中国留学之家第一部分为115份真实的ESSAY,分别来自于17个不同背景的申请人

venkatmba - 2008-7-27 12:21:00

说明

1.第一部分为115份真实的ESSAY, 分别来自于17个不同背景的申请人.
2. 第二部分为对21个常见ESSAY问题的分析，包括问题的关键，常见错误，正确的回答方式. 个人认为这一部分比真实的ESSAY更重要.
3. 由于文件采用扫描和文字识别方法输入, 可能存在一些错误.
4. 此文件仅供CHASEDREAM网友参考使用, 请尊重原书版权, 切勿用于商业用途.

I would like to walk in Senator Kerrey’s shoes because I admire his determination to give thoughtful consideration to the budget’s long-term effect on the nation’s welfare at a time when he was under considerable pressure to make a politically expedient decision. Unlike most of his colleagues, Senator Kerrey had not based his support for the President’s budget proposal solely on his party affiliation. Instead, he spent several days before the vote weighing political considerations against the strength of his belief that the President’s budget did not reduce federal spending and the government’s deficit fast enough.
Furthermore, I would choose to walk in Senator Kerrey’s shoes on this particular day because I believe that people achieve self-awareness and growth through experiences that challenge their ethics and intellect. In this case, Senator Kerrey, a successful businessman and thoughtful politician, was forced to choose between the nation’s future prosperity and the success of his own party’s president.
3. If you could pursue any occupation regardless of education, training, special talent, or monetary barrier, what would it be and why?
If I could select any occupation without regard to limitations or barriers, I would choose to be a venture capitalist specializing in inner-city investments. I believe that in this occupation I could assist these communities to achieve self-sufficiency through economic development and generate a good return on my investments. I believe this economic development is most often achieved when private investors, motivated by profit, identify those potentially profitable companies with a comparative advantage derived from their inner-city location. Government could promote this private investment by reducing the capital gains tax on income derived from inner-city businesses. This tax benefit would overcome the real and imagined risks associated with inner-city investments.
In addition to giving inner-city companies access to a source of capital normally denied them, as venture capitalist I would provide consulting services to assist inner-city managers to most effectively capitalize on their competitive advantages of strategic location and proximity to markets. The City X garment industry, for example, has one important competitive advantage over producers in low-wage countries: their location allows them to respond to a production order from Manhattan designers or retailers in a number of days instead of months. Without the information processing technologies with which to implement “just-in-time” production, however, the managers of many City X garment firms fail to benefit from this competitive advantage.
By improving the performance of inner-city business through these financing and management services, I would increase the profitability of my investments. These returns would demonstrate to other venture capitalists that profits can be obtained through active investment and involvement in inner-city companies. Once the venture capital community recognized the potential profitability of inner-city investments, a new source of growth capital would become available to these companies.
These potentially profitable companies represent the inner-city’s most promising opportunity to provide long-term employment at a reasonable wage for its residents. With the financial independence derived from this employment, inner-city residents could provide food, housing, and health care for themselves and their families.
ISABELLA
Background Data:
Job: Insurance executive (risk management) for four years
Education: Hotel management degree, with numerous scholarships and awards
Nationality: American (Hispanic)
Critical issue to address:
A hotel management degree leaves open the possibility that she lacks the
analytical firepower for a program like Chicago’s.
1. Why are you seeking an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and what are your plans and goals after you receive your degree?
Upon graduation in 1990, I eagerly sought employment opportunities in the hotel industry. The weak economy, coupled with the lack of quality of career opportunities in the hospitality industry in 1990, encouraged me to reassess the direction of my future career. After completing a detailed job search, I was offered an opportunity at Corporation X as an account executive intern in the commercial insurance brokerage industry. Accordingly, I adapted quickly to the dynamic and competitive nature of the brokerage world by focusing on the service skills that I learned during my undergraduate studies.
During my first year of employment at Corporation X, I developed a unique, comprehensive foundation in the property and casualty insurance brokerage industry. I was involved in client presentations, risk-financing projects, account renewals, marketing exercises, proposal preparation, numerous seminars, and document translation from English to Spanish and vice versa. Overall, my technical knowledge of the industry was developed through both a classroom setting and general application. Upon completion of the account executive training program, I was offered a position as an account representative in 1991 and I was promoted to senior account representative in 1993.
During September 1994, Corporation Y invited me to interview with their senior management. At the time I was not seeking to change jobs. I had recently acquired a new property and casualty insurance account and was involved in several challenging risk management projects. Employment at Corporation Y, however, presented an invaluable opportunity for continued professional development. As a result, I joined their risk management department as an account executive during October 1994.
My contributions to Corporation Y were recognized by my colleagues during October 1995; with much pride, I received the prestigious Q.U.E.S.T. for the Best Award (Q. = Quality Work, U. = Unique Ideas, E. = Expertise, S = Service to Clients, T. = Teamwork). Only nine out of four hundred employees receive the award annually.
During my employment at Corporation Y, I have acquired substantive knowledge pertaining to the design and implementation of complex, sophisticated property and casualty insurance programs for Fortune 500 companies. As an account executive, I have more accountability compared to what I had in my previous position at Corporation X. In addition, due to my past experience in the management of hospitality industry accounts, I have been designated as a Hospitality Industry Specialist in order to concentrate on various segments of the hospitality industry, including hotels, casinos, athletic clubs, country clubs, restaurants, and racing facilities.
The insurance industry is competitive, challenging and fast-paced; as a result, upon completion of an MBA I plan to enter a different segment of the industry. I plan to synthesize my hotel administration degree and experience, along with my insurance background, by obtaining a position as a risk manager for an international hotel company. Within five years of serving as a risk manager, I will seek an appointment as Director of Risk Management and Insurance Services. An MBA from the University of Chicago will accelerate my professional development and facilitate the realization of my ambitions.
As a risk manager, I will have the responsibility of formulating cost-effective insurance programs including actuarial funding mechanisms such as self-insurance, paid loss retro programs, captives, and other cash flow techniques used to pay for losses including both damages to property and bodily injury to employees or third parties. These insurance or self funding programs cost millions of dollars a year. As a result, cost containment activities are a major priority. Therefore, I will also have the added challenge of motivating management to implement aggressive loss control systems that will decrease work-related injuries. Cooperation and team effort will determine the success of this endeavor. By developing a safer work environment, employees will be more productive and render higher quality service.
The hotel industry has recovered from a recession; consequently, occupancy rates and competition have increased substantially in the domestic and international hotel market. The insurance industry regularly shifts from a “soft market” that offers inexpensive property and casualty premiums to a “hard market” that, conversely, promotes expensive premiums. These two issues, coupled with the ongoing changes in the global economy, require a risk manager to develop a flexible, innovative, and proactive managerial style.
Participation in the University of Chicago’s MBA curriculum will sharpen my leadership and managerial capabilities. Another factor, which I deem essential, consists of the University of Chicago’s prominent global perspective. Participation in the International Business Exchange Program at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE), Barcelona, Spain, and collaboration with students from diverse countries will afford an unparalleled exposure to cultural diversity and develop substantive knowledge as to the globalization of business.
Ultimately, if provided with the opportunity, participation in the University of Chicago’s MBA program will refine my technical know-how and managerial capabilities and afford an invaluable opportunity for personal and professional development.
2. If you could walk in someone else’s shoes for a day, whose would you choqe and why?
If I could walk in someone else’s shoes for a day, I would choose to walk in my mother’s shiny leather loafers. My mother has strolled and jumped through various challenges in her life. She has confronted obstacles with energetic optimism and contagious humor. Her vision, fortitude, and creativity have always guided her self-assured steps and ambition.
It takes an incredibly courageous individual to decide to pack up his or her belongings and immigrate to another country during her early thirties. My mother saw unparalleled professional and educational opportunities for her children in the United States. With sincere faith and confidence, she guided my father in the transition from life in Colombia, South America, to life in the United States.
