Describe the most significant challenge you have faced. How have you confronted this challenge and how has it shaped you as a person?
You can describe the significant challenge in three contexts – personal, professional, and community. Because there is a community essay, focus on personal or professional challenges.
Addiction: 'Confronting the challenge' is a phrase typically used to address addiction – a challenge you knew existed but didn't find the courage to confront.
Power Dynamics/Communication Barriers/Cultural Norms: 'Confronting the challenge' can also be any courage narrative that requires overcoming power dynamics, communication barriers, and societal/cultural norms.
The experience of facing fear or redefining traditional practices/thinking/typecasting can also be examples for the most significant challenge essay.
The best examples broadly cover changing values/thinking, professional challenges – industry/function specific, or any leadership narrative that requires managing large teams, preferably cross-functional or cross-cultural.
1) Change in Thinking
Changing the way of thinking about an organization, a demographic, or a culture doesn't happen overnight; these examples are the worst in application essays. It has all the powerful narrative elements, but no one will believe your story. A better alternative is taking the admissions team through a journey where your thinking evolved. Share a change in approach in how you took risks, managed a team, or used any top-level management narratives that worked in your industry. For a client in the PE industry, balancing quantitative and qualitative valuation from a quant focus was the evolution in his approach.
2) Professional Challenges
These are the best examples, as you can take the admissions team through the day-to-day challenges of your role, industry, function, or all three. While narrating the professional challenge, avoid using generic obstacles. The more specific the challenges, the better you can paint a picture of your personality traits and the skills that have kept you among the top 1-5%.
3) Leadership
A guaranteed way to stand out is by including leadership experiences from your professional or volunteering engagement. If you are working in a traditional industry (Banking or Technology) with predictable growth paths, leadership narratives outside the role can offer schools all the evidence of your potential to shine in an MBA class (communication), student clubs (organization and leadership) and internship (client relationship).
Build narratives with these three pillars in mind.
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