INSEAD Sample Essays
The content in the file is copyright of the author and Apphelp.
Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
These pages are protected by copyright. No part of any of the web pages may be
reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written
permission from the copyright owner.
JOB ESSAYS
Job Essay 2 :Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)
ESSAYS
Essay 1 : Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors, which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words approx.)
Essay 2 : Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words approx.)
Essay 4 : Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words approx.)
Essay 5 : Please choose one of the following two essay topics:
a) Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words approx.), or
b) What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words approx.)
Job Essay 1:
I work for Company ABC in India as a software engineer in the Gadget technologies group. I am responsible for the development of some of Company ABC’s new products as well as for creating new modules for existing products. Besides, I also investigate the feasibility of executing certain projects and interact closely with the product management to decide features for some products. I also have to interact with Gadget Manufacturers such as Ricoh and Epson which are Gadget Group’s customers.
I am currently working on next release of Product 1, Company ABC’s flagship product. In this project, I work very closely with Senior Product Development Manager based in Company ABC Norwich (United Kingdom) for my day to day engineering activities. I also have the added responsibility of coordinating issues with the Quality Engineering and other Product 1 teams all over the world for the smooth completion of this project. Along with the Senior Product Development Manager, I report to the Senior Engineering Manager, one hierarchical level above what my peers with similar work experience do.
It is worth noting that every copy of Company ABC Product 1 will carry my name in its credits. On occasions, I represent Company ABC or Gadget Group at international conferences and meetings. I also act as Company ABC India Gadget Group's link to APPLE. Here I oversee how Gadget Group’s products are affected by APPLE’s products and technologies and vice versa. In addition to all these activities, I mentor and train new recruits at Company ABC.
Job Essay 2:
My career progression so far has been highly rewarding. During campus placements I was offered job by Company ABC and Trilogy. I joined Company ABC because I wanted to work on best technology and products. Initially, I added new features to Company ABC’s PostScript. In November 2005, I was invited to deliver a presentation on Image Processing at IEEE conference in Frankfurt. My paper was published by IEEE and my work was greatly appreciated by delegates from all over the world.
In January 2006, because of my exceptional performance, I was selected to work on Product 1, the most important Company ABC product. I started reporting to the senior management. Interaction with product management helped me in understanding the processes involved in bringing a product to the market. My expertise on Macintosh was growing every day and I represented Company ABC at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference held at San Francisco in August 2006. This was a crucial conference because future of certain Company ABC products was dependent on the outcome of my talks with domain experts. Through these trips I learned the art of negotiating and networking. Recently, I filed a patent for a solution that will make some Company ABC and non-Company ABC products more efficient. Due to these accomplishments I am now rated as one of the top talents at Company ABC India.
If I were to remain in Company ABC, I will be promoted to the post of Lead Developer (senior role in product engineering) in the next review in May, 2007.
Essay 1 :
I have consciously endeavored to grow positively as a person with each passing day. I am a person of varied interests, ranging from the technical research (papers) to the business (website and Company ABC products) to the artistic (painting) to the altruistic (community service). I always integrate my diverse interests so that my skills and activities complement each other. My self-conviction and ability to make powerful determinations has facilitated my journey from a humble beginning to a successful professional life.
I’m all about possibility rather than subscribing to a rigid set of values. Therefore no matter how daunting the situation might be, I am able define a clear roadmap. My ‘out of box’ thinking has made me accomplish more within a specified time period as compared to other people. At 23, I have already filed one patent and another is under process.
I’m the person friends turn to when the going gets rough. I have grown in a joint-family of 22 people and sustaining relationship has come to me naturally. Throughout my academic, professional and community life, I have made friends for life. My constant exposure to new cultures and people and my good communication and presentation skills have made me a good team player.
My self-confidence has been another of my strengths, enabling me to follow my dreams fearlessly. As I believe that there is no alternative to honesty and hard work, I have always worked honestly and diligently to realize my ambitions. I was a merit scholarship holder throughout my under graduate engineering program. My initiative to target Indian automobile market and facilitating the users to make an informed decision has given me the vision to start my own website.
Although I firmly believe in myself but I have always been open to criticism and feedback and I have used this as a practice to constantly improve myself over the years.
Many times, my zeal to complete my task to my best ability affects my performance adversely. While filing my first patent application my attempt to refine the application many times digressed me from the crux of my invention. I kept this in mind while writing my next patent application. It got accepted.
I believe my ability to learn quickly, my focus and diligence, my technical prowess and interaction with people from diverse background has played an important role in shaping my personality and I am still learning.
Essay 2 :
Accomplishment 1: Filing a patent
At Company ABC, I realized that there are numerous opportunities to demonstrate my analytical and technical skills. During the second half of 2005 we at Gadget Group at Company ABC came across a challenge to provide Gadget manufacturers a solution to increase the speed of color Gadgets.
After working on this project for about a month, I devised a solution from approaches we had not before considered. The results were far better than what I had anticipated. After a discussion with the top-level management, I submitted this idea and prototype to the Company ABC Patent Review Board. After six months of rigorous investigation, the board gave me a green signal and I filed the patent.
I view this as a significant achievement. The customers who are using this solution have witnessed sales boost, which in turn has strengthened Company ABC's relations with Gadget manufacturers. This was the first patent filed by the Gadget Group since its inception four years ago. My efforts were applauded by the entire management. Company ABC India’s Managing Director, Naresh Gupta, congratulated me personally as I am also the youngest individual to file a patent from Company ABC India.
