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mbaMission Admissions Consultant
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mbaMission’s Exclusive Interview with Melissa Rapp, Director of Admiss
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13 Aug 2018, 10:01
13 Aug 2018, 10:01
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| FROM mbaMission Blog: mbaMission’s Exclusive Interview with Melissa Rapp, Director of Admissions at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management |
 Melissa Rapp, Director of Admissions at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Recently, we had the pleasure of speaking one-on-one with Melissa Rapp, director of admissions at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, who gave us the update on happenings at Kellogg over the past year. She also explained the admissions committee’s take on applying in different rounds and to different programs at the school, in addition to the following:
July 2018 mbaMission: Melissa, thanks so much for joining us today. Melissa Rapp: My pleasure. mbaMission: There’s so much excitement at Kellogg right now. Tell us about the Global Hub—seven years, a $350 million investment. How has it changed the Kellogg experience, and is it everything everyone expected? MR: I think it’s everything everyone expected and then some. I can definitely speak for me personally. I was a little skeptical that a new building could have such a big an influence and create so much positive energy, but ever since we moved back into it last year [March 2017], it has really been an incredible place to work and learn. Now that we’ve been in the building for a year, we’ve had a chance to hear from students how it has affected their experience here, and what we’ve heard is overwhelmingly positive. The things they highlight are things like the classroom setups being customizable. Whether it’s for an in-class lecture or a debate or a small group discussion, the new classrooms support a variety of learning styles and give students a better opportunity to engage with each other and to leverage technology. The whole building was constructed with an eye toward how we use tech as an educational tool and how people use tech in their everyday lives. So the classrooms are appropriately wired; you can always find a place to charge and use your laptop or phone to take notes. The design was always intended to promote collaboration. And it’s almost impossible to walk through the Global Hub and not see someone you know, because of the wide open spaces and the way the walkways on the upper stories cut across Gies Plaza , the large collaborative plaza on the main floor. You regularly run into your friends, your professors, so it’s a fun place just to hang out. We’re seeing students come to the Global Hub not just for academics or because they have to but for the gym and the marketplace, where we have food available all the time. They use the space to work in small groups because the study rooms are so great, and because both the large and small areas were designed for collaboration. And a lot of people just really appreciate the view. It’s inspiring to be able to look down the lake at the city and to see all of Chicago that way. It’s just a very calming environment where you can find some quiet space, too. Some rooms are set aside specifically for reflection and quiet, so you can remove yourself from all the technology and buzz of the day and just sit peacefully and look out over the water. And that can give you a real sense of calm, which comes in handy around finals time. It’s amazing. mbaMission: That sounds fantastic. Kellogg has another big change in the works. Dean Sally Blount is stepping down at the end of the year. I’m not expecting you to announce any candidates today, but if you want to, you’re certainly welcome to! MR: I really wish I could, but … mbaMission: Can you tell us how the search is going? What would you say to someone who is applying to a school that does not have a “CEO” in place? MR: I think it’s important to remember that Sally is the dean until the end of August, and her presence is still really strong around here. We don’t feel like we’re missing anyone in our top leadership position. She still influences our work here on a day-to-day basis. And Kellogg is so much more than just one person. It’s a great time here at Kellogg, and we continue to attract incredible, high-quality, diverse applicants. I’m excited for you to see the class profile for our incoming Class of 2020. We have more women at Kellogg than ever before, and we’re going to continue developing programming to help our women students with their personal and professional growth. We also plan to continue innovating with our curriculum. We’ve introduced more than 100 courses in the past few years! Everything Sally has put in motion will continue, and the momentum and energy she infused into Kellogg are still very strong. Whatever the future holds as far as our next dean, I know Kellogg’s values and the Kellogg experience will remain quintessentially Kellogg.  