Essay 2. Contemplate two distinct situations—one where you experienced success and another where you faced failure. Delve into the personal and interpersonal lessons you learned from these instances. (400 words)Through this essay prompt, ISB seeks to assess your self-reflection, emotional intelligence, and ability to learn and grow from both triumphs and setbacks. While experiencing both success and failure contributes to personal growth, ISB is equally interested in understanding how you handle these situations and the lessons you took from them. Let us go through the steps you can follow to have a compelling essay to this prompt.
Firstly, start by reflecting on the key peak points in your life, including both the highs and the lows. Create a master list of incidents i.e. the incidents where the normal course of your life changed, for the better or worse. These can be in your professional (preferably) or personal life. Feel free to add to and edit the list, as the self introspection process takes time, sometimes hours or days. Aim to pick incidents that involve their fair share of challenges.
For each incident, list down the key lessons you learned. For example, if one of your failures was losing a job (pretty extreme), think about what you could have done better (if it was under your control), and how you would approach a similar future situation to avoid such negative outcomes.
Once you have your master list, 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.
Subsequently, deep-dive into the situation where you achieved success. Follow the CARL framework (which we use at admitStreet in our brainstorming sessions and suggest to candidates for customized usage in essays): 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, as requested in the essay prompt.
Now, transition to the contrasting situation of failure. At admitStreet, we suggest following the CARL framework: describe the Context/ Challenges, the Action you took, the Result of your action (preferably quantified), and the Lessons you learned thereby. Discuss the setbacks, emotions, and lessons learned from this experience. Reflect on how it influenced your personal growth, resilience, and ability to adapt.
Now it is time to analyze the lessons you learned from both the situations discussed. Explore how each experience shaped your traits and values. Aim to align them to some of the values ISB looks for in a candidate. As a reminder, here are the values that ISB primarily looks for: clarity of thought, leadership, effective communication, team orientation, learning orientation, industry knowledge, problem-solving skills, and interpersonal skills. 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.
Finally, conclude your essay by highlighting how the lessons you learned can be applied to your MBA journey and in your life/ career post MBA.
Regards,
admitStreet
ISB & HEC alumni, Admissions Interviewers
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