NTU MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients: 1
NTU MBA Essay 1 : Briefly describe an activity where you created an impact on one of the following aspects – Environmental, Social or Corporate Governance. (max 200 words)(We accept Word doc and PDF file for upload only)
In my life, one activity that created a significant social impact was teaching at an after-school program during my undergraduate studies. I had always been passionate about education and saw this as an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young underprivileged students.
I started by volunteering my time once a week. Through my interactions, I realized that many of the students were not able to comprehend subjects in schools and needed private tuition help which their families couldn’t afford. With the support of the program’s staff, I started one-on-one support for students and I roped in other peers from my graduate program who would love to mentor 1-1 and make a small positive change in someone’s life.
As the tutoring program gained popularity, we established 40 mentor pairs with 40-50 students. I started to see the positive impact it was having on the students’ academic progress. Many of them reported feeling more confident and motivated in their studies, and some were even able to improve their grades and graduate on time.
Overall, teaching at the after-school program was a rewarding and meaningful experience. It was a reminder of the power of education to transform lives.
2) Elaborate on your post-MBA career plans (3-5 years) and why is now the right time to pursue an MBA? Further highlight why the Nanyang MBA is the right fit for you. (maximum 500 words) (We accept Word doc and PDF file for upload only)
As an Assistant Manager at Byju’s, a leading ed-tech company, I have gained valuable experience in managing a team and leading educational content development. However, while working with the product team at Byju’s, I discovered my passion for building products and realized that I lack key perspectives in business, product management, and marketing. This is why pursuing an MBA is the best decision for me at this time.
An MBA will not only provide me with the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in product development and management, but it will also give me the opportunity to explore other areas of business. I am eager to expand my knowledge and experience beyond the education industry, and an MBA will provide me with the versatility to do so.
Ultimately, my career goal is to become a product director for top product-based companies. I believe that with an MBA, I will have the necessary tools and expertise to build and lead successful products that have a meaningful impact on people’s lives.
One of the main reasons I chose the Nanyang MBA program is its ‘Marketing Management’ specialized track, which is a perfect fit for me. The track will give me the right knowledge and understanding of product development, business strategy, and marketing operations. This is evident from the success of Nanyang MBA alumni who are working as product managers across the world, such as Shobhit Tiwari. Talking to Shobhit provided me with a much broader insight into the program and made me confident in my decision to apply to the Nanyang MBA.
In addition to the specialized track, the Nanyang MBA program’s focus on real-world business applications is another reason why it is the right fit for me. The program’s emphasis on experiential learning and case-based approaches will give me the opportunity to apply my learning to real-world business situations and develop practical skills that I can use in my career.
The Business Study Mission program is another exciting aspect of the Nanyang MBA program that I am looking forward to. It will help me develop the skills and personality needed to work in global companies and give me invaluable experience in understanding foreign companies’ business and marketing perspectives.
Finally, the Nanyang MBA program’s location in Singapore, a global hub for business and innovation. The program will provide me with numerous opportunities to learn from and engage with business leaders and industry experts in this vibrant city.
Overall, I am confident that the Nanyang MBA program will provide me with the knowledge, skills, and experience I need to achieve my post-MBA career goals and become a product director for top product-based companies.
NTU MBA Essay 3: Reflect on your career to date and share one professional achievement that you are proud of and one challenge that you overcame. What did you learn from these situations? (maximum 500 words)(We accept Word doc and PDF file for upload only)
I am a gaming enthusiast,
I have a rating of 1896 on lichess.org, 1825 on Chess.com and apart from Chess, I also compete in international tournaments for DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike games.
Growing up, my fascination for gaming started with Chess. I always enjoyed participating and winning local tournaments, but I remember one instance when I was representing my school in a District Chess Championship. I entered the finals unbeaten and I started feeling a sense of pressure. I knew I was overthinking things, but the thought of losing in the finals and losing my pride was terrifying.
