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Question

The essay question is 

Give Detailed Description of three activities in your workplace in the last five years which will help us assess your abilities and strengths

Can one of the 3 activities be "how I handled an ethical dilemma at work place"

helg · Answer

I guess not, because it can hardly be expected to be seen on your job description or to put it another way that was not something you did on regular basis.

aaudetat · Answer

actually, i would say it's probably ok. What they really want to know is about your strengths and personality as demonstrated through work. No, an activity is not "this thing I did one time." But I am sure that you can package your response into something that is part of your regular job.

yb · Answer

I think this question needs to be looked at as it fits in with the other questions. Remember, you are trying to paint a complete picture and trying to bring out as many strengths as possible. If it is a solid story and there is no other place on your app where the story belongs, then by all means use it on this one.

My 2c..

venky1979 · Answer

There are only 3 questions
1) mentioned in my query
2) A moment that was very challenging in ur life
3) Goals Essay and y MBA

Well I have 3 projects where I have demonstarted formal leadership like managing team and client expectations etc but I tht this would sound cliche and wanted to make it a bit interesting so i was wondering whether I can use an ethical dilemma to make my essays stand out

helg · Answer

I think it would be right to write about the activity that  involved  solving an ethical dilemma. Why this activity caused such a necessity and how you handled it - through this you may demonstrate your strengths and values.

venky1979 · Answer

Thanks for the responses

I have one more question can the 3 activity sound something like this

A story of what happened
-My role as Project manager, team size, project description
-challenge faced
-How I resolved
-effects to the business
-conclusion


or should sound like a detailed CV explaining numbers and figures

I this question sounds silly and it should be obvious that the first option is correct but I just anted to confirm

jaynayak · Answer

The first option is definetly the way to go. Remember, fact and figures are for resume not for essays. What the adcom probably wants to see is how well have you introspected while thinking about your actions.

I usuall follow the a slight variation of SAR approach defined in Paul's book. That is Situation --> Action --> Results

EconGirl · Answer

Make sure your answer does not get lost in a story. If it were me, I would start by outlining skills/characteristics you poses and want the adCom to know about you. Than I would pick the tasks/experiences at work that will allow you to showcase those skills and I'd write about them through specific examples. Remember, it is not the activities that matter but your personality/skills you show through them. 

Be careful with the ethics example - it is a common essay for many schools and so don't give the AdCom a reason to wonder if you wrote about it just to use the work from other applications. So, to answer your 1st Q - I do not htink that one of the 3 activities should be "how I handled an ethical dilemma at work place". However, you can work it in indirectly. Here is a BS example: one of the activities you perform is quality control of a product. To do it well, you are a detail oriented, dedicated blah blah...Although at first we may think that QC is a relatively easy/enjoyable task, for you it proved to be one of the most challenging - one time during QC you were faced with an ethical dilema - listen to your suprvisor and deliver a substandard product in order to meet a deadline or.... and so on. 

hope this helps

venky1979 · Answer

Thanks This was really usefull

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