Hi,
I am currently a little lost with the essay prompt of Yale SOM. I need a fresh perspective. I would be glad if experts/alum's/ students of the school could offer some advice. Here's my profile.
*10 years work ex - Industry/s - hospitality, Alcobev marketing consulting, Hotel projects consulting.
*Bachelors - Hotel Management - India - First Division - (basically means an average student)
* Masters - Hospitality - France - 14.32/20 - French 20 point scale
* GMAT - 680 V35 Q47 AWA 5.5
*Current work ex - Started a hotel management company in China in 2012. My company owns and operates 1 Boutique hotel brand (small luxury hotel with 20 rooms)and 1 Italian restaurant brand in South China. Franchising the brand to 3 prospective hotels (in talks and will finalize soon) and more franchises soon. Annual Revenue - 750k USD
*Extracurriculars - Coordinated and volunteered a program by the Indian government to educate food vendors on hygiene and sanitation. Church volunteer. writing a social fiction book. Admission assistant for the school during my masters.
*Other activities - Rock climbing & Bouldering. I just love it!!!!! Climbing is all about problem-solving. Learning to play the Guqin (a Chinese string instrument)
Languages - English, French, Chinese (spoken only), Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi
Why an MBA - I want to expand my hotel business and want to diversify into the niche luxury consumer products industry.
R3 applications - Darden, Georgetown, and Yale ( was looking for a suitable management firm to manage the business when I am away and that's why R3)
The essay prompt is quite straightforward - how have you influenced an organization as an employee, a member or an outside constituent. That's where I am troubled. I would like to talk about my entrepreneurial experience, but would that really answer the question? To my organization, I am neither an employee or a member but the founder. I built the core values and the organization itself, so how I am really influencing it?
As I said, I need a fresh perspective and coming from a non-engineering background do I even stand a chance?
Thanks!