Maybe we can have a thread discussing the dreaded "What matters to you most " and "What are you most passionate about" essays. What do people write about? Take an example of a father. Doesn't his kid matter to him most? If he writes about anything else, he would perhaps be lying. But you can't really write about family, cos that makes you seem immature. How about a hobby? If you were most passionate about a hobby, then would it be your hobby? Wouldn't you be a lot more involved in it than that? A philosophy in life? Really? Let's take an example, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Something like this is going to sound so cheesy that your essay will have to do a tremendously good job of making up for it. Making the essay personable will also become a really difficult job. Your career? Look back at your career. If your career was your passion, then would you have achieved only this much so far? Moreover, don't you become one-dimensional if your career matters to you the most? A social cause? Would you be making your cool $100K while burning more than a grand on a new laptop every year here in the US if a social cause was your biggest passion? If you are most passionate about ensuring that kids in the ABCD village in Mangolia are educated, then wouldn't you be in Mangolia right now, instead of writing essays? This "most" word is making my life miserable. Everything that I think of, I can find why that is not the thing that I can be "most" passionate about, or why I should not be writing about it. If I answer this question honestly, I am most passionate about helping my younger brother grow up to be the best and the most successful man that he can be. That is one thing for which I can let go of anything. But there's no way I am writing about something like that. Did you guys find the answer to the "most passionate" / "matters most" question very easily?

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What are you most passionate about

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adcxaway

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21 Aug 2007, 20:26

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I've been thinking about it...

What motivates you

and What is your passion are two different questions. On hindsight, I don't think it's possible to take What is your passion as what motivates you.

What is your passion - if you had limited resources, what would you do? Would you spend time with your family? Would you bake cakes? Would you travel the world?

What motivates you - what drives you to do what you do?

As for me, I'm going to write about playing pool.... :wink:

kryzak

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21 Aug 2007, 20:31

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what if your passion is "competition" in general? or "seeing diversity/different things"? Then it's the same as motivation.

but you're right, there's a fine line, and in some cases they are different, like if you only talk about a hobby, then it's a passion question.

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21 Aug 2007, 20:39

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definitely food for thought...

kryzak

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21 Aug 2007, 20:43

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actually, "what matters most to you" can also be different...

for example, you can answer "what matters most" with "being with family", but that doesn't answer "what is your passion" or "what motivates you" that well...

so I guess it's a very tricky question to answer... make sure your answer can fit the question, and that the answer comes from somewhere deep within you =)

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21 Aug 2007, 20:49

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Nice thread.

The reality is that student loans force many students to choose high paying jobs, obviously to pay off debt early. Interests can evolve over time, but I hope you have the courage to not be tempted by short term monetary gains.

kryzak

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Updated on: 21 Aug 2007, 21:08

Originally posted by kryzak on 21 Aug 2007, 21:03.
Last edited by kryzak on 21 Aug 2007, 21:08, edited 2 times in total.

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I hope I don't get tempted... while money and a good life is something I wish to have, in the end, after the past couple years, I learned that if I'm NOT happy to go to work everyday, it's just not worth it (for me).

Maybe my answer to "What matters most to you" is "being happy"... then the follow on question is... "what makes you happy?"

mNeo

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21 Aug 2007, 21:06

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Actually, to every human being, "being happy" is what matters the most. Think about it .. everything that one does (Even self-less acts) is to feel happy in the end. What all of us try to define is, what acts / achievements make us the happiest.

kryzak

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21 Aug 2007, 21:09

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actually, now that I brainstormed a bit, this might be THE "What Matters Most" Stanford essay for me. Every single career choice, hobby choice, and other thing has been because it made me happy. I'll just have to really discuss the details of "why" it makes me happy, and I think I have an essay... it allows me to include all the other things like "leave an impact", "look for a challenge", "competition", etc... What do you all think?

mNeo: yes, but I wonder if having an essay that talks about the details of what makes you happy will work... just throwing ideas out there... I mean, a lot of people work for the money, even though they're not happy... so you can't really say it's 'what matters most' to everyone... Look at all the big Hollywood stars, the super rich Ibankers... are they truly happy?

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21 Aug 2007, 21:53

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kryzak

Happiness is subjective - I actually have a story for you guys - .

Every weekend, out in Malibu I meet this guy with whom I surf sometimes. I didnt know his background, but just found out that he is one of the executives for Warner Brothers - the guy is wealthy (rich is a poor adjective)... and his passion is surfing....

He is truly happy, coz he doesnt care about money, fame, or glamor. I guess you have to set aside time for what you are passionate about...

kryzak

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21 Aug 2007, 23:31

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wow, that's the type of life I want to lead...

maybe "pursuit of true happiness?" While it sounds kinda cheesy (especially if I throw in our Constitution), if you really think about it, a lot of people get lost in the "must make enough money to survive/buy a yacht/whatever" mentality, living day-by-day just having a job because they need the money. Are they happy? Probably not. Are they pursuing happiness? Not really, or they think they are.

How many people out there does the kind of introspection that we are doing here just to apply to b-school? I would say even more than 50% of the applicants probably don't think about whether they're happy doing what they do, they just know that getting an MBA is the "right" (note sarcasm) thing to do, and it will make them "happy" if they get it.

I'll have to think about this a bit more, but if I can get this idea cohesive enough, it may make my Stanford essay...

Thanks for the great discussion everyone! I love brainstorming like this. :-D