Темы MBA Essay для топ бизнес-школ сезона 2008-2009

Пришло время нового сезона поступления в бизнес-школы! А это означает, что нужно усредно усесться за работу и писать, писать, писать, и еще раз писать. И, конечно же, эссе (application essay), так как эссе является чуть ли не самой главной частью пакета документов. В этой статье мы предлагаем вам темы MBA эссе сезона 2008-2009 подачи документов.

Berkeley, Haas School of Business
MIT Sloan School of Management
Columbia Business School
Chicago GSB
Stanford GSB
Harvard
Wharton

Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Fall 2009 Essay Questions

Listed below are the supplemental questions, short answer questions, required essays, and optional essays for the fall 2009 application.

Supplemental Questions:

1. If you have not provided a letter of recommendation from your current supervisor, please explain; otherwise, enter N/A.
2. List in order of importance all community & professional organizations and extracurricular activities in which you have been involved during or after university studies. Indicate the nature of the activity or organization, dates of involvement, offices held, & average number of hours spent per month.
3. List full-time and part-time jobs held during undergraduate or graduate studies, indicating the employer, job title, employment dates, location, and the number of hours worked per week for each position held prior to the completion of your degree.
4. Please explain all gaps in your employment since earning your university degree.
5. Please identify the course(s) you have taken or intend to take to demonstrate quantitative proficiency. Provide the course name, date, grade if any, and institution at which the course was or will be taken. If you wish, you may discuss other ways in which you have demonstrated strong quantitative abilities.
6. If you have ever been subject to academic discipline, placed on probation, suspended or required to withdraw from any college or university, please explain. If not, please enter N/A. (An affirmative response to this question does not automatically disqualify you from admission.)

Short Answer:

1. If you could changeone thing you've done in your life, what would it be, and how would you do it differently? (250 word maximum)
2. Tell us about your most significant accomplishment. (250 word maximum)
3. At Haas, we value innovation and creativity. Describe an innovative solution you have created to address a specific challenge. (250 word maximum)
4. What steps have you taken to learn about the Berkeley MBA program, and what factors have influenced your decision to apply? (250 word maximum)

Required Essays:

1. Give us an example of a situation in which you displayed leadership. (500 word maximum)
2. What are your short-term and long-term career goals? How do your professional experiences relate to these goals? Why do you want an MBA from Berkeley at this point in your career? (1000 word maximum)

Optional Essays:

1. (Optional) Please feel free to provide a statement concerning any information you would like to add to your application that you haven’t addressed elsewhere. (500 word maximum)
2. (Optional) If you wish to be considered for the Haas Achievement Award (for individuals who have achieved success in spite of significant economic, educational, health-related and/or other obstacles), please use this space to address the obstacles you have overcome. (750 word maximum)

MIT Sloan School of Management, Essay Topics

We are interested in learning more about you and how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Please limit the experiences you discuss to those which have occurred in the past three years.

In each of the essays please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did.

All applicants:

Essay 1: Please tell us about a challenging interaction you had with a person or group. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

Essay 2: Please tell us about a time when you defended your idea. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

Essay 3: Please tell us about a time when you executed a plan. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

Essay 4: Please tell the Admissions Committee whatever else you would like us to know. (250 words or less, limited to one page)

LFM applicants only:

Essay 5: Why do you wish to pursue the LFM Program? How does this fit into your future plans? (250 words or less, limited to one page) You are welcome to copy and paste text directly from your cover letter.

Essay 6: Why do you wish to pursue the engineering field and specialty area you have selected? (250 words or less, limited to one page) You are welcome to copy and paste text directly from your cover letter.

Columbia Business School, J-Term Application Essays

Essay 1 (Required): What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals? (Recommended 750 word limit)

Essay 2 (Required): Master Classes are the epitome of bridging the gap between theory and practice at Columbia Business School. View link below. Please provide an example from your own life in which practical experience taught you more than theory alone. (Recommended 500 word limit)

1. View with Real Player: http://merlin.gsb.columbia.edu:8080/ramgen/video1/faculty/MasterClass-promo.rm 
2. View via Google: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4698876883776961370&hl=en 

Essay 3 (Required): Please provide an example of a team failure of which you’ve been a part. If given a second chance, what would you do differently? (Recommended 500 word limit)

Essay 4 (Required): Describe for us your greatest passion in life. (Recommended 250 word limit)

Essay 5 (Optional): Is there any further information that you wish to provide to the Admissions Committee? (Please use this space to provide an explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or your personal history.)

