Describe your short-term and long-term career goals. What is your motivation for pursuing an MBA now and how will UCLA Anderson help you to achieve your goals? (750 Words) UCLA-2011-2012

I am a senior consultant at XXX Financial Services, and my short term goal is to join a reputed Technology and Strategic solution organization as an IT Strategy Consultant.

Beginning your essay like this is like telling the whole story in the first sentence itself. This is not only boring, but it also diminishes the Admissions Committee's interest in your essay and makes them wonder "So what?"

So your objective should be to build a story around your goals, keeping the Admissions Committee engaged and making them learn about you as a person with definitive goals and aspirations.

Please look at the example below.

At age 15, when most of my friends were busy playing cricket or video games, I was having fun creating small pieces of software on computers borrowed from my friends in exchange of doing their homework. By the time I graduated from high school, I was already an expert in not only popular programming languages such as C or Java, but also in obscure and specialized ones such as FORTRAN.

The candidate begins with an engaging opening statement. By telling an interesting story of his passion for technology dating back his teenage years, he immediately draws the readers' attention, thus making them want to read more.

While in the university, I decided to pursue a career in software technology. So right after graduation, I accepted the position of an associate consultant at XXX, and for the next eight months, worked both as software developer and tester and thoroughly learned the technical and functional aspects of the credit card industry.

The candidate moves on with his story and tells us that he pursued his education in software technology at the university and then began his career as an Associate Consultant at XXX Company.

However, I soon realized that, in addition to mastering the technology, I also needed to learn another important facet of the industry. managing the technology. Therefore, in May 2006, I built a team of 6 associates to support the Monthly Marketing Campaign of HSBC Card Services, North America - a flagship service of XXX. Next five years, I immersed myself to expand our supports to different functional areas such as Retail Services, Loyalty Programs, Near-Prime portfolios, as well as to other geographical regions, namely, HSBC Chile.

Then, through his thought process, he goes on to explain that he realized the importance of managing the technology and began working towards that for the next five years. This detail keeps the readers' interest alive that are now curious to learn more about this candidate who consistently aims to raise the bar.

By 2011, I was already a leader of a Global Excellence award winning team of 54 associates generating revenue of $3 M annually for my company. Thus, my passion for technology and my experience in corporate leadership has defined my goal. to build my own technology & strategy firm.

Continuing his story, this candidate explains how his passion and his experience have led him to define his goal of building his own technology and strategy firm. This shows how articulate he is about his future plans/ long term goals.

With seven years of experiences now, I have already gained expertise in technology consultancy and leadership. However, I feel that so far my professional accomplishments are limited to the setup of an established organization. Now I need to understand the industry from the viewpoint of an independent entrepreneur, raising necessary capital, handling competitive threats, allocating resources, and making decisions. An MBA will provide me these skills through experiential leanings, case studies, and coordinated projects with peers and interactions with students from diverse professional backgrounds.

After having explained his skill-set, his expertise and his goals, the candidate now explains the gaps in his career that he needs to fill by doing an MBA.

After MBA, I wish to join a reputed Technology and Strategic solution organization, such as Accenture or IBM, as an IT Strategy Consultant. My time analyzing and implementing IT strategies for clients will provide me the opportunity to understand a range of strategic business issues and their resolutions, as well as substantial insight into the art of business development. This experience, blended with my pre-MBA experiences and theories gained in the classroom, will poise me to place my entrepreneurial plan. Initially, I want to provide IT consultancy services to SMEs in North American regions and then gradually spread out to the Asia-Pacific regions. Later, I envision to leverage my experience in providing IT consultancy services to the world's second-largest bank and expand my company's consultancy services to large financial corporations, especially in the credit card and retail banking sectors in North America.

Then he shares his post-MBA goals of joining a reputed Technology and Strategic solution organization and also specifies how his present skills and the skills he plans to acquire during his two years at MBA will help him realize his short term goals. Then he proceeds to explain his plan of gradually moving towards his long term goals. Thus, he presents himself as a candidate who is not only ambitious and realistic about his goals but also has a clearly laid out vision of fulfilling them.

To achieve my long-term career goals, I need the theoretical knowledge and practical exposure to all aspects of business disciplines, such as accountancy, marketing, operations, and most importantly, entrepreneurship. that will complement my experiences in building and leading a big and successful team.

He again makes a connection between his long term goals and MBA.

UCLA Anderson MBA program stands out for me because of its strong focus on strategy, information technology, and entrepreneurship. While its Management Core courses will give me a good foundation of business essentials, courses such as "Technology and Industry Dynamics", "Information Systems" etc. are designed to cater my needs. Particularly Professor Uday Karmakar's "Technology Management" and "Global Operations Strategy" courses will teach me the key frameworks to structure my approach in evaluating and adopting new technologies and developing competitive strategies. Similarly, courses such as "Managing Entrepreneurial Operations" or "Entrepreneurship and Venture Initiation" directly talk to my long-term professional objectives. Applied Management Research project will enable me to implement class-room lessons into practice while designing the strategic project for my dream company.

After having clearly explained a link between his aspirations and MBA, he now dwells at length how UCLA's specific academic offerings (courses, projects) would match his interests and goals.

Also, I appreciate the rich array of resources offered via BIT Global Research Network and Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, and am particularly excited to attend the BIT conference and Entrepreneurship Conference that will give me a valuable opportunity to understand the real-life business issues directly from the leaders themselves. Beyond Anderson's broad academic offerings, Management Consulting Association, Strategic and Management Operations Association and High Tech Business Association will help me strengthen my network and align me with the professionals with similar career interests.

He goes on to mention how various associations at UCLA will provide him networking opportunities.

Thus with its academic resources, emphasis on team-work and practical approach to learning, UCLA Anderson will provide me the critical tools and network that I need to realize my career aspirations. I am confident that with my academic potential, team-working abilities, innovative spirit, and leadership skills, I will add significant value to UCLA community.

In the end, he sums up that he and UCLA are perfect fits for one another.

A Goals Essay connects past, present and future i.e. your past work- experience (past), your goals, (future), and the need of an MBA from a particular school to achieve your goals (present).

