Question 1 (750 words)
Give us a brief assessment of your career progress to date.
In what role do you see yourself working in immediately after graduation and what is your longer term career vision?
How will your past and present experiences help you to achieve this?
How will the London Business School MBA Programme contribute to this goal?
Why is this the right time for you to pursue an MBA?
Question 2 (300 words)
Give a specific example of when you have had to test your leadership and team working skills. Given this experience what role will you play in a first year study group?
Question 3 (300 words)
Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London Business School MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. Please describe how you will contribute to student clubs and the community and why?
Question 4 (300 words)
London Business School offers a truly global and diverse experience. Describe any significant experiences outside of your home country or culture. What did you gain and how will your experience contribute to London Business School?
Please choose ONE of the following options.
Question 5a (150 words)
You have decided to stand for the role of Student Association President. Announcing your campaign to the London Business School community for the first time, please describe your manifesto.
OR
Question 5b (150 words)
What is your most substantial achievement to date and why?
Question 6 (300 words)
(This question is optional)
Is there any other information that you believe would help the MBA Admissions Committee when considering your application?
Question 7 (300 words)
(This question is for re-applicants only)
How has your candidacy for the London Business School MBA improved since your last application? Have your views of London Business School or the MBA programme changed since you last applied?作者: stream 时间: 2010-6-11 10:19 标题: IMD MBA Essays Analysis，2010-2011
本帖最后由 stream 于 2010-6-11 10:22 编辑
IMD MBA Essays Analysis，2010-2011
1. Please give us your short term career goal post MBA (up to 5 years). Describe how the IMD MBA will help you achieve this goal and how you will approach your job search. (380 words)
This one year program focuses on leadership development and works on ‘Real World. Real Learning’ approach. With ample resources for general management, the program aims to equip you with the tools to lead multinational work forces. Even if you do not mention the exact roles you see yourself in post MBA, discuss about your career progression and the broad direction you would like to take up after an MBA. How can IMD’s unique learning models and projects benefit you? . Get to know more about the school, especially career services. Get in touch with admissions office, current students, recent graduates and study IMD’s Career placement results.
2. What do you consider to be your single most important achievement and why? (230 words)
IMD’s class typically consists of students with many years of experience. Therefore, it is advisable to take up one solid professional accomplishment or a personal achievement geared towards your goals. Mention what kind of results you achieved, and give an idea of why do you consider this achievement exceptional? Example – did you challenge your personal boundaries, or accomplished success despite resistance from others. . It is a short piece, so get into the main body of the essay, limiting the introduction to just a line or so.
3. Two situations of importance to you (230 words)
Take up examples from different realms. If one is professional, take the other issue of social/personal relevance to you. Since the question prompt only says ’situations’, you have a liberty. Select any situation that brings out traits like maturity, goal orientation, team skills and leadership ability. Give equal emphasis to both situations in terms of words devoted.
4. Please comment on a situation where you failed to reach an objective and what you learned from it. (230 words)
An honest account of a failure is important. However, what is more important is how well you analyzed your failure and what lessons you drew from it. Be clear about the objective you started out with, your role, what you think you did not do correctly and therefore what you learnt from it. Are you now equipped to handle such situations in a better way?
5. Describe a situation where you had to demonstrate strong leadership skills. Explain how effective you were and what you learned. (230 words)
Think about a situation where you had to pitch in as a leader. What were the expectations from you, your team’s objectives, and the difficulties before the team? Explain what you did as a leader to solve these problems, for instance, it may have been a situation of having to reconcile differing viewpoints of senior team members. What aspects of leadership do you think you demonstrated and what did you learn from the incident – it could even be with respect to what you think you could have done better as the leader if you were in a similar situation again.
6. How do you imagine your superior would describe your strengths and weaknesses to someone who does not know you? (230 words)
Be honest and keep the tone balanced. Pick points which you can substantiate as having demonstrated in practical situations involving working with your superior. Given the word limit, limit to 2-3 strengths and 1-2 weakness/es. Also, try to incorporate a range of attributes such as those showing your working style, ethics, interpersonal relationships, functional abilities. Since the Adcom wants to know you, use this answer to put across varied and interesting information about yourself.