Accomplishment 2: Launching Indian cars website
In early 2006, I realized that Indian car market and number of Internet users in India were growing at an unprecedented rate. This made me and my friend conceive the idea of a car website, to provide potential car buyers with unbiased information, reviews and expert opinions and consultancy on cars in India. We successfully launched the website “carbazaar_dummy.com” .
The venture was divided into four phases. The first phase encompassed an analysis of the Indian car market and car buyer’s practices and reviewing car manufacturers’ websites. The second phase included design implementation. In phase three, we gathered market feedback through demos of the site's prototype. The final phase involved feedback-based revisions to the designs and simultaneous talks with car magazines and TV shows. We successfully launched the website sometime back. Recently, a leading Indian car magazine evinced interest for collaboration with the website.
I consider this a major accomplishment because it gave me a space to successfully manifest my entrepreneurial side and to turn my ideas into reality. I gained a lot of confidence by establishing something from scratch. I developed new skills and learned some aspects of e-business which complement well what I learn at Company ABC.
Essay 3 :
During the final year of my B.E. course, I started to work on the idea of a real estate website targeting Delhi . Although the resources were limited, I created some interesting layouts and workflows and set up the website. While I was planning to launch it, I came in contact with some experienced people in this domain and realized that I had made some grave mistakes. For instance, I overlooked signing agreements with real estate agents for procuring updated market information from them. In real estate business, without latest deals and information, it is impossible to establish a solid customer base. Lack of advertising and in-depth study of existing real estate websites exacerbated our problem. I realized that I wasn't able to persuade big interior decorators and furnisher makers to advertise on the site because of the presence of websites that had a much larger penetration.
Soon I found myself standing at a dead end. It was clear that I needed to fold this project. The moment was heartbreaking because this was the first idea I had conceived; I badly wanted to make it a success.
However, closing this chapter allowed me to open a new one. In this respect, James Joyce's observation that "Mistakes are the portals of discovery" could not be more accurate. My mistakes were costly and painful, but they actually allowed me to refine my understanding of the market, competition, and advertisement. I launched “carbazaar_dummy.com“ successfully. The benefit has been mine, in the end.
Essay 4 :
I have always quantified everything in numerical terms besides dealing with everyday situations objectively. Experimentation work during college enabled me to put my ideas into practice and gave me a tremendous sense of fulfillment. Moreover, various responsibilities, roles and projects in the past two years have made my product engineering fundamentals very strong.
My technical prowess and vision was appreciated by Company ABC and I got a steep career growth in a short span. While I have excelled in my work, I have also explored my capabilities as a leader and a manager and begun to understand the value of MBA in my career. I look at a senior position in a product/services company as my short term goal and as a long haul I see myself heading my own product enterprise and turning my ideas into action.
I envisage an enterprise which would tap unique user requirements and develop cutting edge products on a global scale. Working in my present role I would require the experience of years to steer my organization. However, an education in business administration can help me take a jump start and move towards achievement of my eventual ambition of total organizational control.
An MBA can make me well versed with the forces that control the smooth running of an organization besides grooming me as a manager to contribute to the success of my organization. I am painfully aware that my zest and enterprise alone are not sufficient to make my business and the choice of INSEAD as my business school is influenced by my career objectives. Most of my experience has been in product engineering and I need a better insight of strategic management, risk analysis, financial management and marketing techniques which will make me an effective professional.
The INSEAD MBA emerges as a natural choice to me because of the world-class faculty, diverse student community and global curriculum. The diversified peer group at INSEAD will help me learn about business in different countries of the world .The huge alumni base will help me develop networks crucial to launching my own entrepreneurial venture. Another really good thing is that the MBA program is customizable with a good mix of core and electives. I would definitely like to pursue ‘Entrepreneurship & Family Enterprise’ as one of the main electives. Also INSEAD is one of the rarest B Schools which have two campuses in two culturally and economically different parts of the world. It gives the best opportunity to understand business in both Asia and Europe. INSEAD's ‘Business Venture Competition’ would give me the opportunity to explore and implement my ideas in a real time and risk free environment.
Post INSEAD, I will seek a position in a leading corporation in its business building/growth practice to get an insight into the practical issues of new business creation. I am confident that my work experience, combined with the wisdom and business acumen to be gained at INSEAD, will put me on the path of spearheading my company.
Essay 5 :
A strong inclination to attend conferences and my work experience at a global company like Company ABC has given me the opportunity of traveling to three distinct parts of the world. Encountering new cultures and customs initially shocked me, only to make me embrace those cultures later. Frankfurt, Germany was the first of my destinations abroad. Here I noticed that the locals in less cosmopolitan areas were strongly disinclined to talk in English. Because of the language barrier I had a hard time visiting a suburb near Frankfurt.
Next, I went to San Francisco, California. Here, a close interaction with an Indian taxi driver revealed that the standard of living of a taxi driver in California was better than that of a middle class person in India. Quite a revelation, that. The taxi drivers own cars manufactured by Audi and BMW which are considered dream cars in India and are owned by a handful of people.
The third international destination I visited was Hong Kong. The biggest shock for me here was getting acquainted with the food habits of the people. At a restaurant I found people sitting next to my table eating snakes. As much as I appreciate cultural differences, it did take me a while to get over this one.
Each one of these experiences has helped me become a more broad-minded individual. I understood that one needs to be flexible towards practices and customs of different cultures. I am now comfortable with people of different cultures, a trait that's indispensable in today's global economy. |
Blog
Twitter
You tube Channel
Facebook