All MBA Application Related Tips

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.

Find out 4 Reasons why the Essay is important!

Applicants assume that the AdCom will figure out the context, and understand the rationale behind the behavior, and the learning opportunity that the situation offered.

Not TRUE! 

Read More about Contexts in MBA Application Essays

With the new Business School Admission season starting, and the early deadlines, and essays announced, MBA applicants are wondering what Business Schools are trying to measure with questions about  strengths, weakness, failure, success, conflict, leadership and teamwork.

One answer – Emotional Intelligence. 

When you are part of a big organization, innovation is a buzzword for selling products. Other than that, you follow the rules of a traditional company with strict adherence to processes and quality guidelines, but even in a strict controlled environment, ideas sprout. Explaining the ideas devoid of any jargons and industry terms is a challenge.

Here is how to address innovation in your essays. 

It can be overwhelming to manage a team when there are several things that take the focus away from the goals. Good leaders have to remain calm, maintain perspective, and a good sense of humor amidst the chaos. In addition to that, leaders have to motivate and keep the spirits high.

Learn why maintaining focus is an important quality for a leader

The image of a leader that has been conveyed in popular culture is that of someone who is giving orders and is constantly planning something. Contrary to popular images, a big part of being an effective leader is having excellent listening skills. Learn how to mention your listening skills as a leader in MBA Application.

Many think that humility is the least associated quality with leadership. When you think about successful leaders, it is the image of vocal leaders that come to our mind. There is no harm in being vocal about goals, and principles. In fact, over communicating is a key skill that is required to lead a team. But humility by definition does not mean that you have to be meek.

Learn how to incorporate Humility in your Leadership Essay.

Personal responsibility does not come that often when you think about leadership qualities. It is always about “My Team didn’t perform well”, “We lacked coordination”, “Our communication was poor.” You can make all the excuses you want but if you are leading a team, the failure is because of one person – “You.” The team has given you the authority to lead. So how do you go about explaining failure as a leader in your essay?

Read about how to incorporate Personal responsibility in your essay.

Meeting Deadlines as a quality might seem trivial when compared to all the other general leadership qualities that we have seen in management and other self-help books but when you think about what makes a project successful, one key performance indicator that stands out is the ability of the team to achieve a goal in a particular timeframe. Learn more about different types of deadlines.

This is part of our Leadership series that emphasis qualities that should be highlighted for your MBA Application. Today we will focus on ‘Trust’, a key quality that allows you to influence your team members as a leader. Find out how to build trust.