McGill MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients: 1
McGill MBA Essay 1: Why do you intend on pursuing an MBA at this point in your life? Describe your mid-term and long-term visions for your post-MBA career path and how will the Desautels MBA program add value to your future career? (500-word limit)
I have 6+ years of experience with MEC Intelligence, which is a strategy consulting firm specializing in Clean and renewable energy space. In these 6 years, I have consulted our clients on how to adopt clean technologies and sustainable processes while growing profitably. Besides the fundamental technical knowledge, I have developed excellent client-handling skills, a deep understanding of industry challenges, and insights into how the leaders in this industry are thinking.
Having grown up in 2 countries (Kuwait and India), and now handling international clients have also taught me how to lead collaborations with people from different backgrounds. However, as I now grow toward managerial roles, I have identified a few key skills to enhance my capabilities. I am convinced that, as I transition into a global leader, I will need to hone people skills enabling me to effectively work with and lead diverse teams. Second, I wish to explore all the strategic frameworks and develop my business acumen. Last, while I have tried to learn from colleagues and self-teaching, my lack of formal finance education has made me underconfident in managing a few aspects of projects, such as building detailed financial models, valuations, etc.
I believe acquiring these skills can enable me to advance my purposeful career in sustainability consulting and achieve the mid-term goal of working with companies such as Dunsky Energy +, ERM, and Big 4 auditing firms, most of whom have set up their sustainable consulting arms. In the long term, I wish to transition to more impactful roles of as a Chief Sustainability Officer of clean energy companies.
Through my research and in-depth discussion with alumni, I have identified that McGill MBA will equip me with desired skills and transform me into a business leader:
To understand how to lead organizations, courses such as Organizational Behaviour, Cross-Cultural Management etc. will prepare me academically. The discussion with various CEOs within “CEO Insights” and class collaborating with my cohort of diverse geographies will enable me to practically understand the unique perspectives.
Further, something that struck out about McGill was its approach toward Sustainability. Not only it is integrated into the courses, but also part of the university’s strategic plan. Its integration with the courses, combined with various strategy courses such as Managing Strategy & Innovation, Strategies for Sustainable Development, etc., will enable me to be more impactful while helping companies and economies decarbonize. Further, opportunities to participate in case studies and competitions such as Sustainability Challenge, MINT case competition, etc., organized by clubs such as Net Impact club and Desserters Sustainability Network will help me put these frameworks to practice.
Finally, courses on various finance and other professional aspects, such as negotiation and conflict resolution, will help me become a well-rounded professional. Overall I am confident that McGills’s unique approach to leadership and Sustainability delivered through a closely knit class experience will help me achieve my professional objectives and enable me to deliver the much-needed green transformation the world requires.
McGill MBA Essay 2: What qualities would you look for in an MBA classmate when working on a team project and describe how your background and leadership skills will enhance the experience of others? (500-word limit)
The 3 aspects that I look for:
The first is the ability to accept different perspectives and further enjoy having my own perspective challenged. This was one of the most difficult skills that I have learned to appreciate during my consulting career. In one of the projects, I was identifying R&D collaboration opportunities between the UK and India, and I concluded pessimistically that there were limited R&D opportunities because India didn’t have any specific offshore wind energy industry. When I presented my insights to my Manager, to my surprise, he chuckled and said where you see limited opportunity, I see unlimited opportunity. Turns out my manager was right in reframing how I looked at the challenge. Hence, while working on a team project, I think it will be quite necessary that each of us respect the outlook of each team member and try to identify solutions that incorporate the perspectives of all. It will further be good if we are open to having our perspectives challenged, enabling us to come up with even creative solutions in the process.
The second quality that I admire is curiosity. I see curiosity as an element of fun and a medium to develop areas of expertise. I grew curious about music, specifically blues and other genres. I researched about the culture associated with music, particularly from the 60s to the 80s. Guitarists like BB King, Freddie King, and Jimmy Page have greatly influenced me. As I grew more curious about music, I purchased my first guitar with my first salary. After learning guitar basics, I stepped up to learn how to program other instruments, and from there-own, it was a never-ending love affair with my music until I learned how to compose my own music. Hence, I hope to work with curious teammates who would be eager to explore my interest areas, one of which being music, and also share theirs. This way, I believe the team projects will be a bit more fun while working on the project and hence develop deeper bonds.
