Essays
Instructions on Application
Each essay must be typewritten or word processed (do not use font sizes less than 10). Put your name at the bottom of each sheet. When beginning a new essay, retype the question. Limit your response to the length indicated.
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Essay #1: What evidence can you present to demonstrate your capacity to perform well academically in the Harvard MBA Program? (1/2 page)
Two of my past achievements which provide ample evidence of my ability to excel in graduate studies are: my record during my last two years at college and my promotion from analyst to consultant.
During my last two years at Berkeley, I managed to achieve tremendous success in a wide variety of classes. In all courses, including those in economics and rhetoric, I made significant contributions to classroom discussions and often achieved excellent marks as a result of diligent study and close interaction with other leading students. This success resulted in my being named to the Dean's list for the spring and fall of 1987 and achieving a GPA during the year of 3.8.
After leaving college, I began my career as a Financial Analyst for The Insurance Bank, Inc. Because of my quick mastery of the responsibilities assigned to analysts, I was given additional duties including responsibility for the management of client projects. As a project leader, I learned how to perform basic financial analysis and how to present the findings in an effective manner. Having successfully completed several assignments, the management of The Insurance Bank, Inc. made me the first analyst in the twenty year history of the firm to be promoted to the position of Consultant.
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Essay #2 Discuss a professional project which challenged your analytical skills. (1/2 page)
As a consultant, I am given a leadership role for numerous consulting projects. For each project, I am responsible for choosing the methodology used to obtain the results and for supervising a team of analysts in the completion of the project. In a recent case I had to provide litigation support regarding the cost of maintaining a business over a five year period. Given the adversarial relationship between the parties, I had access to very limited information for the purposes of this study. My client's lawyer could provide only an account list, summary of annual revenues and a list of services which were performed on the average account. As a result I could not rely on our standard techniques used to calculate the costs of maintaining the business while at the same time I had to develop new techniques which would be admissible in a court of law. To calculate the servicing costs, I developed two techniques for determining the cost of maintaining the business. The first technique determined costs by calculating the number of personnel which would be required to maintain the accounts and the costs associated with the required number of employees. The second technique determined cost by applying a cost function (function which related cost to the size and number of accounts) to data contained in the account lists provided by our client. As a result of my development of these two new techniques, explanation of the methodologies in a concise written report, and in-court testimony, the court ruled in favor of my client.
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Essay #3 While recognizing that no day is typical, we ask that you describe a representative work day. (1/2 page)
Each day at The Insurance Bank, Inc. ("IB") is structured around my various client and in-house projects. At the start of each day, I review my project notebook to remind myself of the various deadlines which are scheduled for that day. This process then allows me to schedule client calls along with meetings with the various analysts who are responsible for particular aspects of a project. In addition to reviewing client related projects, I glance at the various time schedules for in-house projects such as the creation of new data products. The individual meetings with analysts and clients serve a wide variety of purposes and can take anywhere from a half hour to several days. The client meetings enable me to gather the information required to complete various aspects of individual projects and present the results of the study. The meetings with analysts enable me to monitor their progress on individual tasks and solve problems which they may have encountered in reaching their conclusions or in preparing a draft of a written report. After completing such meetings, I spend the remainder of the day reviewing drafts of various reports and responding to inquiries by existing and prospective clients. As with any small firm, the day also involves my response to a wide variety of requests from various individuals and in the processing of in-house administrative procedures such as employee reviews, preparation of client invoices or maintenance of our Local Area Network.
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Essay #4 Describe an ethical dilemma you have experienced firsthand. How did you manage and resolve the situation? (1/2 page)
Projects handled by The Insurance Bank, Inc. ("IB") are performed under the guidance of a project leader (Consultant) and by a team of analysts. Each year, my team performs annual valuations for clients having Employee Stock Ownership Plans. Recently, in reviewing work performed by my team, I discovered a mathematical error in the prior year's valuation. Unfortunately, the valuation containing the mistake had already been provided to the client and used as the basis for numerous transactions. To decide on the optimal course of action, I started by examining three possible actions which I could take: 1) inform my team and the client of the mistake, 2) inform the team but not the client of the mistake, or 3) ignore the mistake. To assist me in the resolution of this dilemma, I listed the advantages and disadvantages to our firm, my client, my staff and myself of each of the three options. After examining the various issues, I realized that the decision of what action to take involved a trade off between the short and long term consequences of each action. By taking no action, for example, I would limit the short term consequences such as the harm to the client relationship and possible harm to myself, but risk the long-term consequences such as the creation of an environment in which mistakes are not divulged and the deterioration of my reputation as an individual dedicated to the production of the best possible work product. Given this trade-off, I decided to inform the client of the mistake, offer to re-calculate the change in the prior year's valuation and assist the client in the presentation of the revised numbers to the parties affected by the change. This action enabled me to provide the best and most accurate valuation possible. In addition, the mistake provided me with an opportunity to demonstrate to my staff why we must continually check our work and with an opportunity to promote an environment where people are not afraid to reveal their mistakes. Despite my fears, the action did not result in the loss of the client relationship, potential lawsuits (given the small impact on value) or the loss of my job.
