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Indiana Kelley MBA Sample Essays

Indiana Kelley MBA Sample Essays

Kelley MBA Essay 1: Please discuss your immediate post-MBA professional goals. How will your professional experience, when combined with a Kelley MBA degree, allow you to achieve these goals? Should the short-term goals you have identified not materialize, what alternative career paths might you consider? (500 words max)

Kelley MBA Essay 2: Please respond to one of the following short essay prompts. (300 words max)

  1.  My greatest memory is…
  2.  I’m most afraid of…
  3.  My greatest challenge has been…
  4.  I’m most proud of…
Here are Indiana Kelley MBA Sample Essays which are written by our winning Candidates.

Indiana Kelley MBA Sample Essays – 1

Kelley MBA Essay 1: Please discuss your immediate post-MBA professional goals. How will your professional experience, when combined with a Kelley MBA degree, allow you to achieve these goals? Should the short-term goals you have identified not materialize, what alternative career paths might you consider? (500 words max)

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-handling 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. However, working alongside 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.

Therefore, post-MBA my immediate goal is to transition to management consultant role at tech strategy function and work with a global consulting firm such as Mckinsey, Bain, PwC or Deloitte. There I will get the opportunities to work on client’s open-ended business problems. Needless to say, to switch to management consulting I need to gain fundamental knowledge of management and business strategy.

After extensive research and conversation with Alumni’s, I believe Kelley’s MBA is in perfect sync with my targeted goals and desired learning from an MBA program. Three ways through which I see that Kelley MBA will help me bridge the skill gaps and achieve my short-term goals of getting into management consulting are:

Integrated Core Curriculum – The best part I liked about Kelley’s curriculum 3 semesters of elective which offer the freedom to chart our own career paths. Major in ‘Management’ along with experiential learning at ‘Consulting Academy’ can help me fullfil the knowledge gap.

Global Exposure –  I believe, global work experience is highly valued in consulting industry and Kelley’s GLOBASE and Kelley International Perspectives (KIP) program can provide me the opportunity to gain hands-on international experience while studying. I am really looking forward to participating in GLOBASE consulting project to strengthen my candidature in post-MBA consulting jobs.

Unique approach to Leadership Development – At PwC, I am a core member of PwC WIT (Women In Technology) club and at Kelley too, I am looking forward to being an active member of Kelley Association of Women MBAs, Consulting and Net Impact clubs which will provide me opportunities to hone my leadership skills in action.

I strongly believe, I can also leverage my connections within PwC to network my way into the desired management consulting role. In case I am not able to crack into the elite consulting world of MBB’s, I would be willing to switch into a product management roles within the technology sector focused on mobile applications. Co-founding a tech start-up has provided me opportunities to gain experience and learn to thrive in a product manager’s role. Therefore, I think, product management experience in a start-up has induced in me the flexibility to get into product management roles.

Overall I am confident that Kelley’s unique approach to leadership and focus on career transformation will help me achieve my professional objectives. And with my academic potential, team-working abilities, and leadership skills I will add significant value to Kelley community and sustain the Kelley brand.

Kelley MBA Essay 2: Please respond to one of the following short essay prompts. (300 words max)
 My greatest memory is…
 I’m most afraid of…
 My greatest challenge has been…
 I’m most proud of…

I am most proud of my accomplishment of making Pixtory, to which I had given my heart and soul over the last 6 months, a successful startup backed by seed funding of $50K from Venture Capitalists.

In January 2016, following my passion for entrepreneurship, I joined 3 member founding team of an app-based photo blogging start-up named “Pixtory”, alongside my full-time job at PwC. I met karum (company’s founder) at an entrepreneur’s networking event where he was pitching the idea and looking for a team.

I was the first engineer in the team, responsible for product development and building of engineering team for the company. Additionally, I was leading the digital marketing strategy of the product.

I crafted my hiring strategy to look beyond just technical skills and recruit people who shared the same passion for making our business a success and can thrive in demanding work environment. On Marketing front, we kicked-off with the market fit analysis of the product. We spent months in shaping our product’s strategy that is differentiated and delivers the unique value proposition.

Within 4 months the team grew from 3 to 13 members and my responsibilities increased from coding to leading the entire development team. The work stretched from 2-3 hours to full 7-8 hours of part-time work. And 7 months all this effort paid off, it was a truly ecstatic moment when we successfully secured initial seed funding of $50k from a venture capitalist firm. That day was the proudest day in my life which gave me the sense of achievement and confidence in my own hard work.

