Kellogg MBA Application Essay for 2019-20
Essay 1: Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)
Essay 2: Values are what guide you in your life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)
The Video Essay
JD-MBA applicants: Please discuss your post-JD-MBA career goals and why the JD-MBA Program is the right program to help you reach those goals. (250 words)
Reapplicants: Since your previous application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? (250 words)
Kellogg MBA Winning Sample Essay – 1
Essay 1: Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)
The three years I spent at ABC Ltd. were challenging, yet they provided a platform to hone and test my leadership abilities. ABC is a mid-level company in the education and teaching domain specifically catering to the K12 level. When I joined, the business was not too great and the management was looking at ideas and strategies to grow vertically or horizontally in an already competitive business environment. Upon a detailed analysis of the existing system, I realized that to selling and pushing the same old concepts was not going to work. What we required were fresh, innovative ideas and add to the value proposition of our products.
In one of the strategy sessions with my team, I came up with the idea of introducing a 24-hour support system for our students, one they could access at their own pace, in their own time. Internet as an educational tool in India was an uncharted territory, but we decided to test the waters. With the help of our faculty we added a database of over 50 thousand questions and came up with an application where the students could log in to check the assignments of the day, previous years questions, a community dashboard and an experts corner where the students could ask their doubts from faculties who would respond in 24 hours.
It was a new concept, and I was proud to be heading the venture. This was the first major project that I had undertaken and it was not without its fair share of challenges. The first challenge I encountered was to get the schools to accept the concept. Change is discomforting and I found that the educators were reluctant to introduce a concept that they feared would render them redundant. It was quite a challenge to convince them that our product was not a competitor but an ally. Presentations, demonstrations, and negotiations followed and school by school, I was able to win them over. The next problem was an unexpected one, the parents were now concerned about the unmonitored time on the net. How would they know that the students were not whiling away their time rather than using the application constructively? This was something that we had not factored in. We then added a time monitoring component to our application so that the parents could be reassured. With the teething problems addressed, the project was now up and running.
With more than 400 schools adopting our application in the capital city, we soon expanded our reach to the neighboring tier-2 cities and today the application is an inherent part of 3000 schools in fourteen cities. What endears the project to me is that it helped the students to improve their performance. It made their learning more meaningful and they could embrace technology for a brighter future. Reflecting on my learning, I also realized the power of a simple idea and its timely execution. This experience also influenced my decision to pursue an MBA so that I can be better equipped to face business challenges and make decisions that could bring about positive changes in the world.
Kellogg MBA Winning Sample Essay – 2
Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)
John Lennon’s famous quote states: “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” This phrase reflects one of the most important characteristics of being a good leader: surrounding yourself with people who share the same goals.
I first saw an opportunity to put Lennon’s words into practice when I joined MBB after graduating from UNI. While studying abroad in France, I participated in recruiting processes for Brazilian consulting firms and saw firsthand that MBB lagged behind our key competitors in recruiting Brazilian students pursuing dual degrees. At MBB, I spoke with several partners and principals to explain the value of creating a dual-degree recruiting team. However, the partners pushed back, feeling candidates’ fit could not be accurately assessed remotely. I talked to the IT department and tried to mitigate risks related to all technology concerns, ensuring we had a solid toolkit to do online interviews and webinars without any damage to the interactions with candidates. Eventually, they granted me permission to run a pilot program.
I then gathered ten colleagues to help me with the project. We built the process, created the communication strategy, defined our priority schools, convinced a partner to host a webinar, and finally launched the pilot. The webinar was a success—more than 40 Brazilian students around the globe attended.
Today, the program has become an essential recruiting tool and accounts for more than 10% of the new hires. To ensure retention of the talent we recruit—a challenge in consulting—I created a mentoring program for dual-degree recruits which has led to an unusual ~90% retention rate after three years. To continue connecting with this pool of candidates, we are planning to hold our first event at MBB Paris in November to familiarize Brazilian students with the MBB environment and the impact a career in consulting allows them to generate.
I am proud to have brought together the people who make this recruiting program a success. I am also proud that it has fostered a spirit of community and coaching in the office, providing a readily accessible communication channel for new hires and allowing more experienced associates to develop coaching skills.
Through this experience, I have learned the value of taking the lead on ideas that I believe are important. I have also learned that John Lennon’s words are not only about the importance of creating a great team to help you convert your dreams into reality, but also about understanding the dreams of all people related to the goals. Through this experience, I have seen how dreaming together multiplies the effect of leadership by empowering others to become leaders themselves. I hope I will be able to dream together with Kellogg’s community, using my time there not only to reach my own goals, but also to support my colleagues in reaching theirs.
Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)
The word venture can be used as a noun—referring to a “risky or daring undertaking,” or as a verb—to “do something or go somewhere that may be unpleasant.” In my experience, true leaders are venturers, individuals who empower people to overcome their most unpleasant challenges and make daring moves towards progress.
When joining the venture capital field, I knew I would play a key role in helping fledgling entrepreneurs overcome challenges, but I could not have imagined how complex it could be. I faced one of the greatest tests of my leadership after becoming the sponsor of a promising company: STARTUP, an education platform. Although the company was performing well, the company’s founder, Miguel, had difficulty closing operational gaps that were eroding the company’s growth. After examining these factors, I saw an opportunity: hire a COO to address the operational inconsistencies. When presenting my solution to Miguel, however, I was met with stark opposition; in his view, the operational issues were mere fiction.
Despite initial resistance, I knew I had a responsibility and got to work creating a new plan. I understood that the problem had to be dealt with in a more personal way. As I saw it, Miguel’s resistance to hire new senior executives was directly associated with his fear of losing control of his company. The key, I reasoned, was to connect with him as a person and not as an executive. I showed him that, though his fears were normal, bringing in help would actually allow him to grow the company to an extent he could never have achieved alone. To reinforce the benefits, I scheduled meetings with other portfolio company founders who had undergone the same experience so he saw the benefits from a group of his peers, not his investors.
In the end, I convinced Miguel to hire a COO. The company’s performance improved, and, most importantly, the founder grew into a more confident and prepared leader. More recently, he confided that he is considering hiring a CEO so that he can devote focus to his expertise—the product. This opportunity taught me that a leader must be able to extract the best from each person, focusing on their strengths and bringing outside help whenever necessary. By identifying Miguel’s priorities and fears and understanding how to best address them, I learned how to create the necessary changes.
Good leaders do not act alone, but rather delegate important tasks and promote collaboration. In a country suffering from a lack of effective management, I want to lead people effectively, and look forward to continuing to develop my leadership abilities by learning from the “ventures” of others at Kellogg.