第一部分为115份真实的ESSAY,分别来自于17个不同背景的申请人

ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
Our approach will allow you to show that you know where you are going and that you therefore have a good chance of actually getting there. It will also show you to be sensible concerning what should be a matter of great concern to you—your career. Failure to demonstrate clear thinking about this will mark you as someone not ready for an MBA. You are likely to miss out on a great deal of the value of an MBA if you do not know what you want out of it, which depends upon where you are headed. Similarly, showing the admissions committee that you have not been serious in thinking about where you are headed suggests that you may not even be serious about business, which is likely to be particularly damaging if you are, say, an arts graduate working in the nonprofit sector at the moment.

QUESTION:
WHAT WOULD YOU CONTRIBUTE WHILE AT OUR SCHOOL?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
Schools want to know what you consider a “contribution.” They also want to have certain skills and experiences represented in the student body. This essay gives you a chance to show what you bring to the mix.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
The typical applicant mentions a set of boilerplate. First, he claims that he is a very hard worker. Next, he says that he will try to contribute to class discussions, and the fact that he is an accountant will be very valuable in this regard. Last, if he is really thinking hard, he may note that he is a good guy whose company will be enjoyed by one and all.
A BETTER APPROACH
The first step is to show that you will fit into the school’s student body. In other words, you are not hopelessly strange. You have the attributes normally expected of top managers, such as intelligence and determination. In addition, you are accustomed to dealing with others like you and you have typically compared favorably with them. In other words, you will not be intimidated by your classmates.
The second step is to show that you would add something valuable to the workings of the school. These workings are not just in class, but equally important outside of class. Thus, your being able to work well on a team, and in a study group or project team, will be useful here. The usual things that applicants mention are worth noting in passing but should not be the focus of your effort if you can find something more interesting to discuss. The “usual” includes:
    Knowledge of industry A, technology B, function C
    Computing skills
    A second language
    Personal characteristics: sense of humor, likeability, determination
Each of these can be worthwhile, but they are best not dwelt upon unless you possess them to an unusual degree. For instance, one of the candidates (“Joerg”) whose essays we reprint in the prior chapter and in the Appendix notes that his engineering skills are of a very high order indeed. He can say this because the breadth and depth of his knowledge were extraordinary. (He was finishing a PhD in mechanical engineering from Germany’s finest program, had done top-flight work in testing the shape stability of fibers, and had significant assignments in North America, Japan, and Africa as well as in various parts of Europe. Comparatively speaking, someone with a bachelor’s degree and three years of experience in reverse-engineering widgets might be better served looking for something else to emphasize.)
Unusual items that you could emphasize might include:
    A different perspective. Are you from an unusual part of the world (at least insofar as where most of this particular school’s students come from)? Have you worked with unusual people, for instance workers with disabilities?
    Knowledge of an unusual industry, technology, or function. Consultants, engineers, and accountants are, if anything, overrepresented in MBA programs, but professional tennis players and jazz musicians are not.
    Unusual work conditions. Perhaps you are a corporate strategy firm research associate, which is a common position for an applicant, but you have done your cost analysis work for a client brewery in Lagos rather than Milwaukee.
    Personal qualities that are all too rare, such as a sterling sense of humor. But you will need to back this up with solid evidence.
    Unusual outside interests. A person who has published a successful book, been ranked in squash, started a successful part-time business, or whatever, has something unusual to talk about. You might not think any of these things are significant, but you are probably better off at least mentioning them than dwelling upon the fact that you are yet another junior accountant. For example, you might think that being a top squash player is irrelevant, but remember that one U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice allegedly chose his clerks largely in the light of skill on the basketball court. While idiosyncratic, this is by no means atypical.
Remember, too, that a skill that might be considered typical at MIT might be quite rare elsewhere.
The last component of this essay is to show that you are the sort of person who will share knowledge with others in the program. In other words, you are the sort of person who will work well with other people and value their contributions, too.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
A knowledge of what distinguishes you from other applicants is particularly important in answering this question. What you would contribute to a program is best answered by thinking not of the skills many of your peers share but those that seem uniquely yours. Doing so will allow you to appeal to schools hoping to diversify their student bodies on as many dimensions as is possible.

QUESTION:
WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GAIN FROM OUR PROGRAM?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question is meant to reveal how you view an MBA program and degree. Are you thinking of it narrowly or broadly? Do you have a clear reason for wanting an MBA yourself?
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Too many people mention the amount of money they will make after they have their MBA. Others describe the technical skill or skills they will acquire. And many just mouth the platitudes of how marvelous MBA degrees are, as if trying to convince the admissions staff of this fact.
A BETTER APPROACH
Treat this essay just like the “why do you want an MBA, and why from our school” questions. Start by explaining what you hope to accomplish in your career and what you lack in order to do so. Show how an MBA will help you acquire some or many of the skills and other assets you lack, thus helping you to reach your goals. Then note how this program in particular will be most appropriate for you in addressing these needs. Make it clear that you will gain more from this program than others because it best fits your needs.
Do not stop there, however, because if you do you will make it seem that you are so unworldly as to think that a top-quality MBA program is nothing more than a skill transfer mechanism. In fact, as this book has emphasized, you will gain from the credential itself and the network you can tap into. You can expect to have career opportunities open up to you that someone without a top MBA will never have. And, yes, you can expect to make more money. The problem, however, is to show that you are savvy enough to appreciate the many career benefits offered by a top MBA without looking like a greedy creature intent upon nothing more than maximizing his or her salary. The best way to do this may be to note the ancillary benefits of the school’s network without talking about the money or credentials.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
Following this approach will make it clear that you have a well-considered reason for getting an MBA. It fits into your own career scheme and is not something you are pursuing just because it is trendy to do so, or because you need your “ticket punched.” It will also be clear that you have thought through your choice of school.

