Advice--HEC Essay: Greatest Life Achievement

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Advice--HEC Essay: Greatest Life Achievement

by LeahSF » Fri May 08, 2015 9:12 am
Hello, and once again thank you all for taking time out to help all of us MBA-wannabes :)

I'm working on this HEC question: What do you consider your most significant life achievement?

I would like to write about my decision to leave my job last year in order to spend time traveling and ultimately decide to pursue a European MBA. It was a difficult decision to make because until that point I had been rising quickly in my sector and job function, but knew that I was not challenged, did not have the opportunity for international exposure, and did not have a clear path to my goal of working in business development in emerging markets.

My question: is this a bit, well, corny? While this was very much a big deal to me, I worry about how it reads. But I also can't think of anything else that I would consider my greatest life achievement--listing my professional achievements may make me seem a bit vapid, and unfortunately my industry was such that I worked far too much to volunteer.

I also worry about if this will culturally translate--I know there are many places, particularly in Europe, where time off of work is easier to come by--I don't want the impression to be that I'm writing about a holiday as my greatest life achievement.

Thank you for your input!
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by fxMBAconsulting (Leah) » Tue May 12, 2015 5:44 am
With just the information you posted to go on - it seems like you made the DECISION to quit your job and pursue international travel/new work experiences prior to undertaking your MBA. I would not center the essay around the DECISION so much as perhaps what you achieved while abroad etc.

A lot of times applicants go into the MBA essay writing process with a couple of stories about themselves in mind and sometimes they try to make those stories fit the essays. My suggestion is to always analyze the essay questions objectively - in much the same way that you would approach a philosophical question and dissertation.

HEC asks What do you consider your most significant life achievement? (250 Words Maximum)
We need to start out by defining an achievement as a primary set, then a life achievement as a sub-set of that. Now we need to reflect on your individual life to understand which of your life achievements you want to put forward to the adcom. Remember that an achievement isn't always material - sometimes it consists in an intra-personal realization spurred from an event and reflection.

All the best,
Leah
Leah Derus
MIT Sloan MBA 2010
Independent MBA Admissions Consultant
[email protected]
fxmbaconsulting.com

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