The example above effectively demonstrates this connection between the applicant's passion, past experience, his present skills set, his future objectives, and his need of an MBA from UCLA. All the parts of his story fit perfectly together leaving no question unanswered. There is a logical link between his short term and long term goals as well. Summing up, through specific examples and details, this essay answers the essay prompt in the most engaging manner that successfully convinces the Ad Com of the applicant's candidacy.

Explain how your past accomplishments have prepared you for the W.P. Carey MBA. (Two pages 1.5 spacing)

When I worked as Financial Analyst in the FP&A group at Allied Waste Industries, the news of its merger with the Florida-based company, Republic Services Inc. came out. I faced this challenge by volunteering for training Upper Management on a process to identify significant income statement variances and address them as needed before quarterly financial earnings are released.

The writer starts off with a statement of a challenging situation and the challenge she undertook without providing any details/ story about the situation she was in. Thus, she makes her beginning boring by telling most of her story in the first two sentences without setting the appropriate context.

I was the newest Analyst in the Financial Planning group at Allied Waste Industries, the second-largest waste management company in the world when its merger announcement with Republic Services Inc. came out.

The applicant grabs the reader's attention by beginning to narrate her story of a turning point in her career when the company she worked for was ready for merger with another company.

The news of the merger not only came with new, exciting opportunities within the two companies, but also with immense challenges and responsibilities.

The applicant continues with her story and discusses the new possibilities and challenges this transition led to.

It was at this time of chaos that I, a 24-year old young analyst, volunteered myself to train 400 Upper Management Controllers managing $8B+ revenue across the country to identify anomalies in income statement and to address them before the release of quarterly earnings.

The applicant hasn't yet explained her past accomplishments explicitly, but her story so far has unfolded her leadership potential to accept challenges in difficult situations and her incredible confidence in volunteering to train people who are twice her age.

I said to myself, 'This shouldn't be very hard; all I need to do is build a model in excel, build a macro to populate model based on the area selected, throw in some conditional formatting, and ask Controllers to address the variances.'

This sentence speaks volumes of her ability to maintain her calm in challenging circumstances, to plan ahead, to prepare a strategy, and to collaborate effectively with her team.

Of course, I did not realize that the Controllers I was going to train came from a mix of two very different companies and followed different accounting techniques. Also, these were folks that I had never met. It took a little while for the feeling to sink in, as this was my chance to make a place in the Financial Planning and Analysis group. So it was very important that I succeeded.

This reveals that the applicant is well aware of the challenges ahead of her; she also knows that it is an excellent opportunity for her growth.

There was a lot at stake. I knew it fairly well that my failure to accomplish this project will not only put my credibility and growth at stake, but will also adversely impact two people's reputations - my immediate boss, the senior manager of the company and the senior director of finance who had supported me in this venture. Another negative impact would be that it would add days of work to our group. Nevertheless, I resolved to accept the challenge and started pounding my way through.

She further tells us about the negative consequences in case she had failed in this venture. She still resolves to take a plunge and give it her best shot.

I started off by studying the financial statements of the two companies, carefully listing the differences in handling accounting of different types of expenses.

She begins to narrate how she took a step-by-step approach to execute this plan.

The first task was to understand and then reach a consensus on differences between the accounting practices of two companies. In order to accomplish this, I insisted on scheduling scheduled a meeting with the Chief Accounting Officers of both companies wherein we agreed upon the differences and decided on one way of going forward.

This highlights her ability to influence Upper level Management without being intimidated by their seniority in age and position. This also reveals that she is a team-oriented professional.

This paved way for me to do what I love the most about being a Financial Analyst, that is, 'building models'.

This demonstrates her enthusiasm and passion for her job.

I braced myself to build a dynamic model, my very first dynamic model in my second year with the company. My goal was to build a user-friendly, time-saving model for Variance Analysis process to report accurate data, to validate the numbers at different levels, to explain drivers for major account variances, and to strategize and plan better for future growth. Indeed, it was a tremendous challenge for a newcomer like me, so I decided to put in extra hours at work and learned advanced skills at Excel to be able to accomplish the goal I had set for myself.

Her accomplishment of building the model reveals her diligence, her foresightedness, and her willingness to take extra steps to achieve her goal in order to succeed professionally.

Now that the model was ready to be rolled out to the Controllers, my next and the most difficult challenge was to train the Controllers on the significance of this process and the ease of using the model. Just thinking about 24-year old Analyst training professionals with 20+ years of experience gave me goose bumps. I reminded myself of this being the opportunity to really grow and make my place in Finance, so I scheduled training sessions for all the Region and Area Controllers. Despite all the challenges I faced, I felt pretty confident at the end of the three training sessions.

This part of her story again highlights her clear minded, die-hard approach to her job at hand, her leadership qualities, her perseverance and her willingness and drive to keep growing in her job. What makes her more commendable is that she doesn't let her young age diminish her confidence when working with senior and more experienced co-workers.

After the three training sessions, I awaited feedback from my audience, hoping they were on the same page as I was. A few days later, my boss took me out for lunch and informed me about an extremely positive feedback she had received about me from the Management team after the trainings. She further stated that they found the excel model very easy to use and preferred reviewing their financials at the multiple levels using this model over running traditional reports from the AS400 system. My model resulted in savings of $1.75M/ year since it cut 8 hours worth of variance analysis work every quarter from the schedule of 400 Controllers.

As she nears the end of her story, she begins to see the results of her work i.e. her boss gives her an incredibly positive feedback about the training.

In addition, the success of this project opened doors for several other projects that gave me greater visibility to the Executive team. My models were used in corporate level presentations. It has been over two years now, and I have excelled in everything that has come my way, but at the same time, I believe, I am also at the point where I need to jump to the next level of my career. I strongly believe, getting an MBA will help me enhance my knowledge and experience, and facilitate the process of getting to that level.

Her story concludes with her final accomplishments. Her success at this project won her another dynamic project with the Field Management and her models were used in presentations and quarterly reviews.

Summing up, when approaching an essay question, make sure your beginning is interesting and engaging. There are several ways of making an effective beginning - a quote, an interesting description, an anecdote, a question, a startling statement, or statistics. You may use any method that works for you. In the example above, the applicant begins with the story of a turning point in her career.