QUESTION:
WHY HAVE YOU APPLIED TO THE OTHER SCHOOLS YOU HAVE?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
Schools typically ask this question to learn two things. First, they want to learn how much you value their school relative to others you might be considering. And second, they want to understand how much you value an MBA.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most applicants make one of several mistakes. Some applicants tell Bentley College that they are applying to Harvard and MIT. Bentley College is a good school, but it does not realistically expect applicants to choose it over Harvard or MIT. Listing these other Boston area schools tells Bentley that he or she does not really want to attend it, that it is just a backup in case Harvard and MIT both say no. Bentley is unlikely to get excited about such applicants. If an applicant tells Harvard that she is applying to Bentley College, Harvard is likely to conclude that she does not really see herself as being of Harvard quality and that she does not have the self confidence necessary for a top program.
Other applicants reveal that they are not certain of what they want from their MBA education by listing very different types of schools. Applying to both Harvard and Darden, two case method schools that educate general managers, makes sense, but applying to Harvard and Theseus, the French school devoted to training telecommunications managers, suggests that the applicant has not yet decided what he is seeking.
A different type of mistake is made when someone states that he is applying to school X and no other, for fear of offending school X. If an applicant has good reasons for wanting an MBA, it is highly likely that more than one school will serve his needs quite well. If this is the case, he will be determined enough to want to go to any of a number of schools. Failing to list other schools, therefore, suggests that he is not really serious about getting an MBA.
Another mistake is made when applicants simply state that school X is the best, famous for its (fill in the blank), and is what they have always hoped to attend. This is a mistake insofar as it represents a missed opportunity to market oneself.
A BETTER APPROACH
Start by showing what you need in order to meet your goals. For example, perhaps you are an experienced sales representative who wishes to move into general management. Despite your knowledge of sales, you do not know much about accounting, finance, strategy, organizational development, or the international aspects of business; you may be looking to acquire substantial skills in these areas. Depending upon the kind of company, and industry, you are aiming for, some of these areas are likely to be much more important than others. Thus your pitch might be:
My goal: work for my current firm, but in general management
What I am lacking: general management skills, especially in finance, marketing, and strategy
Then show how school X will be right for you. You do this by showing how it meets your requirements. If you want to become a consumer marketer, note that school X has a host of relevant courses. What besides course offerings might be important to you? You might choose on the basis of the languages used at the school, the nature of the student body (age, functional backgrounds, etc.), the reputation of a specific department—and thus the quality and number of companies looking to recruit, say, consumer marketers from the school. Refer to our earlier discussion about how to choose a school.
Apply these factors to the other schools you are considering. Note that each school will be acceptable in terms of meeting the bulk of what you are looking for, but note also that school X is more desirable insofar as it offers more consumer marketing courses or whatever. It is unlikely that any one school will be the most desirable on all counts, which gives you the opportunity to say good things about each school in terms of how it meets your needs. Your conclusion, however, should emphasize the factors that favor school X, thereby putting it at the top of your list.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
This approach will help make it clear that you are serious about getting an MBA. In addition, it shows that you have researched this and other schools; it reinforces your seriousness about getting an MBA at the same time that it shows you to be a sensible decision-maker gathering data for this important decision. This approach also shows that you value school X, and for substantial reasons— because it better meets your needs than do other schools.

QUESTION:
IN WHAT OTHER WAY WILL YOU PURSUE YOUR DEVELOPMENT IF OUR SCHOOL REJECTS YOU?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question helps schools determine two things about you first, how carefully you have planned for your future, and second, how determined you are to succeed.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
The typical applicant notes that he will reapply next year if school X turns him down this year.
A BETTER APPROACH
The starting point is to state what your goals are, and what you lack in order to meet them. (For a full discussion of this, refer to the “Why Have You Applied to the Other Schools You Have” analysis.) This will help to demonstrate that you have given serious thought to your future career.
Your needs can probably be met, at least to a reasonable degree, by another MBA program. You will thus almost certainly note that you are applying to other schools.
You should also consider whether some part-time educational programs would meet at least some of your needs. A local school’s offering of introductory marketing courses may not suffice to make you into a crack consumer marketer, but they will almost certainly be better than nothing.
Another possibility may be training programs that your company offers. Or, you could shift jobs (either within your company or by switching companies), in order to learn about a different function or even a different industry. As you will V recall from our discussion of why to get an MBA, further job experience is not likely to provide you with the conceptual understanding that is part and parcel V of an MBA. Companies seldom feature lectures on quantitative methods for V managers or applications of the capital asset pricing model. MBA programs are set up to increase dramatically your intellectual capital, whereas companies are set up to make money, preferably sooner rather than later. A new position or company is not likely to provide you with all that you hope to get from an MBA program, but something is better than nothing.
The last option is self-study. You can always read the interesting popular books in a given field or, better yet, the textbooks used at business schools. This is a difficult way to learn, however, and it is unlikely that you will be able to learn advanced quantitative methods in this fashion.
The conclusion is always that you would prefer to get an MBA, but you will do whatever you can to gain as much knowledge as possible.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
This approach shows that you have considered your future with care. It also shows that you are hungry for improvement in your knowledge and skills, and that you are determined to succeed and action-oriented. If going to school X will not work you will go to school Y. If you cannot go to a top school you will look to learn on this or another job. The picture that you convey is therefore one of a person striving to reach his or her potential. Remember that you are applying to an educational institution, so showing that you are hungry for knowledge and determined to improve yourself by acquiring it is a “can’t miss” proposition.