It is through the application of creative endeavors that an individual develops and nurtures his or her willingness to see life from a different perspective. My mother has continually promoted cultural awareness and experimentation. Her accomplishments as an actress in Colombia and New York City reflect her creative convictions. By attending her rehearsals and performances I was consistently exposed to a myriad of personalities and I experienced innumerable episodes of humor, drama, and creativity.
Vigor, dedication, and resilience are pivotal components of my mother’s character. For these reasons, I would welcome the opportunity to spend a day in her shoes.
3. If you could pursue any occupation regardless of education, training, special talent, or monetary barrier, what would It be and why?
Without doubt, I would savor a career as a fashion designer in the event that education, training, special talent, or monetary barriers were nonexistent. Apparel design has been a creative outlet that I have developed through the completion of several design courses and projects. After submitting a detailed proposal and portfolio, I was awarded a grant from the Cornell University council of the Creative and Performing Arts. During my fourth year of undergraduate study, I produced a fashion show promoting my collection entitled “The Latin Style.” Vibrant colors, exceptional fabrics, and sensual shapes came together and celebrated the romantic evening. This enterprise proved to be a rewarding and valuable learning experience.
A fashion designer must be energetic, creative, self-confident, flexible, and resilient. Designers must cater to specific markets and satisfy the needs of those segments. The delivery of new lines of apparel is fast-paced, competitive, and invigorating. A designer must be in the forefront of the industry and deliver innovative creations that will entice buyers, journalists, and photographers. Ultimately, the customer, through his purchase decisions, determines the apparel designer’s success. Nonetheless, I believe that true satisfaction is derived from the ability to help a client feel important, powerful, and elegant.
ROBERT
Background:
Job: Five years of experience in corporate banking, with several promotions
Education: Economics major at Duke University
Nationality: American
Critical issue to address:
The only real problem is to distinguish himself from the large number of applicants from the same field, either by showing that he is truly a standout in this field or by showing that he is more well-rounded than others, or both.
1. Why are you seeking an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and what are your plans and goals after you receive your degree?
Open the 1986 yearbook for Acme High School and under my senior picture you will see “future goals: doctor in radiology.” At the time this made perfect sense. Ironically, a strong pre-med program was a major factor in my choosing Duke ahead of other undergraduate schools (which seemed to have stronger business programs). Yet, by my second year in college, I suspected that my true interests were not in the medical sciences. To confirm these suspicions, I applied for an internship program in a hospital. Here I discovered medicine was not for me.
During that sophomore summer, some mental regrouping led me to aspirations in the field of business. An initial fascination with the stock market, corporate news stories, economics, and my parents’ businesses evolved into my current position as a derivatives trader/marketer. To continue to follow these interests, I believe now is the time to make a calculated move—attaining an MBA. An MBA at Chicago’s Graduate School of Business will be instrumental in achieving my long term goals.
Following two years at the GSB I plan to join a capital markets unit with a dominant international presence. Employers with little understanding of global finance may wonder about my leaving my current career path in one capital markets group, only to join another later. But I believe that this is where I can most efficiently learn about expanding businesses into international markets. Ideally, immediately following graduate school I will be placed overseas, which should also open exciting avenues for my wife, who has a PhD in mechanical engineering. The combination of this added work experience and a GSB education will give me the practical knowledge for my long- term professional goal.
Long term, five to ten years after achieving an MBA, I intend to hop the banker/customer fence. Throughout my career I have admired the key managers responsible for their company’s financial progress. As an advisor, I enjoy making financial suggestions that may influence a corporate manager’s business strategy. My goal is to be in a position similar to these key managers.
As a manager, I hope to work within the finance group of a middle market manufacturer. While global trade becomes increasingly necessary for corporate prosperity, my skills would be desired by domestic corporations seeking expansion. My objective is to plan an essential role in assisting a company into foreign markets through acquisitions and strategic capital expenditures.
On a personal basis, long term goals include my wife, family, and community. I will remain actively involved in the community by continuing my association with Junior Achievement and Habitat for Humanity, coaching youth soccer, and perhaps working for the public service commission.
The Graduate School of Business is a critical component of this entire plan, both professionally and personally. Among the very best in business programs, the GSB is unique in that it concentrates on all the areas needed by a highly competitive financial manager on the international scene a decade from now. An MBA at Chicago will sharpen my finance and general management skills. While these skills have blossomed with six years of work, Duke University’s liberal arts format did not provide the specific foundation I now desire. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, a Chicago MBA will teach me how to think like a manager and recognize what questions to ask.
As an undergraduate economics major, I admired that the overwhelming majority of my research was based on publications by University of Chicago faculty. Today, in addition to superior faculty, I am drawn to the GSB’s team-oriented approach of LEAD, an international emphasis, and a diverse student body. The GSB’s urban setting in one of the world’s financial capitals is obviously a tremendous asset, not only from an academic perspective, but from a cultural perspective as well. I am anxious to choose from a large selection of electives in a curriculum that focuses on innovation. The combination of one of the broadest alumni networks and one of the strongest corporate recruiting programs worldwide is also vital to me.
In return, I believe that I can give fellow Chicago students a sampling of my experiences, possibly helping them to attain their goals as the GSB makes it possible for me to attain mine.
2. If you could walk in someone else’s shoes for a day, whose would you choose and why?
“Houston, we have a problem…” On board the Apollo 13, a crew of three scrambles to discern the cause, and effect, of a dramatic explosion. A gas is spewing from the side of the craft, and the oxygen gauge’s needle begins to descend. It is April 12, 1970, and I am Jim Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13, about to face the ultimate test in crisis management.
I have chosen to wear Lovell’s shoes for a day, partly for the excitement of flying in a spacecraft and for satisfying a childhood fascination—being an astronaut en route to the moon. However, my primary attraction to Lovell’s position lies in understanding how he managed to overcome such an extraordinary set of circumstances. Clearly, Lovell was challenged by events for which he could never have trained. Coherent analysis and life-dependent decisions came from instinct and gut reaction.
Throughout that fateful period as Apollo 13 lost much of its vital oxygen and electrical reserves, the commander remained calm. Not only did he direct a frightened crew in close quarters while barreling into outer space, but he also managed a staff of hundreds on earth at mission control. Placed in the cockpit of the spacecraft, I wonder how I would respond while a series of mishaps occurred around me. Would I be able to innovate to effectively control others in a remote location and drive them toward a common goal? Would I be able to abandon a lifelong ambition of walking on the moon when it was just within arm’s reach?
Lovell responded instantly to the changes dealt to him and put his own aspirations aside. I hope that, put in the same situation, I would react in a similar manner: recognize the big picture while paying attention to necessary details. A seasoned manager, Lovell quickly changed course and refocused. “Gentlemen, what are your intentions? I’d like to go home.”
3. If you could pursue any occupation regardless of education, training, special talent, or monetary barrier, what would it be and why?
Anxiety swelled as two armed policemen escorted me through a metal detector into the city school. It was my first day as a teacher in the Junior Achievement program called Project Business. Introducing myself to the group of inquiring faces, I wondered whether these students would relate to me despite our cultural differences. Would they care? I did not realize at the time that the next two school years with JA would have such a profound influence on my life. If I were to pursue any occupation regardless of training, special talents, or other prohibitive factors, it would certainly be in a similar teaching capacity.
An evening news broadcast introduced me to Junior Achievement (“JA”). I volunteered to be placed at South Atlanta High School, where I would teach basic business principles to a ninth grade class. Initially, I volunteered because I had remembered the inspiration of coaching a youth soccer team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; I thought JA would be similar. JA has given me new respect for those who can motivate, enforce self-discipline, and instill curiosity in others.
