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Hi there! I am Shubham Patel, an ISB alum from Co'22 and founder of Career Adhyaapak.
We help college students and young professionals with MBA admissions process & more.
Here's my take on this year's PGP application essays. We will also talk about what is considered as a good profile for ISB Admission.
There are a total of 3 essays (1 optional). The mandatory ones are focussed on bringing out your true self. They will force you to introspect and express yourselves more than you've till now.
Essay Name | Essay Question | Word Limit |
ISB ESSAY TOPIC 1 | Provide an honest portrayal of yourself, emphasizing your strengths and weaknesses. Highlight the key elements that have shaped your personal journey. Give relevant illustrations as needed. | 400 Words |
ISB ESSAY TOPIC 2 | Contemplate two distinct situations—one where you experienced success and another where you faced failure. Delve into the personal & interpersonal lessons you learned from these instances. | 400 words |
ISB ESSAY TOPIC 3 (OPTIONAL) | Given your previous experience and future aspirations, how do you plan to use the PGP at ISB to fulfill your professional goals? | 250 words |
ISB REAPPLICANT ESSAY | Please use this space to explain significant improvements in your profile since your last application to the ISB PGP. | 200 words |
Let's get into specifics.
The first essay. And the tougher one of the two.
Provide an honest portrayal of yourself, emphasizing your strengths and weaknesses. Highlight the key elements that have shaped your personal journey. Give relevant illustrations as needed. (400 words)
If you're in a hurry, checkout the cheatsheet at the bottom of each section.
These essays are usually complicated to write. Generic content doesn't work and one needs to figure out what are the instances which shaped oneself.
Before you start writing, take some time to reflect on your life experiences. Consider the events, people, and challenges that have had a significant impact on your personal growth. This reflection will help you identify the key elements that have shaped your journey.
Break down the essay into multiple sections. Start with your latest professional experience and introspect what made it special. It can be a positive/uplifting thing or negative/challenging thing that made it unique.
You can then talk about other experiences in your formative years- college, school, etc. and flag what has stood out for you. Highlight the work that made impact, how you made a difference in your friend's life and how a voluntary position in the college Club led to a completely distinct future for you.
Strengths
In each sub-section, begin by identifying your strengths and qualities that set you apart. Are you a natural leader, a creative thinker, or a problem-solver? Whatever your strengths may be, describe them with specific examples or anecdotes from that period that demonstrate how they have positively influenced your life.
For instance, if you have a knack for leadership, discuss a time when you successfully led a team to achieve a common goal. Describe the challenges you faced and how your leadership skills helped you overcome them.
Weaknesses
It's equally important to acknowledge your weaknesses or areas where you have room for improvement. Honesty about your limitations shows self-awareness and a willingness to grow. For example, if public speaking is a weakness, you can discuss a situation where you felt anxious or struggled to articulate your thoughts. Then, explain the steps you took to address this weakness, such as attending workshops or joining a public speaking club.
To make your portrayal engaging, provide relevant illustrations or anecdotes that bring your experiences to life. Use storytelling techniques to captivate your readers and make your journey relatable. Read up about the story telling frameworks.
Here's a cheat sheet for you-
Stage of Life | People involved | Strength/Weakness | Anecdote |
Professional experience 1 | Boss and management | Diplomacy | Boss's manager chose you to lead a new team. It was a difficult period but you were able to handle your relationship and the project outcomes without any issues. |
Professional experience 2 | A smart junior | Performance insecurity | You are a hard worker and tend to spend more time on most tasks. But you always feel you lack the smarts. You've insecurities about your performance when a smarter junior starts to overshadow you in the team. How do you handle that? |
College | Club members | Delegation | In college, as the president of a community service club, you realized your weakness in organization and delegation while planning a fundraising event. You wanted to do everything yourselves and micromanage everyone else's work. It was an overwhelming experience where your team wasn't supportive by the end of the event. How did you improve this quality of yours? |
And the list goes on...
You can then use this structure to form paragraphs in your essay and conclude with a summary of your learnings. Keep in mind to stick to the 400 words limit!
Let's talk about the second essay.
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)
You can divide the essays into three parts of 160 words (success) +160 words (failure) + 80 words (conclusion).