QUESTION:
DESCRIBE YOUR CURRENT JOB
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question may not help schools assess the candidacies of, for example, research associates from McKinsey because the admissions committee already knows what the typical McKinsey R.A. does. For people in less familiar positions, however, this question enables a much clearer understanding of an applicant’s background.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most applicants simply list a few of the elements of their formal job descriptions or just list their job titles. If you were to say simply that you were a marketing associate for a computer firm, an admissions committee would know almost nothing about your responsibilities. Do you provide field support? Do you do online research only? Do you do competitor analysis? Do you liaise with the research and development staffs in the development of more user-friendly products? Do you analyze the productivity of different advertising media or promotional campaigns? What do you do?
A BETTER APPROACH
There are usually numerous elements to a given job. You must figure out and list the many things you do. Next, you must determine which are the most significant parts of your job and which are most consistent with the position you are attempting to communicate, and then characterize them as favorably as possible. The following should help you with this process.
Is your job important? Most people would say so only if they are egotists or are making a lot of money and enjoying a very impressive title (Senior Executive Vice President for Marketing and Strategy, perhaps).
Assuming that you are not in this situation, does this mean that your job is unimportant and that you will have to be apologizing for it? No, of course not. A job is of real importance under a number of different circumstances. In particular, work gains significance whenever two things are true about it. First, the degree of uncertainty is high, and second, the potential impact upon the firm’s success is great. In other words, is there a fair likelihood that an average-quality performer in your job would make a hash of things? And, if so, would that really affect your firm’s performance, or that of one of its components? If the answer to both of these questions is yes, then your job is of real importance.
What must you do to perform successfully? In other words, what challenges do you face? For example, if you are in sales support, one of your biggest headaches might be to get the junior people in marketing, who report directly to the regional marketing manager, and report on only a dotted-line basis to the regional sales manager, to provide the current competitor analysis material to the sales department. This can be characterized as a liaison role. Or, if the relationship is particularly poor, you might describe your role as conflict resolution—particularly in light of the fact that sales and marketing often have an antagonistic relationship.
Perhaps your greatest challenges are satisfying two different bosses with two completely different agendas. If you are in a matrix structure, reporting to the regional manager and an engineering director, you can expect to be unable to please either one. The regional manager is probably concerned with making money, today, and wants everyone to work as a team without regard to functional specialties. The engineering boss, on the other hand, wants her people to maintain their specialized skills and the prestige of the engineering department. Working on cross-functional teams without taking time out for updating technical skills may strike the former as standard practice and the latter as anathema. To perform your job well may require balancing these conflicting desires.
If the last two occupants of your job were fired, say so. This will make your performance look all the more impressive.
A number of other circumstances can lend importance to a job. The more senior the person you report to, the more important a job will look. Similarly, the fate of prior occupants of your job may be relevant. If the last occupants were promoted high in the organization, the job will appear to be one given to high- fliers, thereby increasing its significance.
Have your recommenders discuss these points, too.
W1iat is the nature of your work? There are many different types of work. A market researcher is generally doing analytical work. A brand manager is likely to be doing a combination of analytical work and influence work insofar as she must analyze the factors for the brand’s relative success or failure in different market and competitive conditions in her country, and then try to influence the manufacturing, packaging, or whatever department, to take the action she wants in order to address these factors. She typically will have no power over these departments and will have to rely on her influence skills (personality, reasoning, expertise, etc.) instead. A restaurant manager will probably be most concerned with managing people, whereas a technical manager may be most concerned with the management of physical processes.
Many other aspects of your work can also be characterized. Is your job like being in the army: crushing boredom interspersed with brief moments of sheer terror? Are you expected to perform at a steady pace to a predictable schedule or do you work like a tax accountant, 50 percent of whose work may take place in three months of the year? Are you supposed to be the steadying hand for a bunch of youngsters? Are you supposed to be a creative type who will respond flexibly to each new situation rather than simply referring to the corporate manual?
Do you supervise anyone? How many people, of what type, are under your supervision? What does this supervision consist of7 For example, are you in charge of direct marketing activities, necessitating that you monitor the phone calls of your direct reports and also analyze their performance versus budget and various economic and industry factors?
Do you have control of a budget? If so, what is the amount you control, and
what amount do you influence?
What results have you achieved? Results can be looked at from many different perspectives. From a strategic perspective, what have you achieved regarding the market, customers, and competitors? From a financial perspective, what have you done regarding costs, revenues, and profits (not to mention assets employed, etc.)? From an operational perspective, what have you done regarding productivity of your unit, or of your direct reports, or of yourself; what have you done regarding the percentage of items rejected, or bids that fail, and so on? Similarly, from an organizational perspective, have you taken steps such as altering the formal organization or introducing new integration or coordination mechanisms? Provide numbers whenever possible to buttress your claims.
How has your career evolved? Did you have a career plan in place before graduating from college or university or soon thereafter? If so, did you pursue it wholeheartedly? Did it include a focus on developing your skills and responsibilities? What, if anything, has altered your original plan? What was your reaction to events that altered or affirmed this plan? When dealing with the development of your job with a given employer, be sure to note the employer’s reasons for promoting, transferring, rewarding, or praising you as well as the fact of these things.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
It is important to take this question very seriously. The answers will provide you with much of the ammunition you will use in responding to other questions. Your currentjob is of inherent interest to business schools. They will always want to know what you are doing, and with what success, because that suggests a great deal about your talents and interests, the way your employer views your talents and attitude, and why you might want an MBA.
Taking a broad view of the job description enables you to put the best light on your responsibilities and performance. It also allows you to build the basis for later essays where you will be able to save space by referring to this write-up rather than listing the same things when space is at a premium.

QUESTION:
DESCRIBE YOUR WORK EXPERIENCE
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question is, of course, intended to elicit what you have done over the course of your career, what impact you have had. It is also designed to give you an opportunity to show what you have learned about yourself and your abilities.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most applicants simply list what they have done in the past without showing what has driven their career choices and changes. The result is a list in which the elements appear nearly unrelated to one another.
A BETTER APPROACH
Look at our discussion of the “Job Description” essay. Then think in terms of telling stories rather than simply listing events dryly. A good story has conflict; that is, it has obstacles placed in the way of the hero. The hero may be unable to overcome each of the obstacles, but he tries hard and is unwilling to give up.
One possible approach is as follows. Find a theme that unites the elements of your job history. For instance, you show how you responded to challenges that were initially daunting. You tried hard and learned how to do what was required. As you learned better how to do the job, you started to take more initiative. In fact, once you mastered your initial responsibilities, you understood them in a broader context. Having done so, you moved up to the next level of responsibility—or you are now at the point of needing further scope for your talents but cannot move up without an MBA or years of experience on the job.
The telling of your career story should focus upon where you have come from and where you are now headed. If you have changed your direction, explain what happened to change your direction. If you have had your decisions reaffirmed by experience, describe them and how they convinced you that you were on the right track.
This essay is closely related to the “Your Career and the Reasons for Getting an MBA” essay.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
Telling stories that focus on obstacles and the attempt to overcome them makes this essay interesting to read. Focusing on your personal development in response to challenges is well aimed for an audience of educators. They are preconditioned to appreciate your developmental capabilities.
This approach also sets up your need for an MBA. You have been overcoming obstacles by learning how to perform new jobs, and you have acquired new skills and knowledge; now you need to take another step up.

