4 Reasons why AdCom loves the MBA Application Failure Essay

For Business Schools, the Failure Essay is an integral part in evaluating an MBA Applicant. AdCom wants to know how you reflect upon the sequence of events that led to failure, and how you handled the event. There are several reasons why AdCom wants to read attentively about your failure.

1) Cultural Upbringing

If you look at the latest Innovation Index by Country, top 5 Countries to feature in the list are Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Netherlands and United States. Innovation or out of the box thinking are encouraged in societies and cultures that look at failures as roadblocks, and not as a major event that derails an individual’s learning path.

The society does not necessarily reflect the individual’s upbringing and thoughts. Applicants from a risk-averse country might have had the exposure of great thinkers and innovators, and would have carved out a path for themselves. The proof is in how the applicants explain failure:

a) Are they defensive about failures?
b) Are they masking success as failures?
c) Have they learned from failures?
d) Are they mature enough to accept failures?

2) School Fit

United States continues to be the number one destination for MBA students around the world. Although culture varies across Business Schools, a spirit of Entrepreneurship and individualism is predominant in the US. Like Corporate Culture, culture in each school varies.

There are Business Schools with a strict set of rules and processes that look at Failure essay, and want to measure how applicants own up failures. The school wants to know how responsible you are towards the outcome of a task or the team’s task that you are leading.

In other schools, the AdCom is more interested in knowing what you have learned from the experience. The later is more tolerant towards failure, and look at it as a learning experience that can lead to a better outcome in the future.

Business Schools can easily judge whether the student will be a good fit for the program based on how they answer the failure essay.

3) Individual vs. Team

Although Business Schools attract some of the best individual contributors, for a greater learning experience, the candidates have to be capable of learning from each other and this can happen only if the participants are team players.

The Failure essay gives AdCom hints about how the applicants see the environment and events that impact them. The tone and analysis of events that led to failure show how the applicants think. If the analysis is focused on team, organization, or circumstances, the applicant is a team player. But if the applicant blames these three factors more than himself, then the applicant is a poor team player.

4) Competitiveness

Failure essay shows how competitive the applicant is. Top performing athletes have a heightened sense of where they stand, what their performance have been in recent events and how to correct their mistakes to reach true potential. Competitive applicants also have similar traits. They are less defensive and would have one or two examples where they have applied what they have learned from the failure and succeeded.

With the Failure Essay, schools can find an applicant that is a healthy mix of individualism, team spirit, competitiveness, and maturity.

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