My coach told me that I can let my mental fortress be bogged down by what ifs. Performing underpressure is what sets you up for great things in life. I realized that focusing on the process was more important than obsessing about the outcome. I was so immersed in the match that I concentrated on each move. Ultimately, I won the finals, but the bigger challenge I overcame was achieving something greater than winning the championship, the right mindset of focusing on the process rather than the result.
This is something which I carry forward to this day and has helped me no matter how tough the situation presented itself. This one simple learning has also helped me deliver some of the proudest moments in my professional life.
Throughout my career to date, I have had the opportunity to work on various projects, but there is one professional achievement that I am particularly proud of. I work as a content developer manager for Byju’s (India’s Largest EdTech start up). Last year BYJU’s acquired another company “Aakash”, and management had decided to leverage this acquisition by releasing a new app: Aakash Byju’s within 3 months of the acquisition.
As the team leader, I had the responsibility of managing a team of 20 remotely as we worked on uploading and organizing all of the materials for the app. The goal was to combine the best content from both companies and create something truly unique and valuable. The task was high-stakes with tight deadlines, and I immediately began to feel a sense of pressure and responsibility. I analyzed the problem at hand and came up with a plan of action, breaking the task down into smaller, more manageable pieces and plotting them for the whole month. As a result, Aakash Byju’s app was released to great acclaim, and I was proud to have played a leading role in its creation. My contribution was greatly appreciated, and I received the ‘Juggernaut’ award. We now have over 10 million students who have downloaded the app and given it an average rating of 4.4 on google play store.
Such pressure situations in personal and professional life have helped me develop essential leadership skills such as analytical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making. I learned that focusing on the process, and not getting bogged down by the pressure and tight deadlines, helped me to achieve the desired outcome.
NTU MBA Essay 4: Team-work and peer-to-peer learning is an important aspect of the Nanyang MBA. Imagine you are working with your project team of 4 members on the SPAN project and one team member is not contributing to the project or not pulling their weight. How will you deal with such a situation? (maximum 500 words)(We accept Word doc and PDF file for upload only)
In the event of a team member not contributing or not pulling their weight on the SPAN project, I would approach the situation with a proactive and empathetic mindset. My first step would be to try to understand the root cause of the issue by having a one-on-one conversation with the team member to see if there are any personal or professional challenges that may be impacting their performance.
I have previously dealt with a situation in which a team member was underperforming.
To quote an instance, one of the team members – “Basavaraj”, was very religious and spiritual, and his different appearance and manner of speaking often made him stand out from the crowd. Others made casual fun of his personality, but one day I noticed he felt uncomfortable, and he approached me with a request to leave the team because of the reactions and behaviors of some members. I personally made an effort to understand his perspective. I also took up the issue with other team members and unequivocally addressed that any instances of discrimination or bias won’t be tolerated. As a result of my actions, I am glad Basavaraj decided to stay. With time, he felt more comfortable, and within 6 Months, he was one of the best-performing team members.
I understand that in a team-based project, it is essential to find a solution that benefits the entire team and helps us to successfully complete the project. These experiences have taught me that sometimes a leader’s responsibility goes far beyond just delivering work and results and expands into creating an inclusive environment where all individuals can thrive. This may involve finding an alternative role for the team member within the project, or finding a way to redistribute their responsibilities to other team members.
Embracing these values has helped me become a better leader, and I look forward to bringing this ethos to the positive and respectful Nanyang community.
I believe that effective communication and a willingness to find creative solutions are key to dealing with challenges in team-based projects. I am confident that my skills in these areas, developed through my previous work experience and education, will enable me to effectively navigate any challenges that may arise while working on the SPAN project and help to maintain a productive and cohesive team.
