Describe the community that has been most meaningful to you. What is the most valuable thing you have gained from being a part of this community and what is the most important thing you have contributed to this community?
The most obvious definition of community is the neighborhood in which one lives. The applicant captures an obvious narrative but with a twist. He is a global citizen who lived in Nairobi, London, and New York. Through three examples of engaging with the local community - one about water shortage. Second, about housing, and third, about influencing the opening of small businesses during the Pandemic, the applicant is showing consistency in engagement.
Narratives with one example won’t work.
It is unlikely that you would have the same level of IMPACT or active role in all local community engagements. That is alright as long as you capture enough context about the problem so that the reviewer understands the actions you took and the IMPACT you had. It should also clearly establish a habit.
Community development rarely happens overnight. It is a habit one develops from a young age. The narrative starts with the parents and Age 14 to highlight the origin of this value and why the applicant considers his neighborhood as his community.
Sample Yale SOM Community MBA Essay: Neighborhood as a Community (496 Words)
My community was Nairobi at age 14, London at 20, and now New York at 27. My mother, a social worker, and my father, who works with an international agency, never excused us from the dinner table when conversations ventured into riots, poverty, diseases, discrimination, and financial insecurity. We were encouraged to care with our effort and time. By our teens, social media blossomed, and we could raise the voice of the disenfranchised without leaving the room. My mother discouraged this tendency and forced us to meet like-minded people.
I vividly remember a meeting in Nairobi, protesting the water shortage in our neighborhood. In the middle of a passionate speech..
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