aaudetat wrote:
Mark, you are on the ball, man! I am nowhere near pushing the "submit" button on any of these....
I wondered if you would give me any inside info on how you handled the "obstacles" question?
Describe the major obstacles or challenges you have faced in pursuit of your goals. Tell us how you addressed these challenges and how they have shaped you. (800 words maximum)
With the way it's worded, it's just super-broad and open ended. It sounds like you need to start with general obstacles and go from there, but I would prefer to come with a few goals and describe their associated challenge(s) and the way they've "shaped" me. It seems more organized, but then puts the emphasis on goals, rather than obstacles. What did you do?
Anyone have other ideas?
amy
Amy,
I didn't do this one, so caveat, etc.
However, I think your approach is fine, as long as you make sure that you clearly indicate the challenges you faced. Ideally, these challenges should be strategic in nature - i.e. aligning a team - not "the printer broke so I had to run to Kinko's with only 20 minutes before the meeting!".
Similarly, focus on introspection here - make what you learned tangible and if you can, tie it back to how it will relate to your MBA.
For instance, lets say you had a project where you were asked to maintain a project plan, milestones and work allocation. You had no experience doing this.
You might write something like:
At the tender age of 21, I was asked to lead our team's effort for marketing low cost butt plugs. (SO THIS IS THE TASK) As part of this responsibilty, I was required to develop a project plan, identify risk, manage resources, allocate workload and present project status to our Board of Directors on a weekly basis. (SO THIS IS THE GOAL) I had never done anything like this before and was petrified. (SO THIS IS THE CHALLENGE) Eager to demonstrate my abilities, I hung out in porn shops and asked about how they market butt plugs, called Ron Jeremy and had a long conversation and copied a project plan from a previous position. (SO THIS IS WHAT YOU DID TO SUCEED). In the end, I was able to market the butt plugs to new segments we had not previously considered, including dogs, cats, and hyenas. We were able to increase our overall market share by 9840293% and I was awarded the Butt Plug Master(tm) award, typically reserved for best performing project managers. (SO THIS IS THE SUCESS). My experiences leading a team, sucesfully managing timelines and projects and developing a keen sense of time management have been helpful throughout my career. (AND HEREIS THE LESSON LEARNED) I also believe I can bring these skills not only to my own coursework and extracurriculars, such as the Sexy Club, while at UNC, but also to my study group helping all of us suceed. (AND VIOLA, YOUR LESSONS LEARNED ARE TIED) After all, if I can market a butt plug to a hyena, I can market myself to you right? Let me in now you bastards or my next butt plug brochure will include a photo of the dean on the cover. (AND SEAL THE DEAL)
It's obviously written as a joke, but the general structure I'd suggest is there.
Set the stage. (10%)
Show emotion, passion and introspection. (10%)
Explain BOTH what you did and FELT (50%)
Briefly describe the result (10%)
Tie it back to your school (20%)