NTU MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients - 2
NTU MBA Essay 1:Briefly describe an activity where you created an impact on one of the following aspects – Environmental, Social or Corporate Governance. (max 200 words)
While working at Accenture, I have led Accenture CSR for 5 years and have contributed to all verticals of it. My most notable achievements are as follows:
Skill to Succeed Program: As part of Accenture CSR, I was working as Zone Lead for 3 years for Maher, an organization for underprivileged kids. Leading a team of 10 volunteers, I provided constant non-financial support- career counseling, vocational education, consulting, etc to 100+ students. The goal was to maximize their learning potential with the help of weekend classes, cultural activities, sports, etc. 65 students reported more than 80% in their final exams and later joined desired colleges.
Digital Literacy Program: As part of this program, I was educating the workplace employees at Accenture about digital transaction basics. For 2 years we trained nearly 80 employees on how to use digital devices such as mobile phones, computers for making payments, communicating, booking tickets.
I have always believed in giving back to the society and considered CSR to be the best tool. It has made me a responsible leader today as I continue to engage in such endeavors and is still part of my programs from the past.
NTU MBA Essay 2 : Elaborate on your post-MBA career plans (3-5 years) and why is now the right time to pursue an MBA? Further highlight why the Nanyang MBA is the right fit for you. (maximum 500 words)
For the past 7 years, I have led multiple projects in Digital Transformation, and Process Improvement and Automation in Technology Industry. In my first role as an Application Developer, I enabled Business Transformation for a client in South-East Asia creating value USD 2.25 million. Later on I pivoted to an admin role where I maintained 500 applications live with 0-hour downtime for Banking and Finance clients. Within 6 months of joining Infosys, I got double promoted as a Team Lead, where I led a team of 25, creating a value of 200k USD for my client HSBC (UK). Currently, I am working for another banking client TSB (UK) to migrate analytics reports.
Through reflection of my past and current experiences, I realize the need to gain knowledge on broader business concepts and develop finer leadership skills such as effective delegation, negotiation and leading a diverse cross-functional environment. A management program at this point will help me understand these business nuances and grow out of my functional bubble.
Post MBA, I plan to transition into a more strategic role as a Program Manager in a leading technology firm such as Amazon, Microsoft, etc. This will help me challenge myself by taking additional responsibilities and managing more resources along with learning from the best people. Managing multiple projects and programs will teach me required skills of customer engagement, budget management, resource forecasting and stakeholder management and help me establish a program level culture. In the long run, I want to work as an intrapreneur within my own company, to create high growth products catering to the needs of the customers in the future.
In addition to the focused curriculum and specialized electives on Technology domain, NBS provides immense opportunities to gain the skill sets and exposure I need. I hope to benefit from the ‘Strategy Projects at Nanyang (SPAN)’ that focuses on working real-life industry problems through innovation and consultation. Programs such as ‘Business Study Mission’, ‘Leading People globally’ through case studies, clubs, seminars, etc will teach me advanced skills of negotiation, cultural intelligence and help me lead organizations global and local alike. I wish to learn from the diverse cohort and their unique perspectives which will enrich my MBA experience while at Nanyang. I hope to contribute the same experience to the NBS Cohort 2024 through my past experiences and strengths.
NTU MBA Essay 3 : Reflect on your career to date and share one professional achievement that you are proud of and one challenge that you overcame. What did you learn from these situations? (maximum 500 words)
One professional achievement that I feel proud of is when I led a team of 25 people for a major banking client- HSBC to migrate 2200 analytics reports. When I first joined Infosys, I was assigned to lead two teams- Data Integration and Data Visualization- of 25 professionals in the HSBC report migration project. The team comprised fresh college graduates working on their first assignment, who required constant motivation and guidance. It was my first time leading a large team and I put my best foot forward. I appreciated every small task, rewarded those who went the extra mile, inspired others also to do the same and promoted accountability. I also empowered some teammates by letting them supervise and lead daily calls to instill ownership. Soon the team started delivering 50 reports per week independently and without constant supervision. The project delivered 500 reports in 30% less time than initially proposed, creating a value of USD 200K.