Chicago GSB, Essay Questions and Slide Presentation

Essays

1. Why are you pursuing an MBA at this point in your career? (750 word maximum).
2. Please select one of the following two questions to answer. (1000 word maximum)

Option 1

a) Please provide an example of a time when you had to make a choice between two equally important obligations. How did you decide which obligation deserved your attention? b) Did you try and predict other people's reactions to your decision? If so, how accurate were you? Why do you think you were or were not accurate in your prediction? c) Reflecting on this experience, how do you think an MBA from Chicago GSB might have aided in your decision making process?

-or-

Option 2

a) Have you ever made a decision that caused you to go against popular opinion? Please describe that situation and your rationale for your decision. b) Did you feel at any point that people misperceived your motives? Explain. c) In retrospect, how do you think an MBA from Chicago GSB would have affected your decision?

Slide Presentation

We have asked for a great deal of information throughout this application and now invite you tell us about yourself. Using four slides or less, please provide readers with content that captures who you are.

We have set forth the following guidelines for you to consider when creating your presentation.

1. The content is completely up to you. There is no right or wrong approach this essay. Feel free to use the software you are most comfortable with. Acceptable formats for upload in the online application system are PowerPoint or PDF.
2. There is a strict maximum of 4 slides, though you can provide fewer than 4 if you choose.
3. Slides will be printed and added to your file for review, therefore, flash, hyperlinks, embedded videos, music, etc. will not be viewed by the committee. You are limited to text and static images to convey your points. Color may be used.
4. Slides will be evaluated on the quality of content and ability to convey your ideas, not on technical expertise or presentation.
5. You are welcome to attach a document containing notes if you feel a deeper explanation of your slides is necessary. However the hope is the slide is able to stand alone and convey your ideas clearly. You will not be penalized for adding notes but you should not construct a slide with the intention of using the notes section as a consistent means of explanation.

Optional Essay

If there is any important information that is relevant for your candidacy that you were unable to address elsewhere in the application, please share that information here.

Stanford GSB, Essay Questions for 2008/2009

• Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?
• Essay B: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them?
• Essay C: Short Essays—Options 1-4
  Answer two of the questions below. Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years.
  
  Option 1: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team.
  
  Option 2: Tell us about a time when you felt most effective as a leader.
  
  Option 3: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating.
  
  Option 4: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected.
  

Essay Length

Your answers for all of the essay questions cannot exceed 1,800 words. Each of you has your own story to tell, so please allocate the 1,800 words among all of the essays in the way that is most effective for you. We provide some guidelines below as a starting point, but you should feel comfortable to write as much or as little as you like on any essay question, as long as you do not exceed 1,800 words total.

• Essay A 750 words
• Essay B 450 words
• Essay C 300 words each

Formatting

• Use a 12-point font, double spaced
• Indicate which essay question you are answering at the beginning of each essay
• Number all pages
• Upload all four essays as one document
• Preview the uploaded document to ensure that the formatting is true to the original
• Save a copy of your essays

Harvard, Essay Instructions and Questions

All applicants must submit answers to four essay questions. The first two questions are required of all applicants. The remaining two essays may be in response to your choice of the next four sub-questions.

Joint program applicants for the Harvard Medical School, Harvard Law School, and Kennedy School of Government must provide an additional essay.

Essays Questions:

1. What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)
2. What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)
3. Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):
   1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?
   2. Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.
   3. What area of the world are you most curious about and why?
   4. What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

Joint degree applicants:

1. How do you expect the joint degree experience to benefit you on both a professional and a personal level? (400-word limit)

Wharton, Application Essay Questions

First-Time Applicant Questions

1. Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program? (1,000 words)

2. Describe a setback or a failure that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself? (500 words)

3. Where in your background would we find evidence of your leadership capacity and/or potential? (500 words)

4. Please respond to one (1) of the following questions:

a. Describe an experience you have had innovating or initiating, your lessons learned, the results and impact of your efforts. (500 words)

b. Is there anything about your background or experience that you feel you have not had the opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee in your application? If yes, please explain. (500 words)

OPTIONAL: If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, TOEFL waiver request, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application). (250 words, maximum)

Reapplicant Questions (for candidates who have applied for admission for Fall 2008 or 2007 only)

1. Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program? How has your candidacy improved since the last time you applied? (1,000 words)

2. Describe an experience you have had innovating or initiating, your lessons learned, the results and impact of your efforts. (500 words)

3. Please respond to one (1) of the following questions:

a. Where in your background would we find evidence of your leadership capacity and/or potential? (500 words)

b. Is there anything about your background or experience that you feel you have not had the opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee in your application? If yes, please explain. (500 words)

OPTIONAL: If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, TOEFL waiver request, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application). (250 words, maximum)