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7. Theme: Your Greatest Personal Achievement/Accomplishment.
Describe a personal achievement that has had a significant impact on
your life. In addition to recounting this achievement, please
analyze how the event has changed your understanding of yourself and
how you perceive the world around you.
In reviewing the last five years, describe one or two
accomplishments in which you demonstrated leadership.
Translation:
Do you know what an achievement is? Have you done anything
remarkable? What made it remarkable to you? Bonus points if you
showed leadership or inspired others in some way.
This is one of those maddening essay questions. On the one hand,
b-schools seek out applicants whose average age is 27 (a relatively
young age to have achieved much of anything) yet on the other hand,
the schools want to know what miracles you’ve performed. Don’t pull
your hair out yet. There is a way out. Like all the others, this
essay is just one more prove-to-us-you-have-some-character hoop
you’ll have to jump through. It’s less about the achievement and
more about how you are and how you see yourself.
Again, this question can be easy to answer if you have some clear
accomplishment or event in your background. But if you’re like the
rest of us – you guessed it – you’ll have to rely on framing.
Let’s cover bad essay topics for achievements. Getting straight
A’s in college is not an achievement because every one else at
b-school has probably done the same. Surviving a divorce or breakup
is a bad accomplishment topic. Personal stories are acceptable – but
one taboo area is romance and marriage. If this is all you can come
up with, you’re going to look like you’re as deep as a donut.
The accomplishment you choose might show some of the following
qualities: character, sacrifice, humility, dedication, high-personal
stakes, perseverance over obstacles, insight, and learning. You need
not have published a business article or won an award to answer this
question. This essay is not about excellence of outcome, but what it
took for you to reach some personal worthy objective. Maybe you
didn’t lead a sports team to a victory. The victory may be just that
you made it onto the team.
Next: Sample MBA Essays #8: Failure/What
Mistakes Have You Made? |
