Essay: Why Stanford?
Profile: Mr. KP
Profile (Background): Mr. KP has experience at NASA as part of the crew that designed a mission to find life on other planets. However, as a coastline resident, his real passion is erosion science and finding technological innovations that could create sustainable barriers for global flooding events.
Essay Approach: “Why Stanford?”
Mr KP is approaching Stanford as a critical missing piece of the puzzle to apply his NASA experience finding life on planets to building sustainable barriers to tackle a global flooding event.
Note: Core, Electives and Experiential Learning Courses are Quoted and narrated in F1GMAT's Complete Why Stanford MBA Sample Essay as part of F1GMAT's Stanford MBA Essay Guide
Essay Planning
Problem: Affording a replicable flood barrier in developing and even in developed economies to avoid a catastrophic flooding event like the Pandemic
Problem (Explained): The Dutch Barrier to stop flooding in Rotterdam costs approx. $738M. The structure, although a feasible model for all coastal cities, is not affordable for the coastlines of developing economies. The applicant wants to re-examine the design of these barriers that were formulated during the 80s, when material science, design thinking, and the technology to actualize a unique prototype were limited.
Feasible Goals: Prototyping affordable flood barriers, building a venture around the product, and attracting investments from the VC community at Stanford.
Short-term Goal: Learn to build a climate tech venture around flood barriers by working on design, sustainability (carbon emissions), affordability, and by creating a startup culture that is long-term oriented - a thinking essential to succeed in such a large undertaking.
Long-Term Goal: Installing affordable flood barriers across coastal cities in the world (affects 40% of the world population)
Stanford’s Strength: The cross-functional, cross-industry, and entrepreneurial exposure that the Stanford MBA program and the university offer to entrepreneurial applicants
Opener: I want to build intrigue around one unrelated event that also demonstrates the applicant's skills in building world-class technology
Strategy: For the sample essay, I have started with a personal narrative - an experience just before the rocket launch at NASA that catapulted the search for new life on other planets. With this approach, the essay is a divergence away from the typical credential-setting lines. However, I have used a humble-brag phrase, "a tiny contribution to the collective consciousness at NASA," to reiterate the applicant's skills in creating world-class products.
Why Stanford MBA Essay Four: Non-Profit Entrepreneurship (Addressing Global Flooding) (350 words)
My nerves were flaky. We were minutes away from the launch. I went to my happy place - the walk with my father as a child through Cartagena beach. The mind transportation calmed me down. By immersing in the learning curve, I contributed to helping us find planets with life-sustaining molecules – a tiny contribution to the collective consciousness at NASA.
After the rocket launch, my mind lingered on the beach. As a coastal resident, I have been following erosion science since college..
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