QUESTION
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU MAKE IN YOUR CURRENT JOB (AND HOW WOULD YOU IMPLEMENT THIS CHANGE)?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question is designed to reveal how savvy you are about organizational matters and how analytical you are about your company’s operating and strategic needs.
You may be too junior to have run a department or a company, but that should not stop you from thinking about its operations and environment. How much perspective do you have on these things? Can you write a persuasive analytical piece showing that you have been able to step back from your own tasks to take a more senior manager’s view? If not—if you can see only your own job’s details—you are missing a chance to show that you are in fact senior management material.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most applicants fail to define what this question is really asking. The question itself is open to several interpretations. For example, does it ask you to improve things for you or for your company? How realistic must you be in your suggestion? Must this be an aspect you can indeed change, rather than something that only a very senior manager could affect? All too many applicants end up interpreting the question to mean, “How can you make your own job easier to do?” Consequently, they make themselves look self-centered and concerned only about the minutiae of their jobs, since any meaningful change would require someone else’s intervention.
Virtually all applicants run into the implied follow-up question: If this proposed change is such a good idea, why haven’t you done all you could to implement it? Failing to answer this can make an applicant look hypocritical or ineffectual. If he claims that a change in the pattern of his sales calls will dramatically improve his results, why has he never tried to convince his boss of this? Is it that he does not really care about the company’s success or that he cannot imagine persuading his boss to make any change? In either case, the force of the applicant’s suggestion is diminished by failing to address this issue.
A BETTER APPROACH
Focus on the benefits for the company rather than personal benefits. In other words, show that the reason the change makes sense is that the company’s balance sheet will improve, or some other equally important advantage will accrue, not that your job will become easier.
You may have spotted only one change the company should make. If so, you should certainly discuss it. On the other hand, if you have several possibilities, choose the one that will best do the following:
    support your positioning effort, including your current need for an MBA (which can be shown by suggesting that you have outgrown your current responsibilities)
    show that you are thinking about how your job relates to others
If you do not have any obvious changes in mind, how can you develop some? For one thing, you can look at the examples of this essay included in the Appendix. Beyond this, consider the following possibilities:
    Should the nature of your reporting relationship be changed? For example, perhaps you report to a regional manager but would be better off reporting to a functional one. Or perhaps you are matrixed—reporting to two different bosses in different departments—and the matrix structure is preventing decisions being reached in a timely fashion. If so, simplifying the reporting relationship might be appropriate.
    Should the nature of your responsibility be changed? For example, are you currently responsible for revenues but not costs, or assets employed? Should you have complete profit and loss (or return on assets employed) responsibility?
    Should the various control systems be harmonized? For example, perhaps the accounting systems are designed to control one thing whereas your bonus is tied to something contradictory.
If you are describing proposed changes in, say, the design of your job or the way in which you are evaluated or controlled, you will want to show that the current standards cause suboptimal performance in a way that your proposed change will not. You may also need to show that the proposed change will not lead to new problems or that any such problems will not be as large as the ones currently faced.
Deal with the implementation issue head-on. In other words, answer the implicit follow-up question as to why, if this change is such a good idea, you have not yet made it happen. Maybe you have just learned of the need for this change, in which case you have not had the time to do anything about it. For example, maybe you just started this job, or you have just gotten new responsibilities; or perhaps a recent problem first exposed the need for change. Another possibility is that you have been aware of the problem for some time but have been engaged in gathering the necessary data to analyze the situation fully.
The question’s phrasing is hypothetical: “What change would you make?” This seems to eliminate the possibility of discussing a change that you have recently made. In fact, business schools would love to have you discuss a change you have actually enacted; the only reason that they phrase the question thus is because so few applicants have a real example to talk about. If you have actually implemented a substantial, praiseworthy change, by all means discuss it.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
This approach shows that your primary concern is the company’s welfare. It also shows that you have analyzed your environment and are aware of the areas of weakness and strength. Using a real example is better than using a hypothetical one insofar as it shows that you actually take action and have an impact.

QUESTION:
WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question is clearly designed to elicit your opinion of yourself. Modest people, and people from cultures less egocentric than that of the United States, have a hard time responding, because it obviously asks you to brag a little. Less self- assured applicants find it hard to be honest and to mention their shortcomings. This question provides a good gauge of how self confident (or arrogant), accomplished (or boastful), decent (or manipulative), mature, self-aware, and honest you are.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most applicants list a large number of strengths and one or two weaknesses. Their weakness is generally a strength dressed up as a weakness (“I am too much of a perfectionist.” “I work too hard.”).
A BETTER APPROACH
Start by choosing two or three primary strengths. Use these to organize your essay by grouping other strengths around them. For example, if you claim that you are very determined, you might discuss your patience in working hard for a long time in order to achieve something important as related to this determination. The problem is not generally finding something good to say about yourself. Usually the problem is limiting yourself to a manageable number of strengths. You want to have few enough that you can discuss them in a persuasive fashion rather than just listing them. Using two or three as central organizing devices (i.e., themes) helps to achieve this.
Remember that simply listing strengths is a very weak way of writing. To make your strengths credible and memorable, use illustrations of them. Instead of bragging about being determined, note your five-year battle to overcome childhood leukemia.
The bigger problem, however, is finding a weakness to discuss. Simply calling a strength a weakness (“I work too hard”) is not sufficient. This tactic is used by countless applicants, and its insincerity is nearly guaranteed to repel those reading your essays. For one thing, you have failed to follow instructions; you were asked to list a weakness and failed to do so. In addition, a failure to recognize your own weaknesses means that you are blind to something very important. It is far better to recognize your weaknesses and thus be in a position to try to overcome them than to pretend that they do not exist. If you recognize that a weakness exists, you are in a position to make a constructive change. Being willing to discuss a weakness is thus a sign of maturity, and, consequently, a strength in itself.
Do not carry a good thing too far, though, and discuss huge flaws such as your drug addictions. Your choice of a flaw may depend upon exactly how the question is phrased. If you are asked for a weakness, you can certainly discuss the lack of skills or knowledge that currently limit your managerial success and that have occasioned your desire for an MBA. This is an easy version of the question. The hard version asks you about your personality strengths and weaknesses. The focus on your personality means that you cannot simply respond by discussing what skills you want to acquire. To respond to this you must discuss a true personality flaw. One approach is to look at the dark side of one of your strengths. If you are a very determined person, does that mean that your drive is accompanied by a terrible temper? Or perhaps it means that you are too willing to trample upon peers’ feelings? If you are a strong leader, does that mean that you do not always value the inputs of your subordinates? If you have been very successful doing detail-laden work, have you overlooked the big picture? Are you so concerned about quality that you find it overly difficult to delegate or share responsibility?
Be sure to avoid discussing a weakness that will be a major handicap at a given school. For example, if you are applying to a quantitatively oriented program, be leery of talking about your difficulties with numbers.
Be careful to discuss your weakness differently from your strengths. The correct space allocation is probably about three- or four-to-one, strengths to weakness. You will note that I say “weakness,” because you should discuss only one or two weaknesses. When doing so, do not dwell on your description of it, or of the problems that it has caused you. Do so briefly, thereby limiting the impact that the specifics will have upon admissions officers. Then note what steps you take, or have taken, to try to overcome it.
You want to describe yourself as having numerous strengths that relate well to your positioning effort, without sounding arrogant.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
Grouping your strengths in an organized fashion will give you the chance to cover a lot of ground without taking a scattershot approach. Emphasizing strengths is obviously appropriate. Writing about them in some detail, with appropriate illustrations, will make them memorable. The use of illustrations also makes your claims realistic rather than boastful.
Describing your weakness in a cursory way, and being detailed about the steps you take to overcome the weakness, will gain you points. It shows you to be willing to face up to your flaw without the flaw itself being emphasized. This offers you the best of both worlds.

