Will's question

William's queston :
Found your blog from admission411 website and it's very interesting.

Well, I have some questions related to the MBA interviews + goals and was wondering how you tackled them.

About myself. Born in Jakarta, went to Spore for my secondary school, skip JC, went to US for B.S. in Computer Engr and worked for the past 3 years in the semiconductor company.

I kinda take the whole application for granted. Didn't prepare much and I am sure my essays are very vague. Got dinged by 4 schools and invited to 1 school after I raised my GMAT from 650 to 710 (I think I was lucky enough to given a second chance).

Ok, here are the questions. Btw, thanks a lot.

1. How do you tackle leadership question? What are they actually looking for? The significance? I don't have any supervisory role at work. But I did become Permias President in college. =p

2. Failures. How did you tackle this? I read from the interview guides that they just wanted to know how I rebounce and learn from failures. But, somehow, those failures cannot be just like "lazy" etc. Cannot be too simple and cannot be so huge that there are no recourse.

3. This is a long one....
- In my essay which is very vague, I said that I want to be an entrepreneur in high-tech service provider. Then, I said for my short term MBA goals is to be an equity research analyst.
- Not sure what I was thinking then, but I know it's pretty hard to make the connection of going to IB as research analyst and the long term goal to be an entrepreneur. For most of the Indo student in the US, it's pretty common to go back to be an entreprenur.
- Do I need to have an viable business idea to begin with to tell the interview? How much detail I should be?
- I think I will drop the research analyst short term goal argument (I wanted to say that I want to become an analyst so that I can raise my own capital for my start-up company. Pretty lame, I know...)
- Instead, I am thinking management consulting dealing with start-up for my short-term MBA. Will they buy it?

Ok that's all. Thanks a lot for any help / comments. My interview is on 17th August (Indo's National Day). I hope it's a sign that I will WIN. =p

My Answer:
Hey Will,
shoot me a comment on blog the next time you have a question

To answer your questions :
1. For my leadership question. I wrote about a situation where I implemented a new procedure thus I highlighted on initiative, ability to influence people and ability to carry out a project as well as ability to be a flexible leader. Now in writing about leadership question: bear in mind that the adcoms will read thousands situations that show leadership experience so you want to kinda personalize your experience. Other than just showing the problem - how u respond - end result, also talk about why you solve the problem that way, what characters of yours are shown through the process, what you learnt from this experience. I think for most essays, they really just want to learn more about why you did something and what you learnt from it.

2. Failure essay. I didn't write any failure essay. But if I were to write a failure essay, I would first think about a specific incident where I had failed and see how I have learnt from it, how from that experience I have learnt to not make the same mistake again, or how the failure has changed myself, how it has prepared me better if something like that is to occur again. I think writing about a big failure is okay because certainly it has a bigger impact on you no? My take on essay writing is to concentrate on how the events have impacted myself.. Maybe other people who read this can offer help?

3. Haha I did this same mistake of having a vague short term and long term goals essay. I think it'll really hurt if you dont have a clear goal in mind. How detailed should the goals be? Just make it as detailed as you can envision it. Make the Short term in line with the long term goals as well.. 2 years ago I made the same mistake of not being clear about my goals because I thought how can I write something that I am not sure about.. but I started talking to other people and they told me yup you have to be clear about the goals even though you prob wont end up doing it... So your IB research analyst and then high tech start up haha.. yeah that's hard to argue.. Consulting dealing with start up? herm is it like general consulting right? Is there a specific field of consulting that deals with Start up? ( u have to check on that.. have to back up ur stories with facts). If I were you, I think a short term goal in technology company will make more sense.. or consulting with tech specification. Don't you think? Because if you return to Indo, you will need to have a competitive advantage over other ppl.. get your domain knowledge in tech first and start a tech company in Indo. ok so how detailed does ur essay have to be? I said I wanna go into Global consumer product to learn about the market dynamics.. (marketing, strategy, data analysis) and then with my previous finance working experience, I will go into microfinance in Indo.. well I think it's pretty specific.. for you.. u can say Short term of consulting or tech works, and then combined w something about ur previous working experience, u're gonna open a tech company in indo..