I definitely considered writing this exact essay and then chose against it -- I figured it would be a relatively common topic and didn't want to come off as one of the masses. However, everyone's story is extremely personal and if you can make it your own, then go for it! Good luck!

I think it's similar to Tuck's but not necessarily to Columbia's: a personal experience does not have to be about a personal setback.

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Guys,

For essay #2(overcoming setback), I found the information in this link helpful. Not from a b-school, but has lot of relevant tips.

http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... art-i.aspx

The tuck essay does not ask you to focus necessarily on a personal setback. Eg: a failed project that impacted our promotion or something could be a setback. The adversity part, yes, is more personal. But the essay overall is farther away from Sloan's than Columbia's is
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About the personal setback essay, I contacted the MIT office and got this reply:

Hi Your Highness:

When we said "personal" we really meant "individual" so as to mean not something that affected your team at work. It need not be a personal (non-work) story at all. Work related stories are fine.

Regards,
Harriet Barnett

Does this help a little bit more? I am in the same boat, trying to select the experience for this essay. In for R1.

How are you guys handling Supplemental essay? I was at MIT grads office last Friday and the ad-com member mentioned that they highly encourage applicants to take the opportunity to use the essay.

Did you upload it in YouTube, or somewhere else? Not sure where is the best place to do that

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I felt I was ready with my ideas for this App and suddenly today, I have two essay themes, one for each essay, that I think are much better than what I wrote in the first place. Now, hence, I have two versions of each essay and a confused mind on which one to go with.

- For the personal essay, one is a theme that deals with a family issue and how I worked to support my family while the other is on how I dealt with not getting a promotion at work despite being a top performer with a perfect score on my annual evaluation, and how after moving on, I have achieved much more recognition in my current role.
Cons for the first: I guess a lot of ppl will write this, so I feel I may not be able to differentiate myself enough. However, this affects people in addition to me and hence is more 'meaningful'
Cons for the second: Again, a sizeable number would have this setback, and differentiation will be tough. However, this is more inward looking and affects only me

- For the convincing essay, both themes are professional, but in one I persuaded multiple stakeholders to go along with a proposed idea that fundamentally changed the company's staffing model. The second is not really an idea of mine, but definitely involved more direct persuasion

Thoughts? (I know you dont have adequate info on the essays or my background, but I would appreciate comments based only on the above for now)
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I know a couple of people have asked this, but does anyone know where we put information like: 1) explanation of why we are not using a current supervisor, 2) fact that our spouse is also applying, 3) addressing undergrad GPA, etc? I know I am probably missing something obvious, but I have not been able to figure it out.

Did these both take place within the last three years?