Research MBA Programs

McCombs second essay question is:

2. At the McCombs School of Business, we are proud to have an active and diverse student community. What do you consider to be your personal strengths and how have you leveraged them in the past to enrich your work and non-work communities?
Limit: 500 words

I am not sure whether it wants me to restrict to the same personal strength for both work and non-work communities OR does it allow me to talk about separate strengths while talking about work and non-work communities.

Can somebody clarify please?

Thanks,
Surev

Hi Surev,

A very pertinent question. which many people face while writing these essays.

the best way to tackle these kind of essays is as follows:
1. research the culture of mcCombs as propagated at their official site (do not refer to blogs or campus discussions on other sites)
2. the aforementioned step will provide you with a fair idea of what exactly the culture is.
3. link up your key strengths to ones of the university.
4. once aligned, you can always chart out the way to leverage your strengths to enhancing and positively influencing the culture.
5. articulate your essay to show that you have put in effort into writing the essay and your strengths are actually in line with their culture, thus making you a best fit.
6. final pointers - ensure congruence between your other 2 answers and this one
7. do not project any image of yourself which proposes to radically change the culture

hope the above points help you.

in any case, essays are a quintessentially critical part of your application, thus make the best use of the 500 words at your disposal and make a strong case with your application

Thanks Alex. This is really helpful.