HEC Paris MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients: 1
HEC Paris MBA Essay 1: Why are you applying to the HEC MBA Program now? What is the professional objective that will guide your career choice after your MBA, and how will the HEC MBA contribute to the achievement of this objective?
In the 1970s, the phrase “Glocal: Think global, act local” was first coined in the context of the environment, but today it has taken on a much wider meaning in the business world. During my 5-year-tenure as Brand Builder in beauty giants, I faced challenges everyday trying to be “Glocal” and maintain the consistency of the brand’s voice while creating content in a style that resonates with local markets. The past experience made me a creative, consumer-centric marketer with a track record of excellent local implementation.
But everyday, while working alongside with my regional brand partners, we have been trapped within our own boundaries of back-and-forth approval chains with international headquarters. Whereas Fearless & fast-moving indie brands continue to set records for the beauty industry amid the current crisis, leaving giants like Lóreal behind with ‘me-too-but-late’ innovations. These experiences have motivated me to step up from implementation to strategy aspect of brand designs and messaging in today’s highly glocal world.
I believe with 5 years of hands-on implementation experience, this is the perfect time for me to upgrade my skills and widen my global exposure. While my professional objective in the short term is to work in international Marketing and brand management, in the long-term, I aspire to come back to Vietnam as an entrepreneur in the beauty technology sector. After extensive research and detailed conversations with alumni, I find HEC’s MBA program to be in perfect sync with my targeted goals and learning requirements due to the following 3 reasons:
- Specialization in luxury brand management: With the school’s prominence in France, close contacts with French luxury companies, HEC Paris is one of the world’s best MBA for my target industry. I am especially interested in the school´s Luxury Chair in partnership with Kering, which provides students with a solid and innovative program centered around a fast-paced and constantly evolving luxury industry. For a girl who deeply admires Jean-Paul Agon and wants to follow Chairman’s footsteps building L’Oréal’s focus on sustainability and digital innovation, joining his talk in CEO Speaker Series would be a dream come true.
- Integrated Leadership – HEC MBA’s focus on instilling leadership through action and events such as MBAT and Saint-Cyr Military seminar is especially attractive to me. I strongly believe teamwork & influence skills are key for an international Brand Leader to drive a multi-function and international teams spread across the globe.
- HEC Incubator and IDEA Center provide an excellent opportunity to better understand what’s the next big shift toward the future of beauty tech. I can leverage HEC’s Elab, its role in Paris Saclay and station F to work alongside some of the most innovative startups; all experiences accumulated are uniquely fitted to my long-term objectives.
Overall, I am confident that HEC MBA is a perfect fit for me to achieve my goals and I also believe with my academic potential, diverse experiences with global groups, I can add significant value to HEC’s community and incoming class of 2021.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 2: What do you consider your most significant life achievement?
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
I am a firm believer in this philosophy. In my first year at university, I had an inclination towards a career in marketing, but I couldn’t find any particular clubs of marketing career orientation.
So I decided to found one myself – ‘Media Camp’. The program was aimed at creating a marketing hackathon platform for young aspiring marketers via real life pitching simulation to marketing agencies.
The first few weeks of external outreach was a long frustrating process with numerous “NO” from sponsors. But I continued in my pursuits and managed to land a few small sponsors.I raised funding and brought sponsoress on board. I built a team of interested people and led the entire effort to organize a 2 days Hackathon for aspiring marketers.
After 2 days days of continuous efforts, presentations by students went above and beyond sponsor’s expectations. Eight out of ten proposals were executed in reality within the next 3 months and three participants got full time job offers to join one of our sponsors.
I was also lucky to find a connection for my first job via this event which enabled me to develop the successful career in marketing I have today. I went out and made my dreams happen for myself instead of waiting for someone to guide me. That is why this is the most significant achievement of my life.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 3: Leadership and ethics are inevitably intertwined in the business world. Describe a situation in which you have dealt with these issues and how they have influenced you.
