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Open Mindedness, Art, and Building Organizations - Kellogg MBA: Motivation Essay

Kellogg MBA Essay One: Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. 

Background Information: A FinTech consultant shares her desire to build the Middle East division of the startup from the ground up with the help of a Kellogg MBA. 

Theme: Art, Open Mindedness, Culture, Building Organization

Theme (Explained): Navigating two themes in a 450-word essay is tough. Consider navigating four themes in an essay. For the essay example, I combined two themes – open-mindedness and culture, while art and building an organization are the contribution and motivation, respectively, for the Kellogg MBA.

The four-theme navigation was tricky. The only factor that helped capture such a complex maneuver was that I had one example for each theme.

Profile: Consultant

Industry: FinTech

MBA Essay Strategy: My strategy was to merge two themes with a common theme of open-mindedness. I wanted to start with the general management skills before highlighting open-mindedness to pivot from a setback. Such EQ traits are essential to validate the applicant’s goals to build the Middle East division from the ground up. 

Building an organization requires understanding team dynamics, culture, and the value of AI in improving productivity. The courses are quoted accordingly, but I also introduced Art as an interest to demonstrate the value of creativity in uniting cultures in an increasingly divided world.

Opener: Starting with the complexity of the responsibility helps set the stage for the first team management challenge.

Kellogg MBA: Motivation Essay (Talent Management, Donor Experience (Volunteering), Art, and Building Organizations) (449 Words)


Leading a team of four on a product that serves the highly volatile FinTech space in India, Malaysia, and the UAE required navigating three different regulatory environments. When one key person in the team haphazardly began taking a leave of absence, I began exploring his perspective. As a father of a newborn, he was in an incredible phase of his life that required supporting his wife. Since there were no shortcuts to the rigor of our testing process, I formulated a flexi-leave policy for new parents that has become a unique incentive in our hiring process. 

I explored a similar open-mindedness ..
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About the Author 

Atul Jose

I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.

 

For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.

 

My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.

 

I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.

 

The reason I still write and edit essays every cycle: a good MBA essay carries a real applicant's voice. Writing essays for F1GMAT's Books and Editing essays weekly is how I stay calibrated to what current admissions committees respond to.

 

Contact me for school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative development, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing, or guidance documents for recommendation letters.