Stanford GSB MBA Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (650 Words)
Background Information: At one point in time, the applicant’s career would not have been actualized if it wasn’t for the intervention of a professor. Coming from a low-income family, the death of the applicant’s father – the breadwinner, forced him out of school to factory work. Only when the professor intervened and persuaded his mother about the potential of the applicant did she rise to the occasion and take on the duty of the breadwinner.
Theme: Community, Balance, Meaning, Purpose, Optimism
Theme (Explained): The essay captures a broad range of themes by narrating the applicant’s strong desire to balance four aspects of his life – personal through community service, professional through impactful technology, social through Stanford’s clubs and peers, and spiritual through rigorous self-evaluation.
Profile: Entrepreneur, Technology Consultant
Industry: Technology
MBA Essay Strategy: For the Stanford MBA What Matters essay, applicants tend to focus on one underlying value and build examples around it. It works for profiles with one strong identity. But if you are coming from a traditional career with interesting life events, a better strategy is to capture multiple values and map them to life events. Through the mapping, reiterate why the value is important for you.
Opener: I want the reader to introspect on optimism as a value and recognize the importance of optimism in helping humanity survive over 200,000 years.
Sample Stanford MBA What matters most to you, and why Essay ? (613 Words)(Balance in Life)
In a world where violence and corruption are normal, it is easy to get cynical about the future. When the world becomes a large pool of cynics, they are blinded from the opportunities that lay ahead. Giving up is easy. Fighting on despite the injustice and the uncertainties is what has made us humans survive over 200,000 years. I take pride in our ancestor’s ability ..
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Read the Complete Essay - Balance in Life (What Matters to you and Why Stanford GSB MBA Essay)