Secondly, make your story engaging by unfolding it gradually in order to make the Admissions Committee keep reading your essay until the end. For example, in this essay about past accomplishments, the applicant has not made an explicit statement of her accomplishments even once; instead, she has narrated her story that gradually unfolds all of her significant accomplishments.

Lastly, pay attention to the structure of your essay. Make sure your writing flows smoothly and one idea leads to another. Always use transition words and phrases to connect your ideas.

Tell us about three setbacks you have faced. (600 words) Harvard 2011-2012.

I have received three major setbacks in my life so far - one of them occurred in my professional life and the remaining two in my personal life. However, all three of them helped me grow as a person.

The first setback that I faced in my life was when I broke my knee cartilage at the age of fourteen.

The writer starts off with a statement of three setbacks in his life stating that two of them were personal and one was professional. It is like telling the climax of the story in the first two sentences without providing the details of the story. Thus, he ends up killing the readers' interest who may not even feel inclined to read the rest of the essay.

Right after taking off from the ground, I crashed into the sand-pit and heard the sound "CRACK" in my left knee. Writhing in pain and looking at my swollen knee, I understood that, for one week, I had to hobble. I was 14 then.

The applicant attracts the reader's attention by providing vivid description of his boyhood story of a nasty fall. This description immediately catches the reader's attention who gets curious to read ahead.

I was taken to a hospital, where an MRI revealed that I was suffering from Discoid meniscus- a rare congenital abnormality of the knee-cartilage. I was already a promising state-level long-jumper, getting ready to represent my school at the national level school-meet. The most shattering news was I would not be able to play any outdoor game. And that put an end to all my athletic pursuit.

The writer goes on to narrate the following medical investigations that revealed an abnormality of knee knee-cartilage incapacitating him from participating in any sports activities that he was preparing himself for.

Twelve years later, I reluctantly joined the project volleyball team, as a replacement of an injured player. Though we crashed out in the first round, the experience reignited the passion for sports in me. Filled with a desire to resume sports, I joined a gym and resumed physiotherapies for my knees. Next year, I coached the team and pulled our first-round-exit team to the quarter-final. Thus, turning a first-round-exit team to a strong contender for the trophy, and making a comeback to the sports makes me feel great about my personal courage.

Just when the reader feels that this is an end of the applicant's athletic pursuits, the writer bounces back with his determination to fight back his physical handicap twelve years after the diagnosis of his ailment. Not allowing his handicap to destroy his spirit, he grabbed the opportunity of replacing an injured player and decided to venture into sports again. He strengthened his knee by physical therapy, played for his team, and succeeded in taking it to the first round. Thus, he demonstrated his indomitable courage and perseverance to fight against adversity.

A couple of years after the first accident, I met with another accident that put a question mark on my career altogether. While climbing a tree to fetch a ball trapped between two branches, I slipped and landed on my right shoulder; I ended up snapping my radius bone into two pieces and dislocating my collarbone. At that time, I was preparing for JEE, the competitive university entrance examination. After going through intensely painful physiotherapies, hot wax treatments and acupuncture for three months, I recuperated completely, but could not save my JEE results. With a distant 3330 rank, I had to opt for Architecture Engineering at an Engineering College not exactly known for its academic merit.

Without announcing that his second setback story is going to be from his professional life, he smoothly transitions into narrating another accident that put a dent in his professional career.

Though I began attending Architecture classes, I had to make a choice . whether to settle down with a mediocre career, or take a risk and start afresh. After much deliberation, I decided to take a chance and write JEE once more. I dropped out of college and prepared rigorously for nine months. Fortunately, the risk I took by losing one academic year paid me off and in xxx, I cleared JEE with a rank of 174 among more than 50K aspirants, securing a long desired place in Electrical Engineering course at the prestigious IIT.

Then he goes on to explain that he decided to drop out of college, took JEE test again, passed with flying colors, and succeeded in getting accepted by his dream school. This explains how he grew from this setback to become a stronger person.

In my professional career my most frustrating experience was in 2008, after I volunteered for a leadership role in my company. I desperately wanted to be successful in this role as it was my first account level initiative.

However, within two weeks of taking this responsibility, I realized the challenges ahead. Most of the teams were reluctant to work separately on productivity improvement, in addition to their regular client-deliverables. At times, they were not even ready to share data on their productivity. My predecessor warned me of this and advised me to escalate to the management. Assuming that an escalation would be injustice to the already over-occupied teams, I ignored her advice. Instead, I conducted multiple meeting and seminars to inspire them. Unfortunately, nothing produced the intended result. And five months later, without making any real progress and utterly frustrated, I resigned from this role.

In the end, this candidate discusses a story of his professional failure when he was not able to meet the deliverables and was forced to resign from his leadership role.

This experience, a huge blow to my self-confidence, taught me two great lessons: being assertive when required and allocating responsibilities to all. Therefore, in 2010, as Quality Improvement Coordinator, when I faced a similar situation, I did not hesitate to escalate it, and this time overall result was much positive. Thus, the single setback that I faced in my professional life taught me valuable team-working skills that I am now practicing successfully.

The last paragraph aptly summarizes the impact of this setback on him, the lessons he learned, and his resulting growth as a professional.

To sum up, make sure that your opening sentence is compelling enough to draw the readers in to make them continue reading. There are several ways of making an effective beginning - a quote, an interesting description, an anecdote, a question, a startling statement, or statistics. You may use any method that works for you. In the example above, the applicant begins with a vivid description of his accident.

Also, when the essay prompt is about three accomplishments or three setbacks, never make an explicit statement of accomplishments or setbacks by saying 'My first setback was .. or 'My second setback was....' Instead, unfold your story gradually and let it be your voice that tells the Ad com how this setback impacted you, how you dealt with it, and how finally you emerged a better and stronger person.

Moreover, when choosing your experiences, make sure you choose to discuss experiences from all aspects of your life - work-life and non-work life both. Lastly, do not forget to focus on the lessons you learned from that experience.

The Business School is named for Roberto C. Goizueta, former Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, who led the organization for 16 years, extending its global reach, quadrupling consumption, building brand responsibility, and creating unprecedented shareholder wealth. It is his legacy and the strength of his character that gives rise to our vision: Principled Leaders for Global Enterprise. We encourage you to watch this short video for inspiration in answering the question. The transcript of the video can be found here.