Last year, along with my full-time job at L’Oréal, I started my own business venture – “Kya Jewels” to fulfill my entrepreneurial passion in the fashion accessories space. I always drew a clear line between personal and professional worlds: only work for Kya at night and never take advantage of the digital tools at work for personal business.
One day, my colleague complimented my jewelry designs suggested that we could run a joint promotion in an upcoming campaign for Lóreal’s new product launch. As a brand manager, I could have taken advantage of my position and Lóreals brand recognition to promote my brand alongside it. For within a fraction of a second, I realized the ethical dilemma which could cost me self-respect if not my job.
On one hand, I can establish a fair business deal with proper disclosure and get my brand in front of Lóreal’s established user base and get short-term benefits to my new venture. On the other hand, it would not be ethical for me to take advantage of my position for personal interest.
I decided to stay within the clear line I had drawn between my personal and professional world and set a good ethical example for my team. I let go of the opportunity which only motivated me to work extra hard on my venture. Within a few months, I was able to partner with other brands and run a successful promotion for KYA Jewels brand while practicing ethical business leadership principles.
HEC Paris Essay 4: Imagine a life entirely different from the one you now lead, what would it be?
Let’s start meditation…
The warm voice from the trainer gently guides me to focus on the magnificent light in my heart. The peaceful inner voice slowly led me to the imagination of a different life. I see a yogi cum meditation trainer gardening and playing with glossy blue-black berries. I’m a firm believer in Yin-Yang and the power of balance. Being a yogi gifted me a chance to in-tune with nature, exploring the beauty inside out.
Outside of my work at Lóreal, I am a meditation and yoga trainer. As a trainer, I travel through many continents facilitating meditation workshops to help people achieve peace, mindfulness, creativity & conscious living. I regularly consult with businesses on the development of relaxation & meditation programs as a part of their overall health & wellness initiatives. I mentor business leaders and teach them that
it’s ok to hit the pause
when in doubt, pause
when angry, pause
when stressed, pause
when the mind is calm and clear the heart reveals its secrets.
5 years ago, consciously, I approached a spiritual master to find my peace of mind and manage stress. Unconsciously, through practice, it helped me get a stronger sense of purpose and I fell in love with it. I wish I could spread this meaningful spiritual journey to many more seekers in this journey. If given a second life, I would choose to be a yogic guru from the very beginning and spread the message of peace, mindfulness, and stress-free living.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 5: What figure do you most admire and why? You may choose from any field (arts, literature, politics, business,…)
a) What monument or site would you advise a first-time visitor to your country or city to discover, and why?
b) Certain books, movies or plays have had an international success that you believe to be undeserved. Choose an example and analyse it.
c) What figure do you most admire and why? You may choose from any field (arts, literature, politics, business, etc).
Being a self-proclaimed “professional mistake maker”, I have admired Ray Dalio since the day I read his book ‘Principles’. His book has been influential in the way I learn, work, and express myself. I pick three among those principles as bibles for my decision-making process.
Firstly, verbatim copy on a mistake: “While most others seem to believe that pain is bad, I believe that pain is required to become stronger.” 1st quarter of Covid dealt a negative blow to business but also inspired to innovate and run a Tiktok campaign at a minimal budget to engage users.
Secondly: “How do I know I’m right?” That question opened my mind a lot. It made me look for people with different perspectives who disagreed. His lessons encourage me to speak up about what I have learned, to show it to smart people to have them attack it in order to stress test it, to explore our differences, to evolve it some more, and do that over and over again.
Last but not least, I’m strongly into his advocacy of value-based organization “Values are the deep-seated beliefs that motivate behaviors.” It triggers a reminder for my personal value: innovative, holistic & life-long learning, those three guiding principles have been integrated into every aspect of my life.
If we’re not accumulating our work & life principles, everything is a one-off and we’ll all be in the middle of a blizzard of things. Thank you, Ray Dalio, for making me a principle person.
