Top MBA申请指南《做更好的自己》成功essay申请案例范文：Smartly Handling HBS’Setbac

Top MBA申请指南《做更好的自己》成功essay申请案例范文：Smartly Handling HBS’Setbacks Essay

Top MBA申请指南《做更好的自己》涵盖了Top MBA申请的方方面面：选校，Resume编辑，推荐人选择，Essay构思与写作，Interview准备等，并针对申请的各个环节给出具有操作性的建议，这是一本你可以在申请的各个阶段拿出来反复读一读的MBA申请指导书。

与第一、二版相比，第三版在保留原书的基础上全新改版，更精简，更深入，更实用：

精选和保留原作精华部分，让阅读充满“干货”；
超越仅有校友访谈的主观、一手材料视角，提供M7商学院深度分析：从历史了解现在，从历年成功申请人背景推测录取倾向，还有最新（2013年入学）申请文书解析，等等精彩内容；
首次分享申请制胜绝招：简单的制胜原则，贯穿申请始终，以无招胜有招，让申请过程更加有的放矢；
与第一、第二版内容互补，对照阅读，获得信息更全面。
特别公告：您的反馈让第四版更精彩！

您的评价、您的感受是我们前进的动力，您关心的内容是我们努力的方向。根据申请形势的不断改变，我们将持续更新这本书，所以，您的意见对我们来说非常重要。热切期待每一位读者在论坛留下读后感或者问题。因为有了您的关注，我们知道自己的工作是有价值的；因为有了您的推荐，更多的CDer将下载和看到这本书，并从中获益；因为有了您的意见，我们将有的放矢的完善此书并于来年继续推出第三版。哪怕只是一个错别字，我们都希望您能不吝指出，让我们有机会做到更好。欢迎大家跟帖评价！越具体，越欢迎！欢迎拍砖！

Top MBA申请指南《做更好的自己》第三版 - 目录

第一章 解读商学院的光环
　引子
　第一篇 从商学院的历史说起
　第二篇 谁的商学院
　第三篇 为中华之崛起而读书

第二章 近看顶级商学院
　引子
　第一篇 排名里的最佳商学院
　第二篇 选校研究样本
　　Harvard University (HBS)
　　Stanford University (Stanford GSB)
　　University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
　　MIT (Sloan)
　　Northwestern University (Kellogg)
　　University of Chicago (Booth)
　　Columbia University (CBS)
　　中欧国际工商学院 (CEIBS)

第三章 做更好的自己
　引子
　第一篇 申请流程
　第二篇 申请制胜绝招
　第三篇 从目标出发
　第四篇 选校
　第五篇 考试
　第六篇 个人简历（RESUME）
　第七篇 申请dissertation（ESSAYS）
　第八篇 推荐信（RECOMMENDATION LETTER）
　第九篇 面试（INTERVIEW）#p#分页标题#e#
　第十篇 摆脱WAIT LIST
　第十一篇 再次申请
　第十二篇 最后但并非最不重要

第四章 后来
　引子
　毕业时分
　毕业三年
　毕业十年
　那些年我们读过商学院
　读书或者不读
　你当追寻你所爱

附录
　附录一：美国新闻与世界报道最近3年商学院排名
　附录二：美国TOP MBA项目就业指标统计 2012
　附录三：简历撰写常用动词
　附录四：部分北美商学院历史申请ESSAY题目
　附录五：YOU'VE GOT TO FIND WHAT YOU LOVE
　附录六：STANFORD DEAN’S CORNER

作者简介：

Sonia Shi出生于二十世纪八十年代，在电信行业如日中天的那几年考入北京邮电大学，获得英语专业学士学位。毕业后曾在电信公司有过短暂的工作经历，后转行进入快速消费品行业。在为一家饮料公司工作将近四年后，赴美读书，在弗吉尼亚大学达顿商学院（University of Virginia, Darden School of Business）获得MBA学位。

作为一个80后，亲身经历了新中国改革开放的巨大变革，Sonia相信知识可以改变命运，也相信中国的未来属于受过良好教育的年青一代。

成功essay申请案例范文：
Smartly Handling HBS’Setbacks Essay
Harvard Business School: Tell us three setbacks you have faced. (600 words)

This question is new for the 2011/2012 application year, and transforms the classic HBS mistake essay into a broader topic. When you think about three setbacks in your life thus far consider that a setback is anything that hinders or impedes your progress. Additionally, the choice of setback can be personal, professional, or extracurricular.