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Essay #5 Discuss a change you would make in your work environment. How would you implement the change? (1/2 page)
A common problem faced by The Insurance Bank, Inc. ("IB") is the lack of easily accessible data regarding existing and potential clients or other aspects of the insurance industry. This problem is due to the lack of a coordinated, company wide system to capture data obtained by various individuals. As a result, the firm now utilizes over ten separate computerized databases and has a filing system which does not provide its users with a means to cross reference data contained in client files (i.e. one can not obtain a list of client files which contain producer employment agreements). The solution to this information resource problem involves the creation of: 1) a list of information which is required on a regular basis, 2) the creation of enforceable procedures to ensure the accurate and timely capture of such data, and 3) the creation of automated and manual systems designed to store the data in easily accessible form. To achieve these three goals, I would obtain a clear understanding of the information that is made available to each member of our professional staff and obtain a clear understanding of the type of information that each department uses on a daily, monthly or yearly basis. The second phase would involve the creation of a company wide "flow chart" which would track information from the point of entry to its current resting place. By reviewing this chart with each department, I could then devise procedures whereby certain key individuals would become responsible for obtaining and storing such information (on a computer database or in a filing system archived in a meaningful fashion). This process would also involve the creation of systems to enable certain departments to access and screen the data in a useful fashion.
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Essay #6 Describe your three most substantial accomplishments and explain why you view them as such. (1 page)
Most of my most important personal achievements have occurred within the past few years. Three such achievements include: 1) my creation of a computer program designed to assist a local blood bank in matching donors to patients, 2) my success in teaching unemployed adults how to use computers, and 3) my promotion to the position of consultant and mastery of the responsibilities of this job. In 1992, Texas' regional blood center asked me to write a program to record donors and match these donors to patients using criteria based on HLA Antigen types. This project presented me with a great challenge due to my lack of formal education in programming and need to learn how to accomplish various tasks through self study. As a result of my efforts, I was able to write a highly efficient program which could track over one thousand donors and match all donors to various patients based on a highly complex set of rules. In addition, I designed a set of manuals which provided the users of the program, who had little or no computer knowledge, with an ability to alter the matching criteria as new antigen types and cross antigen matches were discovered. This project provided me with a great deal of personal satisfaction due to my ability to solve a problem without having formalized education or access to individuals who already knew how to solve such issues. The knowledge gained through this project and in my employment, provided me with the skills required to complete another important achievement. In late 1993 and 1994, I had an opportunity to share my computer knowledge by teaching unemployed adults how to use WordPerfect. Despite the problems encountered in my first semester, this activity proved to be a great success. I took great pride in helping people with few marketable skills begin to learn how to use computers and, more importantly, become interested in improving their skills through further studies. My efforts have enabled several of my students to substantially improve their own lives by obtaining employment which utilized their recently developed computer skills. My most important personal achievement, however, was my promotion to the position of consultant and mastery of the responsibilities of this position. When I began my tenure as an analyst at The Insurance Bank, Inc., I was amazed at the minimal level of responsibility given to the analysts. By quick and thorough mastery of these duties, I convinced my manager to provide me with more challenging tasks which I readily handled in a highly efficient manner. Within a year, I was given the responsibility of a project leader and began to develop the skills required to make a significant contribution to the firm by improving the quality of our products and the efficiency of our operations. Because of these contributions, I was able to become the first analyst to be promoted to the position of consultant and become the only consultant who did not possess a graduate business degree. Over the past year and a half, I have mastered the responsibilities of this position by developing a strong client base and creating several new products.
