Michigan Ross Sample Essays

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Essay 1 : We believe one of the keys to effective leadership is the ability to transform ideas into action. Describe a time within the last three years in which you exercised such leadership. What did you learn about your leadership strengths and development needs? (500-word maximum)

Essay 2 : What are your career goals? How will a Ross MBA help you achieve your goals? How might the action-based learning aspects of the Ross curriculum make a difference? (500-word maximum)

Essay 3 : Describe the initiatives you have taken over the past two years to develop professionally and personally. What motivated you to take those initiatives? (500-word maximum)

Essay 4 : Is there anything else you think the Admissions Committee should know about you to evaluate your candidacy? (500-word maximum)

Essay 1:

During my graduation at IIT, I was selected to go for an International Student Exchange program with University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Fall 2001. Spending four months with a diverse community and in a different education system was a unique learning experience. I quickly adjusted in this new education system where my hard work earned me a place in Deans List for Fall 2001 semester, on basis of outstanding academic performance.

My stay in an international dormitory and interaction with people from across the globe added a new dimension to my thinking and persona. Courses at UMass involved working in teams with members from different countries and this enhanced my abilities as a team player. In addition, my participation in various extracurricular activities and my involvement in a course on ldquo;Inter- Cultural Livingrdquo; enabled me to mingle with different people and cultures. An entire gamut of events on the campus made me feel like being a part of a global community and gave me a global exposure.

I believe that making contribution to community development is essential and is something that keeps me humane. When I was in XI standard, I got an opportunity of teaching underprivileged children as part of a small campaign organized in my school. I got a feeling of personal satisfaction after teaching in this two day campaign. This motivated me to contribute my bit for benefit of society by devoting some time for social cause. Carrying forward on this idea at IIT Delhi, I was involved in teaching children at the “Central School” located in the campus. I also took part in a campaign for creating education awareness in villages. As part of this campaign, I stayed for one week in a nearby village with a team of 10 volunteers and conducted various sessions to create interest in education among villagers.

During my IIT life, I also utilized my hobby of poetry composition to contribute for social cause. I wrote some poems for a Non Government Organization (NGO) magazine ndash; ldquo;Yuva Samvadrdquo; to convey a message on issues such as agricultural development. My attachment with this organization inspired me to contribute more and pursuing this desire I donated my first salary amount, after graduation, to an orphanage run by an NGO. I felt that giving returns from my first efforts in professional life was one of the ways to give something back to society.

During the course of my learning about MBA programs, I have also interacted with a current student, Manish Dabas, at Ross. I was enthused to know about Ross education and culture. His description of the diverse community and a mire of activities on the campus have inspired me to become a part of this vibrant culture. Having heard about the practical learning environment that he is experiencing, I look forward to join Ross school of business.

Essay 2:

I have envisioned my goal to be a business leader and drive people towards a business objective. I wish to pursue this goal by becoming a partner with a firm in consulting domain.

After graduating as a Mechanical engineer from IIT Delhi, I started my professional life with Eicher, one of India’s leading automobile firms, where I lead short term projects in Manufacturing, Product Design, Marketing and Vendor Development. My subsequent experience at Asian Paints Limited, among top 10 decorative coatings companies in the world, involved working at grass root level in a green-field project. As Production and Planning executive for the project, I lead a team of 72 people to achieve design capacity. These exposures strengthened my interpersonal and leadership skills. Also, while dealing with a variety of people related issues, I realized the importance of developing further on my people management skills.

In my current profile as Transformation manager at IBM BTO, my responsibilities include providing support for business transition, synthesizing solutions for clients and driving projects with global teams. Through this experience, I improved my ability to work with cross functional teams, resolve problems in different areas and deal with customer requirements. While resolving issues with IBM clients, I also felt the need to learn more about business strategy to have a better alignment of business goals to specific problems.