Lastly, a quote hung at the entrance of our college hostel that changed the way I looked at the world. It read, “don’t curse the darkness; light a candle”. Since the moment I saw it for the first time, it left an indelible impact on my personality, leading me to take numerous initiatives at my work. Over the years, I have established the Board of Arts and Sports, led MEC’s first CSR activity with the UN, founded analyst diaries (MEC’s version of TED talk). I hope to extend this mindset of taking the initiative into the McGill experience for my cohort. From discussions with Alumni, I realized there is an opportunity to form a Clean Energy club and undertake leadership positions at Net Impact club. Hence, while working on team projects in these clubs I would enjoy working with teammates who would love to take initiatives in organizing workshops and challenges and advance the impact through the clubs.
McGill MBA Essay 3: Describe a difficult decision you made and the process that you went through to make it. (500-word limit)
Deciding to get married to a partner with a severe anxiety disorder has been one of the most difficult decisions I had to make.
I met my partner about two years ago at a trek and we bonded over common interests and shared values. I was quite charmed by her sharp intellect, advocacy for feminism, and empathy. However, while returning from the trek, we missed our train and I caught the first glimpse of her anxiety. Since it was the first time I didn’t think much of the incident and we managed to get a cab to our homes.
Gradually our bond deepened and we started dating. Two months in, she trusted me well enough to disclose that she was bullied in her college years due to which she suffered severe anxiety attacks and was ultimately diagnosed with anxiety disorder. While I was sympathetic, I failed to grasp exactly what she went through and its implication on our relationship. Barring a few small incidents, we sailed through the initial rosy months and eventually decided to move in together. We started fighting more as she complained that I was not considerate enough and that some of my actions and words would trigger her into thinking about it all night.
Two weeks before our engagement we had a fight that led to a paradigm shift in my perspective. As a result, we had to call off our engagement and our parents gave us about a week to think about it before moving on.
There lay a task in front of me to take the biggest decision of my life. The decision impacted not only us but also another life that we would bring into this world. Realising what was at stake, It required me to deeply understand my partner’s needs and critically analyse my capabilities to provide for them.
This is when I educated myself by reading some books and speaking to couples. It began to hit me what she went through to sustain our relationship and I realized my perspective was shifting. In an instant, my rigid ego escaped me and everything became about what should have I done and how could have been more considerate. I began by not invalidating her feelings, being more selective in communication by avoiding triggers and trying to develop a deeper understanding of how to manage conflict, especially with someone suffering with anxiety disorder.
A year has gone by, and while disagreements still happen but we have gotten better. I have seen that now I have been more considerate than she has been too. We have been engaged since then and will soon be married.
To summarise, living with someone with an anxiety disorder can be a difficult decision, as it requires a significant commitment to supporting and caring for a partner who may have ongoing mental health challenges by making adjustments to their own lives and priorities. However, I have often found if taken care right, the love you give comes back multifold.
McGill MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients - 2
McGill MBA Essay 1: Why do you intend on pursuing an MBA at this point in your life? Describe your mid-term and long-term visions for your post-MBA career path and how will the Desautels MBA program add value to your future career? (500-word limit)
I have more than 5 years of experience in leading and managing my family business – a jeans and apparel manufacturing company. Due to my father’s demise, I had to take over the business at the age of 25. Today, I manage a team of 70-100 employees and look after day to day operations.
As a jeans manufacturer, my business’s growth opportunities and the risk are tied to one item only, and the market position as well as our financial security is linked to only one domain. Now I want to expand my horizons beyond a single product into multiple domains and want to grow my business internationally. This is where I believe pursuing an MBA can provide the right platform to fill in the gaps in my business knowledge.