View the facts and figures about Kellogg’s students entering the Two-Year MBA Program in Fall 2018. mbaMission: Great. Kellogg offers a variety of opportunities for would-be MBAs. For example, it is the only top U.S. MBA program to offer a one-year option for candidates who already have significant managerial experience. But I was thinking that a lot of people in traditional two-year programs also have really strong managerial experience, both educationally and professionally. So what determines the difference, in your opinion? When you meet applicants, do you ever think, “You’re kind of a one-year applicant” or “You’re kind of a two-year applicant”? MR: Determining which program is right for you is a very personal decision. And you’re right that some two-year students here at Kellogg would probably have been eligible for the one-year experience. And some one-year students would probably have been fine in the two-year program. The standards for the programs are the same, so we have the same quality of students in both. I think it usually comes down to career goals and expectations. The one-year program is better suited to candidates who have clear career goals that are not too divergent from whatever they’ve been doing. The major difference between the one-year and the two-year program is the summer internship experience. That internship experience is pivotal to students who want to make a big change in their careers. So if you’re looking to pivot into an entirely new industry or function, we think that internship experience is going to be an important part of your overall MBA experience. For students who have already established a career in a certain industry or function and are just looking to accelerate that career—maybe move to a different company but stay in the same lane—the one-year program is a great option. Because they’ve already established themselves in that industry or function, they can leverage that experience during their career search, versus having to rely on their internship experience. So it does take somebody who understands that their career is on a certain path, and one they’d like to continue on. It’s a great option for someone who fits the selection criteria—come to Kellogg, have a great Kellogg experience, enjoy the student-centered culture, enjoy the benefits of the alumni network after graduating, and do it all in one year. mbaMission: I have a similar question about the MMM Program. You completely revamped the MMM program a few years ago. Can you share with us how an applicant might be best positioned for that program? MR: So, MMM is our dual-degree, full-time program that focuses on driving the innovation life cycle of products and services. What’s great about the MMM Program is that it is a fully integrated curriculum that we have put together in partnership with the McCormick School of Engineering. Those students, while they are getting the benefit of that innovation curriculum taught by top professors, are fully Kellogg students. There isn’t any kind of separation between them and our other Kellogg students. When we’re looking at our MMM applicants, the standards are very similar to those for our other programs. A Kellogg student should be a Kellogg student first and foremost. With that said, a strong applicant for MMM shows a strong focus on his or her goals and how the MMM program can help achieve those goals. The program focuses on the intersection between business, technology, design, and innovation and is rooted in empathy, so an interest in these areas is key. Finally, our team considers an applicant’s potential for contribution to the smaller class of 66, where they will also take coursework from the Segal Design Institute, which is the engineering part of the degree, in a cohort model. mbaMission: Historically, Kellogg has been known for marketing, though consulting has been trouncing marketing for some time in terms of placement, for at least a decade, I believe. Can you share an area where Kellogg has a real strength but for which it may be lesser known? MR: My opinion is that Kellogg’s strength does not come from one particular program. It is Kellogg’s long-standing commitment to a core curriculum that really provides students with a broad base of knowledge, and that sets us apart. I think it’s important for applicants who are considering Kellogg to understand that we want to prepare you as a business leader, and we believe that a broad base of knowledge is critical to your ability to rise higher and higher in organizations. It’s so important that you have a working knowledge across all business functions if you want to be a CEO. Once you have that solid base of knowledge, Kellogg allows you the flexibility to really tailor the program to your needs and to go deep in one area. So if you’re interested in finance, you can definitely layer higher-level finance electives onto your core curriculum to build up your strengths in that area. We also allow you to, if you’d like, continue that broader approach to your academic base. So you can choose a major—majors are optional, and our majors are grounded in our academic departments. They are Accounting, Economics, Finance, Managing Organizations, Marketing, Operations, and Strategy. But we also