This instance taught me that people are motivated when they are given ownership, the right guidance and more importantly when they see personal growth. Empowering individuals increases morale of the whole team as they inspire each other to go the extra mile. Finally, what works while leading a large team is to trust your team with responsibilities and be a leader who has got their back.
My significant challenge has been to resolve a client disagreement in an amicable way, while still arriving at a technologically strong solution for my client. The technical requirement which was more like a rectangular array of text boxes was mistaken by the client for a single table. Although this does not seem to make much of a difference, the whole back-end data and front-end charts would have been affected for numerous future reports, requiring hundreds of extra man-hours and bringing with it added infrastructure vulnerabilities in the future. After much deliberation, I drafted the narrative to propose the desired change by pitching multiple what if questions to elicit client’s response. The motive was to plant the seed and let them come up with the solution. Subsequently, I also nudged that a table does not provide many alternatives to background colors and designs of the report. They saw value in my opinion and asked if there is any substitute for the table. When presented with the rectangular array solution, they gladly approved. This experience was challenging because I had to strike a fine balance among delivering a great solution, maintaining client satisfaction and most of all managing interpersonal relationships.
Through this experience, I learnt how to deliver better results by being more sensitive to cultural norms in various industries and functions. Being open and having a constructive conversation often leads to resolving differences in opinions. I believe understanding business trends and behaviors in different markets can help me achieve a win-win scenario in most situations in future.
NTU MBA Essay 4 : Team-work and peer-to-peer learning is an important aspect of the Nanyang MBA. Imagine you are working with your project team of 4 members on the SPAN project and one team member is not contributing to the project or not pulling their weight. How will you deal with such a situation? (Maximum 500 words)
Collaboration has been an important part of my learnings in my professional career. I have always been an advocate of working in groups rather than individually to create synergies at work. One of my primary motivations for pursuing an MBA is to learn from the experiences of my diverse cohort from different industries and functions. While being a part of the SPAN project, if a situation arises when one member is not able to contribute to his maximum potential, I would like to use my experience while dealing with similar situations at work.
Firstly, I would try to understand the main reason for his bad performance through having informal communication along with other team members. Sometimes, members are reluctant to communicate genuine issues. In one of my projects, I was leading the team and one contractor similarly was not delivering what was asked for. He didn’t speak well when asked about the issue. On understanding his situation, I gave him an assurance to support him while dealing with management about his job prospects in the project if he can be honest about his non-commitment. He agreed and upon discussion I found that he was lacking some technical skills for which he needed further training. I quickly arranged for the required training and for the time being took some of his work to keep the project running. After he became skilled, he was better able to deliver and overcame his lack of motivation.
In the SPAN project, I would like to create a similar kind of psychological safety where members would be able to express themselves without any fear. Without that safety net to express both personal and professional issues we cannot leverage team dynamics which is essential for a consulting project like SPAN. I would like to create clear communication channels and processes such as daily connect twice a day, more direct communication, etc to have transparency in the project.
Additionally, I would like to have a circular leadership role where not one member is the leader. A consulting team has talent from different functions, and it becomes paramount to give everyone a chance to lead the project. It can be the case that members feel demotivated when they are not provided to perform or when they feel the task at hand can be better performed. Giving everyone a chance to lead would bring expertise from different functions and commitment to perform better.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge implicit tasks in the project which are not stated clearly. Sometimes members in the team feel burned out because they are performing tasks which are not explicitly stated. Having clearly stated goals and tasks in the project helps in redistribution of responsibilities if required. I would define roles and who is accountable for which role to maintain transparency and avoid confusion. This way I think we can come out of a situation where we can maximize the potential of all team members and bring collective work to the table.
NTU MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients: 3
NTU Essay 1: Briefly describe your current job responsibilities. (maximum 100 words)
I have 6 years of professional experience working for Mitsui OSK Lines Company in cargo shipping Industry. I lead a team of 10-12 crew members. Currently working as a second officer, I handle 2 major departments. At sea, I lead bridge team for safe navigation of the ship and time-bound delivery of cargo.