Post MBA, I intend to join an apparel manufacturing company as a product manager. I want to learn in depth about the apparel manufacturing in the Canadian and other international markets. So that in the long term, I can aspire to come back and grow my family’s manufacturing business to international markets.
The manufacturing industry is not immune to changes in other sectors. In particular, it has been impacted by advances in E-commerce , digital marketing, and even advances in machinery . These things have changed the way the industry works and to be a successful manager in a dynamic industry, I need to be equipped with strong business, analytical, strategy, and operational skills that can only be achieved through a theoretical and practical management education.
While searching for my ideal business school, what resonated the most with me was Desautels holistic curriculum with a deep focus on organizational strategy and leadership development through a rich elective curriculum, experiential learning, and the international study trip. I believe mandatory courses like ‘Finance’, ‘Strategy’ and ‘Operations’ along with electives like ‘Managerial Negotiations’, ‘Cross-Cultural Management’ would be a perfect fit for me to fulfill my knowledge gaps and upskill myself.
To complement the rich elective curriculum, the experiential learning opportunities would allow me to build on my skills and expose me to cross-cultural insights. Over the years I have had the opportunity to interact with clients from different cultural backgrounds but my experience is restricted to the Indian market. Experiential programs like the summer internship and the international study trip can provide me with the opportunity to gain hands-on work experience in an international environment.
During the MBA the student clubs like International Management Association, Mcgill Entrepreneurs Society and Desautels Sports Management Club would provide excellent avenues for me to access a wide range of resources, gain knowledge from the diverse experiences of the cohort and prepare myself for today’s challenges.
Overall, after evaluating my prior experience, and discussing my goals with my mentors, I am convinced that an MBA from Desautels would be a perfect stepping stone for me to progress in my career and achieve my goals.
McGill MBA Essay 2 : What qualities would you look for in an MBA classmate when working on a team project and describe how your background and leadership skills will enhance the experience of others? (Max 500 words)
Over the five years of my entrepreneurial experience, I have developed an appreciation of what my peers bring to the team in terms of their perspectives, motivation, and passions. I truly believe it’s the personalities of who we are outside of work that define our professional ethos and behaviour in a professional environment.
The biggest thing I would love to see in my peers is passion. I myself am passionate about soccer. I have learned a lot about soccer and sometimes coached some young players in my community on how to improve tactically in soccer. It helps me disconnect and destress and teaches me the importance of working as a team in sync, soccer has also helped me build lifelong relationships outside of work. I want my classmates to have Passion for something, anything, whatever makes them feel alive. I feel such activities which you are passionate about outside of the classroom helps build strong relationships.
The second quality which I would like to see and can contribute myself to the cohort is the openness to different perspectives and diverging opinions. As a business partner, I pay special attention to remove such biases from my actions be it gender-oriented or culturally influenced. I think that the biggest challenge business leaders face today is to remove biases and create a workplace that is inclusive of genders and different perspectives. As future business leaders, I would love to have peers who understand the value of diversity and inclusivity and work towards uplifting each other.
Lastly, through my professional work, I have developed a strong understanding of operational and company management skills. Going forward, I want to work in an apparel manufacturing company and in the long run take my company Aman Apparels to international level , and to reach this goal I want to develop a deeper understanding of strategic, financial, and operational aspects. In business school, I want the opportunity to refine these skills not only through a theoretical education but also by learning from the diverse real-life experiences of my peers. Hence, I would like to work in a team with classmates who come from different backgrounds so that I can gain from their specialized knowledge and have a well-rounded experience during team assignments.
Overall, I believe, more than technical skills, it’s my passion and motivations that have driven me to be successful and helped me make strong connections. That is why I would desire to have peers who have passions and motivation in addition to career-oriented aspirations.
McGill MBA Essay 3 : Describe a difficult decision you made and the process that you went through to make it. (Max. 500 words)
I graduated in 2016 and excitedly joined my father in our family business. However fate had a different plan. While I was studying away from home, I never got to know when my father slipped into depression due to his gambling. Then in 2019, my father passed away leaving me alone with the business.