How will you contribute to and make a lasting impact on the Goizueta Business School community as a student or alumnus? Please limit your response to 300 words. (Emory 2013-14)

I want to fight this modern day social evil and work for greater empowerment of women by getting involved in “Goizueta Women in Business club”.

If you start your essay in this manner, you are making two mistakes. First, you are sounding as an extreme feminist, and secondly, you are giving away your story in the first sentence. The Admissions Committee will have nothing new to look forward to.
The objective should be to first lay a solid platform describing your unique ideas to contribute to the community and then giving finer details about exactly how you intend to implement these ideas. This will help to keep the Admissions Committee engaged throughout the essay and will also help them discover the true leader in you.

Please look at the example below.

With my parents’ encouragement and support, I grew up to be an independent, ambitious and courageous girl. At Goizueta, I wish to lead Goizueta Women in Business club and motivate them to empower themselves with self-confidence, knowledge and versatility so that more graduate women can march towards the goal of igniting and sustaining women's participation in the global economy as entrepreneurs.

The author starts off with describing her ambition to lead the “Goizueta Women in Business club”. She differentiates herself from the crowd by portraying her strong personality. Next, she portrays how she wants to facilitate women’s emancipation and economic freedom. This acts as a great foundation for the rest of the essay.

I would share my accomplishments in a typical male dominated society. Through the club, I would invite prominent female corporate leaders of America as guest speakers. I want to instill this value deep in our hearts so it extends beyond the classroom into our lives. Later, when I will establish my own business venture in India, I plan to hire educated women of India who are struggling to find a job.

Next, she describes her intention of inviting prominent female corporate leaders of America as guest speakers. Further, she presents the challenges she faces as an independent modern woman and the steps she wishes to take to empower women. She also shows that she is committed to improving the lives of under-privileged women in developing economies.

As detailed in my third essay, I want to spread breast cancer awareness. I would like to organize workshops and an annual fundraising half-marathon event in tie up with a few dedicated NGO’s. I would like to dedicate this event to the local Atlanta community and will continue to participate, donate and fund-raise for this event as an alumnus. Thus I will fulfill a responsibility towards women empowerment that all business leaders have towards the community.

Next, she addresses how she wishes to give back to the local community by organizing various activities such as workshops on breast cancer awareness and annual fundraising half marathon, both as a student and later as an alumnus. She shows her hands-on approach as a leader and reiterates her commitment to empowering women in the long run.

I have worked in USA for five years in cohort with Americans, Chinese, Mexican and Germans . With my global perspective and cultural sensitivity, I will share these experiences with my fellow mates through projects and International Business. I want to positively influence and represent the Goizueta community both as a student and an alumnus by serving through the local Alumni Chapter, and by promoting a vibrant Goizueta business school identity through alumni-sponsored activities. I will live up to the motto “Principled Leaders for Global Enterprise”.

To conclude, she focuses on her ability to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment and thereby to contribute to the growth of Emory. She also shows her determination to promote Goizueta school identity by participating actively in alumni activities.

In order to answer this essay question aptly, first listen to the video about Mr. Goizueta to grasp his leader qualities. Next, try to establish a link between yours and Mr. Goizueta’s leadership, providing examples of your leadership stories. Moving on, explain how you will contribute to Emory period
This essay question expects you to do the following:

• understand the value/philosophy of Emory
• explain how the school’s values and your values are aligned
• Propose new ideas/plans to demonstrate how you intend to contribute by taking forward the values of the school.

The example above effectively accomplishes this by portraying the background of the candidate, her ambitions, leadership style and her innovative ideas. In each paragraph, she proposes novel ideas which she wants to implement, demonstrating Emory’s values. Thus, this candidate succeeds in convincing the Admissions Committee that she is the best fit for the school.

Please tell us about yourself and your background. The goal of this essay is to get a sense of who you are, rather than what you have achieved professionally. You may include information about your family, where you grew up, your interests, or any other people or experiences that have influenced you. (1000 word maximum)
Berkeley Haas-2012-13

I was born to a refugee couple from Bangladesh, who settled in India, after the 1971 Indo-Pak war, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. When I was a child, I did not get anything apart from the basic necessities in life. We used to live in one of the several refugee camps set up in Kolkata, and I endured a lot of hardships as a child. But, I fought the odds, graduated with a top degree and scripted a fine career so far.

The writer makes two key errors by beginning the essay like this. First, he is giving away his entire life story in a gist to the Ad com, and they have nothing new to look forward to later in the essay. Second, he seems too intent to gaining sympathy from the Adcom by divulging the hardships he encountered in life.

Please look at the example below.

Raised in a middle class family, I, along with my sister, grew up on the principle---“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high” – a popular poem of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. My parents worked hard to make us confident, empathetic, hard-working individuals who not only stand at their own feet but also stand for others. I was born and raised in Kolkata, India, though my parents hail from Bangladesh (then Pakistan). Leaving everything behind, my father came to India during the Indo-Pak war before my birth, and joined a small financial company in Kolkata. From a secured job as one of the top Chemical Scientists in the Government to an uncertain job in a new country, my father never complained about his fate; he rather considered this as an opportunity to prove himself in the new job. I learned from my father that a positive attitude, coupled with hard work, determines the success in the long run.

The author starts off brilliantly with a famous quote from an Indian poet, elucidating the key attributes in his character. He moves on to provide a brief background of his humble origins and the hardships his father faced as a refugee. Next, he gives us an insight of what he has learned from his father’s travails.

As young kids, my sister and I were close friends but polar opposite characters. While I was analytical, academic, empathetic, experimental, she was outspoken, rebellious, confident and straight forward. Despite our differences, we always admired and influenced each other positively. I owe her for making me overcome my inhibitions and preparing me to face the life with a confident face.

Next, the author speaks about his close personal relationship with his sister and his own character in detail. He shares with the readers the shortcomings in his character and how his sister helped him overcome these shortcomings. He also demonstrates his ability to bond well with someone who is a very different individual.