QUESTION:
WHAT ARE YOUR MOST SUBSTANTIAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question obviously gives you a chance to “blow your own horn.” You can brag a bit about what you have accomplished in life. Moreover, you have the chance to put your own spin on what you have done. A particular accomplishment is all the more impressive when you explain the obstacles you had to overcome in order to succeed.
The question also allows schools to learn more about you insofar as you must explain why you consider something to have been a substantial accomplishment. Some accomplishments are of obvious significance. Winning the Nobel Prize for Physics is obviously significant; you probably do not need to elaborate on the fact of having won it. Other accomplishments are much more personal. For example, if you had stuttered as a youth and finally ended your stuttering in your twenties, this might be an extremely significant accomplishment for you personally. You have probably done things that have had more impact upon the rest of the world, but for you this accomplishment looms larger. You will probably want to talk about it as an example of your determination and desire to improve yourself. This essay gives you the chance to do so.
This question gives you an opportunity to discuss matters that are unlikely to be listed on your data sheets or mentioned by your recommenders. Even if you just discuss accomplishments of a more public nature, including something listed in your data sheet (or discussed by your recommenders), you can personalize it in a way in which just listing it (or having someone else talk about it) does not do.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most applicants use the whole of their essay to try to demonstrate that their accomplishments are impressive; they focus on their accomplishments and not on themselves. These accomplishments, by the way, tend to be things like making the high school basketball team or graduating from college or university. Another mistaken tendency is to list a string of things rather than to explain one or two in detail.

A BETTER APPROACH
The first step is to determine which accomplishments you will discuss. Your criteria for choosing appropriate accomplishments will be familiar. Which ones will help your positioning effort? Which will be unusual and interesting for admissions committees to read about? Was this accomplishment truly important to you?
The following criteria are also helpful guides:
    You had to overcome major obstacles, showing real determination in doing so.
    You learned more about yourself.
    You came to understand the need for further skill development and thus, perhaps, an MBA.
    You used real initiative, perhaps by pushing a bureaucracy to respond or bypassing one altogether.
    Your success was unexpected.
    You worked extremely hard toward a clear goal.
    Your impact can be clearly seen (i.e., you were not simply tagging along with someone else who did the real work).
If you are trying to show that you have had a lot of relevant business experience despite being only 23, you will probably want one (or preferably more) of these accomplishments to be in the business realm. Not every accomplishment will fulfill all of our criteria, but you should be able to include most of them in the course of the full essay.
In writing the essay, go into sufficient detail to bring the events to life, but do not stop there. Discuss why you consider this a substantial achievement, why you take pride in it, and what you learned from it. Did you change and grow as a result of this? Did you find that you approached other matters differently after accomplishing this?
The admissions committee will read this for more than a brief description of the items you list on your data sheet. It will want to learn more about these accomplishments and more about the private you, if you discuss significant accomplishments of a personal nature here. It will want to know what motivates you and what you value. It will also want to see how you have developed as a person and as a manager.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
This question gives you a lot of latitude, as our criteria suggest. Using it to show more of the real you will help you to avoid the usual problems people create for themselves on this essay. You do not want to restate the facts you have already listed on your data sheet; you want to show that you have been ready to face challenges, determined to overcome obstacles, and able to accomplish things that have mattered to you. The essays in the Appendix show a limitless number of potential topics; the excerpted essays were successful because they revealed their authors’ characters while explaining the personal importance of their achievements.

QUESTION:
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THAT DEMONSTRATES YOUR LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
Top schools expect to produce top managers, that is, leaders. They are looking for applicants who have already distinguished themselves as leaders, since past performance is the best indicator of what people will be like in the future.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
All too often, applicants discuss being part of a group that achieved something noteworthy without making it clear that they themselves were leaders in this effort.
A BETTER APPROACH
This question is deceptively similar to the “Substantial Accomplishment” essay. The “Substantial Accomplishment” essay, as I explained, asks you to describe a real achievement (and what it means to you). The “Leadership” essay, on the other hand, is not looking so much for an “achievement” as it is ‘for an understanding of how you led an effort to achieve something. In other words, your emphasis should be upon your leadership rather than the achievement.
To write this essay, you must understand what leadership is. One obvious example is managing people who report directly to you. Less obvious examples involve pushing or inspiring non-subordinates to do what you want done. How? Leading by example, using your influence as a perceived expert in a relevant field, influencing through moral suasion, or influencing by personal friendship? You might have led people through direct management or through influence. Describe your methodology—what strategy did you employ? And why? You may not have been deliberate or extremely self-aware in your actions, of course, in which case you might wish to discuss what you did and why it was or was not a good choice. What problems did you confront? What did you learn about managing or influencing people? Would another strategy, or different actions, have been better choices? Why? (Do you have a philosophy of leadership?)
You should emphasize that your leadership qualities are the sort that describe a future CEO rather than a high school football hero. In other words, such qualities as maturity, thoughtfulness, empathy, determination, valuing other people’s input, the ability to influence or manage very different types of people, the ability to integrate disparate inputs into a unified perspective, and integrity are highly desirable.
You are free to choose something from your business career, but you might wish to choose something from your extracurricular or private life, too.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
Viewing this question as concerning your understanding of leadership, and the ways in which you yourself lead, will result in an essay with the appropriate focus. It is not your achievement that is paramount here; it is your method of approaching and resolving leadership issues that concerns the admissions committee. If you show yourself to be aware of the leadership issues inherent in your situation, and extract some suitable comments regarding what worked or did not work, and why, you will have the core of a good essay.