My passion for volunteer teaching in the community has carried over into the workplace. On a professional level, I relish the opportunity to speak before colleagues and customers. Explaining the complexities of derivative instruments has been a teaching challenge. In an effort to increase referrals, I have traveled throughout the corporate lending network of Sunmist Banks to conduct seminars on hedging. Likewise, as “derivatives” and “risk” have become synonymous to our client base, I have aggressively educated CFOs of concerned corporations (and their boards) in an attempt to combat a media-created frenzy.
Ultimately, my teaching efforts are rewarded, whether I am distributing JA diplomas to students or watching a customer finally understand a hedging product. Teaching others has taught me the importance of integrity and a good sense of humor.
JUDY
Background Data:
Job: Two to three years of experience in consulting (use of technology)
Education: Mathematics major at Yale
Nationality: American
Critical issue to address:
As a consultant, she needs to distinguish herself from the large number of candidates with a similar background.
1. Why are you seeking an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and what are your plans and goals after you receive your degree?
The managers of today and tomorrow need to understand the importance of keeping up with technology in order to remain competitive. Taking the recent popularity of large-scale mergers in the telecommunications industry as an example, we are seeing more and more companies striving toward more complete service offerings and massive geographic coverage. While bigger and better implies more efficient, it often means more complicated. It also means more work for the small competitor. Managers on all levels will need resources to provide information and tools for acquiring and using information. The technology that provides these resources is constantly being improved, but even the most advanced technology is useless unless it can be successfully applied. This is the greatest challenge that future managers will face. Successful management of technical change requires careful planning, to ensure a consensus among management, the developers, and the “front line” users of the new technology.
The process of technological change has always interested me. I have watched it, learned about it, and wondered about it throughout my employment. Even in high school, as the manager and statistician of a basketball team, I helped to computerize the analysis of player statistics. During college, I wrote batch files and manuals to help the business office of a magazine make better use of their computer resources. In my current position, I have participated in small-scale application development projects, I hope to continue in this direction and build a career in the management of technological change.
The implementation of change requires more than a background in technology. Those employees who stand to benefit the most from a new business process are likely to be unconvinced of the extent to which their work will improve. They may be afraid of computers, concerned about their job security, or unwilling to invest the resources for training. Managers trying to implement any type of change must motivate the people who are affected to support the change and guarantee its success. They must acknowledge the connection between the technology itself and the human resource that supports it. Change often requires a capital investment. Managers may not know how to determine the value of the investment and the expected impact on the bottom line. Yet even small companies will need to update the way to help them make that happen. Such people must have a background in all management issues, including the management of human resources, marketing, and financial management.
I need to build such a foundation in management issues. I have always had ideas for change, but I have rarely had the authority, resources, or knowledge to implement change. I want to learn techniques for designing systems that address the user’s needs, solve technological problems, and optimize the bottom line. I need to learn approaches to training and other human resource issues. I seek a deeper understanding of financial management and marketing. Over the next years, I will address these needs by earning an MBA and working in strategic consulting. I will improve my quantitative and technological skills, and I will develop an understanding of the non-technical aspects of management. Ultimately I plan to have a leadership position in a consulting firm or to manage my own firm.
The Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago is well equipped to prepare me for my future. The program provides a solid basis in general management, yet it allows for a concentration in a particular sphere. The course offerings in the areas of strategic management and information technology are relevant to the growth and survival of the modern company. The faculty includes some of the top minds in each field. The School attracts an intelligent and motivated student body, consisting of people who share my interests, such as technology management and small business consulting. The team-building focus, which starts as early as orientation, fosters the type of environment in which I will excel. I am certain that I will both gain a great deal from my fellow students and contribute to their experiences at the GSB. In today’s executive marketplace, there is no shortage of MBAs. In order to distinguish oneself and launch a successful career, one needs the appropriate credentials. I seek a degree in management from the Graduate School of Business because the GSB is uniquely qualified to provide the background that is required in order to manage technology.
2. If you could walk in someone else’s shoes for a day, whose would you choose and why?
“There is a thing passing in the sky; some thick clouds surround it; the uninitiated sees nothing.” (Hani gve lewe ma negele ya nja gbili kaango kpowa ee to.) Mende proverb, translated in Sylvia Ardy Boone, Radiance from the Waters: Ideals of Feminine Beauty in Mende Art. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986).
Sylvia Ardy Boone did not look like a typical Yale professor. Most people saw a quiet, heavyset woman who dressed in head-wraps and untailored clothes. To me, she was beautiful, successful, and admirable, clad in the graceful and flowing fabrics of the African people she studied. The above proverb, which she taught me, aptly describes her existence. Few members of the Yale community saw past the thick clouds surrounding this magnificent woman.
Boone’s award-winning dissertation covered the expression of ideals of feminine beauty through art. Her subjects, the Mende of Sierra Leone, place a high value on secrecy and privacy. Researchers are not welcome among them. Yet Boone was dedicated enough to earn the trust of the Mende. She lived with them for extended periods of time, learning their language, culture, and art.
I met Professor Boone through an art history course. I knew very little about African cultures and the African-American experience, so I expected to be at a disadvantage. Happily, I was wrong. Professor Boone was one of the most caring and approachable professors I came across in college. She encouraged me to draw on my own experiences to understand the material and develop my own insights. I admired this introverted woman, who had the courage and commitment to live amidst a closed community.
Sylvia Boone died in her sleep about a year later. I learned from her obituary that she was the first African-American woman to be granted tenure at Yale. My respect for her increased, and I regretted the missed opportunity to learn more from her and about her. I would love to spend a day as this mysterious woman, this “thing” that passed in the sky.
3. If you could pursue any occupation regardless of education, training, special talent, or monetary barrier, what would It be and why?
If I could be anything, I would be a dancer.
Dance is a fundamental part of human existence. It exists in every culture, as ritual, as a rite of mating, as entertainment. Regardless of the reason for dance, it is always art. Dance simultaneously interprets and is interpreted. Whether accompanied by song, instrument, or silence, dance is constructed of movements that are born out of sound, emotion, and spirituality. These movements, a sculpture in motion, in turn inspire the watcher, invoke thoughts and feelings, perhaps summon the rain.
Dancing is control and freedom, tradition and breaking from the past, taught yet ultimately found in the soul. When I dance, I am aware of every movement. I am conscious of moving the air around me as I float or cut through it. The floor beneath my bare feet, acting as my canvas, allows me to resist the forces of gravity and almost fly. Every stretch and contraction is calculated, yet each breath releases tension. While I study positions and techniques, I move beyond them to express that which defies words.
When I dance, I can see inside myself. I find my limits, and I exceed them. I find my burdens, and I set them aside. I attend to my joints, one by one, learning how they function. I seek strength, and it flows from deep within. And when I dance, I connect with others. We fuse together into an organism, a harmonious sharing and building of space. Each person may create a unique path through space, or all limbs may move with synchronous precision. The feeling of belonging cannot be broken.
If I could be anything, I would be a dancer.
COMMENTS
1. Remember that these essays represent a cross section of the essays that succeeded at a leading program. In other words, all of these essays were written by people who ultimately attended Chicago. Each applicant has done some things relatively well and other things relatively poorly. These essays have been included more to give you a. realistic sense of the quality that typical (successful) applicants are turning out than to encourage you to mimic their efforts.
2. George has done a marvelous job, in his first essay, demonstrating that he understands Chicago’s program very well. He is quite convincing in showing how it will be helpful to him. This is particularly useful for someone like him who needs to convince the school that he will not be a liability insofar as he has not been in the private sector. This first essay shows that he is very aware of what he can get from an MBA, thereby suggesting that he would fit comfortably in the program and making his desires for the future all the more credible. His second essay reinforces his political background, but may not do much more for him. On the other hand, his third essay allows him to show in concrete form what he envisions for his future. He does so in an unusual fashion because most people answer this essay in terms of their desire to be a deep sea diver, painter, or president, whereas he dreams of doing what he is going to business school for.