The entire responsibility fell on my shoulders, and as I took hold of the business I saw the mountain of debt it had and how big our liabilities were. When my father died the company had a loan of almost $1.75 million US and even our house was mortgaged to pay for business loans.
I sold a few assets and increased the production of factories and literally burned the proverbial midnight oil to get my business on track. By early 2020, our profits started to increase which helped me pay off my house mortgage and save my house.
As fate would have it again, when my business was picking up COVID hit and the entire business came to a standstill. We had more than $600,000 worth of inventory stuck.
With stuck inventory and no future orders, I dipped into my own savings to pay my 200 employees but in the next town hall meeting, I laid down the hard facts about the business and my own financial situation. As a leader I believe in open honest communication and I never wanted to cut people who have supported my father to build this business but our choice was either to take a deep salary cut or let go of the 40% employee base.
To my surprise almost all of my staff agreed to deep salary cuts and were even willing to work without salary for a few months. This is the first time where I as a leader was seeking help from my own employees and they all stood by me. This humane side of my employees truly showed me that the company is not built by its owners but it is built by the people who work there.
As business started opening, and as the orders started coming in my staff were true to their words. They worked overtime in completing purchase orders. As a result of our dedication and motivation we closed the year with a 35% year on year profitable growth.
Looking backward, I believe, it was my own version of baptism by fire in the business world. Selling family assets, letting go of loyal people who worked with my father for several years and risking my personal finances just when I had barely managed to save my house were some of the most difficult decisions of my life.
However, now I am glad that after 2 years of struggles we are in a really good position and I have managed to make myself and my mom proud by turning around this business.
McGill MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients: 3
Essay 1: Why do you intend on pursuing an MBA at this point in your life? Describe your mid-term and long-term visions for your post-MBA career path and how will the Desautels MBA program add value to your future career? (Max. 500 words)
I have over five years of experience working as an engineering consultant in the construction industry. I have led teams and supervised all phases of the project from conception to completion. I have also gained extensive client management experience in a broad range of sectors including airports, hospitals, and commercial buildings. These experiences have led me to collaborate with cross-functional teams which has equipped me with skills like leadership, effective communication, and problem-solving.
However, as an engineering consultant, my solutions and their impact are limited to the technical side of the projects. Now I want to expand my horizons beyond technical challenges into the business domain as well. This is where I believe pursuing an MBA can provide the right platform to fill in the gaps in my business knowledge. Post-MBA, I would like to leverage my five years of experience as an engineering consultant in the construction industry and the knowledge acquired at Desautels to grow my career into a project manager within the construction industry. In the long term, I see myself in a senior management role and eventually a CEO leading a construction or project management company.
The construction industry is not immune to changes in other sectors. In particular, it has been impacted by advances in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and even machine learning and robotics. These things have changed the way the industry works and to be a successful manager in a dynamic industry, I need to be equipped with strong business, analytical, strategy, and operational skills that can only be achieved through theoretical and practical management education.
While searching for my ideal business school, what resonated the most with me was Desautel’s holistic curriculum with a deep focus on organizational strategy and leadership development through a rich elective curriculum, experiential learning, and the international study trip. I believe mandatory courses like ‘Finance’, ‘Strategy’, and ‘Operations’ along with electives like ‘Managerial Negotiations’, and ‘Cross-Cultural Management’ would be a perfect fit for me to fulfill my knowledge gaps and upskill myself.
To complement the rich elective curriculum, the experiential learning opportunities would allow me to build on my skills and expose me to cross-cultural insights. Over the years I have had the opportunity to interact with clients from different cultural backgrounds but my experience is restricted to the Indian market. Experiential programs like the summer internship and the international study trip can provide me with the opportunity to gain hands-on work experience in an international environment.
During the MBA the student clubs like Graduate Business Technology Club, Graduate Women’s Association, and the Net Impact – McGill Chapter would provide excellent avenues for me to access a wide range of resources, gain knowledge from the diverse experiences of the cohort and prepare myself for today’s challenges.
