Leadership Essay and Teaching??

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Cinji18: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 84; Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:11 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by Cinji18 » Sat Oct 23, 2010 6:19 pm

Here's the essay topic:

Describe a recent professional experience in which you have taken an active leadership role and the impact it has had on your organization.

I'm thinking of using my teaching experience from middle school to present as a consultant to represent my leadership. My question is since the people I teach were young students and adult clients, is this really the type of leadership they are asking? My stomach is telling me they are asking me about my leadership in a group/team setting or have followers who are working for the same objective.

Also, my teaching experience are considered part-time, not full-time experiences. Is it still valid?

Thanks.

Source: Beat The GMAT — The Application Process | Sat Oct 23, 2010 6:19 pm

julie_shah: MBA Admissions Consultant; Posts: 21; Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 2:16 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by julie_shah » Wed Oct 27, 2010 7:10 am

I think teaching is an excellent example of leadership (I am an alum of Teach For America and used at least one teaching-related essay in each of my applications). It's all about how you write about it.

Here's the key - this essay prompt is asking you to not only describe your active leadership, but to describe the impact of your leadership on the organization. So, you'll want to address this also in your essay.

Finally, when you say you want to use your teaching experience from middle school - is this from when you were in middle school, or that you were part-time teaching in a middle school? Sorry if that seems like a silly question, but it was unclear to me. The reason I ask is because the prompt clearly asks for a recent professional experience, and so I don't think that you should bring in experience from when you were in middle school, (if that's what you're referring to). Finally, it seems best to focus on one experience, and tell that story from start to finish, instead of bringing in two stories.

If you want to focus on your work as a consultant, that should be fine - even if it is part-time, I'm assuming it's a professional endeavor?

Good luck!

Julie

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