3. Isabella has written a good first essay: it shows her to have been very successful to date despite having had to take a job in a field rather distant from the one for which she had prepared at university. Her discussion of insurance reveals an analytical approach to the industry and to her career, thereby addressing the most serious potential concern likely to be voiced about her candidacy. Her second essay reveals her mother as an interesting and praiseworthy woman, and reinforces the fact that Isabella is a second-generation Hispanic. I am not sure that it does much more for Isabella, however, other than showing her to be a grateful daughter. Her third essay, similarly, does not advance her case dramatically, although it does sketch in some more about her interests and personality, thereby making one potential use of this question.
4. Robert has the problem of someone applying to MBA programs from a typical “feeder” field—how to distinguish himself from the many other applicants with similar backgrounds. He makes a good start in the first essay by engaging the reader’s interest immediately. He shows how he ended up in business rather than medicine, which makes for good reading. In addition, he writes fluidly and well. His second essay, rather than humanizing him in a way that other applicants attempt for themselves, emphasizes his managerial interests. I am not convinced that a banker needs to persuade admissions officers that he is focused on business. He might have done better by taking more of a risk and showing more of himself. His last essay is on a good topic—teaching, especially of the underprivileged—and he does a good job of tying his alternative job to his actual one, On the other hand, he did not fully tie in how integrity and a sense of humor are integral parts of teaching. In other words, his conclusion seems to be tacked on as an afterthought.
5. Judy, with her educational background and work experience, has no particular issues she needs to address, other than the need to distinguish herself from the applicant pool. Her essays help her do this by showing her to be very well-rounded. Despite being a mathematics major, emphasizing her love of anthropology suggests that she is anything but a mere number-cruncher. The biggest drawback to her essays is that she discusses very little concerning her job and what she does well professionally. It is not clear from any of these essays what she actually does or what major successes she has had. She has thus missed an opportunity to impress the admissions committee with information about her career to date.

-- COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY
–

THREE APPLICANTS’ ESSAYS

MELISSA PETERSON
Background:
Job: Strategy consultant
Education: Liberal arts degree from a leading school
Nationality: American (African-American)
Critical issues to address:
As a consultant, she needs to distinguish herself from the large number of
candidates with a similar background.
1. What are your career goals? How will an MBA help you achieve these goals? Why are you applying to Columbia Business School?
As a Business Analyst in the Strategic Services Practice of Andersen Consulting, Ideveloped a passion for the variety, challenge, and intellectual stimulation that a career in management consulting affords. I enjoyed studying the management and operations of client companies, analyzing and formulating solutions to complex business questions, presenting findings, and managing client teams. In fact, everything about management consulting seemed perfect. However, something was missing. The constant travel and long workdays were forcing me to neglect my first love: community service.
I have always been conscious of the fact that my personal success was made possible through the efforts of those who came before me. Without the sacrifices of people like Thurgood Marshall and Susan Brownell Anthony, the opportunities that I have today would be far less numerous. As such, I feel a moral obligation to assist those less fortunate than I, and to ameliorate the world in some small way for coming generations. To date, I have fulfilled this obligation through noncommittal volunteer work. In the future, I will fulfill the obligation by embarking on a career that will allow me to utilize my consulting skills to serve the community.
My short-term career goal is to serve as a business consultant to a nongovernmental organization in a developing country or as a business consultant to a nonprofit agency in the United States. This will allow me to further hone my management skills while serving the community. Also, it will prepare me to realize my long-term goal of starting a business in an area of high unemployment. The most effective form of community service helps others to help themselves. By creating jobs, I would help people to become self-sufficient and to support their families.
A Columbia Business School MBA would provide me with an internationally focused management education, which would better prepare me to plan and act strategically and to predict and manage change as a consultant and as an entrepreneur. Studying entrepreneurial management and assisting minority entrepreneurs with their business issues would provide me with a theoretical and practical entrepreneurial education. In brief, a Columbia Business School MBA would help me to achieve my career goals by helping me to develop the skills that are necessary to succeed in today’s global economy.
2. In reviewing the last five years, describe the one or two accomplishments of which you are most proud.
The two recent accomplishments of which I am most proud are related to my position as a Rotary Ambassador to Zimbabwe. The first started with a dream. For as long as I can remember, my fondest dream was of visiting Africa. Much as the adopted child who loves and cherishes her adoptive family, but still wonders who her biological parents are, I am a patriotic African-American who dreamt of sojourning in the land of my forefathers. So deep and strong was my desire to set foot on African shores that, in 1993, I dedicated myself to the fulfillment of the dream until I could visualize the sun rising above the veld, smell and taste the air after an ephemeral rain, and hear the wind thrusting through the leaves of the Baobab trees. I spent hours researching scholarships that would sponsor my trip to the continent and days completing scholarship applications and preparing for scholarship interviews. Hence, when I was awarded a 1994—1995 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to Zimbabwe, a long-awaited dream born of diligence and desire had come true.
The second accomplishment of which I am quite proud was realized through my service as a Rotary Ambassador of Goodwill. Although I am not quite sure of when my fear of public speaking developed, my first efforts to combat the fear were made at the Bronx High School of Science when I enrolled in a forensics class and joined the debate team for a year. These steps were the beginning of a long and difficult battle to vanquish my fear of public speaking and to become an effective and persuasive orator. Throughout college I continued the struggle by actively taking on positions of leadership (such as the presidency of Onyx Senior Honor Society and the vice-presidency of the Bi-Cultural Inter-Greek Council), which required me to address large audiences, and by taking courses for which oral presentations were mandatory. As a result of these efforts, my oratory skills improved greatly. I learned to write persuasively and to communicate clearly and concisely. However, I still lacked the confidence that all good public speakers possess and this diminished the effectiveness of my orations. As a Business Analyst for Andersen Consulting, my skills continued to improve, but it wasn’t until I began my service as a Rotary Ambassador that I noticed that my stiff, closed oratorical style had been replaced by a confident and open one. As a Rotary Ambassador, I give luncheon talks to Rotary Clubs upon request. Through these speaking engagements, I was able to triumph over my fears of public speaking by becoming a versatile and persuasive speaker. Both of these accomplishments stand as testaments to the value of hard work and perseverance.
3. Discuss a nonacademic personal failure. In what way were you disappointed in yourself? What did you learn from the experience?
Throughout my years at Our Saviour Lutheran School (grades K-8), I was lauded for my athletic and scholastic abilities. I was the captain and highest scorer of the women’s basketball team and was graduated valedictorian of my junior high school class. As a result, I became very accustomed to being the big fish in a little pond. So, in 1988 as I prepared to begin my first year of study at the Bronx High School of Science (a highly competitive specialized school), feelings of self-doubt consumed me. I was plagued by the irrational idea that Bronx Science academics and athletics were fundamentally different and more difficult than the Our Saviour variety. This belief set the stage for my worst failure.
When I began classes at Bronx Science, I quickly realized that the material was no more difficult than that which I had tackled at Our Saviour. Having made this discovery, I began to excel in the classroom. However, I continued to doubt my aptitude for basketball. Was I really a good player or were my peers at Our Saviour and at the other Lutheran schools in that league substandard players? The opportunity soon arose for me to answer this question. Women’s varsity basketball try-outs were held. When the 1988 team roster was posted, my name was not on the list. I had failed, but the competition had not beaten me. I had defeated myself. So sure was I that I would not make the team that I had not entered the trials. With this failure I lost my self-respect. In my eyes, I had done something unbelievably dishonorable; I had bowed to an irrational fear and called it master.