At port, I supervise overall cargo operations in liaison with the terminal manager. It includes planning, loading and unloading of the cargo on the ship. I am a certified first aid responder to any casualty on board the ship. I also handle additional charge of leading emergency response team.
NTU Essay 2: Briefly describe your involvement in any Social Responsibility or Sustainable Development activities.(150 words)
I am staunch supporter of the right to education for poor people and I have been working in this field for more than 2 years. I have established a charitable trust “Sampanna Jeevan Foundation” in 2014 as a support system for the growth of rural talents.
I have been mentoring 80 destitute kids through free formal education to prepare them to earn a livelihood. I regularly organise awareness camps in villages to sensitise people towards the value of child education. As a professional, I also have the responsibility of environment management officer on the ship.
I have implemented garbage segregation at the source through colour coding of the garbage bins and reduced fuel consumption of the ship by 12 Tonnes per voyage by optimising the passage distance between the ports. I have been training the crew members to use environmentally safe practices and reduced the paper consumption on-board the ship by 40%.
NTU Essay 3: Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your near-term (3-5 years) future career objectives and how pursuing a Nanyang MBA will help you achieve these. (400 word limit).
I started my career working at the age of 11 years in a toy shop to support my family and my education. Today, I have made myself into a Merchant Marine Officer working with an internationally diverse team and have travelled across 60 countries.
Trained in a cross-cultural environment with team members from multiple nationalities, I have achieved a fast career growth relative to my peers owing to my dedicated effort, unmatched performance and craving to learn attitude. In 6 years, I have been promoted thrice from trainee officer to ultimately working as a second officer. Apart from my shipping stint, I have started a Pilgrim venture and established a social trust to provide free education and job oriented training to rural kids.
Working worldwide in cargo shipping industry at sea for 6 years, I have acquired a fundamental knowledge of operation and supply chain. Post MBA, I want to specialise in General management to shift my industry onshore. I intend to apply my learnings to work as an operation and supply chain manager in a shipping, eCommerce or express logistic company to create value for all the stakeholders.
Singapore, which is ranked first globally in terms of containerised traffic and is a vehicle transhipment hub for the South-East Asia presents a tremendous opportunity for where I can use my experience and skills to create value for an onshore shipping company, port operation and logistic firms. I believe Nanyang MBA, with its globally reputed program and experimental learning, will provide the right opportunities to fill my skill gap to make the desired transition. Learning eCommerce strategy and operation management from World’s best Business Professor ABC will sharpen my skills and blend my experience with excellence.
Also, Nanyang MBA’s core courses are blended with the industry-oriented program such as SPAN and Business Study Mission which can help me gain practical hands-on experience in dynamic business environments. Mr Avik Chatterjee, 2010 batch alumnus, has provided me valuable guidance about the career prospects and how I can leverage my prior experience and NBS MBA optimally.
Hence, I am confident that I can leverage Nanyang’s tight-knit global alumni network and its industry link in Singapore as networking opportunities to make a shift to my target industry and function. Therefore, after proper consideration, I believe doing an MBA from Nanyang would be a perfect fit for me to achieve my short-term goals.
NTU Essay 4: Tell us about two achievements (one as a leader and one as a team member) that you are most proud of, and why you feel that to be so. (400 word limit)
In my 6 years of professional experience, I have worked across more than 60 countries with multicultural teams. In our day to day operation in troubled waters, we face multiple situations where everyone needs to come together as a team to make an impact.
One such crisis was in 2013 when I was navigating the ship “M.V Lavender Ace” through Somalia. The ship was carrying 6000 luxury cars bound for Europe. While navigating, I noticed a suspicious small ship. In the waters near Somalia, it was obvious that these were pirates waiting for an opportunity to pounce. I quickly appraised the Captain and engine room to prepare for emergency. Our team immediately kicked into action to ensure all anti-piracy measures are intact.