Some applicants face writer’s block when thinking about discussing imperfections in their overall story. The truth is that your challenges and setbacks have made you a more resilient person, and the admissions committee will learn the most about you and your personal qualities from these stories. Many talented, high-achieving individuals who show early promise in their academic and professional careers plateau after a few years in the workforce. There can be many possible explanations as to why, but quite often the failure to realize early potential is based on an inability to recognize, take accountability for, and learn from mistakes and difficulties.

Making mistakes and facing setbacks is an inevitable consequence of leading. By definition, the leader is blazing a new trail where guidebooks and guidelines simply don’t exist; so missteps are sure to occur. The admissions committee will be very leery of a candidate who claims a flawless string of successes and no blunders. All of the possibilities are red flags: the candidate is being dishonest; the candidate is incapable of recognizing a mistake and lacks self-awareness; the candidate is so cautious that he or she never makes a move unless success is assured. The opportunities for growth for this person are slim; the chances of admission to HBS are even slimmer.#p#分页标题#e#

Mistakes or disappointment occur when one’s assumptions about how the world works are off base or unrealistic. The mistake is a reality check. Some people cling to faulty assumptions and continue to hit brick walls, while others learn something new, course-correct, and move forward. Moreover, a leader who is capable of admitting when he is wrong is showing his followers that making and admitting mistakes is okay. Facing disappointment and solving the problem that led to your feelings shows introspection and maturity. It’s easy to see why these leadership characteristics are paramount. Major corporations have been brought down by leaders who neglected their gut feelings or felt their missteps were best brushed under the carpet or fed through the paper shredder.

Essay Tips

Tip #1: Mistakes and setbacks are related but different.

Tip #2: Demonstrate self-awareness.

Tip #3: Lessons learned and evidence of growth are paramount.

Tip #4: Show initiative and resilience

Mistakes and setbacks are related but different.

The HBS question requires you to think of three setbacks in your life and explore them in this essay. In the past, other schools such as Wharton have asked applicants to write about a failure or setback. The admissions committee’s motivation for asking about mistakes, setbacks and failures is similar. They are attempting to gauge your self-awareness, resiliency, and ability to respond positively to adverse circumstances.

While a mistake is an incident that required you to act, a setback can be something that happened to you. For example, failing to consider all aspects of your business strategy before starting a business is a mistake, and being laid off when your business fails to gain VC funding is a setback. Often your own mistake can lead to a setback, so you are able to use much broader topics in this new version of the HBS essay than you could in past years.

Demonstrate self-awareness.

By its very nature the setback essay is a test of your maturity and self-awareness. In a situation where you are marketing yourself, it may feel awkward to highlight your challenges. It’s much more fun to share your accomplishments, and it’s natural to want to highlight strengths. What many applicants don’t understand is that the ability to recognize, accept responsibility for, react to, and learn from difficulty is a tremendous strength – one that not all early-career, high achievers possess.

In some ways, the setback essay exists to weed out that subset of future leaders who will rise to the top based on tremendous willpower and self-confidence but will ultimately be brought down because they don’t have the ability to recover when things don’t go according to plan. The setback essay then is the “yang” to the accomplishments essay’s “yin.” The admissions committee has offered you an opportunity to share your strengths and tout your achievements; now it is time to demonstrate a different kind of confidence: the confidence to admit that you are fallible and that you can learn from the inevitable missteps that will test even high achievers.#p#分页标题#e#

Lessons learned and evidence of growth are paramount.

Especially in the early drafts, you may struggle to simply properly describe your setbacks and how you responded in less than 600 words. Often times, applicants spend the majority of the essay explaining, or worse – defending – their challenges and only a sentence or two sharing what they learned. Try to reserve enough space to share what you learned and how you grew both personally and professionally as a result of your setbacks. Try to extract the universal lessons from the experience, and when possible tell the reader how what you learned has changed the way you approach similar situations today.

Show initiative and resilience

Think about the times you have been faced setbacks at work or with an organization. Did your challenge lead to positive change? If so, you have found an excellent topic for the setback essay.

Problems with a team or a process can lead to positive change in many situations. If you have an example that fits into this construct, make sure you are never blaming others for the setback. Rather, you will acknowledge how you felt and then spend most of the essay talking about how your feelings led you to create positive change in your organization.

Facing difficulties like professional setbacks can often lead to growth and development, and demonstrate maturity to the admissions committee. The ability to recognize that something is not working for you, and taking the steps to create a better situation shows initiative and proactive leadership.

If you have faced a challenge in your career – whether a job you disliked or something more serious like a layoff – it was likely a period of soul searching and realizations. You can use this material to write an excellent introspective essay to demonstrate how you handle adversity. Resilience is a core personality trait of successful people, and demonstrating your own ability to rise above a challenge will serve you well in this set of essays.