To restore my self-sovereignty, I tried out for the varsity team during my sophomore year. Although I hoped to make the team, doing so was not my primary concern. Through the act of competing, I was restoring my self-respect. When the 1989 roster was posted, my name was on the list. That year, I played more minutes than any other nonstarter. From 1990 to 1992, 1 was a starter and the highest point scorer on the team. I had succeeded on two levels.
From this experience, I learned the meaning of true failure. Failure only occurs when you do not try at all. If you make an effort, but do not succeed, there is honor and wisdom to be gained through the loss. Hence, you are better off than when you began. After all, success is not a destination—it is a journey.
4. Columbia Business School is a diverse environment. How will your experiences contribute to this?
Scientists have pondered the question of nature versus nurture for a long time. I believe that it is the combination of these two forces which molds an individual and shapes the contribution which she will make to society. As such, I hold that the contribution that my presence would make to the diversity at Columbia Business School is defined by my beliefs and values, which have been shaped by life experiences and heredity. That said, the adult experience that has had the most profound effect on my belief system and world vision has been my trip to and study of Africa.
Thus far, the most valuable lesson that I have learned on this trip is that everyone and everything in the universe is interdependent. This verity, which guided the lives of aboriginal men, was all but forgotten by many of those who advanced through the Iron Age. Men renounced their humanity by enslaving and subjugating fellow human beings and plundering the earth, thus disregarding the chains which link the fates of the planet and its people. However, our oneness cannot be ignored. The African continent abounds with testaments to our unity. In South Africa, time revealed that the fate of the Boers is inextricably linked with that of the Black South Africans whom the Boers once abhorred. In Angola and Mozambique, the lives of millions were permanently altered when a coup was staged five thousand miles away in Portugal. In other African countries, people starve as tribalism destroys their economies and dissolves their national unity. And nowhere on earth is man’s dependence on his environment more apparent than in Africa, where water is such an important commodity that the strongest currency on the continent, the Pula, is named after it. All of this points to the conclusion that, for better or worse, humans must learn to coexist with the planet and with each other.
This belief, and the others which comprise my world vision, would allow me to contribute to the diversity of thought at Columbia.
COMMENTS
1. American schools, Columbia in particular, emphasize community service in a way that some European (and Asian) schools do not. Melissa’s first essay therefore is ideally pitched for Columbia; it would be very good, but perhaps not perfect, for a school that focuses less on the question of what applicants will do for their communities’ benefit.
2. One suggestion for improvement: to discuss something from her consulting work, because she includes virtually nothing from her professional life. Thus she gets relatively little mileage from her strong professional credentials, although she has other experiences that are interesting enough to talk about, so her presentation does not suffer greatly. This is due in part to her being quite different from what one would expect from a strategy consultant—more lyrical, less “data-driven.”

DORREN HEMLOCK
Background:
Job: Journalist for fourteen years
Education: Had not quite completed her bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan
Nationality: American
(Note: she was applying for a special program at Columbia. Journalists who specialize in business and economics are eligible for a one-year, nondegree program (the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship) that the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism offers, which includes classes at the Business School. Those who complete this program can apply for a second-year fellowship (the Wiegers Fellowship) through the Business School to complete their MBAs. Thus she was in her first year of study, applying to complete a second year and thereby finish her MBA.)
Critical issues to address:
None. (Her biggest issues, concerning why she would do further education in her mid-thirties and whether she could survive the quantitative aspects of the program, were essentially moot after she had gained a place in the first-year program. Nonetheless, her handling of these issues still comes through in the following essays.)

1. What are your career goals? How will an MBA help you achieve these goals? Why are you applying to Columbia Business School?
Journalism is not a career for me; it is a calling. There are deadline pressures. The low pay is frustrating. Politicians I cover are disrespectful. Yet I can think of no other work that is as challenging, stimulating and rewarding.
For the past 14 years, I have been based in Peru, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, reporting and writing on business and politics for American, Latin American, and Caribbean media. Reporting has taken me far—to banks in Lima, electronics assembly plants in Haiti, coffee farms in Jamaica, corporate headquarters in Japan, and insurance offices in London, to name just a few places.
As a journalist, I have the chance to channel my curiosity, ask questions, learn, and give back to the community. I get to meet people, travel, research, and stay on top of current events. I get an opportunity to foster greater awareness and understanding. I get a chance to make a difference.
I became a journalist without even knowing it. The siren call sounded when I was transplanted from my native New York to the U.S. Virgin Islands. I wrote friends in New York about living without winter and with limited water supplies. I told them about high prices for food and low prices for liquor, about being a white minority and about life on a small Caribbean island. Even before entering college, I had my first job in media at the V.I. Post newspaper in St. Thomas.
To learn more about the region I call home, I pursued Latin American and Caribbean studies at Wesleyan University. There I embraced the idea that content should take precedence over form in journalism. I believe that editors and avid reading can improve one’s writing style, but knowing a topic in depth gives added value to readers and distinguishes a journalist from the pack. I specialized in business and economic journalism in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Throughout the years, I have realized the need for continuing specialization. Today, I am focusing on finance through a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Business and Economic Journalism. My interest grew in the wake of the Latin American debt crisis and the North American Free Trade Agreement. I recognize that equity financing, short-term capital flows, and direct foreign investment have increasingly important roles to play in Caribbean and Latin American development. At Columbia, I’ve also learned that financial systems require solid information flows to efficiently allocate capital. Specialized financial reporting therefore proves essential in hemispheric development.
After Columbia, I plan to return to journalism to work in international business news, especially on Latin America and the Caribbean. There’s a gap to fill, because business news on the hemisphere remains underreported in U.S. media. Washington rightly worries about immigration, drug trafficking and money laundering, and hemispheric free trade nowadays. Yet U.S. media still dedicate little space to the root causes of those problems in the economies of developing nations in the Americas.
Particularly disturbing for me is the scant attention given to the Caribbean Basin. The diverse, multilingual, and fragmented Caribbean runs the risk of marginalization in today’s global economy, where even large nations feel compelled to form trading blocs to compete. The Caribbean’s future has important implications for the United States and beyond. Clearly, international executives and policy makers could use more specialized economic coverage on Cuba, Haiti, Grenada, and Panama—to name just several nations that have surfaced as prime U.S. security concerns in recent years.
To continue bringing these issues to public attention, I plan to return initially to the San Juan Star newspaper in Puerto Rico, which has granted me a leave of absence during my Columbia studies. There, I plan to expand my freelance coverage, which already has included articles for Bloomberg Business News, the Caribbean News Agency, the Denver Post, and other media. Later, I hope to work at a large media outlet—likely in the United States. I believe that experience at a larger organization can provide greater access to editing and research resources, a more competitive environment to hone my skills, and a larger readership base for my work.
I also hope to use the knowledge gained through reporting at Columbia to help develop business and economic skills in other journalists in the Caribbean and Latin America. For starters, I am already planning several seminars at the San Juan Star on accounting and finance topics learned at Columbia Business School.
My ongoing year at Columbia has not changed my calling, but it has opened up new avenues to pursue my interests and expand my contribution through economic journalism.
2. In reviewing the last five years, describe the one or two accomplishments of which you are most proud.
In 1993, Puerto Rico’s economic life was on the line. The Clinton administration wanted to slash tax breaks for U.S. manufacturers on the island—endangering 40 percent of the Puerto Rican economy and more than 150,000 jobs. But Puerto Rico’s business community and its pro-statehood government could not agree on how to counter the attack.
At the San Juan Star, Puerto Rico’s only English-language daily newspaper, I covered manufacturing and international trade. I knew that tax breaks were Puerto Rico’s economic lifeblood. I jumped on the story. For seven months, I covered as many angles as I could find. I went to factories and interviewed everyone from hourly workers to CEOs. I interviewed top Puerto Rico executives, Washington officials, U.S. multinational lobbyists, Wall Street analysts, and Caribbean Basin leaders. Stories filled the business section front pages—and the hard work paid off.