recognize that some people’s interests don’t fall neatly into one of those areas. So the faculty designed what we refer to as “pathways.” These are guidelines—roadmaps, if you will—for faculty-recommended courses in specific industries that will give you a holistic understanding of that field. So “pathways” are things like data analytics, entrepreneurship, growth and scaling, healthcare, real estate, social impact, and venture capital and private equity. Really, no matter what your goals are, whether you want to focus in one particular area or think more broadly about your education, Kellogg will allow you to do that. I’m always very hesitant to define Kellogg by one particular program or one particular degree, because I think the beauty of Kellogg is that opportunity to develop your own path after building a strong base of broad knowledge that will equip you to be a leader. mbaMission: Sure. Thank you for that clarification. Let’s move toward some pure admissions questions now. Kellogg’s average GMAT score is pushing ever higher. Is there any intentionality behind that, or is it just driven by really motivated applicants who want to see their scores go up? MR: We’ve been fortunate to have an outstanding pool of applicants the past few years. What we’ve seen is that the applicant pool’s GMAT average has risen, so our class profile reflects the caliber of candidates who are choosing to apply to the school. The GMAT gets quite a bit of attention, but it’s just one aspect of our holistic approach to evaluating applicants. We never want candidates to stress too much over it or be intimidated by that score. We do look at candidates from all angles, and while that score does continue to go up, we don’t want people to think that’s a barrier to applying to Kellogg or to being a good candidate for our program. mbaMission: Other programs seem to be actively pushing people to apply in Round 1 these days. Can you clarify Kellogg’s stance on a Round 1 versus a Round 2 application? MR: My stance has been and will continue to be that candidates should feel comfortable applying whenever they are ready. I can appreciate that candidates, especially when applying to highly selective schools, look for any strategy that might be beneficial to them. But the truth is, at Kellogg, we really do offer a similar number of admissions in both of those rounds and a similar number of scholarships. So when I say I prefer students to apply when they’re ready, I mean it. There is not a strategic advantage to one round over another. mbaMission: That response is about as straightforward and matter-of-fact as we could ask for. Kellogg has its unique video essay. Can you talk about its role in the admissions process? MR: Absolutely! I’ve always been proud that we pioneered this technology after hearing from our CMC [Career Management Center] that lots of companies were starting to use a digital platform to screen candidates, so it was something our students were likely to see in their career search. We felt it would be a good way of introducing the technology to our students while also recognizing the benefits in the evaluation process. Because we’re so committed to getting to know each and every applicant as an individual, having the video essay has been a delightful addition to the process that allows the admissions committee to virtually meet every candidate and to hear in their words why Kellogg interests them and why they want to pursue an MBA. I’m sure you can appreciate that people can represent themselves differently in writing versus when speaking. To see their facial expressions and to hear the emotion and interest in people’s voices has really added a third dimension to our evaluation process and become an integral part of how we consider candidates. mbaMission: It is interesting that you now have the video essay, but you also maintain an open interview policy. Why interview all applicants if you have the video essay? MR: It’s a different way of expressing yourself. The interview still plays a very important role and gets at some different qualities than our video essay. We try to very carefully curate the things we ask for from candidates so we can really get at the qualities we’re looking for in different ways. Having both the interview and the video essay doesn’t feel redundant, especially since the folks evaluating applications can’t personally interview everyone. We definitely use the interview reports supplied by our alumni from around the world and find great value in those reports, but there’s something different about seeing someone’s face and hearing their voice. Even though the video essay answers are short, they provide that third dimension of evaluation that the admissions committee really enjoys seeing and hearing. The interview will continue to be an important part of our application process. We’re going to continue to strive to interview all our candidates, because that’s important to us. It reflects our strong commitment to inclusion and diversity and to making sure every person has a similar application experience. But the video essay, again, has become an important part of our process, so we’ll continue to use