I was sent to the regular elementary school. Apart from regular studies at school, my father also inculcated in me an interest to love numbers and play around with them. Simple real life examples, like number of steps taken from home to school, multiplied by the length of each step, could give the distance of my school to home and started attracting me to numbers. The love for numbers significantly improved my test scores in Math and Science and secured me admission to the most prestigious High School in Kolkata with gifted students. It was almost a dream come true to sit beside the best minds of the City and compete with them. The teachers at this school were well- respected and well known authors. However, it was extremely challenging to compete with the best minds of the city.Coming from a low ranked school, I initially felt like a misfit in that environment and focused all my time and attention on excelling in academics My hard work and perseverance paid off , and I graduated at the top of my class. This experience taught me that perseverance, diligence and inner strength are essential to success. Thus, my high school education built up the most needed confidence in me.

Further, the author gives us more details about his early education, providing an interesting anecdote about how his father inculcated in him love for numbers in his growing up years. He also shows that he was diligent as a child, when he secured admission at a prestigious school. He tells us about his inhibitions in the new surroundings and the attributes he used to overcome his fears. Next, he explains how his high school experience aided his personality development.

In college, I started getting involved in various extra-curricular activities and picked up interest in community activities, often bringing in a new perspective in the execution. Some of the notable involvement included - setting up a volunteer team, assisting local police in safeguarding the community from theft and vandalism, organizing a technological fair in the university, and organizing a blood donation camp in the community with more than 100 donors, including myself.

He gives the reader a brief insight into his university life. He uses this opportunity to describe his interests outside academics. This adds a new dimension to his profile since his extra-curricular activities have both quality and diversity ranging from community development to organizing blood camps to organizing a technological fair.

After moving to the US, I found a way to get involved to uphold the rich Bengali Culture in this part of the world. I got involved in organizing NABC (North American Bengali Conference) involving Bengali speaking people residing in North America. The event was attended by 7000+ people, being spread over 4 days and had a budget exceeding 5 Million USD. I was heading the hospitality committee and was responsible for the arrangement of accommodation/ transportation of the guests. The festival created a unique opportunity to interact with all these people and identify why they come to participate in this program and how they wanted to uphold their native culture in this foreign land. I wanted to create a more vibrant platform for this cultural interchange, beyond once a year festival and shared my experience with my college friends back home in India .We decided to create a portal, a website which showcases Bengali products, and bring them to the Bengali diaspora of North America. The idea was greatly accepted by the community and through the website, we have been able to sell unique Bengali themed t-shirts to the community members. I learned that ideas do flourish when people interact.

In this paragraph, he seamlessly shifts focus from his life in India to his life in the US. He finds a way to keep in touch with his roots halfway across the globe. He actively participates in the organization of this massive event, demonstrating his ability to work effortlessly in a team. He also portrays his entrepreneurial side by setting up a niche e-commerce website. In the end, he does not forget to mention the key learning from this experience.

I had been taught that while work and formal education is important, it’s more important to grow as a person by learning from various events and activities that are happening around us. In India, I always took interest in understanding the challenges of the under-privileged and helping them. After moving to the USA, I pursued my interests through the social organization “South Kolkata Manasi”, I volunteered as a Climate Champion, with scientists in the forests of Maryland in 2010, to identify the impact of Green House gases on the Climate Change. It was fun collecting data in the forest along the fear of ticks/insects and assessing the real impact of increased greenhouse gases on Earths Flora and Fauna. During the same time, I got a chance to fulfill my wish of teaching the young kids in school, through volunteer participation in Junior Achievement wherein I have been teaching elementary students basics of business for the last five years.

Next, he discusses his interest in volunteering events and activities and his continued contribution to community development. He is thrilled to find a plethora of new found interests, from working with NGO’s on societal reforms in India, to fighting for climate change in the US.

I look forward to bring in my values of positive attitude, hard work, enthusiasm, differential thinking and willingness to learn in the class and make the class a forum of active ideas exchange. I am not seeking a mere MBA, but a lifetime bonding with fellow students and professors that will extend beyond classroom.

He winds up with a flourish, explaining that he will not only contribute to the HAAS community as a student, but also as an alumnus period

In summary, the key to answering this question well is to ensure the following:

First, start off with something unique and interesting, which will pique the Adcom’s interest in your background. In this case the author uses a quote from Rabindra Nath Tagore to impress upon his ideals to the Ad com. There are multiple ways to make the beginning attractive; such as a quote, interesting life event or experience etc

Second, you will need to describe various life events/experiences that have shaped your personal development as well as your social contributions. The most important aspect will be to highlight your learnings from this experience.

Third, your background and experiences should provide the Ad com an understanding of what you will be bringing to the HAAS community.

Describe an instance where you encountered resistance in a professional team setting. How did you address the situation? (300 to 500 words) Kellogg-2013-14

The biggest challenge I faced in a professional team setting was when I was working for a project at XXX (name of the company). I not only faced resistance from the client, but also my own team members. At the end, it took commitment and perseverance for me to get the work done.

The writer makes two mistakes by starting off in this manner. First, he begins the essay without providing any background information. He needs to make his beginning more engaging in order to build the reader’s interest in his story. Second, he communicates the end of the story in the second sentence itself and thus fails to keep the reader interested in the challenges he faced.

Please look at the example below.

"Don't try to re-invent the wheel." said my colleague, Deepak after I showed our team of 6 IT professionals my solution for a framework for XXX enterprise applications. The solution was a re-engineered process to build a framework for the foundation services for the XXX enterprise applications (name of the company) that is the heart of our client’s $30 Billion multi-industry business. I had developed a similar solution to several other major clients before, so I was confident that my solution was efficient and versatile enough to handle the upcoming product upgrades. I, therefore, expected no resistance from the team. Deepak was wary about the changes to the framework as it is utilized by many client applications, whereas I knew that the existing framework will not support the future product upgrades and is bound to fail.

The author starts off with a dialogue explaining to the reader the challenge he encountered from his team during a project. He also shares with us the gravity of the situation, saying the change could paralyze the entire business. Then he goes on to provide further details of his story explaining how he proposed a particular solution and introduced a counter argument provided by his colleague.

The next day, I approached my client manager and told him how confident I was about my solution and explained to him the benefits of adopting it. But he said that he and the team were not confident about my solution. He also told me that since I was dealing with a system that was an important part of XXX IT infrastructure, it required more than just a presentation to convince the team.