The Star’s in-depth coverage helped stimulate debate and action. It played a role in getting Puerto Rico business and government to adopt a more concerted approach to the issue. My articles were regularly faxed from San Juan offices to Washington and served as an important information source stateside, especially to U.S. government and business executives who could not read Puerto Rico’s Spanish-language media.
After months of vigorous debate, Washington and Puerto Rico reached a compromise:
The tax incentives were cut, but far less than initially proposed. I felt proud to have used my bilingual skills, business specialization, and networks to serve as a communications link of this vital issue. That year, the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association named me Journalist of the Year, the island’s top business reporting award. But more important, I felt I had contributed to the community at a critical time.

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“Would you accept a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship?” the caller asked.
“Yes, Yes, Yes,” I yelped. “I want it. I want it.”
Years of work in the Caribbean and Latin America had brought me regional recognition, but the Bagehot was a sign that my efforts commanded respect outside the area as well. I was proud to have been chosen to study at Columbia and in New York.
Then came a roller coaster ride.
First was math camp. My confidence plummeted. I hadn’t studied math since high school in 1973 and never studied even precalculus, let alone calculus. I cried over my problem sets—despite Prof. Peter Garrity’s good humor. Then, I patiently started from scratch, reviewing addition, relearning algebra, seeking out help from teaching assistants and classmates, studying hard—and—I passed, barely.
Next came classes in accounting and finance, with a language that sounded strikingly similar to Chinese. I thought I would never understand. Yet, as the semester wore on, it started to make sense. I worked with colleagues and professors, hit the books and prayed for the best. By January, I was happily surprised when the call-in grading system electronically informed me of straight Hs at CBS.
I am very proud to have the opportunity to study at a university again and to have learned that hard work does pay off. I am energized by the challenge of grasping new concepts and hope to take on more. I enjoy the stimulation of tackling the new and meeting performance goals.
3. Discuss a nonacademic failure. In what way were you disappointed in yourself? What did you learn from the experience?
I should have completed my bachelor’s degree years ago, but it has taken a return to academia at Columbia University to get me to do it. Not having the degree has been a personal failure. I have felt that I’d let my parents down, when they had worked so hard to put me through college. I also felt inhibited to seek full-time work in the U.S. media, fearing disqualification without a degree.
Still, for years I did not complete the senior essay needed to fulfill requirements for a Latin American studies degree from Wesleyan University. Working in small, understaffed newspapers in nations with huge development hurdles and with fascinating stories to cover, I had always been so absorbed by my work in journalism that I had never set aside the months to research and write the paper.
College had not been easy for me. I started at age 16, a time when I was moved more by hormones than homework. An impressionable teenager, I was confused by intellectually aggressive campus culture after years at a small high school in the Caribbean, where community meant more than competition. I took a semester off, but then missed the intellectual challenge, returning to Wesleyan only to seek exchange programs to try other environments for learning. I studied for separate semesters in Spain, at the University of Texas at Austin, and finally completed my required coursework for Wesleyan’s Latin American studies program at Catholic University in Peru. Then, I decided to stay in Lima, lured by Peru’s rich history, politics, and culture, I aimed to complete my senior essay there, hoping to write a case study on U.S. food aid in Lima’s slums, an outgrowth of an urban anthropology course there. I never finished. In Lima in the early 1980s I could not find the documentation on U.S. policy that I needed, and, out of school, I lacked a professor to advise me on the project. I became engrossed in journalism and put the paper on hold—until now.
My current academic year at Columbia at age 36 has given me the time and tools to undertake the project, with the goal both to complete my Wesleyan requirements and to continue studies at Columbia to obtain an MBA. I am currently working with Chazen Institute professor Ronald Schramm on an independent study on multinational business location decisions, focusing on tax incentive programs in Puerto Rico and Ireland. At Wesleyan, the Latin American Studies program director, Anne Wightman, also is working with me to ensure the paper fulfills requirements as a noncredit senior essay to allow Wesleyan to award me a bachelor’s degree.
I am relieved to be redressing this failure and happy to re-embrace academia at Columbia. I have learned over the years to better appreciate the dynamism, debate, and stimulation a university environment offers. Columbia provides an especially rich environment by incorporating the resources available only in a global city like New York.
4. Discuss your involvement in a community or extracurricular organization. Include an explanation of how you became involved in the organization, and
how you helped the organization meet its goals.
Fellow reporters active in the Puerto Rico Journalists Association had heard my pitch repeatedly: Why did we stand up for press freedoms in Puerto Rico and not speak out for press rights in neighboring countries? Why did we look at issues narrowly, in a local context, and not comparatively at how other places dealt with crime, privatization, and other issues?
My international perspective came from years reporting in South America and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Most Puerto Rico journalists had not reported off the island.
In late 1991, colleagues approached me to run for a position on the association’s board of directors and, specifically, to focus on expanding international awareness among members. During my one-year term, I proposed and helped organize a conference on the press in Haiti.
The seminar came amid escalating repression and violence in that military-ruled country, including censorship and closure of radio stations and newspapers, as well as torture and even killings of Haitian reporters. About 75 people attended the event, mainly journalists. Speakers included, among others, two international news agency correspondents and a prominent Haitian-born University of Puerto Rico economics professor, who spoke on the role of radio news for Haiti’s mostly illiterate population. I moderated and provided an overview of violations against the Haitian media, citing reports from Amnesty International and other human rights groups.
It was the association’s first seminar on Haiti. The event helped meet the group’s goals of defending press freedom and expanding international focus. A colleague also wrote an article for a U.S. media magazine, bringing the subject to the attention of U.S. colleagues as well.
5. Columbia Business School is a diverse environment. How will your experiences contribute to this?
As a business journalist specialized in Latin America and the Caribbean, I believe I help enrich Columbia’s diverse environment in many ways.
First, as a reporter, I am unafraid to ask questions in public. In journalism, questions are a sign of inquisitiveness and strength. Colleagues in the entering MBA class have told me they’re glad that I unabashedly ask professors to clarify concepts or explain complex graphs and equations in plain English. They say that my questions reflect their own concerns, but they are too shy to speak out. Many come from competitive corporate environments where questions tend to be seen as signs of weakness.
Second, my experience in the Caribbean and Latin America enlivens discussions on economic policy and globalization. In class, I ask questions about options for small, open economies and bring up examples from countries I’ve covered. Outside the classroom, I am working with a group of fellow students interested in the Caribbean and Latin America to organize events related to the region, including a panel on investment trends in Cuba and another on Caribbean stock exchanges.
COMMENTS
1. Doreen has an interesting tale to tell—returning to school in her mid-thirties to improve her knowledge of business and economics, not to get a job on Wall Street but to improve her coverage as a journalist. And, not surprisingly, given that she writes for a living, she tells her tale well. She makes it clear exactly why she wants to do an MBA. (Unlike most other applicants, she does not need to worry that she will sound like everyone else in the applicant pool.) She also does a good job of humanizing and individualizing herself with her discussion of her college experiences and how she failed to complete her bachelor’s degree on schedule. Another strong point is her discussion of what she can contribute, based upon her experiences in first year MBA classes. She is in the unique position of having already taken her first year classes and is thus able to capitalize on what she already knows are her unique ways to contribute.

CAROL
Background:
Job: Formerly a buyer for a department store chain, now an account executive for a garment manufacturer
Education: Bachelor’s degree in literature from a top quality liberal arts school
Nationality: American
Critical issue to address:
Showing herself able to handle the quantitative aspects of a top MBA program. (I have excluded two of her four essays because they concerned matters too personal for general dissemination. The remaining two, however, are sufficiently interesting to merit inclusion on their own.)