We also reached out for help from UK Maritime security agency. I started performing the evasive navigational measures, while the bridge navigational team fired expired pyrotechnics. Despite our evasive manoeuvres pirates continued to chase our ship for 45 minutes until NATO helicopters arrived to help us.
My prompt action and coordinated team response with NATO and bridge teams helped us successfully evade pirates and save the ship and lives of 28 crewmembers. During our collaborative response, we integrated with each other irrespective of our cultural differences and mental temperament. The incident taught me that a team effort complements each other and always come out stronger than individual’s effort.
My commitment towards synergistic approach against various challenging situations has made me a leader of adversity. Once a large scale paint locker fire occurred onboard the ship, which was spreading fast in the vicinity of explosive cargo. While the captain was coordinating and supervising the entire operation, I was leading the emergency response team. I delegated crew to prepare fire hoses, cool down the compartment boundary and shut off the ventilation to prevent fire from spreading.
I commanded the crew member to prepare survival craft and prepared firefighters to extinguish the fire. With the organised response, clear instructions and on-scene communication, my team was able to successfully put out the fire without endangering any human casualty or marine pollution.
These 2 incidents have been my biggest achievements of my professional career. They have taught me that a leader should always be prepared to direct his team towards a common goal. A set of actions in a crisis has its intended effect only if they are well planned and coordinated.
NTU Essay 5: Share with us a situation where you faced adversity. Describe how you resolved it and what you learned from this experience. (400 word limit)
I grew up in the outskirt of small town Deoghar which is although a famous pilgrimage spot but lacks industrial development and resources. Lack of professional opportunities while growing up in a small town inspired me to create something and give back to the community to help other enthusiastic kids like me to make it out of rural poverty.
Towards this aim, I created an online travel portal deogharyatra.com which capitalized on the religious significance of my birth-place. We provide an end-to-end solution for tourists and devotees by bridging all the gaps in their spiritual enlightenment journey.
Through this tourism business, I am generating employment for the local youth and helping them succeed. But the journey to set up a local business and provide meaningful employment has not been easy. The first difficulty that I faced was planning and goal setting through market research to formulate a credible business plan. Without prior experience, I had to struggle on the field to identify customer needs and our unique selling proposition.
The second problem I faced was to market my niche venture to the target customer. Everything looked good on paper but the final hurdle was to turn the idea into an actual functioning business. But I was determined in my efforts and started out with a plan. I conducted customer surveys on the field, researched market through web and media and analysed a lot of collected data.
Communications and targeting specific customers turned out more difficult than expected for which I had to train local youths to make sales pitches. While traditional marketing outreaches such as news and advertisements were too expensive I relied on free inbound marketing via social media. Finally, to come up with funding, I decided to bootstrap the plan, set affordable loss, plan for cash generation taking contingencies into account. My entrepreneurial venture has been a great learning opportunity.
It has inculcated in me the ability to evaluate risk, use innovation, leverage personal networks, and deal with unexpected challenges. However, in the hindsight, I also think that I could have done a lot better if I had proper business knowledge about finance, marketing and other business fundamentals. That’s why now I believe, an MBA filled with acquiring business knowledge about Finance, marketing, operations and strategy will not only broaden my vision in a business framework professionally but also help me in my efforts to make a positive contribution to the society.
NTU Essay 6: Explain why you believe you should be awarded a scholarship and how you anticipate contributing to Nanyang MBA program and your fellow participants. (400 word limit)
I was born in a rural lower middle-class family where money always fell short of aspiration. Our family’s lifelong hardship with money has taught me many valuable lessons in life. Despite the hardships, I have managed to finance my education through hard earned scholarships and loans.
I started working at the age of 11 in a toy store to finance my own education and today I am proud to say that I am the first person from my entire family to finish graduation and aspiring to study further. Having undergone hardships, I have a deep relation and can understand the challenges and struggle one has to undergo for education in rural India. One such profound incident that left an edible mark on me was when our house maid requested me to help her 8 years old son XYZ, with education because she did not have the money to send him to a school.