7. Describe a situation where you successfully worked across cultures and/or nations. (230 words)
IMD has a highly cross cultural class composition. Therefore, the Adcom wants to see how well you will be able to adapt to such an environment and add positively to people belonging to different cultures/age groups and professional backgrounds. Share an instance where you faced trouble dealing in a cross cultural team. How did you face those initial problems and overcame them? In the process, did you master the art of working in diverse groups?
8. IMD receives numerous applications per year. Give us four bullet points that clearly differentiate you from this applicant pool. (230 words)
What are your outstanding qualities which you can justify in a brief bullet point as well? For instance, it could be your excellent client management skills which you can prove by stating briefly how you added several new clients to your company’s portfolio. Can you also give a comparitive view of your abilities/ attributes, vis -a- vis the rest of your peers? And remember, BRIEF is the key word.
9. If you are not admitted, what alternatives will you consider? (230 words)
Do not get into an analysis of why you were not admitted. Instead focus on what you see yourself doing – be it continuing in the same role/ considering a career change/ supplementing your experience with any other qualifications. Show clarity and focus in terms of overall career goals and career moves. You can also decide if you want to state that you have applied to other schools and would join any of them if accepted there.作者: stream 时间: 2010-6-11 10:19 标题: INSEAD MBA essay 2010-2011
本帖最后由 stream 于 2010-6-11 10:24 编辑
INSEAD MBA essay 2010-2011
INSEAD MBA essay questions and tips 2010-2011
Q1
Job responsibilities
Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (250 words)
A)
This question asks for numbers and data so be as specific as possible. Take an overall view of your job avoiding the details about individual projects. Write about broad skills or functional competencies that you have developed, e.g. planning and budgeting skills, and then justify this with relevant data/ numbers. To respond to the part on employees under your supervision, don't just mention a certain number but also add in what capacity you supervised them, bringing out the extent of managerial responsibility you held.
Q2
Career description
Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)
A)
Share your unique growth story. If you have been through several role changes and level changes, you can showcase your accomplishments and hence growth. Without repeating the job responsibilities, talk about how you have been vested with increasing levels of responsibility or how have you broadened your exposure to different areas/industries through your role changes. As far as your next position with your employer goes, you can sneak in a bit about your special accomplishments that propel you towards the next level of responsibility/seniority. You can also touch upon what opportunities you will forego in order to pursue an MBA at INSEAD.
Q3
Description of yourself
Give a candid description of yourself, 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. (400 words)
A)
This seems like the easiest question, because it talks about the person most familiar to yourself - you. However, resist the temptation to make it a set of adjectives for a matrimonial posting. Rather, dig into your experiences and find qualities which will help you stand out at INSEAD ? like show your academic promise or leadership potential. Do not be shy while talking about your weakness/es ? this shows your self-awareness and maturity. Be honest and select weaknesses which are mild and workable. Divide your write-up among 2-3 strengths and 1-2 weaknesses, giving example of each.
Q4
Most substantial accomplishments
Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words)
A)
A good approach is to select two accomplishments from two different realms - one professional and another to do with a hobby/ an academic achievement. Why these achievements were substantial - because of the results you achieved or the exceptional effort you put in or the challenges you overcame to succeed? Paint a broad picture of the landscape against which you achieved the results, such as the extent of competition, the scarce resources that you had to work with or the punishing deadline you met. At INSEAD, show strengths like ability to contribute to the class, cultural acclimatization, maturity and leadership.
Q5
Personal objectives
Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words)
A)
Can you analyze a situation where you failed and draw lessons from it?
It is important that you cite the objectives, your role, failure statement, analysis of what went wrong and your learning. Therefore, the failure itself is not as important as how you viewed it, how you introspected and improved for similar future assignments. Thus, devote good words to explain how you were affected by the failure and what did you learnt from the whole incident.
Q6
Career goals
Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words)
A)
Get to the goals straight and do not talk about career summary or progression.