HEC Paris MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients - 2
HEC Paris MBA Essay 1: Why are you applying to the HEC MBA Program now? What is the professional objective that will guide your career choice after your MBA, and how will the HEC MBA contribute to the achievement of this objective? 500 words
As an entrepreneur and a health aficionado with a vision to transform the wellness space in Pakistan, within two years, I successfully designed and manufactured Pakistan’s first and only commercial two-step cold-pressed technology. Equipped with a competitive advantage, I subsequently launched a wellness brand that offers a range of unique, plant-based beverage products that we distribute through retail and direct-to-consumer from our online store.
My breadth of cross-functional experiences in areas such as retail, e-commerce, manufacturing and product development afforded me an intimate understanding of how a business is established and operated. I have led a technology-based startup from Ideation to execution; my team and I identified market gaps and created long term value for our investors and healthy food offerings for our customers.
Recently, our long-term investor and london-based, internationally renowned crystal artist, Sara Shakeel, has motivated us to consider international expansion to the UK and Europe. My team and I have already started working on developing our franchise model. We have our own unique food processing technologies and a manufacturing set up in Pakistan. We can leverage our competitive advantage to propel our franchise model to the UK and Europe, thus increasing our revenue as well as profit margins.
However, my exposure to European culture and Business practice is very limited. I desire to develop the business knowledge and leadership skills needed to lead large, globally oriented teams effectively. Therefore, I believe this is the perfect time for me to further my education and build a theoretical framework for International business management. The HEC MBA program, with its focus on cultivating leadership and facilitating entrepreneurship, will allow me to achieve my personal development goals and provide a platform to grow my enterprise.
I would like to opt for the Entrepreneurship Specialization. Its focus on experiential learning will not only help me develop a deeper understanding of theory but also help me explore many facets of the startup ecosystem in Europe, such as fundraising. Through working on a real business at the Elab, I aim to hone my team-building skills. Moreover, I hope to join the HEC Paris Incubator at Station F, and utilize their mentorship programs to fast-track our business development and grow as an entrepreneur.
Further, I look forward to being a part of “The Executive Committee”. The TEC program, with its multidimensional focus on personal development, will enable me to learn from a diversity of leadership experiences. Personal mentorship from seasoned executives will help guide my decision-making and provide a deeper insight into what makes an effective leader. The outdoor leadership seminar and the MBAT will provide multiple opportunities to proactively test and refine my leadership abilities in a multitude of contexts. Ultimately, HEC will help me build the right toolkit to fulfill my leadership potential.
Therefore, I believe the HEC MBA Program aligns perfectly with my entrepreneurial goals and learning objectives and can be the stepping stone for me to expand my business into the UK and Europe.
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HEC Paris MBA Essay 2: What do you consider your most significant life achievement? 250 words
Coming from a family of educationists, our family owned and operated a school for over 2 decades. I had planned to continue the family legacy after graduation. However, due to unforeseen financial circumstances in 2015, my family had to sell the school. My family could no longer afford my educational expenses. I learned the hard way that I cannot let external circumstances dictate my future. That is why I started my own business.
While I made progress with my enterprise, I also focused on my other passion – teaching. In 2016, I started Hope Valley Foundation, a non-profit primary school that teaches underprivileged children.
One of my fondest memories is watching one of our first students, Iqra, attend her first day of school. Iqra’s parents could not afford to send their children to school. She and her elder siblings worked for daily wages to support their family. Her family lived in Baika Syeda, a neglected slum at the heart of Islamabad. After we secured donations for her education expenses, we convinced Iqra’s parents to let her complete her education. We enrolled children from the specific area, Baika Syeda, so that our activities could transform an entire community. Today, Iqra is one of 300 underprivileged children who completed their primary education at HVF.
Over the years, besides continuing the family legacy, the impact that we have been able to make in the lives of so many families within a community makes HVF the achievement that I am most proud of.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 3: Leadership and ethics are inevitably intertwined in the business world. Describe a situation in which you have dealt with these issues and how they have influenced you. 250 words
On a personal level, I carry myself in a way that is consistent with my value system. I believe developing moral character requires reinforcing habits; it’s not enough to know what’s right if we haven’t developed the courage and discipline to act accordingly.
