images to convey your points.

• The file will be evaluated on the quality of content and ability to convey your ideas, not on technical expertise or presentation.

• Files need to be less than 9 megabytes in order to upload. If your file is too large you may save your file as a PDF and upload your essay.

First things first, follow the instructions for this question to the ‘t’. That includes therefore, resisting the temptation to simply write everything that you think you couldn’t in the first 2 essays. ‘HOW’ to think is about your approach to problem solving in any area, be it professional or personal ie.how you define the problem, analyze alternative solutions and select one. Of course, don’t be limited by ‘problem solving’ – this essay could also be an example of your creative thought process and its final product/s. If you choose to make a powerpoint, be concise in your words- no point in making it read like an essay in .ppt form. Finally, remember that while you have leeway  to pick what you write about,  it should bring out some abilities/strengths which will support your candidature e.g. leadership, maturity, creativity etc

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

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Jul 12, 2010 0

IIM Calcutta PGPEX Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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.

IIM Calcutta Executive MBA Essay Questions 2010-2011

Q1 Statement of Purpose

A good statement of purpose should effortlessly weave your experiences, achievements, and career goals to come up with why you wish to gain admission to the particular program you are applying to. This is not a resume, so refrain from restating your professional and academic achievements. Instead, write a narrative which, while chronicling significant accomplishments, focuses more on revealing your personal attributes, strengths such as leadership etc. It should lead up to the stating of future career goals, and the role that the present program will play in preparing you for these goals.

Q2 Give detailed descriptions of three activities you performed in your workplace in the last five years which will help us assess your abilities and strengths. Use extra sheets if necessary

IIMC PGPX candidates typically have over five years experience, so the Ad com wishes to gauage both the breadth and depth of your experience through this answer. Ideally, pick up 3 activities where you have performed different kinds of roles – e.g. as a leader, or as a team member in a cross-cultural team and a new project developer/manager. You should aim to bring out diverse strengths but focus on one special strength from each activity you describe. Keep each description tightly composed which must include your role, results you got and a brief explanation of the process involved.

Q3 Narrate an important/unusual incident of your life when you had to face a very demanding/challenging situation. How did you overcome the situation? What lessons did you learn from this incident? Use extra sheets if necessary

The purpose of this essay is to understand how you respond to difficult and challenging situations. First of all, explain what created the difficulties or made the situation complex. What impact did this have on you? What role did you perform in overcoming the problem and how did you go about this? Round off with what you learnt –also if you got a chance to apply this learning in a similar situation, mention that.

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

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Jul 12, 2010 0

London Business School (LBS) MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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.

LBS essay questions 2010-2011

Q1 Give us a brief assessment of your career progress to date. In what role do you see yourself working in immediately after graduation and what is your longer term career vision? How will your past and present experiences help you to achieve this? How will the London Business School MBA Programme contribute to this goal? Why is this the right time for you to pursue an MBA? (750 words)

Summarising your professional experience, build a link between the skills/knowledge base you have already acquired and what further you need in order to achieve your future career goals. This part should also answer the question on why you feel that an MBA is needed at this stage. Are you clear about your immediate post MBA goal – keep in mind that this goal needs to flow well with the rest of the essay on how the LBS experience will help you to get to it. By the words ‘career vision’, the AdCom wants to get a sense of why your long term career goal is meaningful to you. Finally, devote about a quarter of the essay to explaining why LBS is suitable for you- research the LBS MBA and point out its significant advantages to you e.g. 1 year MBA which allows you to get back to your family business sooner, yet equipped well with management knowledge etc.

Q2 Give a specific example of when you have had to test your leadership and team working skills. Given this experience what role will you play in a first year study group (300 words)

Pick an example where your team successfully met certain objectives. Briefly outline what these were, and what role you played vis-a-vis-the rest of the team in moving towards the goal. As a ‘test’ of your leadership, did you meet with some resistance/lack of support from the others and how did you surmount this? Or perhaps your team was low on morale due to early failures and you played a key motivational role? What did the experience teach you – therefore how will you transfer the learning to your work group.

Q3 Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London Business School MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. Please describe how you will contribute to student clubs and the community and why? (300 words)

The list of student clubs at LBS is a delight for students who thrive on extra curricular life, ranging from Art and Acting to Wine and Cheese Clubs! But to answer this question, choose judiciously, keeping in mind that you need to demonstrate clear interest/involvement in the activities of the respective clubs. This could be through similar involvement in the past; perhaps you were in the Dramatics Society of your college, and you would like to pursue this hobby at LBS too! Just a listing of the clubs will not suffice, be sure to answer what you would contribute e.g. would you use your mass communications experience in XYZ country to share with the Media Club, how media affects popular perception.