Our maid barely had the income to support the livelihood of her 5 children and education was a dream for them. The incident motivated me to establish a charitable trust “Sampanna Jeevan Foundation” in 2014 to ensure education for the underprivileged and provide a platform for nurturing rural talent. Currently, it is mentoring 80 destitute children by providing free formal education and job oriented training. Many children like XYZ today have the courage to dream big.
Setting up a formal school requires a lot of investment to finance infrastructure, staff payments and routine operations. I have leveraged my network to promote the program and till now, I have been putting all the profits from the travel portal to support the trust.
During my MBA program, I will have to manage my living and other expenses in addition to the MBA tuition fees. Citing a huge cost involved with no other option, I will have to take away money from startup to support myself. Unfortunately, in that case, I will not be able to support needy people through my NGO. The sheer feeling of being able to support so many indigent children has been my biggest achievement in my life. I want these kids to live a respectful life. The NGO gives their parents a hope for a better future.
If Nanyang can support me through scholarship, I will not have to draw full money from start-up and will be able to sustain the philanthropic initiative.
NTU MBA Sample Essays from Past Clients: 4
NTU Essay 1: Briefly describe your involvement in any Social Responsibility or Sustainable Development activities (maximum 150 words)
I have always strongly believed that we don’t necessarily need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to being socially responsible. We just need to look around and ask ‘What little bit can I do? Whose life can I touch?’ I am fortunate enough to be raised in a family where lack of resources for education was never a problem. But I have realised that not everyone is that fortunate.
Hence I tried to give back to the society by volunteering to take mathematics lessons for grade 3 students. I have also had the privilege of giving basic Yoga lessons at a nearby NGO called ‘Donate an Hour’. It fills me with pride to share the positive impact Yoga has had on my life when I spend time with these children. Seeing their happy faces when they run towards me whenever I reach for the class is extremely gratifying.
NTU Essay 2: Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your near-term (3-5 years) future career objectives and how pursuing a Nanyang MBA will help you achieve these. (400 word limit)
I started my professional journey as a Junior Analyst with McKinsey in the Corporate and Investment Banking team. Today, after gaining more than 2 years of valuable experience, I am a tenured analyst acting as an independent thought-partner on consulting teams. Even though Junior Analysts are not aligned with service lines early in their career, I was able to draw a niche for myself in the Capital Market and Investment Banking domain. I was also entrusted to handle a partnership of McKinsey with a market intelligence firm where, I manage the relationship with the vendor and am the sole point of contact in the firm for bespoke analysis on global banks. I have also been a key contributor to McKinsey’s two flagship publications, and my valuable research and analytical inputs to the publications has helped me earn a promotion.
Post-MBA, I plan to continue working in management consulting domain and aim to grow into a consultant’s role in a leading firm such as McKinsey, BCG or Bain. To make a switch from an analyst to a successful consultant, I’ll need to gain strongest possible business knowledge through formal learning, which the Nanyang MBA offers with the advantage of sharing the classroom with individuals coming from diverse nationalities.
I was fortunate to attend an info-session where I got the opportunity to interact with Prof. ABC and attend a session by Prof. XYZ . The experience was a window into how NBS is a perfect fit since it can offer me experiential knowledge and opportunity to learn from world-renowned faculty. Speaking to a current student at NBS was extremely insightful as I got to know how the ‘Leading People Globally’ module has steered her towards being a global employee. Listening to her experiences helped me realize that Nanyang can truly help me in building a strong foundation to be an effective leader.
At Nanyang I would get the opportunity to apply classroom learnings to real-life consulting projects through SPAN which I think is the ideal platform to test my knowledge and acquire hands-on experience. I also got to know that NBS facilitates career coaching with an industry expert who acts as a mentor through the MBA. I believe mentoring programs like this the perfect blend of guidance as well as a link to the industry to expand my network so that I can achieve my short term goal.
