PythaGURUS Consulting: Very Common Essay-Writing Mistake

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Dear MBA Applicants,

I was watching one of the TEDx Talks, and it suddenly occurred to me that a lot of MBA applicants
make mistakes very similar to what this speaker is talking about in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4#t=936

The way we write our stories makes it enormously tough for a reader to value them. I am sure you have
a lot of great accomplishments (Even if you think you do not, I am sure you do as it isn't always the
magnanimity of the result that makes it worthwhile, but that is beside the point of this note).

What is the point I am trying to make? While building the narrative of an essay, you need to
understand that the reader of your essay will not have the same company or professional background,
and he will not know "Why is your story a big Deal?" unless you really walk him through it.

Look at an example: Someone I worked with recently had a very strong "Most Significant
Accomplishment" essay. He had helped his organization (an automotive manufacturing company)
reduce the weight of the rear door of the vehicle by few hundred grams, and he shared a heavy essay
around it. Are you convinced that reducing the weight of the rear door of an automobile can be
somebody's MOST SIGNIFICANT LIFE ACCOMPLISHMENT? I am sure you are not, and you
cannot be unless you know "Why was this a big deal?" , "What makes this incident really REALLY
worthy of being used in a suplerlative form "MOST" Significant.

This applicant wrote stories that his boss or his peer would value because they already had the context
of how things happen in their organization. They already knew and understood that it was a big deal.
However, no one outside the industry will even begin to understand the relevance of it.
You spend a lot of time telling the admission committees "What did you do?" and "How did you go
about it?" Think about an admissions committee member sitting alone reading your essay trying to
find inspiration in a technical story describing how an applicant altered the supply chain processes in
his/her organization by taking all the steps needed to make that change happen. If you are the
admissions committee member of your target program, what would you like to know in order to
believe that "Reducing the weight of a car door" can be someone's most significant accomplishment?
Most of the inspiring stories of MBA applicants have a special ingredient of "Why you have done
whatever you have done?". As is mentioned in the video as well, it is important to appeal to someone's
belief than downloading facts on them. When I watched the portion of "How we as Human beings are
biologically tuned up to make decisions that are driven by beliefs?", it simply occurred to me that a lot
of you make significant mistakes of clearly stating PLAIN TECHNICAL FACTS that are
independently not inspiring. While some of you do not know that you have got to translate your Facts
into a layman language, the ones who do simply ensure that the reader understands what were all the
steps in making it happen. What you fail to create is "Why is your accomplishment inspiring enough
for you?" + "Why is your accomplishment most important for you?"

This Video is very relevant to you. This is where you go wrong a lot of times while building your
stories

Your Fact driven accomplishment is an outcome of what inspires you. It isn't always the "What? Of
the story that matters. You need to dive deeper.
Your accomplishment in itself is not as important as your reasons for feeling accomplished. You could
win in the smallest things and incidents of your life. The size isn't as important as the context. You are
the narrator of your story.

Please watch this video. He has done an amazing job of explaining storytelling. Give your 18 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4#t=936

Regards,

Jatin
Regards,

PythaGURUS Education

MBA Admissions Consulting

www.pythagurus.com

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Thanks for useful info!