Think hard about the career choice you wish to make post MBA. Again, it is not so important that you have the next twenty years of your career path neatly charted out but it is important that you understand your personal aspirations and the impact of an MBA, an INSEAD MBA on your future.
Get to learn more about academics, experiences and opportunities at INSEAD (read http://mba.insead.edu/academics/ and http://knowledge.insead.edu/home.cfm) and attend information sessions, meet current students or alums, research INSEAD?s online resources and visit the campus, if possible.
Q7
Culture shock
Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words)
A)
The intention here is to find out if an applicant can acclimatize in an alien environment.
INSEAD is acclaimed for diversified cultural interactions and it is very important for a new student to feel comfortable. Talk about incident/s when you experienced a new culture, found something out of your perceived notions and were in for a shock! Now, talk about how you coped with the frustrations, adjusted to the surroundings and came out as a winner. This experience could make you learn something about yourself, help you look at things from a different perspective, give you a new professional direction or gradually appreciate the goodness in that new setting.
Q8
Foreigner
What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words)
A)
Are you knowledgeable about your country and can you help others to enjoy their stay? Keep the tone of this answer even and balanced. You neither have to sing paeans in praise of your country or its culture, and nor should your answer read like a list of do's and don?ts for a foreign immigrant. The question has to be answered more in abstract and general terms and you should not unnecessarily get into factual details about your country. Informative advice can be the main theme. For example you can write about common social and cultural etiquette followed in your country that can help an immigrant acculturate himself in dealing with your country's people. You could also point out some interesting pursuits or activities or suggest groups which he could associate himself with in order to learn more about and establish a social network in your country.作者: stream 时间: 2010-6-11 10:19 标题: ISB MBA Essay Topics 2010-2011
本帖最后由 stream 于 2010-7-26 09:05 编辑
The Indian School of Business has updated its deadlines and essay topics for this fall’s admissions season. The deadlines are as follows:
For Indian Passport Holders
Cycle 1
Deadline: August 30, 2010
Notification by: November 15, 2010
Cycle 2
Deadline: November 30, 2010
Notification by: February 15, 2011
For International Applicants
International applicants are admitted based on a rolling deadline. The application is open from May 18, 2010 until January 15, 2011. The applicant, if chosen for an interview, will be notified within one month under normal circumstances. Within three weeks of the interview date, the applicant will be notified of his or her status.
The essay topics, as listed in the online application, are as follows:
Essay 1
If we were to admit one more student to the class of 2012, make a compelling argument as to why that student should be you? (300 words maximum)
Essay 2
What are your short term and long term goals? How will the ISB help you achieve the same? (300 words maximum)
Essay 3
Please provide additional information, that will significantly affect the consideration of your application to the ISB. (300 words maximum)
For more information, be sure to visit the school’s website.作者: stream 时间: 2010-6-11 10:19 标题: Cambridge Judge MBA Essay Topics 2010-2011
本帖最后由 stream 于 2010-7-28 09:00 编辑
Essay 1
What are the key issues facing organizations in your sector over the next three years? What course of action would you recommend to such organizations? (300 words)
Essay 2
What did you learn from your most spectacular failure? (200 words)
Essay 3
What are your short and long term career objectives? What skills/characteristics do you already have that will help you to achieve them? What do you hope to gain from the degree and how do you feel it will help you achieve the career objectives you have? (please do not exceed 500 words)作者: stream 时间: 2010-6-11 10:19 标题: Oxford / Saїd MBA Essay Topics 2010-2011
本帖最后由 stream 于 2010-8-26 10:21 编辑
The Oxford / Saїd MBA essay topics are now available. The two essay topics are as follows:
1) Explain why you chose your current job. How do you hope to see your career developing over the next five years? How will an MBA assist you in the development of these ambitions? Maximum 1,000 words.
2) Which recent development, world event or book has most influenced your thinking and why? Maximum 2,000 words.
To begin an application, visit the admissions site. The Oxford / Saїd deadlines were released earlier this year.作者: stream 时间: 2010-6-11 10:19