Overall, after evaluating my prior experience, and discussing my goals with my mentors, I am convinced that an MBA from Desautels would be a perfect stepping stone for me to progress in my career and achieve my goals.
Essay 2: What qualities would you look for in an MBA classmate when working on a team project and describe how your background and leadership skills will enhance the experience of others? (Max 500 words)
Over the five years of my professional experience, I have developed an appreciation of what my peers bring to the team in terms of their perspectives, motivation, and passions. I truly believe it’s the personalities of who we are outside of work that define our professional ethos and behavior in a professional environment.
The biggest thing I would love to see in my peers is passion. Passion for something, anything, whatever makes them feel alive. I myself am passionate about dancing. I have learned and professionally trained in 5 Latin American dance forms. It helps me disconnect and destress and teaches me the importance of working as a team in sync, dancing has also helped me build lifelong relationships outside of work. I feel these activities outside of the classroom will help me build strong relationships with my classmates.
The second quality which I would like to see and can contribute myself to the cohort is the openness to different perspectives and diverging opinions. I think that the biggest challenge business leaders face today is to create a workplace that is inclusive of genders and different perspectives. As a woman working in the construction industry, I have personally faced biases in my professional projects. As a team manager, I pay special attention to removing such biases from my actions be they gender-oriented or culturally influenced. As a future business leader, I would love to have peers who understand the value of diversity and inclusivity and work towards uplifting each other.
I also realized through my journey that a lot of the time the bias starts at an early age, especially in the underprivileged sections of society. Through my own experience, I am deeply motivated to empower girls to excel in life. I have contributed towards the high school education of a girl child and have continued my support towards her ongoing engineering education. I believe having the motivation and social work exposure makes me more humble and empathetic which then shows up in my work at the office as well. It would be lovely to have peers who are taking their own initiatives and are motivated to make the world a better place.
Lastly, through my professional work, I have developed a strong understanding of technical and project management skills. Going forward, I want to work in a project manager role, and to reach this goal I want to develop a deeper understanding of strategic, financial, and operational aspects. In business school, I want the opportunity to refine these skills not only through a theoretical education but also by learning from the diverse real-life experiences of my peers. Hence, I would like to work in a team with classmates who come from different backgrounds so that I can gain from their specialized knowledge and have a well-rounded experience during team assignments.
Overall, I believe, more than technical skills, it’s my passion and motivations that have driven me to be successful and helped me make strong connections. That is why I would desire to have peers who have passions and motivation in addition to career-oriented aspirations.
Essay 3: Describe a difficult decision you made and the process that you went through to make it. (Max. 500 words)
One of the most difficult challenges I have faced in my life is overcoming male chauvinism in professional projects. I vividly remember when during one of my design presentations, I was interrupted by a senior client representative and was told that as a girl, I wouldn’t be able to handle the engineering part of a construction project. I was flummoxed and did not know how to respond. My capabilities and knowledge were put into question even before I was given a chance to prove myself. As I looked around the room full of men, I realized that the bias against women was real. Post that meeting my manager made an off-hand comment that I should take a day and reconsider working on the project.
That day presented me with a choice – I could either give up and set a precedence that I can not handle difficult clients and projects or believe in my capabilities and take a stand for myself.
I belong to a family of civil engineers and my initiation into the construction industry was at an early age. Hence it didn’t come as a surprise to my family when I decided to pursue my career in the same field. Although my family warned me against choosing a career in the construction industry because it is traditionally male-dominated industry, I was encouraged to follow my dream.
That day I vowed to never give up on my dreams. I decided that even though this will be an uphill climb, I refuse to let a man’s prejudice take away the credibility of my work.
I spoke to my manager, and he supported my decision to continue with the project, and we made a plan to improve the situation. For the next few meetings, my manager didn’t accompany me, so that I could take complete charge of the project. I also spoke to the other teams and requested them to let me lead team meetings so that I can prove myself. Everyone agreed that I deserved the chance to prove myself. Slowly, my client started trusting me with important tasks and I grew more confident in my work.