it as well. mbaMission: What can you tell us about class visits? Do you see them as an important indication of interest? If a candidate lives a certain extreme distance away from the school, does not visiting campus become more acceptable in the eyes of the admissions committee? Sometimes people wonder if they are expected to visit if they live within a certain radius of campus. MR: Our evaluation process doesn’t include anything directly tied to a campus visit, but I do think it’s an important way for candidates to get a feel for the culture and the environment they’re going to study in for the next year or two. Someone recently made the comparison that if you look at luxury cars—let’s say a BMW, a Mercedes, and a Lexus—if you look at the stats, they are all high-performance luxury vehicles, and on paper, they look fairly similar. But if you talk to some die-hard BMW drivers, they would never be caught dead in a Lexus, and vice versa. I think that concept can be applied to the MBA, especially if you’re looking at top-tier schools. The class profiles, the academics, the strong professors are similar. On paper, or on a website, they all look fairly similar. But Kellogg people are Kellogg people. And Harvard people are Harvard people. And that’s okay! I think it’s really about learning about the culture, getting the feel of the community, and there’s just no better way to do that than to be on campus, talk to students, and talk to alumni. So I always encourage candidates to visit the campuses of all the schools they are seriously considering. It’s a really important part of the overall experience. I don’t think many people buy a car without test driving it, and I don’t think many people should go to a school they’ve never visited. And I understand that that’s complicated for international applicants. Obviously, we have a lot of applicants that choose to visit, but for those who can’t, I think engaging with current students and alumni via LinkedIn or email or over Skype is a good way of getting a feel for at least the people who make up Kellogg. mbaMission: It’s funny that you use a car analogy. I always tell applicants, “If you bought a car, how many cars would you test drive?” And they’ll say, “Three.” And I’ll say, “This is ten times more important and expensive.” And then they kind of get it. So, what can you say about reapplicants to Kellogg? Can you give your reapplicants out there a little hope? MR: Absolutely, there is hope! Every year, we admit some reapplicants. Some folks just weren’t quite ready the first time. Some just didn’t perform as well on one aspect of the application as they could have. It’s important for reapplicants to understand that submitting the exact same materials will yield the exact same results. You’d be surprised—sometimes, we get identical applications from people. That additional year of work experience and opportunity should be reflected in the next application. Our platform lets us look at a candidate’s application from the previous year alongside the new application. Seeing what kind of reflection happens after someone wasn’t admitted, and seeing how they subsequently took advantage of opportunities at work, or opportunities to study more for the GMAT, or to gain more leadership experience, all those things are important to show in your new application. I often tell our reapplicants I meet that it isn’t so much that you worked another year, because we’d expect you to work another year. It’s more “So what? What did you learn? How did you grow?” Being able to express that in your reapplicant essay is a really important part of being a successful reapplicant. mbaMission: Something you said earlier caught my attention, that Kellogg has added 100 new classes in the past couple years. Can you point to a class that is a real favorite—maybe one that is a little bit innovative or different in its approach, that students are really loving? MR: There are several in the entrepreneurship space. For example, two years ago, Kellogg introduced a San Francisco Winter Quarter program, allowing students the opportunity to gain course credit while working within a high-growth startup, venture capital, or private equity firm. Students spend three to four days per week at their internship while also taking three credits’ worth of courses on topics including building strong teams and company culture, understanding the application of social dynamics and network science to inform strategy, and navigating the world of venture investment. We will be sending our third and largest cohort to the Bay Area this winter. Other courses that stand out include “Entrepreneurial Selling,” in which students learn how to acquire and delight customers by using selling skills in different contexts, and “New Venture Discovery,” in which students navigate the earliest stages of starting a new venture by identifying a problem in the market that is worth solving. mbaMission: When I went to business school, there was a course I felt everyone should have taken but that no one seemed to know about. They brought in 17 entrepreneurs who talked about how they had purchased a business for less than $500,000. Just an