Some great points all around here.
Only thing to add:
The irony of b-school admissions is that they want these super ambitious "change the world" types who put career first and who value "what matters most to you" and self-fulfillment, ambition, etc. -- or even some sort of social conscience ("save the planet'!) sort of mantra where the seeds of that ambition is still ego and self-interest.
But in reality, like most human beings, it comes down to family. And family first. No matter what nationality or cultural background.
The fact is, most people (MBAs included) don't have the equivalent of winning the lottery by "having it all" -- being at the very top AND having all the time and resources in the world to have a wonderful personal life. Of those who are at the top of their professions (business, law, medicine, politics, entertainment, etc) most still have a lot of trouble with work-life balance. The very few who have both tend to recognize how incredibly lucky they are, because it's luck (being at the right place at the right time and having everything align).
For everyone else, sooner or later you are forced to make tradeoffs between your own career satisfaction and the needs of your entire family. And if you come from a culture where the extended family is very close knit (or you don't just kick out aging parents into a nursing home), it becomes even more of a difficult tradeoff.
When you have kids, your own self-fulfillment, career satisfaction, etc. becomes secondary if you are being the classic responsible parent who wants the best for his/her kids. "Work-life balance" takes on a different meaning when you are responsible for a family.
Which is why this whole talk about "career goals" becomes moot once you have kids -- because it's no longer driven by what YOU want to do. It's no longer about you. But about what you *need* to do to provide for your family - not just financially, but also everything else (school districts, spending time with them, etc).
If applicants were to answer the "career goals" essay honestly -- especially medium- to long-term, it would most likely be this:
"I will take whatever job at that time that is best for my family, especially my kids."
It's that which dictates what your job will be. You may not like your job at Behemoth Bureaucratic Corporation, but it provides health insurance for your entire family that Super Sexy Startup doesn't provide. Or you stick with another "okay" job over another "super sexy" job offer because the "okay" job means you don't need to move (you're in a great school district, you don't want to move your kids mid-year, etc). Regardless, your own personal career satisfaction may not be irrelevant, but it becomes secondary.
You may rather live and work in Manhattan, but with kids you may not have that choice. So you compromise for your kids to make sure you're living in a great school district, or you're living in a cheap enough area so you have money to pay for private schools if the public school system in your area sucks.
The reality is, most of you out there had parents who compromised (or even completely put aside) their own personal career aspirations after a while to raise you. And chances are, you'll do the same thing for your kids.
That's why in the end -- consulting, finance, industry, etc. really doesn't matter as much - it's all dependent on the situation and specific job/company at the time. You do what you need to do that you feel is best for your family.
_________________
Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
http://www.mbaapply.com