It was tough changing everyone’s mind and establishing my own importance, but this experience taught me how to overcome bias. I realized that the only way to fight bias is to never back down but to include everyone in the solution. This incident also taught me to relentlessly pursue my aspiration despite the bias that may exist.
I genuinely believe women can be equally talented engineers and managers however the industry today does not have significant enough representation. Now I aspire to upskill myself and continue rising through the ranks so that one day I can leave a significant impact in the industry so that other girls are not afraid to pursue their dreams and take up STEM careers.
McGill MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients: 4
Essay 1: Why do you intend on pursuing an MBA at this point in your life? Describe your mid-term and long-term visions for your post-MBA career path and how will the Desautels MBA program add value to your future career?
My immediate post-MBA goal is an Operations and Supply-Chain Management role with a prominent firm like GE Power. In the long-term, I will grow through the managerial hierarchy to take up a strategic leadership position in the operations domain in similar firms.
The first four years of my career in NTPC’s Operations domain enabled me to grasp on-field operational and technical competencies including crisis management skills. As part of the commissioning team in my latter tenure, I handled several pre-commercialisation activities and evolved to a people’s manager role. In due course, As I grew in my profession, I developed a fascination towards strategic aspects of operation management and the larger spectrum of functional planes that must cooperate to make the business viable and robust. Moreover, being a part of the commissioning team of the 1600MW-capacity Lara project, I have realized that the criticality of the supply chain function in the success of an enterprise. The Covid-19 era has strengthened this conviction in me while it has also exposed the scope of optimization in this domain. Hence, I see tremendous potential in this domain. Also, while working with sophisticated consultants from Doosan, Hitachi, and Yokogawa during the erection phase of the Lara plant, I was inspired by their higher order thinking, finer people-management and decision-making skills.
I believe I have absorbed the maximum technical and operational skills and team-management and client-facing skills to the best of my ability during my 7 years tenure at India’s biggest Thermal Power corporation. This is an opportune time, when the economies are recovering from the COVID setback, to invest in my future goals and aspirations. Hence, to successfully transition to higher order operations management roles, I must learn the holistic financial, strategic and sales aspects of an enterprise. I believe that a formal MBA can best address these gaps.
After extensive research, I have found a fit in the McGill Full-Time MBA with its cutting-edge curriculum. A comprehensive plethora of modules, with electives such as Global Strategy and Leadership taught by stalwart professors like Smer Faraj and Robert J. David will introduce me to the several business administration nuances while the International Economics and Strategy module taught by well-known international faculty will be the touchstone to my strategic-skills growth. I plan to leverage the International Study Trip to learn different cultural and community perspectives. Moreover, the Real Time Decision Classes will allow me to get an in-hand experience of the industry. Besides, the Integration Classes will help me to immerse myself in the real world business problems. The Student clubs will nurture my intellectual abilities while giving me an opportunity to connect with people from different countries. The McGill Case Competition Association is a unique platform where I will be able to sharpen my analytical skills. The diverse cohort, esteemed faculty and alumni base set McGill apart as an exceptional brand which I want to earn. Hence, I am convinced that the McGill MBA can help me achieve my career goals.
Essay 2: What qualities would you look for in an MBA classmate when working on a team project and describe how your background and leadership skills will enhance the experience of others?
“Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring the journey.” ― Roy T. Bennett. I believe this describes the best my journey which I have embarked on.
My NTPC career started with a lot of surprises. I started my career with NTPC as an Operation Executive, and after 7 years of tenure and 2 promotions, I think it could not be better if I would have been posted in any other department. Firstly, I got acquainted with the philosophy of the thermal power plant and secondly it helped me to develop my leadership potential as well as my analytical skills. During the first four years in the Farakka project I got several opportunities to sharpen my technical expertise. In 2015 and 2016 I was in the renovating team of two 500 MW units, which I believe was a golden opportunity to grasp the automation and logics in my early days in NTPC. Besides, as NTPC is a public sector undertaking company, I was appointed micro-observer for two polling booths in a Bangladesh-bordering village during the general elections in 2016. It was one of the most memorable experiences I ever had in my career which further helped me realize my people management and organize skills.