amazing class. I had to wonder what classes at Kellogg might be like that! Do you have anything else you would like to say about Kellogg or to your future applicants? MR: I’m just so thrilled that our application is already live! We were able to launch it earlier than we ever have before. We wanted candidates, especially in Round 1, to have plenty of time to thoughtfully craft their applications. We’re thrilled to have it live now. I definitely encourage everyone to have a look at it and get started on it. Our admissions team is happy to help with any questions. We’ve also started a director blog series, so if you want to hear more of what I think about things, you can follow that [https://blogs.kellogg.northwestern.edu/inside/category/admissions/]. It is such an exciting time here at Kellogg. mbaMission: Fantastic! Thank you so much for joining us. I look forward to visiting soon and to seeing Kellogg’s impressive growth continue. MR: Thank you so much! It was a pleasure. |
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UNC Kenan Flagler Essay Analysis, 2018–2019
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14 Aug 2018, 08:01
14 Aug 2018, 08:01
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| FROM mbaMission Blog: UNC Kenan Flagler Essay Analysis, 2018–2019 |
 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School is continuing to stick with rather traditional application essay questions this year and eschewing the ultra creative options some other top programs have embraced— “introduce yourself” videos, tables of contents, lists of “random things,” six-word “stories,” representative songs—but it has all new prompts and now requires two essay submissions, rather than just one. Candidates are tasked with explaining their short-term professional intentions in one essay, while the other essay provides some balance by focusing on one’s core values and response to a related challenging situation. Applicants also have one optional essay, rather than the previous three, with which to address another angle or two of their profile and candidacy, as they see fit. The approach, albeit conventional, gives applicants plenty of opportunity to present a full picture of themselves in the 750 to 1,050 words allotted. Our full analysis of this season’s questions follows. Essay 1 (Required): Please respond to the questions below that will assist us in learning more about you (500 words):
Without posing the question directly, the school is also looking for an explanation of “Why Kenan-Flagler?” The admissions committee wants evidence that you have researched its MBA program thoroughly enough to have pinpointed resources and offerings that directly align with your interests and needs—and not just academically and professionally. This is the part of our essay analysis in which we once again repeat our advice about getting to know a school beyond its website and published materials. Visit campus, sit in on a class, and connect with students and alumni. Identify clubs, events, courses, initiatives, and other opportunities at the school that speak to who you are as an individual and to who you want to be by the time you graduate and going forward in your career. Ideally, Kenan-Flagler offers one or more particular resources or experiences that you believe are vital to you in achieving your goals and are not available elsewhere. When you include this information in your essay, do not simply provide a list but explain how you will engage with these elements of the MBA program and what you expect to gain from them. With career goals essays, candidates often feel they must be totally unequivocal in their stated aspirations, but with the second part of this essay prompt, Kenan-Flagler is giving applicants room to speculate on and discuss other options. The admissions committee knows that sometimes the best-laid plans do not play out as expected or may even yield unintended results, and the school wants to know not only that you are prepared to switch gears and recommit to a different path, if necessary, but also that you are fully capable of doing so. The key is to show that your alternate goal is just as connected to your skills, interests, and ambitions as your original plan and does not come “out of left field,” so to speak. For example, you would probably have a difficult time convincing the admissions committee that your short-term goal is to work in technology consulting while your alternate goal would be to work in human resources, because these industries, for the most part, require entirely different skills and personalities. Just be mindful that both goals you present must be plausible and achievable. This prompt encompasses a few core elements of a traditional personal statement essay, so we encourage you to download our free mbaMission Personal Statement Guide for more in-depth guidance. This complimentary publication offers detailed advice on approaching and framing these subjects, along with multiple illustrative examples. Be sure to claim your copy today. Essay 2 (Required): The UNC Kenan-Flagler community lives by its core values: excellence, leadership, integrity, community and teamwork.
