Apart from the intended goal of the Stern Change Essay, you can also approach the phrase at its face value.
Change: Dare it
Most debates that I have with clients while editing the Stern Change Essay is whether to use it under the Dare it or Dream it narrative.
Daring is a broader theme than Dream it. We all dream of ambitious goals. Unless you were truly at a disadvantage – a war-torn country and starting over again or losing parents (foster homes) or a life-threatening illness (cancer or accident), the Dream It narrative feels out of place. For most, Dare It is an ideal narrative as the phrase captures risk-taking and choosing an unconventional path or developing a creative solution.
If your journey is Unique but not radical for your application pool, choose Dare It.
Example#1 : Finance Candidate (Dare It)
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Dare It (Finance Candidate – Immigrant Family) (350 Words)
Example#2 : Investment Banker (Returning to Office) (Dare It)
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Dare It (Communication Gap Around Mandate to Return to Office – Investment Banker) (347 Words)
Change: Dream it
Narratives around entrepreneurship for a traditional applicant reads well for the Dream It narrative. Sometimes dreaming could be about overcoming personally limiting thoughts. This could go either way if you are using a poetic style for the essay.
The worst Dream It: Change essays are versions where the applicant is creating heroes out of routine achievements or projects. You must understand that you are competing against some of the best in the ‘WORLD.’ Choose and classify your Change slogan accordingly.
Example#3 : Consultant
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Dream It (Consultant – Understanding long-term Goal and Personal Fears) (334 Words)
Example#4: Fashion Brand Manager with Non-Profit in Education
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Dream It (EdTech Non-Profit Serving Cincinnati) (349 Words)
Change: Drive it
If you are choosing a professional example where your contributions clearly had an influence on the strategic direction the client took (consulting), a new feature (Technology), or a recommendation (Finance), driving the direction of the solution is the most believable narrative.
Example#5: Entrepreneurial Thinking - Accountant
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Drive It (Entrepreneurial Thinking – Fortune 500 Company)(340 Words)
Example#6: Sports Injury to Media Startup
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Drive It (Sports Injury to Media Startup)(348 Words)
Change: Empower it
The Empowering narrative is all about long-term thinking. And it works best for non-profit engagements where the solution goes beyond the immediate problem. For one narrative, the applicant shows how thinking in the comforts of a meeting room is different from spending time with the beneficiary and understanding their challenges up close. From that experience, he could correct his assumptions about ‘healthy eating’ as a habit issue and look at the larger forces at play preventing the beneficiary from following through on their plan.
Example#7: Healthy Eating in Low-Income Homes
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Empower It (Healthy Eating for SNAP beneficiaries)(347 Words)
For another applicant advising on limiting the spending, a technological intervention that made the development officers aware of the expense slowed down the burn rate. An additional process of gaining approval for expenses above a certain $, puts an end to the high cost of serving the beneficiary.
Example#8: Non-Profit Consulting (Performance Metrics and FinTech)
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Empower It (FinTech and Behavioral Metrics in Non-Profit)(346 Words)
The empowering narrative is a great way to show your thinking while also showing that you were active in community engagement.
Change: Manifest it
Manifest It sounds like a new-age slogan, but it is the most used option for the current application pool. Some of the challenges applicants faces are not just about motivation, communication, or the right mindset. They are complex problems where ‘luck’ also plays a big factor, and so does timing. In one example – the pandemic was a big influence in facilitating a change that could have never been even considered in an office-first culture. Here manifesting a solution is about aligning all the stars with the applicant’s efforts. And it turned around for the better of the candidates entering the IB culture.
Example #9: Mental Health and Junior Bankers (Manifesting an App)
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Manifest It (Helping Junior Bankers Manage Mental & Physical Health) (338 Words)
For many, the problem was inter-generational with several attempts that failed to bring any systemic change. Again, multiple factors aligned with the applicant’s effort and now the solution is likely to bring a permanent change.
Example #10: Music and Addressing Homelessness Among Teenagers
Sample NYU Stern Change Essay: Manifest It (Addressing Homelessness Among Teenagers in Baltimore) (346 Words)
Understand the theme of your life stories – professional, personal, extracurricular, and volunteering. Here, classifications matter.