My transfer to Lara, Chattisgarh in 2018 became another milestone in my people-skills learning. In the commissioning phase I witnessed several unseen problems that contributed to my individual and professional growth. While laying the pipeline for the water-pump house, approximately 40km away from the main plant, the local villagers rose in severe opposition fearing damage to their farmlands. I took my team and demonstrated to them that there would be no harm done. Parallely, training and working with the inexperienced local workers and from different parts of India helped me expand my horizon.
Thus these seven years with NTPC have taught me to interact with different demographics, inspire change, adjust to circumstances and derive creative solutions. And now I want to expand my horizon by having a degree with a batch consisting of people of different nationalities and professional backgrounds. Besides, while working with several agencies such as Doosan and Hitachi I have realised that to reach the solution to a particular problem there may be several approaches, but to achieve the best result in a fixed timeframe it is also necessary to have a holistic idea of the entire project. Moreover, to successfully complete a team-project it is also necessary to sum up all the efforts from each team-member. However, to thrive in a leading multinational company it is also necessary to have a clear idea of the finance and strategic operations. I want to propel my career in my domain while having a 360 degree view of the business world and that is only possible if I can gain the in depth practical knowledge of these two areas of an enterprise, and for that my batchmates need to be empathetic, open minded and they should also be ready to share their own experiences. Also, they should be supportive and also willing to take responsibilities. I believe that the diverse cohort that I will get in McGill will surely help me to enrich myself and my multidimensional experiences will also help my batchmates to learn about the problems of a developing country like India.
Essay 3: Describe a difficult decision you made and the process that you went through to make it.
In 2013, during the final year of my undergrad in Jadavpur University, one of the premier institutes in India, the on campus recruitment opened the door for several opportunities before me. I was selected in Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, Tata Chemicals and Indian Oil Corporation through campus recruitment process.
However, I further challenged myself by taking the highly competitive national level Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering after my final semester, and among ~30000 applicants, I secured All India rank 4th, that helped me to secure admission into Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (2 of the best technical institutes in India), and also to get a job in NTPC Ltd. (the electricity powerhouse of India).
I felt confused that time because on one hand I could opt to go further in my academic career and on the other hand I could start my professional career. Moreover, I had options for two different core sectors- Oil and Electricity. I had always dreamt for a degree from the IITs. Hence, I was lured towards getting my Masters done from IISc or IIT Bombay. This was my chance to live my dream. However, my family lacked the resources to support my higher studies. Instead, I was expected to support my family financially.
After spending numerous sleepless nights, finally, I made up my mind to join NTPC on 12th August, 2013, and that decision I do believe changed my life forever. NTPC was the fastest growing among the public sector undertaking companies. The new-found struggles of staying in a remote location in NTPC’s hostel at Singrauli, the simplicity of village-life changed my perception towards life and I became more self-reliant and confident.
For example, when I joined the Farakka Barrage in 2015, the laborer’s staged a massive agitation for wage increase, forcing us to stop three 500MW capacity-units. I initiated an empathetic conversation with the workers, to which they responded positively to understand their main issue was the maximum number of days for which they could earn wages. I raised with the senior management and finally the number of working days per month raised from 22 to 26. Within two years I got the opportunity to be a part of the renovating team of two 500MW units, and that experience truly helped me to shape my career trajectory. Thus the first four years in Farakka helped me to develop my people management skill as well as my technical expertise.
My transfer to Lara, Chattisgarh in 2018 became another milestone in my people-skills learning. Handling the resistance from local villagers during the plant construction and ultimately befriending them was a major lesson in empathy. These struggles made me more grounded and people-oriented.
Hence, that game changing decision seven years back has not only enabled me to recognize my capabilities but also helped me to build a holistic idea of how the business of a large corporation is growing amid several challenges of a highly competitive market.
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