During the first week of our startup’s operations, we received an unusually large order. Our beverages are perishable products, and after preparing a large batch, we refrigerated it overnight. However, due to a brief power outage at night, the shelf-life of the products was compromised.
When we arrived the next-day, the newly-hired kitchen staff assured me that the products could still be dispatched. Even though our company was very short on operating capital at the time, I decided to dispose of the entire stock and took the loss to preserve my client’s trust. Some of my employees considered my actions excessive. On the contrary, I believe my decision demonstrated our company’s commitment to quality, and was the first step in cultivating a culture of integrity.
A few months later, our supply manager could not source certain fruits that met our quality standards, and therefore my team marked a few best-selling products as “out-of-stock” throughout the week despite significant demand from our retailers.
At that moment, I realized I had successfully fostered a culture of quality and integrity. I have since worked diligently to instill our company’s values by setting precedents. Inspired by utilitarianism, our company’s policies now dictate that all decisions be guided by stakeholder analysis,to ensure our business activities are good for everyone.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 4: Imagine a life entirely different from the one you now lead, what would it be? 250 words
I think, in a different life, I would have been an educationist, reshaping the education sector in Pakistan.
As mentioned before, I come from a family of educationists. My grandfather served in the Education Corps in the army. After he retired, he started a school in 1988, where he helped many of his relatives complete their primary education. Following in his footsteps, my mother started an elementary school in 1996 and ran it for over two decades. Every year, she would support and educate 10 underprivileged children.
Growing up in an environment where learning was celebrated, I became passionate about teaching. I would volunteer as a math tutor in my mother’s school and help children in elementary school improve their basic concepts on topics such as Coordinate Geometry. I loved to think of new ways in which I could explain and unify different concepts.
While I was still in university, I helped my mother introduce smartboards and interactive technologies in the classroom to improve the learning experience. I had planned to continue the family legacy after graduation. However, due to unforeseen financial circumstances in 2015, my family had to sell the school that we had operated.
Through my NGO – Hope valley foundation, I still work with my family and friends to help teach underprivileged children on a smaller scale. Perhaps in a different life, I would have been able to transform the education sector in Pakistan and make a lasting impact beyond the scope of my life.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 5: What figure do you most admire and why? You may choose from any field (arts, literature, politics, business...)
It might be a cliche, but as an entrepreneur, my biggest admiration is for Steve jobs.
Some of his advice has proven invaluable throughout my entrepreneurial journey and has changed my outlook on life. Over the years, his advice to “love what you do so you can persevere” has held a very deep meaning for me in every sphere of my life.
At the onset of my startup journey, I learnt that in order to persevere over sustained periods of time and prevail consistently, I must learn to enjoy the process and be motivated beyond short term KPIs. I struggled relentlessly and succeeded in developing Pakistan’s first and only two-step cold-pressed technology because I was motivated by reasons beyond my personal ambitions; I was driven by a desire to set a precedent for Pakistani entrepreneurs. I wanted to demonstrate that precision manufacturing in Pakistan was not only possible but also a key step towards improving our macroeconomic conditions. Having an overarching narrative made me very passionate about my goals and allowed me to persist.
Secondly, his perspective that “everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can proactively shape it” provided me with the right mindset to fuel my entrepreneurial drive. Following up on my dreams and taking the initiative in life has shown me firsthand that I can achieve what I set my mind to, and that I can truly become the architect of my reality.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 6: Is there any additional information you would like to share with us?
When referencing my transcript, the review committee may notice a significant drop in my GPA beginning in the fall semester of 2014-2015, my third year in university. At that time, my family experienced severe financial circumstances and could no longer support my education and living expenses.
