Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary (approximately 500 words). *

In the second example on INSEAD MBA Strengths and Weaknesses essay, we take you through the journey of a creative, who from a young age found rearranging the spatial design a passion. The opening paragraph captures the incident as a 4-year old to demonstrate the origins of her interest. What seemed a weakness in language skills turned out to be a highly evolved skill in recognizing patterns and visualizing designs in empty spaces.

Working on design solutions, although satisfying, could also lead to moments of self-doubt, which the applicant cites as a weakness. The pressure to outdo the previous solution added to the stress. By developing a process-centric approach with clear separation of human and organizational problems, the applicant manages the behavior. Another weakness that the applicant mentions is a lack of vocabulary in translating design ideas for a quant audience. By writing a crime novel in 30 days, the applicant developed the skills to verbalize details.

The concluding paragraph summarizes the applicant's motivation to switch from design to consulting that also led her from Singapore to Australia – an experience that helped her acquire a culture of intense work with fun. The last line affirms her optimism in leveraging the INSEAD and her design experiences to transition from consulting to product development.

Sample Essay 2: Candid Description, Strengths & Weaknesses (Consulting to Product Development) (492 Words)

When the kindergarten teacher shared the below optimum language test scores in the parent-teacher meeting, my mother listed the puzzles meant for 7 years old that I solved in minutes. The teacher couldn’t understand her point. From a 4-year old’s fascination with activities that require reimagining the spatial format, I became a designer obsessed with finding harmony among human interactions, whitespace, and utility.