Stanford GSB MBA Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (650 Words)
Background Information: The applicant - a Uruguay native who overcame poverty, reflects on the struggle of a single-parent household, violence in the neighborhood, and the IMPACT mentorship had in orienting himself towards Math and soccer. The experience of mentorship as an intervention for low-income communities motivated him to start a non-profit for STEM Education.
Theme: Education, STEM, Mentorship, Inequality
Theme (Explained): The essay narrates the two-tier education – vocational training for low-income families and STEM education for middle to high-income families.
The creative presentation of STEM concepts through an affordable App developed by the applicant’s non-profit is the technology solution bringing equal opportunities for STEM education.
Profile: Entrepreneur
Industry: Education
MBA Essay Strategy: Education as an investment for escaping poverty and violence is my primary message throughout the essay. The impact of education is even more pertinent in households with single parents who are often struggling to balance time with children with time for work, often 2 to 3 jobs. I captured this struggle in the opening paragraph before taking the reader to the truth that sometimes, the wrong path in our life would have permanently put us at a disadvantage in our career and life. The mentor’s intervention and orientation helped the applicant shine in math and soccer that eventually gave him me a scholarship and a new life in the US.
Opener: Starting the essay with ‘the value of education’ is one way to reiterate the theme of the essay.
Stanford GSB MBA What matters most to you, and why? (Access to Education) (650 Words)
Repeat after me, “I am nobody without education.”
My mother would force me to repeat these affirmations at least five times before letting me go outside to play. She was nervous. A week before, gang violence in the neighborhood of Montevideo had killed three teenagers. Many of my friends were couriers for the supply of drugs from Brazil. As a Single mother, juggling two jobs where the shifts run 12-14 hours, overseeing me and my younger sister ..
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