In order to continue my education, I started tutoring high school students and also worked part-time as a project manager at a software house. However, the time commitment and stress proved difficult to balance with my coursework. In the spring semester of 2014-2015, I applied for a semester withdrawal, but my request was denied, and I received a failing grade for all enrolled courses.
This drastically affected my cumulative GPA. While I did not have the emotional maturity at the time to handle the pressure, through experience, I have developed the respect for balancing priorities while overcoming obstacles.
Ever since I graduated, I have used every opportunity to excel and prove that my undergraduate performance is not representative of my abilities and potential. My recent GMAT score of 720 (94 percentile), and my performance in quantitative courses such as Calculus, Probability and Linear Algebra with differential equations can demonstrate my ability to handle the coursework for the MBA program.
HEC Paris Winning Sample Essays – 3
HEC Paris Essay 1: Why are you applying to the HEC MBA Program now? What is the professional objective that will guide your career choice after your MBA, and how will the HEC MBA contribute to the achievement of this objective? (500 words)
I have been working in technology consulting for more than 5 years. While working with PwC US for 3 years in multiple global engagements, I have developed excellent client-facing skills, technical proficiency, and above all leadership capability to lead culturally diverse teams. Most of my experience is in technology implementation consulting for US clients. While, working alongside with management consultants, I have become really fascinated with business strategy development. These experiences have motivated me to step up from implementation to strategy aspect of technology consulting. Needless to say, equipped with an engineering degree in electronics there are marginal chances of making such functional shift as strategy formulation requires an understanding of business fundamentals besides technical knowledge.
After 5 years of experience, I have identified what I would like to do in short term and the gaps which I need to fill in order to achieve my short-term objective. Therefore, I think now would be the perfect time for me to pursue a business education which can equip me with business fundamentals. After extensive research and conversation with Alumni, I believe HEC Paris MBA program, (rated as the 2nd best B-school in Europe by Financial Times) is in perfect sync with my targeted goals and desired learning from an MBA program. The 3 most critical factors which make HEC a perfect fit for me are:
Specialization in strategy – Core courses in big data, business analytics and management consulting will provide me with required business knowledge. Whereas specialization courses in, technical product development and technology analysis will help me utilize my experience in tech consulting to make the leap into the tech-strategy consulting roles.
Fieldwork – To complement the rigorous course structure, HEC provides the unique opportunity to do a fieldwork project which can help me get acquainted with my targeted industry and present my skill sets to suitable employers. I am especially interested in participating in GCP (Global Consulting Practicum) as it will give me an opportunity to gain real-time consulting experience while working on socially driven projects that I am deeply passionate about.
Integrated Leadership – The best aspect I loved about HEC’s MBA is its unique approach of instilling leadership through action and events such as MBAT and Saint-Cyr Military seminar. I have played sports at national level during high school and have organized multiple sports and cultural events in college and workplace. I am highly excited and see myself organizing MBAT events. It will be a great opportunity to further hone my leadership and organizational skills. For a girl who deeply admires BC and wants to follow her footsteps and break into the C-suite, joining the Alma matter of CEO’s would be a dream come true. I am confident that HEC’s unique approach to leadership, diversity in class and focus on career transformation, will help me achieve my professional objectives. I also believe with my academic potential, diverse experiences across consulting, start-ups and social work, I can add significant value to HEC’s community and incoming class of 2019.
HEC Paris Essay 2: What do you consider your most significant life achievement? (250 words)
“Experiences shape who we are”. I am a firm believer of this philosophy, a seeker of novel opportunities and a dreamer of a world with love and compassion. Last year, I volunteered for NIMHANS rehabilitation program. The program was aimed to equip patients recovered from psychological disorders with livelihood skills and to help them integrate back into society.
Day one of the program, at the hospital after a brief orientation I was introduced to a group of individuals. Due to taboos associated with mental illness, there are not many volunteers in this field, therefore for them, interaction with outside visitors was very rare. After a few conversations, the participants warmed up to me. Many of them had good qualifications but unfortunate incidents led them to their current situation. What moves me is the fact that despite such hardships they yearn to get back on their own feet. I helped NIMHANS design an eight-week skill development program. I started mentoring 3 individuals. Over the period, I could notice the confidence they developed because of my support. I constantly motivated them to let go any inhibitions.