1. What are your career goals? How will an MBA help you achieve these goals? Why are you applying to Columbia Business School?
I am pursuing a career in the apparel industry during a time when the industry is going through major changes. Many of my employment choices have been based on the changing nature of the business. Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 used to mean sections of a Charles Dickens novel. Now, Chapter 7 dissolutions and Chapter 11 reorganizations, mergers, and acquisitions are everyday vocabulary. Throughout my career in the apparel industry, I have recognized the inability of the industry to anticipate and promote the trends of the future. My work experience has taught me the pillars of merchandising, planning, and promotion, but my lack of experience and business fundamentals has made it difficult to initiate innovation. I believe that an MBA from Columbia Business School will enhance my managerial skills and give me the business knowledge I need to achieve my goals and be an innovator in the industry.
After graduating from college, I accepted a position in the executive training programs of a national department store. I set precedent by rising through the ranks in three years to become a buyer, responsible for my own business. As a buyer, I was responsible for analyzing, planning, developing, and distributing product to 49 stores. I developed and selected the merchandise for my department and reviewed selling history and pricing strategies to distribute the product profitably. I also managed and trained several assistant buyers and played an integral role in their development to buyer status. As the company became more integrated into the corporate structure of its parent company, the nature of my responsibilities changed. I became an accountant responsible for sales forecasting and budget reviews. What had been the essential focus of my job, the creative development and selection of product, was de-emphasized.
When a position became available with one of my suppliers in wholesale manufacturing, I saw it as an opportunity to be more involved in the development and marketing of product. I was soon offered a more challenging and stimulating job in a “start-up” division for a manufacturer of women’s dresses and sportswear. As an account executive, I have brought to the table my in-depth knowledge of retailing. I have developed new accounts and have achieved high sales volume for the company. However, new and progressive methods of promotion and merchandising are not emphasized and the management of my company is not interested in diverting from established and archaic forms of marketing.
For retail chains and wholesale manufacturers to move successfully into the 21st century, it is essential that decision makers discard outdated methods of sales promotion and merchandising, replacing them with more effective and innovative forms of marketing. In an industry where women represent only a small percentage of senior management, I envision becoming a pioneer in this decision-making process. I believe that a Columbia MBA education will assist me in achieving my goals.
2. Columbia Business School is a diverse environment. How will your experiences contribute to this?
My in-depth knowledge of the apparel industry will contribute to the diversity of Columbia Business School’s student body. My unique background in both retail and wholesale will offer insight into an industry that I do not believe is significantly represented in business school classes. My mature and experienced approach to teamwork will also be an asset to the Columbia Business School community.
In the past six years, the apparel industry has undergone tremendous changes. I have seen national retail chains merge, major retail chains merge, major retail stores go out of business, and established manufacturers file for bankruptcy. Through my work experience, I have insight into the impact of these changes on both the buyer and seller, As a buyer, I had to adapt to the variables in a changing industry. Now as a seller, I have had to be creative and find a niche for my product in a shrinking retail market.
My ability to forge strong relationships with my co-workers has been instrumental in my success in the industry. As a buyer, I worked closely with my manufacturers to turn around a down-trending and unprofitable department. This team effort was effective in improving the profitability of our business. Now, as a seller, I work with each buyer to develop our business based on the needs of the individual store. Using the same team approach, I have been able to successfully establish important business relationships and a strong customer base for my company.
My experience and knowledge in this turbulent industry can enhance the student body at Columbia Business School by contributing to the wealth of information that each student brings to an MBA education. My understanding of both sides of my industry has developed my appreciation for the ingredients required to create a successful business.
COMMENTS
1. Carol managed to address the question of her quantitative abilities elsewhere in her application.
2. Carol’s background is unusual. As an English major working in the garment industry, she stands out from the applicant pool. She certainly recognized this and capitalized upon it in her essays. She does a very good job of demonstrating the extent to which she has (quite unexpectedly) found herself involved in business issues, thereby showing both why she wants an MBA and that she is prepared to enter an MBA program. She does this without ever losing the advantage of being from an unusual industry, which is part of her potential appeal for Columbia.
ROXANE
Background:
Job: Engineer and, latterly, Short-Range Planning Analyst for a major oil company
Education: Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering
Nationality: American
Critical issue to address:
As an engineer, she needs to distinguish herself from the large number of candidates with a similar background.
WHARTON
1. Please discuss your future career progression to date and your professional goals for the future. How will the MBA influence your ability to achieve your
goals?
I have been working for Chevron at the Richmond Refinery since graduating from college five years ago. I have held six different positions in the engineering and planning departments. As a result of this mobility, I have been exposed to several different areas of the refinery and have acquired a broad manufacturing background. The first three years of my career, I focused on developing my problem-solving and interpersonal skills. My engineering experience taught me to identify the root causes of problems and develop permanent solutions to them. Because many of the problems I was required to solve were too large for me to address alone, I learned to delegate and manage my time effectively. I also learned the importance of selling my ideas in order to get them implemented.
My fourth year at Chevron, I was assigned to the position of start-up engineer for a project to rebuild a processing unit that had been badly damaged by fire. The unit had been down for two years and was being rebuilt at a cost of $125 million. This unit was a major contributor to refinery profitability and I was instrumental in helping to bring it on-line safely and ahead of schedule. This experience was a major success for me and I began to advance quickly. I learned to see the problems I was solving in the context of the entire refinery rather than as isolated problems. I was able to identify business opportunities on my own and took the initiative to convince management to implement them. I was able to assimilate all the knowledge I had accumulated over the previous three years and my value to the organization increased rapidly.
Next, I was assigned to the position of process representative in charge of coordinating the process definition and process design of two major ($84 million and $20 million) retrofit projects. I worked with the engineering contractor to ensure project objectives were met at the lowest possible cost. After the process designs for these two projects were approved, I was assigned to my present position as Short-Range Planning Analyst. In this assignment, I develop the short-range refinery operating plan focusing on maximization of refinery profit in a dynamic market-driven environment. I also work with Supply and Distribution to develop these plans and coordinate the efforts of the refinery operating divisions as needed to ensure smooth implementation of new processing schedules. This position has increased my involvement in the financial aspects of our business.
I am applying to the Wharton MBA program at this time because I have come to a crossroads in my career. As I have gained experience and received increased exposure to the business side of the oil industry, I have become aware that my engineering training has not prepared me adequately to deal with the broad strategic questions faced by senior level managers. I am seeking an MBA to supplement my work experience and gain high intensity exposure to the other business functions which are important to running a successful business. In addition, I am applying to the Lauder Institute to further develop my French language skills and improve my cultural understanding of France and the rest of Western Europe. I am interested in the joint degree program because it will allow me to shift from an engineering to a management career and will allow me to incorporate my interests in language and culture into my work.
My future career goal is to advance to a senior-level management position dealing with international management strategy for a multinational corporation. I am interested in strategy because I feel my strongest skills are in identifying the root causes of problems and developing and implementing lasting solutions to them. Because I am able to see problems in the context of the big picture, I am able to identify opportunities which will not only result in profits today, but will also increase flexibility and adaptability which will result in increased profitability tomorrow. I am especially interested in international corporate strategy, because of my strong interest in working overseas.
In addition to my personal interest in working in a language and culture other than my own, I have been influenced by the international aspect of my current position. During my tenure at the Richmond Refinery, products sold into the export market have become increasingly important to our refinery’s profitability. Chevron’s planners and oil traders typically come from the engineering ranks and often lack the business skills necessary to analyze the refinery’s competition in these markets. As a result, the export market is viewed not as a viable market worthy of cultivation, but as a dumping ground for products, which allows the refinery to operate at capacity.
