essays application emba

Question

I am asked of a signinficant demonstration of leadership.

THis is a very very broad question and I am wondering of what the school is looking for as an answer.. Are there any quidelines that I should follow.

My second question that I am asked is my overall career objectives. THis too puzzles me temporarily because it is so broad. Are there strategies to really hit home on these essays. My worry is that in explaining one career objective might jeapordize the rest of my application (since I might be accepting an offer very soon from another company). How can I play my cards right?

aaudetat · Answer

Re leadership - 
Think of a time that you drove something. You can talk about a project, a difficult situation, whatever. Think about it in the STAR format - situation, task, action, result. Put most of the discussion on the A and R. Overcoming adversity and learning something about yourself is always good. Make sure it's something YOU did, and not something "we" did.

Re job -
The point here is not to write in stone what your future job will be. They ask this question because they want to make sure you're not a career risk. Does your career thread - where you were, where you are, and where you want to go - make sense? Do you know what is required of a given position? Can you deliver? Can the school help you get there? If the answer to any of these questions is no, the school will doubt your employability. That's bad.

So pick one career trajectory -- getting into consulting with the long-term goal of opening your own boutique shop to focus on internat'l development, or whatever -- and show them you know how the career dance works. The big joke is that once everyone is in school, they NEVER do what their essays say they'll do.

You might want to pick up an essay book - Montauk or Bodine are popular - that will lay out the underlying purpose of common essay questions, and warn you about common applicant mistakes.

RVD · Answer

i would say that for emba, the essays need to be a little different from full time MBA.

leadership really needs to be an example of where you led a project and you need to give specific examples of how you were able to solve problems and make the successful project through your leadership. i would start with some broad goals such as "leadership comes in many forms and a truly effective leader is able to adapt to different situations...", etc. usually a project starts well, has some roadblocks that you struggle with but as a leader you recognize that sometimes you need to ask for help so you consult a mentor who helps you and as a result you get through the roadblock but you encounter another one and remember the experience with the mentor you are able to solve the roadblock yourself this time, etc. in the end you talk about some broad skills of being a great leader, etc.

for career objectives, you really need to make it clear why an MBA is most logical now. for me, i was a computer science major in college and worked as a software developer during the early part of my career but i transitioned into management and now i'm more of an entrepreneur dealing with VCs, investors, etc. and i felt that my education no longer suited my career goals and needs so i seek an mba to help not only my long term goals but also my short terms goals because i will be able to take my classroom knowledge back into the workplace immediately since i will still be working...etc.

RVD.

RVD · Answer

one more thing...this may sound obvious but for emba, you want to make sure your long term career goals aren't too far from what you are doing now. the mba should logically enhance your career but not change it. don't go from management consulting to i-banking because it won't sound realistic if you've been in consulting for 10 years.

in my essays, i wrote stuff along the lines of "i seek an MBA not to drastically change my career, as I find being a successful entrepreneur extremely satisfying. however, a successful entrepreneur must base decisions on instinct, experience, and knowledge and an MBA will dramatically help establish a foundation of knowledge..."

RVD.

essays application emba

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