QUESTION:
DESCRIBE AN EXPERIENCE IN WHICH YOU DID NOT REACH YOUR OBJECTIVES (AND WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THIS)
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question is essentially asking: Are you mature enough to admit that you have made a mistake? Did you learn from it? Can you change and grow?
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most applicants focus more on the mistake they made, or failure they suffered, rather than what they learned from it.
A BETTER APPROACH
You have a great deal of latitude in choosing your failure or mistake. Several factors should govern your response. (1) Try to further your positioning effort. If you are trying to present yourself as a worldly international negotiator, you might wish to show how you flubbed your first negotiations with people from another culture due to your lack of understanding of how they valued different components of a deal. (You can then go on to explain that this started you on the path of investigating the values and beliefs of your negotiating partners and opponents in all future deals, something you believe has underpinned much of your success.) (2) Show that you have truly learned from your mistake. One implication of this may be that you will want to choose a failure from your more distant past, not last week. You will not have had much of an opportunity to learn from a recent failure, whereas a failure from two or three years ago may have afforded plenty of opportunity to learn. The reason is that you generally need some time to reflect upon matters in order to benefit fully from them. (3) If you choose a distant failure, you are not saying that you are currently making these mistakes. It may be better to admit to having been prone to mistakes long ago, not currently.
Having chosen your failure, do not belabor your description of it. Remember that it is what you learned from this failure that is critical here, not the failure itself. Consider what you learned from the experience concerning yourself, your job, your company, your industry, how to manage people and soon. One key piece of learning may have been that you came to see your need for much more conceptual knowledge, such as that which you hope to acquire by doing an MBA.
When describing failure, a sense of humor may help. If I were writing this essay I might describe my work on a retail strategy case for a UK brewer. I spent several months on this case without understanding that the “fruit machines” that were frequently mentioned as a new cash generator for pubs were gambling machines suitable for Las Vegas rather than dispensers of actual bananas or oranges. As a result, I could hardly contribute to the discussions concerning their future potential. I should have paid more attention in pubs to see what was involved rather than just keeping quiet when these machines came up in discussion. In writing this essay, I could then go on to note how I resolved to learn the details of clients’ operations rather than treating them at just an abstract, strategic level.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
The emphasis here should be upon your development. We learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. A willingness to admit mistakes and then try to learn from them is one hallmark of a mature adult. It is also the trait of someone who will benefit from more formal education.

QUESTION:
DISCUSS AN ETHICAL DILEMMA YOU HAVE FACED
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
The ongoing debate over the proper role of business in society has made ethics an important issue in a manager’s training—or so the admissions officers will tell you. The reality may be somewhat different. Business schools have felt the need to talk about ethics as a result of the various scandals of the 1980s and 1990s, although it is clearly a subject of limited interest for most of the professors. The need to appear interested in the subject, at least to critical outsiders, has probably been as important as anything else in generating the use of this question.
For some schools and some admissions officers, this question is a sincere attempt to understand your ethics. For others, the question is not so much about ethics as it is just another chance to see your writing and read another story about you.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most people have trouble finding something to discuss, so they end up choosing something trivial. In discussing it, they think that a question about ethics must call for a holier-than-thou stance, so they sound like refugees from a sensitivity training session.
A BETTER APPROACH
The toughest part of this essay is to find a suitable subject. Here are some possible topics:
    People versus profit. For example, should you fire the Italian researchers you have working for you now that your firm no longer markets in Italy? They are too old to be hired by someone else. On the one hand, you may feel that you owe it to the shareholders to maximize their returns. On the other hand, you feel concern for the researchers. Is it a clear-cut decision? Maybe, but that will depend upon the circumstances. If the company promised the researchers that they would be employed until they reached retirement age, and this was one of the things that helped lure them from another firm, you will probably feel one way. If the researchers have been working second and third jobs at the same time that they have been officially employed by your firm, you may feel differently.
    Your career versus someone else’s. When you are in a meeting and your boss takes credit for your idea, what should you do?
    Taking advantage of someone’s lack of knowledge or opportunities. Should you sell a product to someone who does not know that it will be inappropriate for his needs? By the time he figures this out you may have moved on to a new division in the company so you will not face his fury or the longterm consequences of having an angry customer.
The essays in the Appendix contain interesting examples of other ethical dilemmas. Note that you can also consider writing about something that happened in your private rather than your business life. In fact, such dilemmas are a part of everyday life, so failing to find one runs the risk of appearing unaware of the moral dimension of life.
This question is asked in one of two different ways. In one version, you are asked simply to describe an ethical dilemma and what you thought of it. In the other version you must describe an ethical dilemma and what you did in response to it. The second type obviously is more demanding than the first because you must have a situation that you ultimately managed well. Some situations may lend themselves to excellent management, but the nature of a “dilemma” suggests that there may not be a perfect way to handle it.
In writing this essay you will want to show that there was truly a dilemma, at least on the surface. You will probably want to show that you explored and investigated the nature of the problem, since you were no doubt reluctant to make a snap decision when it appeared that any decision would have substantial adverse consequences. If you are called upon to describe what you did, rather than just what you thought, you will want to show that you explored every option and did your best to minimize the adverse consequences.
The tone of your essay is another minefield. If you sound like an innocent seven-year-old who believes that it is always wrong to lie, you will not fit in a world of tough senior managers who constantly need to make hard decisions with rotten consequences for somebody. On the other hand, if you sound like a Machiavelli, for whom the only calculus depends upon personal advantage, and for whom the potential suffering of other people is irrelevant, you will be rejected as a moral monster. You need to be somewhere in the middle, someone who recognizes that the world and the decisions it requires are seldom perfect, but that it is appropriate to try to minimize adverse consequences as best one can. Only in extreme circumstances would it be appropriate to walk away from the decision (and the job).
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
It is critical to find a subject you can get your teeth into. Our examples may help you find such a subject, one with layers of detail and dilemma. If you go into depth in exploring it, without sounding like a naive child or a totally cynical manipulator, turn it about and examine it from different angles, and weigh the various options thoughtfully, you will show yourself to be senior management material.