Wharton’s emphasis on international business and its joint degree program with the Lauder Institute lit well with my future career goals. I am not pursuing an MBA degree with an emphasis in operations expressly because my experience is in this area. I am interested in gaining a well-rounded understanding of each functional area of business with an emphasis in multinational management so I will be able to deal with broad strategic issues in an international environment.
2. Describe a situation in your life when you actively challenged the traditional thought of a group. What level of impact did you have on the group?
One situation where I actively challenged the traditional thought of refinery operations management took place last year when I was the process engineer assigned to two heavy oil processing units. One of these units provided feed pretreatment for the other. I was approached by Operations Coordination and was asked if Widuri resid, a low value fuel oil stream, could be fed to the upstream of the two units. This would allow a portion of the resid stream to be upgraded to gasoil, a high value intermediate product. I agreed to address the technical aspects of the problem and asked Operations Coordination to deal with the logistics.
When we reconvened to finalize the plan, it became apparent that the logistical constraints would render the project uneconomical. Having gathered the physical property data, I realized that the Widuri resid could be fed directly to the downstream unit. I suggested we bypass the feed pretreatment step entirely. This would allow us to upgrade the entire stream rather than only a small portion of it as the original plan would have required. In addition, it would avoid some of the operating costs.
Operations Coordination was enthusiastic, but I knew it would be difficult to sell the idea to Operations. A resid stream had never been fed directly to the downstream unit and I knew Operations would be concerned about damaging the catalyst in that unit. This was a major operational change, but I was confident it would work. I gathered the necessary data and developed a plan which included a good monitoring program and contingency plan. This would allow us to identi1i and respond to any unexpected problems if necessary. Two weeks later I organized a meeting for all the interested parties and presented my plan which anticipated and addressed management’s concerns. The following day the resid was being fed to the downstream unit. This project resulted in profits to the refinery of $8 million over a five-month period.
This project marked a change in my career in terms of maturity and initiative. Prior to this, my efforts were focused primarily on my own sphere of operation. The success of this project gave me the self-confidence to assert my leadership skills. I began to approach problems from a refinerywide perspective. In addition, I began to challenge traditional approaches and offer more innovative solutions.
3. In your opinion, what is the world’s greatest problem? Why?
I believe the world’s greatest problem is the disparity of wealth between the developed and underdeveloped nations of the world. While the plight of the poor in Third World countries is relatively unchanged from ancient times, the standard of living in the Western World has increased dramatically since the Industrial Revolution. This disparity of wealth is a problem because in modern times the world has become increasingly interdependent. The spread of Western ideas throughout the rest of the world began with the discovery of the New World and accelerated as a result of European political supremacy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and improvements in communication in the twentieth. As a result, more people than ever before share Western ideals and strive for Western success.
While this is in many respects a positive aspect of European colonialism, it also has a negative side. Third World nations often try to industrialize their countries overnight. This often leads to disastrous political and social policies which attempt to duplicate Western success without taking into account the cultural and environmental constraints of the country in question. While the Western experience can serve as a model for Third World countries, it is by no means a blueprint, The West owes much of its success to the virtues of capitalism, but the West did not get rich by the sweat of its own people alone. Exploitation of natural and human resources in colonial possessions was also a major contributor to Western success. As the West increased its wealth, it learned to value the environment and was able to afford to enact strict environmental laws. In addition, as life expectancy increased and cultural attitudes toward women in the workplace changed, population growth in the West stabilized. These changes took nearly a century in the West. In underdeveloped countries today, rapid industrialization causes extreme cultural and environmental pressures. These special circumstances must be considered when helping Third World countries to develop.
Population pressure is a major aggravation in the attempts of underdeveloped countries to industrialize quickly. While a large population should equate to significant global power, it seldom does in Third World countries. The most obvious influence preventing many highly populated countries from becoming very powerful is poverty. While in some cases this is due to a genuine lack of resources, in others it is caused by rapid increases in population which quickly overcome successes in improved technology and planned investment. In other cases, the pressure to feed a growing population results in shortsighted policies which often lead to environmental degradation. For example, in Brazil, the Amazon Forest is being cleared at an alarming rate to provide land for grazing cattle. Unfortunately, the top soil in this area of the world is only inches deep and quickly erodes away. As a result, additional forest must be cleared. Clearly this is not a sustainable policy and could eventually lead to widespread famine. Experience in developed nations has shown that population growth slows considerably with an increase in standard of living. When parents are confident that their children will live to be adults, they tend to have fewer children. Helping the Third World to increase its wealth through industrialization should help to slow the exponential population growth in these countries.
As appalling as many of us find large-scale environmental destruction, it is not enough for the West to simply require that the Third World stop these practices. After all, in many respects these countries are only doing what the West did during its colonial era. If the West wishes to protect the environment in the Third World, it must provide technological assistance. This is not only our responsibility, but will also benefit us in the long run. The rain forest is just one example of the biodiversity which exists on our planet. Many of the species which inhabit the rain forests may be of use to us in the future as technological advances are made. In addition, maintaining biodiversity is important to life on Earth. It is advantageous to have a wide variety of plant and animal species in order to survive climatic changes. (I am referring to the inevitable climatic change which occurs naturally as a result of continental shift. I am still not convinced that the Greenhouse Effect exists.) Standardization of plant and animal life to those species which are superior today could be disastrous as these species may not be able to adapt to and survive in the climate of tomorrow.
Finally, the West must show a sincere commitment to helping underdeveloped nations industrialize while preserving their environments. This applies not only to our governments, but to individuals as well. I have moral and ethical difficulty with our approach to solving environmental problems here at home. For example, as a people we Americans lobby to prevent oil drilling off the coast of California and in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. However, we do not make any substantial effort to reduce our consumption of petroleum products. Instead, we drill for oil in Third World countries where we can exploit cheap labor and avoid many of the costly environmental regulations imposed on industry in the United States. Is it right to prevent drilling in our own country which has the strictest environmental controls in the world only to turn around and develop oil fields in Third World countries? Is this what we call preserving the environment? Are the rain forests in Papua New Guinea any less beautiful than the coast of California? Who are we trying to fool?
Clearly the West must move to help underdeveloped nations industrialize. This should help to stabilize their populations and slow environmental degradation. It will allow the people of these countries to live the healthy and comfortable lives that those in the West enjoy. An additional benefit is that it may help to stabilize the governments in Third World countries, which could reduce the number of people killed needlessly in revolutions and civil wars. However, it is imperative that we consider cultural differences in the countries we try to help before attempting to prescribe a solution. Only then do we have a chance of elevating the rest of the world to our standard of living while preserving the environment for future generations.
4. What nonprofessional activities do you find inspirational? At what level do you participate in these activities?
Traveling is my principal interest outside of work. I spend all of my vacation time visiting foreign countries because I enjoy experiencing different cultures. Traveling has forced me to remove my small town blinders and open my mind to other ways of doing things. Traveling has shown me that the American way of doing things is not the only way and that flexibility and sensitivity are absolutely necessary to get along with others. I have found that this applies not only to people of different nationalities but also to fellow Americans whose views may be different from my own. These experiences have benefited me both in my personal life and on the job and I believe they will be an asset for me at Wharton.
I also study French in my free time. I studied French in high school but was unable to do so in college due to the large number of courses required in the engineering curriculum. I recently resumed my studies because I was planning a trip to France. While in France, I became even more enthusiastic about studying French because of the satisfaction I received from communicating with the French in their own language. I have even found it to be useful here in the United States. While I was doing volunteer work for the Mill Valley Film Festival, I met many interesting people of various nationalities. All of these people spoke French in addition to their native language and I was excited to be able to participate in their conversations. I found that my ability to speak a language other than English increased the respect these people had for me. I believe it went a long way to dispel their beliefs that Americans are culturally insensitive and egocentric.
Literature, especially nineteenth century European literature, is anot

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