Next, he narrates that he reached out to his client manager to demonstrate how his solution was the most apt for this situation. He also explains how he encountered resistance when he tried to convince him (the client manager), who was not interested in his proposal and discouraged him saying that a presentation was not enough to convince the team.

Disappointed, but confident, I decided to prove my results by gathering the supporting data and demonstrating the team with sample prototypes. Over the next one month, I worked on building application prototypes, developed a presentation to demonstrate the benefits of using my framework, and collected few case-studies to support my theory.

In this paragraph, the author explains how he approached the problem. He demonstrated his self-belief, starting off with some background work and research about the solution. Also, he developed a prototype to support his claims.

A month after the last meeting, I approached my client manager and proposed him my plan. I also showed him few case-studies and explained to him how the new solution could help the client cut down 20% of maintenance cost that is spent on supporting the applications. Then I addressed some of his concerns related to security and code migration. Impressed with my analysis, the client manager agreed for the presentation.

Next, the author says that he did not give up and organized another meeting with the client manager. He demonstrated the benefits of implementing the solution and also addressed the apprehensions of the client manager. Finally, he succeeded in persuading the manager, who authorized him to present the proposal to the team.

A couple of days later, I presented the solution to the team with a complete analysis on the benefits of the solution. I also demonstrated the prototype that I developed using my solution. After multiple rounds of presentations and discussions, the team was convinced that my solution offered greater benefits, so they agreed to adopt it. We later presented this solution to the IT directors from other XXX divisions and showed them the benefits the solution offered to their enterprise IT applications. Six months later, this framework was established as a standard for enterprise IT applications across all divisions.

Then the writer goes on to discuss his next course of action after he got permission to present his proposal. In his proposal to the team, he unfolded the advantages of implementing the solution. He not only demonstrates his perseverance by conducting multiple rounds of presentations, but also showcases his prototype, assuring the team of the success of the solution. Finally, he shares with us the outcome of his persistent efforts by stating that the solution was successfully implemented across all business verticals.

Personally, overcoming this challenge is significant to me in terms of my confidence. Challenging the client team at a client location and winning my proposal made me more confident in speaking my mind about the project issues at work. Since then, I have never hesitated in expressing my opinion, and it has helped me provide many valuable contributions to the projects.

The author concludes by stating his key takeaways from this experience. He gained a lot of confidence by proving his mettle. He also learned to speak his mind, which has enabled him to contribute effectively in future projects.

In summary, the key to answering this question well is to make sure that the story contains all the four components: situation/ challenge, action, outcome, and significance.

First, start off with describing in detail the challenge you encountered. You should also mention the circumstances (hostile/high pressure etc.) and the scale and impact of the situation. Next, introduce the proposed solution and provide an argument to substantiate your claims.

Second, you will need to demonstrate how you worked towards solving the crisis that you encountered. By explaining how you navigated through the situation, what actions you took, and how you processed your thoughts, you will be exhibiting your leadership and team working skills, your decision making ability, perseverance, initiative, and confidence. Third, you need to indicate the final outcome of the situation.

Finally, list the key takeaways from this experience and show how this experience has helped you evolve into a better individual.

Is there any other information you would like to share that is not presented elsewhere in the application? (300 word limit)

I had to resign from my job to take care of my parents after a family tragedy. I was at that time in North Carolina working for TCS, BOA and my parents were in India. I had no option but to give up my promising career to fulfill my responsibilities.

The applicant begins her essay with the information about her resignation from a job assignment in the US due to a family tragedy ,but she doesn't provide any details about the tragedy. This fails to create an impression on the Admissions Committee. Also, her verbiage reflects her regret about her decision. This results in self-pity, which is obviously not what the Admissions Committee is looking for in MBA aspirants.

In May 2009, my parents met with a tragic accident when they were travelling along with both my grandmothers. I lost both my grandmothers in the accident, and my parents were also admitted to the hospital in a very critical stage.

Note how the applicant uses this essay question to share a personal story that marked a turning point in her career.

At that time, I was in North Carolina working for Tata Consultancy Services, Bank of America, and my parents were in India. I was the only person who could take care of them. So I requested my employers for a leave of six months so I could help my parents recover. Unfortunately, my employers were unable to grant the leave because of the economy and client pressure.

Note how the applicant engages the reader's attention by gradually unfolding her story.

I was in a quandary, as I was also up for a promotion to the Assistant Project Manager's role. One voice in me said, 'You can't denounce everything when bright career opportunities await you.' Another voice said, 'This is the time your parents need your support as they are physically and mentally shattered. Will you be able to forgive yourself if you choose your career to parents?' So I had to choose between my responsibilities at work and my obligations as a daughter.

The applicant's story of a family tragedy and the resulting dilemma holds the reader's interest who is now curious to know about her decision at this critical juncture in life.

Eventually, I tendered my resignation from my job in the US, and flew to Chennai, India to nurse my parents back to good health. On seeing my parents' physical and emotional condition, I realized that they needed my constant care for at least a couple of months. Therefore, I decided to stop applying for jobs for an year and stayed home.

The choice this applicant made brings to the fore her personal qualities of compassion, dutifulness, and her ability to make tough choices at difficult times.

When I noticed a marked improvement in my parents' condition, I started utilizing my spare time at home in building my business as distributor. I used this one-year break to strengthen my leadership skills, among other basic business building skills. In Jan 2011, I started working part-time with a US based aptitude training institute, and I plan to join Talent Sprint as an ITTA in Mar 2011.

Note how the applicant utilized this time of acute family crisis to build her varied skills while fulfilling her family obligations simultaneously. Her ability to turn her misfortune into an opportunity sets her apart from other candidates.

This whole experience helped in fortifying my emotional intelligence and also improved my thought process in thinking beyond what is obvious and in creating suitable alternatives with extremely limited resources.

The applicant's concluding sentence leaves a final impression on the Admissions Committee about her composed mental attitude in dealing with a personal crisis and her extraordinary ability to use that period in honing her professional skills.