Q4 London Business School offers a truly global and diverse experience. Describe any significant experiences outside of your home country or culture. What did you gain and how will your experience contribute to London Business School? (300 words)

The LBS MBA is known for its ‘international nature’. Keeping this in mind, do you adapt quickly and easily into a multi cultural or diverse environment? Can you substantiate this with a real instance- perhaps initially you faced some hesitation in being accepted by a diverse group or you yourself felt reluctant to engage with them? How did you change this mindset and what did this teach you about adapting to diverse groups? How will this experience help you at LBS – will you for e.g. play a mediator in a diverse work group?

Q5 You have decided to stand for the role of Student Association President. Announcing your campaign to the London Business School community for the first time, please describe your manifesto (150 words)

Research the role played by the Student Association – you will notice that the SA is an influential group and therefore its members have a clear agenda and role. As President of the SA, you will be the chief liaison between the SA and the School´s administration. As a campaigner, what new initiatives do you propose e.g. will you initiate greater networking events with alumni, demand higher budget for career services function, press for expanding the representation of international students etc

Q6 What is your most substantial achievement to date and why? (150 words)

A short essay- so without much ado, clearly state the achievement – what results did you achieve, how did they compare with past results or those of peers etc. What key steps did you take to achieve this – and what does this say about your strengths such as resilience, leadership etc. Why was this accomplishment important to you – did you set a new standard, or did you uncover hidden potential in yourself etc.

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

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Jul 09, 2010 0

Duke Fuqua MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,

Duke-Fuqua essay questions 2010-2011

Q1 Describe your vision for your career and your inspiration for pursuing this career path. (1000 words)

The key word here is ‘vision’ – your career goals must be guided not only by the past experiences you have had but more importantly based on what you wish to achieve as a future business leader. Link the past to the present and the future i.e. what is your skill/knowledge/experience inventory and keeping these in mind how you see your career unfolding – also what additional steps do you need to take to get there? In pursuing this path, what are your personal and professional motivations? Have there been defining experiences which have influenced your career vision?

Q2 How will your background, values, and non-work activities enhance the experience of other Duke MBA students and add value to Fuqua’s diverse culture? (1000 words)

Fuqua is a school that highly values diversity – both in terms of geography and background. So focus on unique experiences which make you stand out – they need not be professional ones only. Show how these experiences have shaped your development and how you can transfer learnings from them to your peers and to the classroom learning environment. Also, use this essay to reveal what matters to you as an individual – personal values derived from your life experiences and other activities that you have engaged in and with what motivation.   

Q3 Why Duke? (If you are interested in a specific concentration, joint degree, clubs or activities, please discuss how you would contribute to these in this essay.) (1000 words)

You need to deeply research the institute’s offerings and match them with your own interests. An important point to be addressed here is how you will benefit from the tremendous diversity and Duke’s emphasis on Global Business- their MBA program itself begins with a 3 week Global Institute. Give reasons backed by evidence for your choice of certain electives/concentrations etc e.g. if you have had IT experience and wish to specialize in Strategy Consulting, what electives will you take towards this goal. When discussing extra curricular involvement in clubs etc, remember ‘less is more’- so dont draw up a long list of clubs you intend to join, rather give concrete examples of how you have pursued interest in 1-2 specific areas/ activities and therefore how you intend to do the same at Duke.  

If you require any help with your Ross 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 Duke Fuqua, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at Duke MBA Application Packages.
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Jul 09, 2010 0

Michigan-Ross MBA Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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.

Michigan Ross essay questions 2010-2011
1. Introduce yourself in 100 words or less. (100 words)

Absolutely desist from bio data facts like what you studied and what your current work role is! This is a place to get creative and highlight lesser known aspects of yourself – maybe you speak 4-5 different languages, or you started your first venture at high school! What do these reveal about you -that you are very adaptable, you have an entrepreneurial streak etc. This question is also ideal to talk about what values or personal goals are meaningful to you and why – e.g. coming from a family of researchers, innovation and creativity are important to you etc.

2. Describe your career goals. How will the Ross MBA help you to achieve your goals? (500 words)

Ross’ outstanding feature is the Multidisciplinary Action Program (MAP) which emphasizes action based learning ie. you learn by being part of a team that works with a real company on a real business issue. Therefore address how you will stand to gain from such a curriculum design e.g. you may have limited exposure to international businesses through your current work ex and so such a program will add much value to you. They also have highly specialized tracks such as Social Enterprise etc- so research these well and mention appropriate courses/electives you want to take and your reasons for the same. Include also how your work experience until now has influenced your career goals and what general direction you will pursue in your career post MBA.

