Skip to main content

Sample Ross MBA Essay: Out of Comfort zone (YouTube Videos)

Prompt 2: I am out of my comfort zone when

Before you articulate how you came out of the comfort zone, understand what the term means. If you are working on a project where the tasks have become routine, with low to no pressure and there are few incentives to take the risk, then you are in your comfort zone.

Two traits define comfort zone: anxiety and skills.

If you are using an existing skill to solve a problem with no anxiety-inducing characteristics, the scope for growth is low. Most applicants develop a plan for an MBA when they become intensely aware that they will be in the comfort zone for the next 3-10 years. By motivation, MBA applicants are coming out of their comfort zone. But the Admission team is expecting pre-MBA experience or an extracurricular for this prompt.

Ideally, include an extracurricular or a volunteering experience or an experience that breaks the stereotype of your profession, gender or nationality.

Example 2: Publishing daily Science Show

Even the activities for which you have made a name for yourself can lead you out of your comfort zone. In this example, the applicant explains how the responsibility to capture accurate information through the daily science show and guide young scientists has taken her out of the comfort zone.

Sample MBA Essay: Out of my comfort zone (Daily Science Show) (99 Words)

I am out of my comfort zone when I record YouTube videos for my channel <z> - a daily show that predominantly covers space technologies. Contributing as a publisher although exhilarating requires a winning combination of research, recording..

...

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.