It was a truly lo-and-behold moment when after four months of continuous efforts, all 3 of them got a Tele-calling job. Through this soul-satisfying experience, what I achieved and now proudly possess, is a stronger conscious freed from prejudgment or discrimination of any sort. This experience has truly changed my perspective towards life and that is why I consider it to be my most significant achievement.
HEC Paris Essay 3: Leadership and ethics are inevitably intertwined in the business world. Describe a situation in which you have dealt with these issues and how they have influenced you. (250 words)
Leadership decisions are often guided by our work ethics. The higher you stand on the ladder of leadership the higher is the onus on you lead by an example.
In January 2016, following my passion for entrepreneurship, I joined the 3 member founding team of an app based start-up named “Pixtory”, alongside my full-time job at PwC. With time as the team grew from 3 to 13 members, my responsibility increased from coding to leading the entire engineering team. The work stretched from 2-3 hours to full 7-8 hours of part time work. All this effort paid off when we got our first funding and venture capitalist (VC) came on-board. After VC’s came on-board, we set out with new targets and my responsibilities increased and required 100% commitment as the basic concept turned into a full-blown start-up.
On one hand, I had a lucrative career at PwC with financial security and on other hand an Idea which I have worked so hard upon to give shape to. Due to the financial constraints, I was not able to quit PwC and I knew it would not be ethical for me to hold onto a lead engineering position to which I will not able to give my 100%, while the entire team was pouring their heart and soul. I took the ethical decision to step down, and let someone else lead the efforts from front. Painful as it was, but I felt it was the right decision for the benefit of Pixtory.
HEC Paris Essay 4: Imagine an entirely different life from the one you lead, and what it would be? (250 words)
If I were to imagine a different life, I would imagine myself to be a doctor. My mom, was the principal of a rural school where she regularly organized medical camps for the local community. I always used to accompany her and that’s where my interest aroused in the medical profession. I fondly remember, in rural parts of India where having electricity is a luxury, doctors in medical camps were treated as gods.
India suffers from one of the worst doctors to population ratio and it was this field where I wanted to contribute. I started out on the purpose by taking a keen interest in biology, volunteer at medical camps and learn from doctors. But life had different plans for me. After high school, I failed to a secure seat in the medical college I so desperately wanted. On the other hand, I secured an admission into our state’s’ best engineering college with a handsome scholarship. It’s no secret that the journey of a medical student is long, arduous and filled with expensive education loans.
Coming from a middle-class family where money always fell short of aspirations, turning down the engineering degree with a scholarship left me at a difficult crossroad. Keeping education finance in focus I had to let go of my dream and chose to be an engineer. I believe I turned out to be a great engineer but in a different life, I would wish to go back and follow my heart to impact the life of million others.
HEC Paris Essay 5: What figure do you admire the most and why? (250 words)
Myself being a strong advocate of gender equality, I admire XYZ since the day I watched her famous TedTalk on “Why we have too few women leaders?”. Her leadership qualities and passion towards creating gender equality are truly admirable. She has triggered a debate across the world on the challenges/ceilings women face that deter them from making it to the top of the corporate world.
I am an integral member of PwC’s WIT(Women In Technology) group focused on empowering PwC women to succeed in technology space. Drawing inspiration from her teachings of involving others to achieve a vision, I initiated many of the career development seminars and networking events involving female staff members from our India, China and US offices. Her book “Lean In” is a landmark manifesto for women like me who aspires to break the glass ceiling and climb up the career ladder. There seems to be something in that book’s every chapter that strikes a chord with me.
“Life and career are like a jungle gym” – her advice to look for growth and impact outside traditional careers motivated me to co-found a start-up that is now backed by multiple venture capitalists. I truly believe in her vision that the world will be a better place when half of the countries and half of the companies are run by women. Like her, I also aspire to be in the C-suite of a company and work towards the mission of creating more women leaders.