When you are asked to provide additional information, take this as an opportunity to present a story/ anecdote of your life that brings out your best personal and/ or professional traits. For example, in the above essay, the applicant's story of her personal tragedy brings out her ability to maintain composure at times of crisis, her conscientiousness about her duties toward her parents, and above all, her extraordinary power of turning her misfortune into opportunities.

Growing up in a generation that is primarily known for its technological advancements, I was always amazed to see how technology gradually evolved; filling the gaps in all dimensions of human’s life. This curiosity and interest in technology ignited my pursuit of the bachelor’s degree in engineering, where I was exposed to various segments of engineering technology and management fundamentals. I enjoyed organizing National level technical symposiums, cultural fests and leading my university table tennis team at various inter-college sport meets.

Soon after graduation, I joined the ‘Enterprise Information Management – Healthcare’ business unit of Cognizant. Starting as a programmer analyst, I developed programs for complex claims processing and performed system analysis for large healthcare systems. Soon I transitioned to a business analyst’s role for the operations and data analytics team. Within a year, I led and managed business operations team of five to support 30 terabyte Teradata Healthcare Data Warehouse. Also, I led various operational initiatives, which reduced manual intervention and decreased the quality assurance effort by 73%.

My success with the business operations earned me the responsibility to handle business development for new emerging healthcare projects. Besides efficiently implementing various development projects, I spearheaded concept to implementation of various initiatives, which increased the revenue by 23% for our clients in one year. This also provided me a great opportunity to expand my horizons in healthcare IT and an avenue to think strategically about business problems.

My contribution led to my promotion to the next level as ‘Senior Business Analyst’ within a span of two years. This in turn amplified my passion and enthusiasm towards data management space; therefore, in order to complement my skills with project management techniques, I successfully pursued Certificate program in Project Management. This course equipped me with skills that I applied in real time projects and thus improved the efficiency of the existing process by 46%.

With more than five years of experience at data management space, I have developed interest in this ever evolving domain and have grown from being a programmer analyst to an advocate of this space through my role as a Senior Business Analyst. Also, I have received the prestigious ‘SCOPE’ award for two consecutive years for my special contribution to project excellence in the business unit.

Apart from professional engagement, my interest in green technology, which kicked off during college and motivated me to develop an eco-friendly e-bike as academic project, continued with Cognizant. I started as a volunteer and rose to be a core member of the ‘Go Green - Sustainability’ Council, which is committed to achieve measurable reductions in environmental impact. Also, I led a team of 30+ volunteers and spearheaded various impactful initiatives & community campaigns aimed at environmental awareness and Green IT. I was also awarded “Green Feather” award for my continued impactful contribution towards ‘Go Green’ program in 2011.

Having spent several years thriving in a competitive, customer-focused Healthcare data management space, performing short and long term strategic business activities, I have gained solid exposure to the technology consulting. However, I am well aware that this is an ever changing and challenging sector, and in order to grow, I would need to equip myself with key IT strategy and management skills. With my Masters in Information systems management from Heinz College, I will be able to bring my past to full potential and gain these skills for a maximum career impact.

Post MISM, I see myself as a Senior Healthcare IT Consultant in data management space of a top notch IT consulting firm such as Deloitte LLP or PwC, where I would not only manage the delivery of information management projects and lead business engagement for global clients, but also incorporate efficient and innovative solution practices. Since Deloitte LLP places great emphasis on green technology and sustainable development, this would help me to integrate my professional interest with my passion for green technology and sustainable development. Ten years down the lane, I plan to build on the success of this endeavor and ultimately see myself as a Principal/Vice President of a firm, actively building relationships within the firm and with global clients, providing thought leadership and leading organizational initiatives on sustainable development

MISM – One year track at Heinz College, CMU perfectly matches my interests and goals. The most appealing aspect of the program to me is the interdisciplinary approach, which gives me the flexibility to choose courses with my professional and personal interest. When talking with Rashi Arora, a 2012 alumnus and now a Senior Associate in PwC, I learned about the school’s rigorous academic environment and its emphasis on experimental learning which have shaped her view of the industry and her place in it. Beyond the valuable core courses, electives such as ‘Health economics’ and ‘Healthcare information systems’ would provide an extra boost to my current healthcare domain expertise. Also, courses such as ‘Negotiations’, ‘IT business leadership’ and ‘Global IT sourcing’ are uniquely tailored to my needs that would help me explore all dimensions of IT consulting and refine my leadership potential, thus equipping me with skills to handle my business clients efficiently. After gaining a solid foundation in management essentials through core courses, I will diversify my learning by opting for ‘Technology for Developing Communities’ and ‘Economics of Global Warming’ electives through which I could streamline my passion for sustainable development and explore areas of improvement in technology for a sustainable green future. Also, I am looking forward to avail the ample opportunities available for practical application of the theory in real time business problems through capstone project and student organizations such as Health IT and Net Impact club.

Overall, the MISM program would not only enhance my overall education experience but also provide me a vital avenue to equip myself with intersection of everything I wish to pursue. The program would aid me to materialize my career goals and aspirations. I strongly believe that with my analytical, leadership and team working skills, I would add significant value to Heinz community. With my domain expertise in data management space and passion for green technology, I will provide new perspective to the class and motivate them to participate in environmental community campaigns.

The meteoric adoption of social media, the introduction of tablets and smartphones as new channels to consume the media and the continued rise of online marketing spend in contrast to the decline of traditional television and radio spend has made life very difficult for marketers. The digital media industry is filled with companies trying to address these demands and in the process creating niche markets. My goal is to be an entrepreneur in the digital marketing technology space. Working for an advertising technology company, whose products are the conduits for 90% of all advertising spend in the industry; my current job provides the best platform for my future endeavors.

Upon graduation with a Masters in Computer Science, I started my career as a Research Programmer at the University of Illinois. Being part of a small team meant my responsibilities ranged from advising the professors on the next generation of instructional technology to architecting software solutions that will be used by 40,000+ students. The variety of work helped me become a well-rounded individual professionally and it did not take long for the IT director to notice my unique skill-set and tasked me with leading a multi-campus team in the implementation of a student portal.

