Read the scholarship essay from: etran

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Why do you deserve the Beat The GMAT! Scholarship?

I’d never heard about the GMAT until my junior year of college when a good friend told me that she wanted an MBA and began studying for the test. At the time, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life and had no idea if I wanted to go to business school – in fact, I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. I just knew that I wanted to take advantage of the opportunities I had in school, do things I enjoyed, and work after graduation in a job that would allow me to learn, gain exposure, challenge myself, and still be fun and fulfilling.

I am currently taking my last quarter at Stanford and recently decided that I would like to get an MBA. While I was never a fan of one or five year plans (I never followed them), I like to pursue things that I am passionate about or that will open doors for them in the future. My favorite part about life is that often times the best things happen when you least expect them to – getting into Stanford, managing a student-run store, mentoring disadvantaged high school kids, representing the U.S. in a Chinese Proficiency competition, teaching children with disabilities to swim, expanding one of the leading student groups on campus, and getting a fellowship to study abroad in China. However, one of the most important things I’ve learned is that being successful requires passion, opportunity, dedicating 100+%, and giving back to the community.

Next year, I will be doing management consulting and will have an opportunity to learn about a lot of different industries. I am excited to discover what types of businesses truly interest me and hopefully pursue this in the future. Ultimately, I’d love to start my own business, but I want to learn and gain the necessary skills beforehand. This is why I want to go to business school.

I’m really inspired by Eric’s motivation to achieve his own goals and help others by sharing his experience. If I am able to get the scholarship for the GMAT, I would like to follow in Eric’s footsteps and prepare for the GMAT on my own, recording my journey, and sharing this on the forum for other prospective GMAT test takers. I will donate my books back to Beat the GMAT! and start a program for the Stanford Undergraduate Pre-Business Association that will direct students to prepare for the GMAT on their own and record their preparation techniques on the forum so that a wide community of people will have the opportunity to learn from each other.

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