I believe that at this point in my life, a management education will complement my work experience and provide additional skills required to pursue my career goals. Ross MBA will equip me with knowledge on business strategy with focused courses in the curriculum. With an emphasis on action based learning, Ross MBA would provide me an interactive real-time environment. This is the type of environment in which I learn and work best. Here I will get an opportunity to work on practical business issues through student clubs like Business Organization and Development (BOND) and through Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP) program. These real life problems would prepare me for my future role and also hone up my ability to align organization objectives to specific problems, which I believe is imperative in a consulting role.

Working in a team environment with a dynamic community at Ross will enhance my people management skills. And a focus on nurturing community spirit as an integral part of Ross culture would help me build strong networking skills which are critical in a consulting profile and dynamic business environment. In addition, participation in student organizations like Consulting Club at Ross would enable me to explore opportunities in consulting domain.

After MBA I want to join a business consulting firm as a strategy consultant. This would act as a platform for getting involved in business problems of a diverse set of companies. In this profile, I would be able to apply learning from my work experience and business education to resolve challenging issues. By growing further in this role, I look forward to become a Consulting partner and take on higher responsibilities

Essay 3 :

Adding value to myself by exploring and learning new things is one my passions. This is something which makes me dynamic and is critical for enhancement of my personal and professional skills.

My current role as Transformation Manager at IBM BTO includes supporting business transformations, devising solutions for clients and driving six sigma projects. While working with clients and IBM teams on various improvement areas, I am required to perform an in-depth analysis in order to build a strong business case. All these activities involve a significant amount of data analysis and decision making which motivated me to strengthen my analytical skills further. At this stage I decided to undergo Black Belt training in Six-Sigma, a methodology which provides a structure and a set of statistical tools for problem resolution.

I got myself enrolled for an online Black Belt training program at IBM. Thorough training sessions in this program substantially increased my knowledge in Six- Sigma. After successful completion of the training with a test score of 95 %, I started applying this methodology with a rigor. I used six sigma tools in various projects to convince senior management as well as clients regarding various business decisions. In a critical business project to improve productivity, I used six sigma tools in order to identify and prioritize major contributors to low productivity. I have also been able to extract direct business impact of this methodology because it provides a strong basis for negotiation with clients in various stages of business transition and delivery.

I believe that understanding of people holds prime importance in life and is imperative for developing myself as a good human being. As there is a wide difference between ideologies of people, I need to understand things which may be uncomforting for others in order to build good relations. Since face value can not give a complete understanding in all circumstances, I wanted to learn some tools for assessment of behavioral traits. I particularly felt this requirement when I moved to different places during my work experience and I wanted to quickly adjust to new culture and environment. At that stage, I decided to learn Body Language and Graphology, a tool for assessing personality traits through handwriting analysis. I started reading books and analyzing handwriting samples while taking guidance from a Graphology expert. Slowly this activity became a part and parcel of my life. As about two third of communication happens by body gestures, interpretation of body language provides a direct measure of individual thoughts. In addition, through handwriting analysis I have been able to develop a better understanding of my neighbors, friends and other people I interact with. Usage of these tools helped me in.

Essay 4 :

During my graduation at IIT, I was selected to go for an International Student Exchange program with University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Fall 2001. Spending four months with a diverse community and in a different education system was a unique learning experience. I quickly adjusted in this new education system where my hard work earned me a place in Dean’s List for
Fall 2001 semester, on basis of outstanding academic performance.

My stay in an international dormitory and interaction with people from across the globe added a new dimension to my thinking and persona. Courses at UMass involved working in teams with members from different countries and this enhanced my abilities as a team player. In addition, my participation in various extracurricular activities and my involvement in a course on “Inter- Cultural Living” enabled me to mingle with different people and cultures. An entire gamut of events on the campus made me feel like being a part of a global community and gave me a global exposure.

During my IIT life, I also utilized my hobby of poetry composition to contribute for social cause. I wrote some poems for a Non Government Organization (NGO) magazine – “Yuva Samvad” to convey a message on issues such as agricultural development. My attachment with this organization inspired me to contribute more and pursuing this desire I donated my first salaryamount, after graduation, to an orphanage run by an NGO. I felt that giving returns from my first efforts in professional life was one of the ways to give something back to society.