Essay Question For 2011

Essay 1

Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you? (If you are applying for a joint or dual degree, please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)

Essay 2

Discuss your most meaningful leadership experience. What did you learn about your own individual strengths and weaknesses through this experience?

Essay 3

What is the greatest challenge or hurdle you have overcome, either personally or professionally, and how did you manage to do so?

Essay 4

Tuck seeks candidates of various backgrounds who can bring new perspectives to our community. How will your unique personal history, values, and/or life experiences contribute to the culture at Tuck?

Applicants should note that although there is no prescribed restriction on the length of the essays, on average most Tuck applicants use 500 words for each response.

Optional

Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere that may be helpful in reviewing your application (e.g., unusual choice of evaluators, weaknesses in academic performance, unexplained job gaps or changes, etc.). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented

Reapplicant Essay How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please reflect on how you have grown personally and professionally.

Essay Question For 2010

Essay 1
Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you? (If you are applying for a joint or dual degree, please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)

In order to explain the importance of your next step i.e. MBA, you have to briefly explain your journey so far as well as your ultimate destination- that is your long term goal. Avoid giving random details of what position you held in which organization and for how many days, explain the experience, exposure, perspective that you have gained. It's all there in your CV. Adcom wants to know where exactly you fall short of reaching your long term goal? You also need to explain how you will fill that gap of knowledge with your MBA and that of experience with your short term goal. Your short term goal should be a step towards achievement of your long term goal. As for long term, instead of describing the position that you want to hold, try to describe what you will contribute to the organization/ society in capacity of your position. Lastly, it's critical to address how Tuck is your best shot. They have a focused and passionate approach and you need to match it.

Essay 2
Tuck defines leadership as "inspiring others to strive and enabling them to accomplish great things". We believe great things and great leadership can be accomplished in pursuit of business and societal goals. Describe a time when you exercised such leadership. Discuss the challenges you faced and the results you achieved. What characteristics helped you to be effective, and what areas do you feel you need to develop in order to be a better leader?

"Such leadership" refers to a particular aspect of leadership- that of motivating your team to achieve some goal with a dose of extra ordinary performance. As such Tuck puts a lot of emphasis on interpersonal skills, so your interpersonal skills must be highlighted. The goal need not be from work situation only. It can be a societal goal also. Do you remember having ever motivated your team to perform exceptionally well? While mentioning the challenges you faced, you don't have to give the challenges the team collectively faced, in fact that will be the situation part. You need to describe the challenges that you faced as a leader, that were not apparent to others. These will include the troubles within team- some factors that were keeping the team from giving their best, such as lack of a vision, some dissatisfaction of the team with top management, and lack of team spirit. Your analysis and diagnosis of the situation, how you carried out your plan, what problems you faced, what you felt, are the key elements that will form the meat of this essay. I also suggest to not justify your shortcomings with glorification like "my passion made me impatient" rather accept the same graciously and speak how you still overcame the situation.

Essay 3
Discuss the most difficult constructive criticism or feedback you have received. How did you address it? What have you learned from it?

The constructive part of a criticism goes to the credit of the other person but since it is difficult, credit in handling is entirely yours. The three parts ask for specific aspects of handling a feedback, giving you enough clues to structure the answer. Recollect the feedback that you received, which need not necessarily be from your work situation. Describe the situation, the exact words, or reactions that struck you like a shock. How did you absorb the shock or were you expecting any such criticism. What made you realize the lesson in the feedback? How the lesson learned is still with you? The lesson may be related or reflected in your answer to fourth question.

Essay 4
Tuck seeks candidates of various backgrounds who can bring new perspectives to our community. How will your unique personal history, values, and/or life experiences contribute to the culture at Tuck?

Tuck truly believes in diversity of culture. So, all you have to do is to be yourself. Are you aware what is unique about you? Even if the answer is yes, think over it again, because if you answer superficially, without giving proper thought you may be caught in interview. Start with comparing yourself with your colleague. See what differentiates you from him or her. Go beyond material differences; instead look for those which are related to values- like your approach to any problem, your handling of team members, your social concerns etc. Apply this search for differences to more and more people. You will definitely find a combination of characteristics that will be distinctly yours. If you think that your family or life history has something unique about it, fair enough. But, instead of mentioning the exact circumstances, please keep the focus on the values that you learned. Try to be as simple as possible in your narration, because in such topics one tends to over glorify.