NTU Essay 3: Tell us about two achievements (one as a leader and one as a team member) that you are most proud of, and why you feel that to be so. (maximum 400 words)
Working in a global firm such as McKinsey has given me the opportunity to be a part of a diverse set of projects in the banking space. Each of them came with its own set of learnings and has helped me develop into a good team player and leader. My workplace ardently propagates ‘Make your own McKinsey’. Hence when the opportunity to lead the research workstream for a client team in Saudi Arabia was proposed to me, I was quick in grasping it.
My team was responsible for overall market sizing and competitor benchmarking. However, my team was working for the first time in the middle east region and had no prior knowledge of the market dynamics. I had to be quick on my feet and adapt frameworks from other projects to deliver effectively. Since our team was cross-functional across the non-banking units such as Asset Management and Insurance, the biggest challenge I had as a lead was to ensure effective collaboration within the team and also act as a single point of contact with the client team. In the end my team could deliver comprehensive results to the client and was greatly appreciated.
It was a very special experience for me since it was my first experience as a team lead and I could create high impact and deliver output in an unknown setting. Even though I have been part of various teams throughout my professional stint, the best experience for me as a team member was when I got to be part of a team for a flagship publication on capital markets.
Our team built evaluation frameworks for holistically measuring the performance of capital markets. I was effectively able to contribute and make the team look at the big picture given my industry perspective. I was also able to efficiently add value to the team discussion when I was invited onsite in Hong Kong for brainstorming sessions. The publication was very successful with distribution to over 1500 clients globally and extensive coverage in print and online media like Bloomberg. Based on the good work from last year, I have been entrusted to independently lead a team of three this year and create a refreshed index.
This experience is very close to my heart since I have been able to transition from being a team member last year to leading the effort this year.
NTU Essay 4: Share with us a situation where you faced adversity. Describe how you resolved/managed it and what you learned from the experience. (maximum 400 words)
My parents hail from a small town in Uttar Pradesh. I have been raised in a conservative environment where according to societal norms and restricted thinking, it is expected to accept and not fight for what you want.
Career and life choices are often made by parents or elders, more so for girls. I was always good in academics and thus it was almost pre-decided for me to take up Science and become an engineer. All my brothers and sisters even in extended family have pursued Engineering. I was also expected to follow the convention however, I never felt any interest in engineering.
I always loved Economics as a subject. I invariably felt connected to it in school as I was intrigued with understanding the incentives that govern decision making. Upon graduating high school, I struggled between what was expected of me and what I wished for. I took engineering entrances to make my parents happy.
However, I really wanted to get into a coveted economics course. With my good aptitude and academic performance, I was able to get through both courses and impetuously my father enrolled me into engineering course without even asking me. This is the biggest adversity I had ever faced in my life on how to go against the wishes of my father and stand-up for my own choices.
Hence started my tussle of convincing my parents of my will to pursue Economics. I faced a lot of backlash and daily friction as I was going against the wish of my family. My family felt that my will was born out of rebellion and not passion. Since my brother went through the same struggle few years ago, I hoped he would understand my feelings better and he did when I approached him for support. He lent his full support, no matter that he didn’t get to fulfill his dreams but now at least he can support his little sister achieve hers.
We finally succeeded in making my father understand that we aren’t all the same and shouldn’t expected to be. Today, my parents are very proud of what all I have achieved at McKinsey and have started trusting my decisions. This experience made me into the confident individual I am today as, with perseverance, I was able to put forth my opinion and achieve what I wanted.
Quick Essay Review
Using Chat GPT to Write your Essay?
Worried if your Essay is Good enough or Not?
Need a last-minute review?
Submit your essays below & get in-depth feedback within 48 Hours.
Tired of Expensive Admission Consultants?
Try our AI-powered admissions toolkit
Admit Portal
DIY Self-service platform.
Free to try, easy to use.