Around the world, people hold very different definitions of success and strong feelings about the best way to achieve it. For some, this means “winning” at all costs and by any means necessary. As a result, you will inevitably encounter situations in life in which people act or things progress in a way that runs counter to what you feel is “right”—in other words, in a way that conflicts with your values. Kenan-Flagler wants to know how your values influence your decisions and actions, and in particular, which one you feel serves as your strongest guide. Simply stating that you adhere to your values is easy enough, so the admissions committee is understandably asking for an illustration of this phenomenon from your past to better gauge this for itself. Having an idea of how you tend to react to situations that challenge your core beliefs will help the school better envision how you might navigate such incidents in its classrooms and in the business world after you graduate. The wording of the prompt leads us to believe that the school wants you to choose your featured core value from the list it has provided of its own—excellence, leadership, integrity, community, and teamwork—and given that your application essays are meant to convince the admissions committee that you would be a good fit with the Kenan-Flagler program, doing so only makes sense anyway. Beyond that, the school does not stipulate whether a story from your personal life or your career should be provided here, so consider all your options to identify the most fitting and revealing one. Although in theory, describing a situation from your personal or community activities would provide a nice balance for the professional focus of the school’s first essay, what is more critical is sharing an experience that best conveys this aspect of your character for the admissions committee. Given the 250-word maximum for this essay, you should definitely skip any preamble or lip service and simply dive into your response, clearly identifying your selected core value, describing the situation that challenged it, and detailing your subsequent thought process and actions in response. Whatever the ultimate outcome of the incident—even if it took the form of a failure of some kind—the key again is to clearly illustrate for the admissions committee how you were guided by your fundamental beliefs. Optional Essay: Is there any additional information not presented elsewhere in your application that you would like the admissions committee to consider? (300 words) Optional areas to address include:
However, Kenan-Flagler leaves the door open for you to discuss something other than a problem area if you feel you have information that is not covered elsewhere in your application and that you feel the admissions committee truly needs to know to be able to evaluate you fully and effectively. We caution you against submitting a response to this prompt just because you fear that not doing so would somehow count against you, though. Remember, with each additional essay you write, you are asking the admissions committee to do extra work on your behalf, so you must make sure that added time is warranted. If you decide to use this essay to impart information that if omitted would render your application incomplete, strive to keep your submission brief and on point. |
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INSEAD Essay Analysis, 2018–2019
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15 Aug 2018, 08:01
15 Aug 2018, 08:01
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| FROM mbaMission Blog: INSEAD Essay Analysis, 2018–2019 |
 Last year, INSEAD made just the slightest of changes to its essay approach and questions, but this year, it has made none at all. Candidates must respond to four short career-focused queries and provide three motivation essays that together total 1,200 words. Applicants are also tasked with completing a video component for which they answer four questions as four separate one-minute video recordings. Given the sheer number of prompts, tasks, and questions involved, some applicants may find INSEAD’s essay gauntlet a bit intimidating, if not outright punishing. Read on for our full analysis of the school’s questions, which we hope will make the process a little easier to manage. Job Description 1: Briefly summarise your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work, major responsibilities, and where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, clients/products and results achieved. (short answer) Job Description 2: What would be your next step in terms of position if you were to remain in the same company? (short answer) Job Description 3: Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. Describe your career path with the rationale behind your choices. (short answer) Job Description 4: Discuss your short and long term career aspirations with an MBA from INSEAD. (short answer) For the school’s job-related short-answer questions (essentially mini essays), we encourage you to start by very carefully parsing exactly what data the school requests for each. Together, these four prompts cover many of the elements seen in a traditional personal statement essay, including info about one’s career to date, interest in the school, and professional goals. However, the topics are clearly separated among individual submissions rather than covered in a cohesive single essay, and INSEAD also asks applicants to comment on their expected progression within their current firm were they to remain there rather than entering business school. The first prompt requires that you outline roughly six different aspects of your current or most recent position. Be sure that you address each of the elements the school lists, and