Through this enriching journey, I got the opportunity to work on various aspects of product management and organization building. In fact, it is this experience makes me confident that that post-MBA even if I couldn’t get into consulting, I can successfully pursue a career in product management

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Indiana Kelley MBA Sample Essays – 2

Kelley MBA Essay 1: Please discuss your immediate post-MBA professional goals. How will your professional experience, when combined with a Kelley MBA degree, allow you to achieve these goals? Should the short-term goals you have identified not materialize, what alternative career paths might you consider? (500 words max)

I have more than 5 years of professional experience with Unilever where I have worked across multiple supply chain functions. In the short term, I want to leverage my experience of working in supply chain functions including strategy at Unilever to transition into a proper strategic consulting role with the likes of McKinsey, Bain, or BCG.

It Unilever, I started my career in the supply chain department and later moved to my current position of Supply Chain Manager – Innovation and Technology. I lead the innovation team including 7 diverse departments such as R&D, Marketing, procurement, etc. to lead the development effort for our next generation products. During this tenure, I have led a cross functional team which has helped me hone my leadership capability to lead a culturally and professionally diverse team. Additionally, leading Product Development for highly agile and fast-moving categories has helped me develop my problem-solving skills, stakeholder management skills and internal client handling ability.

My current role also allows me to interact with senior leaders and have a ring side view of how long-term strategies are formed and business decisions are taken. This exposure has motivated me to upskill my own business acumen and strategic knowledge via an MBA to grow in the CPG domain.

Through an MBA, I am primarily looking to build my foundation of business knowledge and leadership skills to take on the business problems of the consulting world. I believe Kelley’s integrated core curriculum and various experiential programs such as 1Kelly Consulting program can help me acquire practical consulting experience through the real business world problems. GLOBASE and Kelly International Perspectives (KIP) program can provide me with the much-needed global exposure, which can help me learn the best practices of diverse industries across the world.

I am also keenly looking forward to the Leadership development program integrated into Kelly’s MBA program. I hope to leverage my learnings through this program to assume leadership positions at Clubs such as Consulting Club, Marketing Club, and the association of Women MBAs. As I assume leadership positions in organizations, I want to work towards women empowerment and diversity and in the long run I would like to follow in the footsteps of Indra Nooyi (Ex-CEO Pepsi) to take up a senior leadership role in a CPG firm.

I am strongly convinced that with my experience and with Kelley’s MBA program placing more than 30% of it’s class in the consulting function, I can achieve my short-term goal through the Kelley MBA program. At the same time, I do understand that consulting roles are highly competitive in nature. Hence, I would be happy to switch back to CPG firms such as P&G, Pepsico, Unilever in case the consulting role does not materialize for me. I am confident that I can capitalize on my existing expertise in supply chain operations and my network in the CPG firms to comfortably achieve my alternate career path.

Kelley MBA Essay 2: Please respond to one of the following short essay prompts. (300 words max)
 My greatest memory is…
 I’m most afraid of…
 My greatest challenge has been…
 I’m most proud of…

I am most proud of defying the stereotypes for an Indian girl and braving the adversities that came my way.

Born into an extremely conservative family as a girl, my aspirations to pursue undergraduate education antagonized many elders. My family was saving more money for my marriage than for my education. My father was my only supporter in my pursuit of higher education and due to his support, I was able to excel in academics and dream big for myself.

But as fate would have it, a few months before my undergraduate admissions I lost my father. His untimely demise created a huge void both psychologically and financially. Under an assistance program, the government offered me an entry level employment opportunity and everyone in my family pressured me to take up the job and get married to reduce the financial burden on my family. Even the funds my father saved up for my education had to be reprioritized to meet our daily essential needs. This was one of the most challenging times of my life as it seemed like my dreams were crashing down.

Our dire circumstances motivated me to make something of myself so that my family would never have to feel helpless. I secured an admission in one of the best engineering colleges in India with a scholarship, which helped me convince my family to pursue my dreams. Fast forward 4 years, I was amongst the top performing graduates in my class and amongst the first to receive a great job offer from Unilever. I blazed the trail for a new journey for my family, becoming the first woman in my family to have a professional career and an undergraduate degree. Having inspired my cousins, I support 2 of them financially to help them achieve their dreams. 

 

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