QUESTION
THE MOST IMPORTANT TREND FACING BUSINESS
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question is designed to find out whether you have thought about the “big picture,” are aware of the issues currently facing industry, and have the ability to discuss a big topic in a sophisticated fashion.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Most people discuss the most headline-grabbing item they can think of. In past years this would have been global warming or the moral imperatives of business—with special reference to apartheid in South Africa. Their discussion, moreover, tends to resemble the headlines of tabloid newspapers: Global Disaster Forecast! Major Changes Needed Now! No research informs the essay. The other approach—too often seen—is that of cribbing all too obviously from a recent lead story in Business Week or a similar magazine.
A BETTER APPROACH
Do you have any real views on this subject? If you firmly believe, for example, that the Internet will change how your particular business operates more than the telephone and computer have, then you will probably want to choose this as your topic.
Most applicants do not have such a clear-cut opinion. Instead, they have some not overly well-informed opinions about a handful of topics, any one of which could fit well here. If this is your case, choose the topic that shows you off to best advantage. It should enable you to (1) express sensible but not blindingly obvious views, (2) enhance your positioning, (3) show why you want an MBA, and perhaps, (4) show why this school is right for you. This is a rather daunting set of criteria. You may not satisf’ each one, but at least it gives you a target. A quick look at one of the many possible topics reveals how to get started.
Globalization. This is an old favorite response to this essay question. It is a truism that the increasing globalization of business is continuing to have substantial impact upon how business is conducted. Is this topic right for you? It would be highly appropriate for someone applying to a school outside her country, or one that uses a language other than her own for many of its courses. It would also be highly appropriate for someone applying to an internationally focused program such as the Lauder program at Wharton, the University of South Carolina’s highly rated international business program (either in the United States or at its companion program in Vienna at the Wirtschaftsuniversitãt Wien), or one of the European schools whose whole raison d’etre is training international managers.
How will you discuss globalization? You might begin with an explanation of how you became aware of this issue in the first place. Have your own company’s operations been dramatically affected by foreign competition? Then discuss in what other ways business is being affected by increased international competition. Next, move on to the underlying trends that will cause greater globalization and, finally, examine the impact this is likely to have upon your industry overall. Your degree of specificity will depend in large part upon the allotted space. This discussion will help you demonstrate why you want to attend a school that has a serious international focus.
What are some of the other possible topics?
    Deregulation and Privatization
    Service Management (i.e., the change from industrial to service management concerns)
    Changing Demographics of the Workforce (or Managing Diversity)
    Flattening of Organizational Structures (or the Change from Hierarchy to Network)
    The Information Revolution
    The Internet
    Environmental Limitations
    Quality Management (although this is already a time-worn subject)
    Political Turmoil
Is this list exhaustive? By no means; a sensible list might be two or three times this long. Don’t assume that your chosen topic is inappropriate simply because it is not listed here.
Does it matter which topic you choose? The answer to this is, yes and no. It matters that you choose something that strikes admissions committees as being quite important—at least after you have explained why it is important. But what is likely to matter more is how you discuss the topic you have chosen.
When discussing any of these topics, remember to follow good essay writing practice. Be specific when possible, referring to events in your own (business) life when you can. Be upbeat rather than defeatist. For example, if you are discussing globalization, do not wallow in the possible future demise of the “American-ness” of baseball (or whatever). Instead of looking just at the negative side of change, look, too, at the opportunities and challenges that will come in its wake. You should be able to give a sophisticated treatment to your subject, but this is likely to be the case only after you have done some reading. Has The Economist written extensively about this subject? If so, you should know its position, as well as that of other sophisticated journals, and provide relevant quotations to demonstrate your awareness. Look at the examples in the Appendix to get a feel for ways to be a sophisticated commentator without sounding vague or jaundiced.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
This topic should be a godsend, in that it allows you to do so much to further so many of your positioning efforts while ostensibly discussing an abstract concept. You can show, for example, that you have a real need to learn much more about organization design and development, thereby necessitating an MBA. At the same time you will show that you have given real thought to a complex issue.

QUESTION:
WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
Good managers tend to be able to make friends and to socialize easily. This is all the more important in a non-hierarchical, manage-by-influence rather than power world. This question is designed to reveal more about you and to see whether you would fit into the school’s social life (and perhaps add to it). This is likely to be much more important for small schools than for large ones, for isolated schools than for urban ones, and perhaps for stand-alone business schools than for those that are part of a university. The reason is that a smaller, more isolated school will tend to have a very close-knit student body, so someone who does not fit well may have a miserable time.
A person with balanced interests, who is not consumed by business to the exclusion of other things, will be able to survive the ups and downs both of business school and of a managerial career.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Many applicants treat this question too lightly and end up simply listing five or ten things they enjoy doing. This does nothing to help their cases.
A BETTER APPROACH
Start by thinking of the things you really enjoy. You probably have a pretty good- sized list. Choose one or two to talk about. Your selection criteria should include the following:
    The activity matters to you.
    You know a lot about it.
    You can make it interesting to read about.
    It aids your positioning effort.
    The activity’s distinctiveness (will 90% of the applicants write about this?) is apparent.
The appropriate activities to discuss are those that will help your positioning. For example, if you have been a corporate librarian, you may want to reassure schools that you are a very tough and determined person. If you enjoy technical mountain climbing, by all means discuss this rather than your chess-by-mail games. The former shows you to be a highly unusual librarian whereas the latter suggests an all too stereotypical one who prefers solitary, contemplative pursuits. Topics to avoid no matter what include watching soap operas or situation comedies on television, sleeping, drinking with the lads, hanging out in pool rooms, etc.
The next step is to write the essay in an appealing fashion. Since your spare time is indeed your own, any activities you pursue should inspire you with real enthusiasm, at least if you are a basically enthusiastic sort of person. Given that business schools want enthusiastic students, you are obligated to sound enthusiastic even if you are not.
The other key to your essay will be to show that you are highly knowledgeable and sincere about the activity. These characteristics are desirable on their own and, equally important, they show that you really do participate in this hobby, sport, or activity This essay lends itself to “hypercreativity”; make it clear that you are not simply claiming to climb mountains or whatever you discuss.
One way to sound enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and sincere is to go into detail in describing what you do. If you are a mountain climber you may want to discuss one of your best climbs. Why did you choose to tackle this particular mountain; why this particular route? How did you choose your team? What criteria did you employ, and why? What were the major challenges that you faced? How did you handle them? What was the aftermath of this climb? Describing these and other matters will also individualize you, because even someone choosing the same topic will have had entirely different experiences.
The other quality you should strive to communicate is that you are a very likeable person. You want to be regarded as interesting and pleasant company. This is especially true for people whose positioning is that they are number- crunching accountants, or otherwise relatively isolated.
Should you discuss one or two activities? This depends upon the number of activities you pursue that meet our criteria and how much space it will take you to describe each one appropriately.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
Choosing only one or two activities to discuss shows that you know how to prioritize and makes your discussion seem focused while giving you the opportunity to interest the admissions committee in what you describe. Discussing unusual activities will also help the committee to remember who you are.
Choosing activities that further your positioning effort has an obvious payoff. Discussing them enthusiastically permits you to build enthusiasm for you on the part of the committee.

