LBS MBA Essay 2: What Makes you Unique (200 Words)
All curiosity narratives are anchored around the applicant’s ability to think beyond the obvious, find insights that no one is looking for, and accentuate the solution’s impact.
a) Technical Curiosity
The least impactful curiosity narratives are around technical solutions, where the applicant fails to connect the solution to the business impact. Even if the technical solution had an impact on the client, solo solutions have the lowest influence on the admissions team.
An MBA program is a collaborative learning experience. The admissions team is expecting evidence of teamwork and receiving buy-in from the leadership.
Solo solutions fail in all aspects.
Since the recent technological innovations are all around AI, expect narratives around testing LLM or integrating LLM into different functional niches.
From technical to functional to industry, the technical curiosity should ideally cover all three contexts.
b) Cross-Functional Curiosity
Best unique trait essays capture the applicant’s ability to lead or persuade cross-functional teams.
Case Study: Engineering Driverless Car
One applicant from the design team had to receive buy-in from the marketing, engineering, and factory floor while also remaining in close contact with the international supply chain teams in Mexico, Canada, and China to achieve the cost targets.
It all began when a person from the marketing team shared the challenges of promoting the driverless car in a crowded EV market. His USP was in designing the intervention system in Level 3 Conditional Driving Automation, where the driver could take over autonomous driving. His prototype had to go through 5 levels of approval. And through each functional team, he had to study their perspective and adapt his solution to meet their quality standards.
c) Community-Driven Curiosity
Since LBS has two essay questions, the goals essay should be used as a preface to capture professional curiosity.
Community-driven curiosity could emerge through direct observation or through research insights. The direct observation translates to a personal essay over research-driven insights that looks like what a consultant would submit as a report.
Case Study: Increasing Women Workers in Agri-Business
One applicant who was taking over her family’s agri-business noticed the underutilization of women workers in her village.
After kids were sent to school, they had 5 hours of free time before the school dispersal. With subsistence existence supported by husbands who were day laborers, the applicant found an opportunity to empower women workers. She offered training for the packaging division and provided a market rate for the service.
In just 6 months, the income of the family improved by 40% while her family business gained momentum with their personalized packaging. Such merging of intentions reads well in the LBS MBA Unique trait or any essay that requires balancing business acumen with social responsibility.
Read F1GMAT’s LBS MBA Essay Guide, where Atul Jose, the Author and Founding Consultant of F1GMAT's essay guides demonstrates how to write the uniqueness essay, with resourcefulness as a theme.
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