The transition from working for a non-profit to a startup software company trying to build the next generation media buying system was very rewarding. It gave me the opportunity to help architect the digital buying system which played a vital role in transforming the company to a market leader in the space. The system currently handles more than 50% of all US online advertising spend. One of the major issues faced by the company was the lack of Technical personnel, who had a deep understanding of the products that were offered and who could act as liaison between the technical team and various business units. I knew I could fill in this void and I took it upon myself to learn the entire product suite that was offered. The move was opportunistic and it paid off; I was recently offered a Product Manager role.

As the product manager leading the company’s external integrations and API strategy, I need to evaluate potential partners based on not only their revenue potential but also their technology compatibility. Recently, I was given the responsibility of managing our relationship with all our Ad Serving partners. We already had several established partners and the process to onboard a new partner and manage their relationship was very well defined, so my job should have been very simple. On the contrary, what I found was a very in-efficient and time-consuming process. As my first action item, I went through all the communication that was happening between our development team and our partners. Thanks to my formal education in Computer Science and prior experience in database architecture I was able to quantify the issues in hand and make sense of the technical details.

Our development team was spending inordinate amount of time answering unnecessary questions and creating test data to help the partners with their testing. I found out that the Ad Serving partners did not have access to the documentation of our services and the documents they had access to, was not up to date, which led them to reach out to our development team. In addition, the partners did not have access to our testing API, which would enable them to create their own testing data instead of relying on our development team. To remedy the situation, I started with the help of our Marketing team to launch a defined go to market plan for our Ad Server API product and target all our Ad Serving partners. My proposal was to launch a developer website where partners can go to get all their technical questions answered and also equip them with creating their own test data. I faced a similar situation when working for the University of Illinois, back then we launched a support portal to reduce our technical support hours by more than 60%, so I knew this would work. I also did a cost analysis of all our prior partner integrations and proposed a technology fee to be charged for all future partner onboarding to cover the upfront costs.

It is evident from this one example, how my prior experience as a technologist has helped me in providing solutions and helped me perform my role current role as a product manager. My blend of product and technical skills together with the marketing, operations and management skills from a Kellogg MBA will help me land a senior product role in the digital marketing industry post MBA and ultimately will enable me to be an entrepreneur.

I am drawn to the practical group based learning professed by the Kellogg MBA program. There is no better way to learn than to learn by practice, as part of team. I look forward to solving real world problems in the industry with the help of fellow students from multiple disciplines. I am particularly attracted to the experiential learning opportunities provided by the Nuvention program. To learn that some of the projects started through the Nuvention program went on to become successful companies, some even in the digital technology space, further attests to the fact that Kellogg is the right place for me.

Multi-channel attribution, lack of consistent measurement and reporting standards and discrepancy resolution are some of the issues facing the digital marketing world, on which I plan to have discussions both in and outside the classroom with the students and professors. I am excited that I will be able to directly apply the findings from such discussions and provide solutions to the industry through my current role. I hope I have made clear why the Kellogg MBA program will enable me to achieve my career goals as well as how I will contribute to the betterment of the program, I see this as the start of a symbiotic relationship.

(993 words)

As a teenager, I was fascinated by personal computers, which could screen movies, engage me for hours in visually-striking games and find me answers to all my questions. I picked computer science as my major for my bachelor’s degree and was immediately drawn to the limitless practical applications that access to real-time data can provide. My curiosity led me to pursue my Masters in computer science at the University of Illinois, where I was researching solutions for improving the quality of service for distributed visualization systems which culminated in the publication of the research at international conferences.

Then I started my career as a Research Programmer at the University of Illinois. Being part of a small team meant my responsibilities ranged from advising the professors on the next generation of instructional technology to architecting software solutions used by 40,000+ students. It did not take long for the IT director to notice my communication, leadership and organizational skills and task me with leading a multi-campus team in the implementation of a student portal.

The transition from working for a non-profit to a startup software company trying to build the next generation media buying system gave me the opportunity to help architect the digital buying system which played a vital role in transforming the company to a market leader in the space. The system currently handles more than 50% of all US online advertising spend. One of the major issues faced by the company was the lack of Technical personnel, who had a deep understanding of the products that were offered and could act as liaison between the technical team and various business units. I knew I could fill in this void, so I volunteered to learn the entire product suite that was offered. The move paid off, and I was recently offered a Product Manager role. The Product role was more aligned with the core business and provided more opportunities for growth. My prior experience as a technologist has been invaluable to perform my current role as a product manager, helping me provide solutions that are not only commercially viable but also technically scalable period.

My short-term goal is to rise to a senior product role in the advertising technology industry, and in order to achieve that I need the marketing, operations and management skills that an MBA has to offer. In addition, working together with future leaders in a program like the Kellogg MBA program will help me identify my unique style of leadership. I believe the skills and the network that I will acquire through an MBA, along with my industry experience, will help me achieve my long-term goal to be an entrepreneur in the digital marketing technology space.

I am drawn to the practical group- based learning professed by the Kellogg MBA program. There is no better way to learn than to learn by practice as part of team. I look forward to solving real world problems in the industry with the help of fellow students from multiple disciplines. I look forward to participating in the plethora of networking opportunities provided and excited to gain new perspectives through events like “Marketing Conference” and “Essentials of Fundraising and Marketing”

I am particularly attracted to the experiential learning opportunities provided by the Nuvention program because some of the projects started through the Nuvention program went on to become successful companies, some even in the digital technology space. The building block course offered by the Levy entrepreneurial institute like “Product Management for Technology Companies: “An Entrepreneurial Perspective” would offer me insights to solve issues in hand and help me gain the skills needed to be a technology entrepreneur.

My conversations with my brother-in-law, a Kellogg part-time alumnus, have provided me clarity into what the program’s offerings. The information gathered from attending information sessions and participating in the online chat sessions organized by the part-time MBA program has substantiated the fact that pursing a part-time MBA is the best move to accelerate my career.

Multi-channel attribution, lack of consistent measurement and reporting standards and discrepancy resolution are some of the issues facing the digital marketing world, on which I plan to have discussions in and outside the classroom with students and professors. I am excited that I will be able to directly apply the findings from such discussions and provide solutions to the industry through my current role. Thus the Kellogg MBA program with its abundant resources will enable me to achieve my career goals and will be a perfect fit for me.

(750 words)