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Essay #7 Discuss a contribution you have made in your community. (1/2 page)
In late 1993, I learned of an organization, called Computers for Adults, which helped teach unemployed adults how to use computers in the working environment. This organization relied upon donations of hardware from local companies and volunteers to run its program of more than ten adult computer classes. After meeting the director, I decided to volunteer as the lead instructor for the Beginning WordPerfect class. As the lead instructor, I was responsible for designing the course curriculum and overseeing a staff of three other volunteers assigned to my section. At the start of the first semester, I met with the other teachers to develop a curriculum and set of teaching materials. We also discussed each person's responsibilities and how we would run the first class meeting. Even with this preparation, however, the first few class meetings were disappointing. Despite a strong turn-out of prospective students, only three of the fifteen available computers worked and only one of my teacher's aids attended class. In addition, this aid and I realized that our system of a lecture followed by hands-on computer learning would not work given the varied background of our students (some had college degrees while others could barely read or write). As a result, I directed the development of a self-paced, self-study approach which enabled us to provide personal attention to select students while still providing those with more advanced skills with the means to further their knowledge of WordPerfect. Despite the poor start of the first semester, my aid and I decided to teach another course in the following semester. Before the start of the semester, we worked with the program directors to implement changes such as a shorter course, staggered starting times and open lab time for homework. We also decided to continue with the self-paced, self-study approach. By the end of this second semester, eight of the ten students graduated with four of the students advancing straight from our Beginning WordPerfect course to the Advanced WordPerfect course (skipping the intermediate level).
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Essay #8 Which aspect of your personal style would you most like to change or develop? (1/2 page)
As a consultant, I feel that I have strong analytical, management and communication skills but I also realize that I often take a pessimistic view of any situation. I often find myself concentrating on how a project might fail rather than examining how a project will work. As a result of this trait, I often concentrate on describing the problem facing a client and miss opportunities to inform the client how to improve a problem within his operation. Over the past few years I have made several efforts to correct this trait. As a result of these efforts I often find myself re-wording drafts of reports, changing negative language into a more positive tone. Recently, for example, I was engaged to value an organization which had experienced negative levels of growth and was in serious financial difficulties. My initial reaction was to provide a summary detailing the current financial conditions and the limits imposed by such problems. After a second review, however, I re-worded the report and discussed various ways in which the client could improve his marketing and how he could use existing personnel in a more meaningful fashion.
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Essay #9 Identify two leadership qualities you possess and describe a specific situation in which you demonstrated these qualities. (1/2 page)
Two qualities which have enabled me to gain a reputation as a leader among my co-workers are my ability to effectively delegate responsibility and my ability to provide meaningful contributions to the long term activities of the organization. As a consultant and project leader, I must constantly manage several projects at once. To handle this work load, I must delegate responsibility for various aspects of each project, such as the financial analysis, report preparation and client contact. In a recent case, for example, I had to establish a value and useful life for individual accounts acquired by a client. After obtaining the initial information from the client, I made a preliminary estimate of the final results. This analysis enabled me to foresee potential problems and establish the optimal set of steps which would need to be completed to obtain the desired results. I assigned this set of steps (various forms of data analysis) to the analysts working on the project and used my preliminary analysis to show each analyst how their individual tasks would enable us to reach our desired conclusions. By tracking each analyst's progress on a daily basis, and modifying the set of steps in response to unexpected problems (such as a lack of data), I was able to complete the analysis and the report within the stated deadline. In addition to handling assigned responsibilities, a consultant must provide valuable contributions to the firm in order to gain the reputation of a leader among his peers. These contributions can assume many different forms including the creation of new products and an ability to provide useful insight to difficult analytical problems. Shortly after assuming the role of consultant, I noticed that clients who acquired another operation were allocating a greater portion of the purchase price to covenants not-to-compete instead of client lists. As a result, these clients no longer required our services to support the value and useful lives of acquired accounts. To help re-capture this lucrative market, I developed a technique to value covenants and presented the methodology to a long time client. Upon observing our methodology and marketing presentation, the client decided to engage us to value a recently acquired covenant. This new assignment provided me with an opportunity to develop a new product: a valuation of a restrictive covenant. My efforts resulted in the development of a highly efficient yet flexible methodology to value covenants along with a skeleton report and financial models which one would use in such an assignment. This product has enabled other professionals within the firm to value covenants and has enabled the firm to recapture revenues which were being lost as a result of a change in the marketplace.
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Essay #10 What are your post-MBA career plans? (1/2 page)
Working within a small entrepreneurial organization has provided me with several opportunities to have close contact with numerous individuals who have successfully founded and built their own firms. As a result of this contact, I have developed a long tern desire to start and build my own business. Recently, this desire has resulted in the formulation of a plan to create a consulting and investment banking firm specializing in a particular segment of the medical industry. With my current level of education and experience gained through my tenure as a consultant at The Insurance Bank, Inc., I am confident that I can start a firm which can meet the needs presented by the targeted segment of the medical industry. The long-term plans for the business, however, require that I become involved with more complex organizations (different segments) and solve increasingly complicated business problems. To meet such needs presented by clients, I will need to possess a broader knowledge of various business functions and management issues.
While obtaining a Masters in Business Administration will not provide the exact answers to the problems faced by clients, further study will provide me with an increased ability to understand how to analyze various business issues and develop workable solutions to such problems.
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