3. Describe a time in your career when you were frustrated or disappointed. What did you learn from that experience? (500 words)

You need to come across as a ‘real person’ – one who gets disappointed when results are not as per expectations and yet has the maturity and resilience to handle such disappointment and bounce back. Describe the situation briefly – what went wrong and why you think you did not get desired results. Was it your responsibility alone or were there others involved too such as a team? In that case what did you feel? Finally, what did you learn about how to deal with such frustration at a personal level?

4. Option1:What are you most passionate about and why? (300 words)

As in essay 1, help the reader know you as a ‘person’ with varied likes and interests – so dont make it drab by restating your professional interests. Your passion could be a hobby such as a sport or even a cause or value you champion. However, try not to sound like Ms. Universe if you are talking about a social cause. Remember to answer ‘why’ you are passionate – this could be certain experiences which have made you feel very strongly about the issue/activity or simply the positive things you feel/experience which make you want to pursue this passion.

4. Option2:We expect that Ross MBAs will not only be effective leaders, but also effective teachers. How will you contribute to the learning experience of your peers at Ross? (300 words)

Have you had interesting experiences from which you can share your learnings and insights -these could be professional assignments or extra-curricular involvements. What did you learn and how can this learning benefit others -e.g. from leading a sports team what have you learnt about leadership which you can apply and share with your peers. An important pointer – don’t overdo the ‘teach about my culture’ bit in this answer or try to fit in too many learnings.

If you require any help with your Ross 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 Michigan Ross, resume editing and critique on recommendation letters (if available). You can buy the package of your interest at Ross MBA application packages.
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Jul 08, 2010 0

Stanford Essays Analysis 2010-2011

Categories:  MBA Essay Writing Tips 2010-2011
Tags: ,
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.

Stanford essay questions 2010-2011

1. What matters most to you, and why? (750 words)

There are two important parts -’what matters’ and ‘why’. Both these must be well connected, logically and through the examples you give, so choose the answer to ‘what matters’ carefully. Also, be genuine, and do not try to appear lofty. You could talk about a value/principle that you strongly believe in e.g. integrity at the workplace or a goal that you are deeply committed to e.g. social entrepreneurship. Trace the genesis of why and how this particular value/goal became important to you. With examples, show how you practice this value/ are working towards the goal.

2. What are your career aspirations? What do you need to learn at Stanford to achieve them? (450 words)

Stanford GSB offers a degree in general management with the option of tailoring your courses to meet your specific needs including course planning mentoring by faculty. – Therefore be sure not to say that “I intend to specialize in Finance etc’. That said, what direction do you wish to give your career post the Stanford MBA – e.g. do you wish to work in the healthcare or consumer products industry? What is your current skill set and to achieve your career goal, what specific additional skills/competencies that you want to add at Stanford? In what way does Stanford offer you a unique advantage in doing this, e.g. the right mix of courses (for which you should give examples), access to certain companies/industries (again, give examples), a practicum on leadership/entrepreneurship etc

3) Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations. (300 words)

As this and the next three essays are short ones, be precise and specific.

Start by stating the purpose for which your team was formed and what the expected deliverables from the team were. Compare the actual results achieved against these to show how your team excelled. What was your role vis-a-vis the team- were you the designated leader or maybe you took on an informal leadership role? What steps did you take to motivate the team and what was your personal interest in doing so? Did you come across roadblocks and as a leader how did you help your team to surmount these? You can end by briefly mentioning what this leadership experience taught you.

3) Option B: Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization. (300 words)

The key word here is ‘lasting’. This is not just about meeting your routine work goals but rather being responsible for significantly affecting the organization. Maybe you suggested an innovative work practice which had far reaching impact, or due to your efforts, your company secured a major client. You could organize the essay to first briefly explain your accomplishment/initiative and how it has made a lasting impact. Thereafter, elaborate your role in this, highlighting the special efforts you might have put in or your unique talents/ideas which made this possible.

3) Option C: Tell us about a time when you generated support from others for an idea or initiative. (300 words)

Are you a persuasive leader and how do you respond in the face of opposition to your ideas? Try to bring out these elements in this essay. What was your initiative and in what form did you need the support of others to achieve your result? What might have happened if you did not succeed in getting their support? If you met with resistance to your initiative, how did you go about overcoming this? You could round off by summarizing upon the measures you took to reach out to the group and what the whole experience taught you.

3) Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected. (300 words)

First of all, why did you make the extra effort to go beyond the expected? In what way was the outcome particularly meaningful to you which made you strive to better yourself? Give a comparison of what was the expected outcome and to what extent you exceeded meeting this outcome. In doing so, what skills/abilities did you use and what personal qualities such as perseverance, risk-taking etc helped you go beyond? Finally, did you set a new standard through your efforts – you could mention this.

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

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