Success Section:
Describe the situation where you experienced success in detail. Talk about the efforts you put in, the strategies you employed, and any obstacles you overcame. Reflect on how your personal attributes, such as determination, perseverance, or adaptability, contributed to your success. Additionally, consider the interpersonal dynamics involved, such as collaboration, teamwork, or effective communication.
Analyze the personal lessons you learned from your success. What skills did you develop or enhance? How did this experience shape your self-confidence or attitude towards future challenges? Did it teach you the importance of goal-setting, discipline, or time management? Reflect on these lessons and explain their significance in your personal growth.
Failure Section:
Discuss the situation where you faced failure. Describe the setbacks, mistakes, or shortcomings that led to this outcome. Be honest and objective about your role in the failure, acknowledging any areas where you fell short. Consider the interpersonal dynamics at play, such as miscommunication, lack of support, or conflicting goals.
Focus on the valuable lessons you learned from your failure. How did it impact your perspective on success, resilience, or problem-solving? Did it teach you about the importance of self-reflection, adaptability, or seeking assistance when needed? Analyze how this failure contributed to your personal and interpersonal growth, emphasizing the insights gained from overcoming adversity.
Conclusion Section:
In your conclusion, summarize the key lessons and insights you gained from reflecting on both success and failure. Emphasize how these experiences have influenced your personal and interpersonal development, and express your readiness to apply these lessons in future endeavors.
Basic Structure:
1. Context
2. Outcome
3. Learnings about oneself and other.
Don't forget to mix up your personal stories with the professional ones to give it a unique touch. This requires you do do a lot of introspection.
Here's a cheat sheet for you-
Context | Outcome | Learning |
Leading a team project at work | Completed project ahead of schedule | Developed effective leadership skills, learned to delegate tasks, and improved time management |
Organizing a fundraising event | Event fell short of the fundraising goal | Realized the importance of thorough planning, effective communication, and contingency plans |
Overcoming a personal health challenge | Achieved desired health outcomes | Gained a deeper understanding of self-care, developed discipline, and improved resilience |
Here's how the paragraph would look like for the 3rd point-
Facing a health challenge was a major turning point in my life, leading to significant personal growth.
Despite dealing with a chronic illness, I overcame physical, emotional, and mental obstacles. With determination and support from loved ones, I achieved positive health outcomes through a tailored treatment plan and lifestyle changes.
This experience taught me the importance of self-care. Nurturing my physical and emotional well-being not only improved my quality of life but also enabled me to support others effectively.
Additionally, I developed resilience. Overcoming setbacks and navigating the challenges of a chronic illness required strength and adaptability. This newfound resilience empowers me to confront future obstacles with a positive mindset.
With lessons in self-care and resilience, I approach all my endeavors with confidence, ready to navigate any challenges that life can throw at me.
After completing your initial draft, revise and edit your essays. Ensure clarity, coherence, and proper grammar. Pay attention to the flow of your ideas and the overall structure of the essay. Trim unnecessary details and make sure your essay conveys a clear and impactful message.
Here comes the third and optional essay-
Given your previous experience and future aspirations, how do you plan to use the PGP at ISB to fulfil your professional goals?
Note: It is not necessary for you to write this essay. Please use this space only if there is something really significant that you would like us to know. (250 words)
Here's I don't want to get into the nitigrities of the essay since this is not for everyone. In my opinion, this essay is targetted towards people with diverse work experience. If you into analytics and want to get into product management, this is not for you.
If you're a trek leader like Lay here, then it might be a good idea to explain how you're going to use the ISB MBA.
Bonus: How does ISB evaluate your profile?
*Please note that this is based on the author's personal observations and not from ISB's official communications.
How diverse is your work experience? How was your impact in your org?
Are you from a Tier 1 college? Did you have a good GPA in undergrad? Did you have good extra-curricular achievements in college or school?
How's your leadership potential? Did you lead initiatives? Did you get any awards?
Essays- How well written? Does it convey the point? Does it empasize your qualities? Have you introspected?
Are you a risk averse person? Have you worked in cross cultural teams? Would you make a good alum?
Do you even need an MBA?
An the obvious one- Your GMAT Score
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Don't forget to check out our other articles about getting high GMAT score, best practices of MBA Essays and What makes ISB special.
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