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17 Oct 2016, 04:53
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18 Oct 2016, 05:26
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You have to choose a number, that number will have a topic.
sbjayant
20 Oct 2016, 20:15
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ESSAY ANALYSIS OF PGPX QUESTIONS:
Essay 1 : Describe a situation where you failed and how did you deal with this experience. What did you learn from this?
(Max up to 500 Words.)
In our experience of helping MBA applicants, failure essays are more difficult to write as compared to the achievement essays. They require a lot more introspection, analysis and ofcourse the ability to accept, that yes, I was wrong. And we mean, accept it truly. TRULY! Many a times when we are brainstorming with applicants, we hear lame failure stories, such as issues due to prioritizing tasks, failing because they love to take additional work. Its difficult to offer any real insights in such stories and after 3+ years of work experience, they begin to sound like your experiences lacked any depth at all.
So when you are brainstorming for essay ideas, go beyond the most obvious stories (like the ones mentioned above). Think of a time when you really slipped up. Your project could have suffered, it could have led to negative consequences – that’s okay, so long as you learned a major lesson and preferably, got a chance to implement your learnings in your future assignments.
Now, there is one caveat to selecting stories – you definitely don’t want to offer stories which will make the admissions committee doubt your capabilities. For instance, doing something so drastically wrong that you were asked to leave the organization, or maybe doing something ethically wrong.
We suggest the following structure for this essay:
1. What was the situation
2. What actions did you take?
3. How did you fail? Why did you fail?
4. What was the impact of the failure?
5. Could you salvage the situation? If yes, how?
6. What was your analysis of the failure?
7. What did you learn out of this situation?
8. What actions did you take to improve?
9. If you already had the chance, how did you do a similar thing better the next time? If not, how would you do something similar better the next time?
10. (Optional): Is there some IIMA program feature that you will leverage to improve further?
Your essay may not require each one of the steps mentioned above, so pick out the ones that most matter in your storytelling. And we will reiterate the most important tip: let the focus of your essay be on analysis and self improvement. A common error in such essays is to utilize 60% of the space in explaining the situation.
***********************************************************************************************************************
Essay 2 : Describe a situation where your professional ethics were challenged and how you came to terms with the situation. What did you learn from this? (Max up to 500 Words.)
We are glad that IIMA has traditionally ditched the regular SoP or the career goals essay to ask two behavioral questions. There is scope for applicants to reveal so much about themselves through such questions. The focus, once again is on analysis and introspection of the values that matter to you and why. And ofcourse, how far are you willing to go to uphold them. This has to be followed with your reasoning for your actions- leaving this section out can make your essay limp and unrevealing, and will be the differentiator between the successful applications and the unsuccessful ones. Ultimately, every situation teaches you something, and this learning is important in every b-school essay.
We suggest the STAR approach for building this essay:
1. What was the situation?
2. What was the ethical challenge?
3. What were your values that were challenged?
4. What were your thoughts at that time? What dilemma did you face in going this way or that way? What risk would you take in either situation?
5. Eventually what actions did you take and why?
6. What was the outcome?
7. What did you learn out of this situation (about yourself and about handling such situations)?
8. (Optional) If placed in a similar situation once again, how would you react?
Once again, we will emphasize on the reasoning for your response to the situation and the learning you derived from the situation. In terms of space distribution, keep about 40-50% of the essay for these two important elements. Mean editing will be a key to successful writing.
Our parting tip, yet again is to self analyze and reveal.
Essay 1 : Describe a situation where you failed and how did you deal with this experience. What did you learn from this?
(Max up to 500 Words.)
In our experience of helping MBA applicants, failure essays are more difficult to write as compared to the achievement essays. They require a lot more introspection, analysis and ofcourse the ability to accept, that yes, I was wrong. And we mean, accept it truly. TRULY! Many a times when we are brainstorming with applicants, we hear lame failure stories, such as issues due to prioritizing tasks, failing because they love to take additional work. Its difficult to offer any real insights in such stories and after 3+ years of work experience, they begin to sound like your experiences lacked any depth at all.