QUESTION:
TELL US ANYTHING ELSE YOU CARE TO
WHY THE QUESTION IS ASKED
This question is asked for three reasons. First, it gives you a chance to add important information that other essays may not capture. Second, it gives you a chance to explain a weakness or gap in your record, or why your boss did not write a recommendation for you. Third, it will ascertain whether you are able to weigh the value of the additional information you are giving the admissions committee versus the effort required for them to read another essay.
THE TYPICAL APPLICANT
Many people write something, but few benefit thereby. Too many complain about what happened long ago or make excuses for their own failings (or substitute an essay from another school).
A BETTER APPROACH
First, ask yourself whether anything important to your positioning has been left out. If there is an important credential or overcoming of a major obstacle that you have not been able to discuss, and it will substantially help your positioning effort, then use this essay to bring it to the admissions committee’s attention. Resist the natural inclination, however, to gild the lily. Do not tell a third story showing how politically astute you were on the job. If you have explained how well you analyzed a production problem, and a recommender is describing another such effort, do not even think of describing a third one here.
What sorts of things are most likely to qualify for inclusion here? With some schools you will not otherwise have the opportunity to discuss your community activities or other things you have pursued outside your proper job. For example, you might wish to describe your managing of the political campaign of a friend who ran for office in your city. Or you might wish to describe what you did in setting up a successful business that you ran on weekends. You may have a specific skill you wish to demonstrate that will not otherwise come across, or you may have rectified a weakness in your record. Perhaps you did poorly at math during your university studies but have since been sufficiently motivated to learn enough math to understand Einstein’s general theory of relativity
If you have found something that will be important enough in saying good things about you and furthering your positioning, by all means use it, but what if you think you have six or eight such items? In this case, follow the usual approach and select one, or at most two, of these. This essay is meant to augment the basic application, not substitute for it. You do not want to risk overwhelming admissions officers with too much material, nor do you want to fall into the trap of just listing items.
Do not worry about adding to an application that is already complete. If you do need to write more, be sure that it is only one or two items of clear importance. Do them justice by discussing them sufficiently to make their nature and value clear.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH
Lists are seldom of value. It is far better to choose one or two things and then describe and discuss them in sufficient detail as to make them believable and memorable.

BRIEF NOTES ON ADDITIONAL ESSAYS
QUESTION: WHAT HAVE YOU CONTRIBUTED TO A RECENT GROUP EFFORT?
1. Focus on your contribution, rather than the group’s accomplishments, although it is useful to show that you helped the group succeed.
2. One of the requirements is that you made a major contribution to the effort.
3. Consider also:
    what difficulties were presented
    what skills you employed
    the group dynamics
    how you influenced people or managed them
    how you got others to contribute
    how you reduced conflict
    how your efforts complemented those of others.
4. What was the result?
5. Would the skills you expect to add from an MBA program have helped in this project?

QUESTION: WHAT DOES DIVERSITY MEAN TO YOU? HOW WILL YOU CONTRIBUTE TO THE DIVERSITY OF OUR PROGRAM?
1. You can define diversity in terms of nationality, language or culture, job history, age, educational background, political opinions, sex, aptitudes, or any of dozens of other matters. Your choice is likely to reflect your own experiences and, of course, ways in which you are different from the norm at the program to which you are applying.
    You should certainly have already asked yourself what this school is looking for and how you can appear valuable to it, so to be asked what diversity you can add should really just be making explicit something you have already had occasion to consider.
    2. The second part of this question is largely a repeat of the “how will you contribute to the school” question, so refer to the discussion of that question.

QUESTION: DISCUSS A PROFESSIONAL PROJECT THAT CHALLENGED YOUR SKILLS
1. Start by determining what your professional skills are.
2. Look at the most challenging professional project you have faced, preferably one that was successful for you, or one that taught you valuable lessons.
3. After trying to remember it in real detail, abstract exactly which skills you used (or should have used, but have only come to appreciate since then).
4. Remember the attributes your readers are looking for: analytical ability, interpersonal skills, leadership ability, dedication, integrity, and so on.
5. Which of these attributes can you illustrate via one of your projects? Which are most important to your positioning effort? Which will be the most interesting to read about? Which can you get someone else to back up in a recommendation?

QUESTION: DESCRIBE A REPRESENTATIVE WORK DAY
1. This is most important for people in jobs that are not run of the mill where business schools are concerned.
    For auditors at a major accounting firm, for example, this is not as critical as for someone who is a political liaison person.
2. Do not load into one day every important thing you have done in the last two years.
    Be sure to show a reasonable range of your typical activities, however. If possible, these would include research and analysis, leading meetings, supervising the work of subordinates, influencing colleagues, negotiating, and so on.
3. Show teamwork, leadership, analysis, communication skills, etc.

QUESTION: COMMENT ON THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ATTENDING OUR PROGRAM
1. This is clearly related to the other questions about why you want an MBA, and what other steps you will take if rejected.
2. Discuss the school’s strengths and weaknesses in general.
3. By showing what you are looking for in an MBA, show which of these strengths and weaknesses are most relevant for you.
4. Be kind to the school, but not unrealistic in your evaluation of it.
    Schools want to believe that they do a generally good job, but they are not foolish about this.
    Do not, for example, pretend that a school that offers only a few manufacturing courses is blessed with a strength in this area.
5. Compare this school with the appropriate competitors, showing that you know what real advantages it offers.

RULES FOR APPROACHING OTHER ESSAY QUESTIONS
It should be apparent after reading the above analyses of essay questions that a thoughtful approach is required when confronting any essay. Remember that a question does not exist in a vacuum. Instead, it is part of the whole application and should be answered in the context of how you wish the whole application package to read.
You will have started by determining what themes you wish to emphasize and how you will maximize your reward-risk ratio. As part of this, you will have chosen the “stories” you want to tell about yourself. This initial effort provides you with the context for an essay. When it is not clear which story to tell, remember these general rules for selection:
    The story is interesting.
    It is unusual.
    It shows you to have senior management qualities.
    It reveals something not fully revealed elsewhere in your application.
    It is a story you should tell, rather than one a recommender should tell.
    It will aid your positioning effort.
    It can be backed up by a recommender.

我最近在写essay。 好想看看别人写的

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thanks for sharing