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HEC Paris Winning Sample Essays – 4
HEC Paris Essay 1: Why are you applying to the HEC MBA Program now? What is the professional objective that will guide your career choice after your MBA, and how will the HEC MBA contribute to the achievement of this objective?(500 words max)
During the 4 years that I have worked with Deloitte Consulting LLP, I have worked on technology enabling and process improvement. Working on technology solutions and product development over these years has made me extremely interested in product management roles focused on the roadmap, feature definitions and development cycle that go behind a product.
The Indian IT services industry has been navigating troubled waters since last US presidential elections and Brexit. Changes in US and UK government policies have forced the Indian IT services players to change strategy from using labour and salary arbitrage to focus on developing niche product offerings. The whole services market is seeing a surge in reskilling and hence, I believe this is the perfect time for me to upgrade my professional skills as well to achieve my short-term goal of moving towards product management. Given my 4 years of experience in IT consulting, an MBA will be a welcome addition to my profile to enable me for my desired career transition.
While my major professional objective in the short term is to switch to product management roles, in the long-term, I aspire to come back to India as an entrepreneur in the technology sector. After extensive research and detailed conversations with alumni, I find HEC’s MBA program to be in perfect sync with my targeted goals and learning requirements due to the following 3 reasons –
Curriculum and certification programs – I believe, HEC’s extensive curriculum has a good focus on technology sector with courses such as new product development, consumer intelligence, and business development in companies. I am especially interested in the digital transformation and digital entrepreneurship certification programs. These customized courses and certificates can help me advance my past technical experience and prepare for the transformation I am seeking in my career.
Paris Saclay and Station F – For a technical consultant aspiring to move into product management, a privileged access to world’s largest startup campus would be a dream come true. I can leverage HEC’s Elab, its role in Paris Saclay and station F to work alongside some of the most innovative startups and businesses in the tech world. I am confident that I can use this exposure to strengthen my profile and open potential arenas for me to consider post MBA.
Internship and fieldwork – Another key parameter that attracted me towards HEC is the opportunity to do an internship or a fieldwork within the short 16-months program. I have garnered considerable international exposure by working with clients in US and UK. An internship or fieldwork can give me the much needed hands-on international experience and hence, make me a stronger candidate for potential recruiters.
HEC can also provide me opportunities to further strengthen my leadership skills via events such as MBAT and Saint-Cyr Military seminar. Therefore, given HEC’s unique approach to leadership, access to Station F, certification program, and fieldwork opportunities, I see no better institute than HEC Paris to equip me with skills required to achieve my objectives in life.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 2: What do you consider your most significant life achievement? (250 words max)
“Education is the most powerful tool to change the world”, said Nelson Mandela. In my life, I endeavour to equip as many underprivileged children with this most empowering tool as I can.
During my under-graduation I joined an NGO named Pratigya, “a student initiative dedicated to imparting education to underprivileged children”. There, I observed that all classes had very irregular attendance and poor grades. I gathered a team of volunteers and reached out to these children’s families. We discovered that many of our students had pulled out of school and accompanied their parents to work due to financial constraints.
Seeing these children’s hardships strengthened my resolve to bring a positive change in their lives. My team and I decided to launch a fundraising drive to support their education.
Through our drive we raised €1.6K to sponsor 40 students. I personally took a pledge to sponsor and mentor 3 girls. With time, I developed a special bond with my 3 students and I could notice their growing confidence and interest in their studies because of my encouragement. I continued to support them every year and the proudest moment of my life was when all 3 of them graduated high school and went to college in pursuit of their dreams.
I received many appreciations and votes of thanks but my self-reliant students were my reward. It was my life’s most gratifying experience which gave a purpose and direction to my life and that’s why I consider it my life’s most significant achievement.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 3: Leadership and ethics are inevitably intertwined in the business world. Describe a situation in which you have dealt with these issues and how they have influenced you.(250 words max)
“Supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity” said Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th US President). As a consultant, I have often found myself in ethical dilemmas that directly test my integrity as a leader.
