Essay 2: Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In addition, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned(maximum 400 words).Top 5 Tips:1. Create a master list of your key anecdotes/ incidents. Then, carefully select
two contrasting incidents: one where you experienced success and another where you faced failure. Consider two parameters while prioritizing your incidents: recency and impact. The more recent the incident, the better. Likewise, the more its impact, the better.
2. Deep-dive into the situation where you achieved success. Describe the
Context/ Challenges, the Action you took, the Result of your action (preferably quantified), and the Lessons you learned thereby. Highlight the impact on your personal and interpersonal development, and the lessons you learned across these dimensions.
3. Now, transition to the contrasting situation of failure. Discuss the setbacks, emotions, and lessons learned from this experience. Reflect on how it influenced your personal growth, resilience, and ability to adapt.
4. Explore how each experience shaped your traits and values. Align them to some of the
values INSEAD looks for in a candidate. Make sure to give equal attention to both situations, avoiding an overly positive or negative tone. Maintain a balanced approach that highlights your resilience, learning, and personal development.
5.
Pro-Tip: Conclude the essay by highlighting how the lessons you learned can be applied to your MBA journey and in your life/ career post MBA.
Sample/ Winning Essay"
My professional career has been deeply influenced by certain pivotal events and the important learnings I have taken from them. Chief amongst these has been my first entrepreneurial attempt – during my last year of college, my father and I started a dairy farm business with our family’s savings. It quickly became apparent that the business was struggling, and I felt compelled to abandon my placement offer of consulting analyst at Bain to join the start-up in an attempt to safeguard my family’s fortunes. However, due to unfavorable market conditions and our own mismanagement arising from inexperience, we were unable to rescue the business and had to shut down with massive losses.
I learned a very hard lesson—good intentions and hard work are not enough to compensate for a lack of experience and business acumen. Indeed, this pivotal experience has shaped me profoundly and made me value business experience and know-how as critical attributes. I used these learnings and experiences as my bedrock while starting my second business – (Confidential) Starting and growing this business has been my most significant professional achievement.
I started this company in 2021 to translate my passion for European gourmet food to the Indian palette. However, as soon as I had started this venture along with my day job, my father was diagnosed with kidney failure. I had invested my life’s savings into my business and I could not justify shutting it down; thereby losing my investment and rendering my newly hired staff redundant.
My family and I continued battling against all odds, and we arranged for a kidney transplant. My father is now on the path to recovery and is doing well. Despite the difficult circumstances, I stayed mentally strong, continued working on my business and built up to monthly £13,000 in sales. Turning the business into a success after the tough start has been even more meaningful to me after my first failed attempt at entrepreneurship. I will aim to translate this mental fortitude as well as my entrepreneurial mindset to my career and life post my MBA."
Regards,
Arvind
HEC Paris MBA alum, Admissions interviewer
W:
https://admitstreet.com | E:
consultingteam@admitstreet.com
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