do not skip any just because you would rather write more about some than others. You may also want to consider providing a very brief description of your company or industry, if the nature of either might not be readily clear to an admissions reader. For the second question, your response should be fairly straightforward. If your firm has a clearly defined management hierarchy in which one position leads directly to a higher one—and you would be interested in adhering to that system—you simply need to explain this and perhaps offer a short description of the new responsibilities your next position would entail. If your company does not have such an arrangement or you would want to move in a different direction, simply explain what your preferred next role would be and the duties involved. The third prompt is rather self-explanatory with respect to detailing the various stages of your career to date, but do not be remiss in responding to the “rationale” and “choices” aspects of the query. The school wants to know that your progression has not been passive, with your simply accepting the next good thing to come along, but rather that you have made thoughtful decisions with clear motivations and intentions behind them. For the fourth question, you will need to present your professional goals within the context of an INSEAD MBA education. Do your research on the school to identify specific resources it offers that relate directly to the skills and experiences you need to be successful in your career, thereby illustrating how INSEAD would help you achieve your aims. Above all, be sure to show determination and direction—that you are focused firmly on your intended end points and will not be easily deterred. For all your job description responses, avoid using any acronyms or abbreviations that would not be easily recognizable to most people. Using shortcuts (in the form of abbreviations/acronyms) and skipping basic contextual information could make your answers less understandable and therefore less compelling and useful to an admissions reader, so do yourself a favor by more completely depicting your situation. Also, consider framing your responses to these rather straightforward queries in a narrative format to make them more interesting to the admissions reader, rather than simply outlining the basic information. Strive to incorporate a sense of your personality and individuality into your submissions. As we have noted, these questions cover many elements of a traditional personal statement, so we encourage you to download a free copy of our mbaMission Personal Statement Guide. In this complimentary publication, we provide a detailed discussion of how to approach such queries and craft effective responses, along with multiple illustrative examples. Optional Job Essay: If you are currently not working or if you plan to leave your current employer more than 2 months before the programme starts, please explain your activities and occupations between leaving your job and the start of the programme. With this essay, INSEAD hopes to see signs of your interest in ongoing self-improvement, knowledge or experience collection, and/or giving back. Whether you are choosing to leave your job a few months before the beginning of the MBA program or are asked to do so by your employer, simply explain what you expect do and gain during the interim. The admissions committee wants to know that you are the kind of person who takes advantage of opportunities and to understand what kinds of opportunities appeal to you. For example, perhaps you plan to complete a few quantitative courses to be better equipped to hit the ground running in your related MBA classes, or perhaps you want to spend some time with distant family members or volunteering in your community because you know that your availability to do so will be limited when you are in school, and you want to maintain those important connections. Maybe you want to travel to improve your language ability in a more immersive environment before coming to INSEAD, given the importance of this skill in the school’s program. Or you might be arrange informational interviews, job-shadowing opportunities, and/or unpaid internships, which could help in various ways with recruiting and job selection. Whatever your goals and plans, clearly convey how you anticipate your experience(s) to add to or change your character, enhance your skill set, and/or increase your understanding of yourself or others—all of which are valuable in business school. Motivation Essay 1: Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary (approximately 500 words). Although INSEAD’s request for “main factors … which have influenced your development” comes in the latter half of this essay prompt, we feel you should actually provide this context for your formative experiences before discussing the strengths and weaknesses you derived from them, because showing a clear cause-and-effect relationship between the two is important. The school asks that you offer examples “when necessary,” but your essay will be strongest if you present anecdotes to illustrate and support all your statements. Still, your essay should not end up being a hodgepodge of unconnected anecdotes that reveal strengths. Instead, focus on two or three strengths and one or two weaknesses in the mere 500 words allotted. As always, be honest about your strengths (do not try to tell the committee what you think it wants to hear; truthfully describe who you legitimately are) and especially about your weaknesses—this is vital. Transparent or disingenuous statements will not fool or convince anyone and will only reveal you as someone incapable of critical self-evaluation. Motivation Essay 2: Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In