Last year, my team of 3 analysts and I developed a user interface to automate RNDC’s (Client) invoicing process. As the tech lead on the project, I was responsible for the internal quality audit of our programming code. During my final quality audit after receiving client’s approval to release the code for production, I found a defect in my analyst’s code.
Fixing the defect would require 5 days and additional cost of $ 10K on Deloitte’s account. Since the application had already received client’s approval, my team’s initial consensus was to flag it and fix it during our first maintenance follow up. It was the most optimal solution but delivering a defective application challenged my integrity as a team lead and made me question the example I would set before my subordinates.
After taking my team into confidence, I openly communicated our late discovery to our client and requested additional time. The client agreed and appreciated this open communication and ethical approach to decision-making.
Post final release, based on our flawless delivery and ethical business practices, the client recommended our team for the Project Award. This experience taught me 2 very important business lessons – crisis truly tests one’s integrity as a leader and ethical business practices help build strong successful relationships.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 4: Imagine a life entirely different from the one you now lead, what would it be?(250 words max)
If I were to imagine a life entirely different from the one that I lead now, I would imagine myself as a professional poet and fiction writer.
I wrote my first poem on a beautiful flower at the age of 10. My teachers really appreciated it and published it in the school magazine. It eventually got selected to be published in the national daily Hindustan Times. Since then, my mother always encouraged me to pursue my hobby of poetry and story writing.
My poems and stories occasionally got published in reputed magazines and national dailies. As I grew up, writing became an integral part of my life because it liberated my thoughts and gave a constructive vent to my feelings and observations. I have written for school and college magazines as chief editor, winning awards for my work, but last year, I finally managed to get my own book “Light in the Creek” published by a reputed publication in India. It is one of my life’s most satisfying achievements.
Given a second chance, I would love to relive that satisfaction every day and take up writing as a profession. I would use my writing as a medium to set my soul free and spread awareness on matters close to my heart such as child abuse and poor primary education in developing economies. It would be my silent activism to inspire action on these chronic issues. Books shaped my life and one day I wish to do the same for others.
HEC Paris MBA Essay 5: Please choose from one of the following essays:
a) What monument or site would you advise a first-time visitor to your country or city to discover, and why?
b) Certain books, movies or plays have had an international success that you believe to be undeserved. Choose an example and analyse it.
c) What figure do you most admire and why? You may choose from any field (arts, literature, politics, business, etc). (250 words max)
If I were to advise a tourist interested in spirituality and India’s religious heritage, to visit a site in India, I would advise him to visit the city of Varanasi and Varanasi’s Ghats (river-banks of the river Ganges).
I have visited Varanasi multiple times, yet its ineradicable spirit of faith and devotion has always fascinated me. Varanasi is one of the world’s oldest cities and the epicenter of Hindu religion.
The city of Varanasi is strewn with old shrines, hermitages, forts and palaces which take a visitor on a time-travel to the genesis of Indian civilization. As one takes a city tour, one can observe the bearings of different religions and learn about the long religious history of India. Varanasi’s narrow lanes interspersed with old Muslim mosques, Hindu shrines and Jain temples bear testimony to cultural harmony and present the vibrant religious colours of India in one palette.
Varanasi is also called the spiritual capital of India and city of lights. Its Ghats are always illuminated with millions of earthen lamps. One should definitely attend the evening Ganga Aarti (prayer) at Dashashwamedh Ghat to experience the characteristic sanctitude and vitality of the Indian spirituality. One can witness the spectacular magnificence of the Aarti procession and connect with their faith and inner-self.
I visit this place whenever I need to recharge and reconnect with myself. Therefore, anyone seeking to explore India’s colourful religious history and their own spirituality should definitely visit the city of Varanasi and the river-banks of the Ganges.