So when you are brainstorming for essay ideas, go beyond the most obvious stories (like the ones mentioned above). Think of a time when you really slipped up. Your project could have suffered, it could have led to negative consequences – that’s okay, so long as you learned a major lesson and preferably, got a chance to implement your learnings in your future assignments.
Now, there is one caveat to selecting stories – you definitely don’t want to offer stories which will make the admissions committee doubt your capabilities. For instance, doing something so drastically wrong that you were asked to leave the organization, or maybe doing something ethically wrong.
We suggest the following structure for this essay:
1. What was the situation
2. What actions did you take?
3. How did you fail? Why did you fail?
4. What was the impact of the failure?
5. Could you salvage the situation? If yes, how?
6. What was your analysis of the failure?
7. What did you learn out of this situation?
8. What actions did you take to improve?
9. If you already had the chance, how did you do a similar thing better the next time? If not, how would you do something similar better the next time?
10. (Optional): Is there some IIMA program feature that you will leverage to improve further?
Your essay may not require each one of the steps mentioned above, so pick out the ones that most matter in your storytelling. And we will reiterate the most important tip: let the focus of your essay be on analysis and self improvement. A common error in such essays is to utilize 60% of the space in explaining the situation.
***********************************************************************************************************************
Essay 2 : Describe a situation where your professional ethics were challenged and how you came to terms with the situation. What did you learn from this? (Max up to 500 Words.)
We are glad that IIMA has traditionally ditched the regular SoP or the career goals essay to ask two behavioral questions. There is scope for applicants to reveal so much about themselves through such questions. The focus, once again is on analysis and introspection of the values that matter to you and why. And ofcourse, how far are you willing to go to uphold them. This has to be followed with your reasoning for your actions- leaving this section out can make your essay limp and unrevealing, and will be the differentiator between the successful applications and the unsuccessful ones. Ultimately, every situation teaches you something, and this learning is important in every b-school essay.
We suggest the STAR approach for building this essay:
1. What was the situation?
2. What was the ethical challenge?
3. What were your values that were challenged?
4. What were your thoughts at that time? What dilemma did you face in going this way or that way? What risk would you take in either situation?
5. Eventually what actions did you take and why?
6. What was the outcome?
7. What did you learn out of this situation (about yourself and about handling such situations)?
8. (Optional) If placed in a similar situation once again, how would you react?
Once again, we will emphasize on the reasoning for your response to the situation and the learning you derived from the situation. In terms of space distribution, keep about 40-50% of the essay for these two important elements. Mean editing will be a key to successful writing.
Our parting tip, yet again is to self analyze and reveal.
ashman843
Joined: 30 Jul 2011
Last visit: 14 Apr 2017
Posts: 117
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 190
Concentration: Technology, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Anderson '18 ISB '18 (A) Cornell NYC Tech MBA"18 (WL) Rotman '19 (A) Insead Sept '17 (D) IIMA (A) NUS '19 (A$)
GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V40
GPA: 3.68
Schools: Anderson '18 ISB '18 (A) Cornell NYC Tech MBA"18 (WL) Rotman '19 (A) Insead Sept '17 (D) IIMA (A) NUS '19 (A$)
GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V40
Posts: 117
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21 Oct 2016, 04:56
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Hey everyone,
Two quick questions:
1. Is the IIMA login working for you? I just tried to access it and it says 'Forbidden'. Can someone else please check?
2. From the email I just got from IIMA, they're asking for the resume, photograph, documents submitted before the 25th of October. But, the essay is to be submitted by the 27th of October. Wondering how we can submit the photo and the resume (both to be uploaded to the application) without the essay by the 25th. Thoughts?
Two quick questions:
1. Is the IIMA login working for you? I just tried to access it and it says 'Forbidden'. Can someone else please check?
2. From the email I just got from IIMA, they're asking for the resume, photograph, documents submitted before the 25th of October. But, the essay is to be submitted by the 27th of October. Wondering how we can submit the photo and the resume (both to be uploaded to the application) without the essay by the 25th. Thoughts?