addition, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned (approximately 400 words). For this essay, you will need to offer two anecdotes that reveal different sides of you as an applicant, describing a high moment from your life and a low moment. Because the school also asks you to address how these incidents subsequently influenced your interactions with others and what lessons they taught you, you must identify stories that not only involve a significant incident but also affected you personally in a meaningful and long-lasting way. These elements of your essay are just as important as the accomplishment and the failure you choose to share; your unique thoughts can differentiate you from other applicants, and showing that you recognize how these incidents changed you and your relations with others demonstrates your self-awareness and capacity for growth. Steer clear of trite and clichéd statements about your takeaways, and really reflect on these situations to uncover your deeper reactions and impressions. For example, everyone gains some level of resiliency from a failure, so you must offer something less common and more compelling and personal. Be aware that the best failure essays are often those that show reasoned optimism and tremendous momentum toward a goal—a goal that is ultimately derailed. In most cases, you will need to show that you were emotionally invested in your project/experience, which will enable the reader to connect with your story and vicariously experience your disappointment. If you were not invested at all, it is hardly credible to discuss the experience as a failure or learning experience. Motivation Essay 3: Describe all types of extra-professional activities in which you have been or are still involved for a significant amount of time (clubs, sports, music, arts, politics, etc). How are you enriched by these activities? (approximately 300 words) Although stereotypes about the top MBA programs abound—this school wants consultants, that school is for marketing professionals, this other one is for techies and entrepreneurs—the truth is that they all want a diverse incoming class, full of people with various strengths and experiences that they can share with one another for the good of all. Discussing how you choose to spend your free time—explaining why your chosen activities are important to you and what you derive from them—provides the admissions committee with a window into your personality outside the workplace and classroom and an idea of what you could contribute to the student body and INSEAD as a whole. Optional Motivation Essay: Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee? (approximately 300 words) We tend to believe that the best use of the optional essay is to explain confusing or problematic issues in your candidacy, and this prompt offers an opportunity to do just that. So, if you need to, this is your chance to address any questions an admissions officer might have about your profile—a poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT or GRE score, a gap in your work experience, etc. We suggest downloading your free copy of the mbaMission Optional Essays Guide, in which we offer detailed advice on deciding whether to take advantage of the optional essay and how best to do so (with multiple sample essays), if needed. INSEAD does not stipulate that you can only discuss a problem area in this essay, however, so you have some leeway to share anything you think may be pivotal or particularly compelling. We caution you against trying to fill this space simply because you fear that not doing so would somehow count against you. Remember, by submitting an additional essay, you are asking the admissions committee to do extra work on your behalf, so you need to make sure that time is warranted. If you are using the essay to emphasize something that if omitted would render your application incomplete, take this opportunity to write a very brief narrative that reveals this key new aspect of your candidacy. Video After submitting your INSEAD application, you will need to respond to four additional questions in video form. You technically have until 48 hours after the deadline for the round in which you apply to complete this element of the process, but we strongly recommend doing so sooner rather than later while your mind is still in application mode and to ensure you do not somehow forget this task or have to rush through it at the end of the allotted time period. Because all INSEAD interviews are conducted by the school’s alumni, members of the admissions committee have previously had no opportunity to see or meet with candidates; they had to learn all they could simply from the written portions of the application. This video component now gives the committee direct and dynamic insight into applicants’ character and personality, as well as another angle on their language abilities. About the videos, INSEAD says on its site, “The Admissions Committee is interested in obtaining an authentic view of you as a person, to see how you think on your feet and how you convey your ideas.” So when the time comes for you to record your responses, do your best to relax, answer genuinely, and let your true self shine through! For a thorough exploration of INSEAD’s academic offerings, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, community/environment, and other key facets of the program, please download your free copy of mbaMission’s INSEAD Insider’s Guide. The Next Step—Mastering Your INSEAD Interview:Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. We therefore offer our free Interview Primers to spur you along! Download your free copy of the INSEAD Interview Primer today. |
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