Client rejected by INSEAD
The biggest challenge in my professional life was leading a team of sixteen engineers to develop a Web application enabling my client Wellpoint’s, an insurance major in US, customers to view their insurance status online obviating the need to call the customer helpdesk.
The primary obstacle in achieving this goal was WellPoint’s huge IT network that spreads across seventeen different computer systems. I organized series of training sessions for my team members to understand the technological complexity involved in the project. I created an integrated process chart that was easy for everyone to understand. I steered the efforts of my team to create a number of software applications. I held joint meetings to discuss any obstacle faced by any team and asked for everyone’s feedback. Since the project deadline was very strict, all of us stretched our limits and we worked late nights and sometimes even on weekends.
Anticipating that our product quality may suffer due to severe work pressure, I built more time into the project plans for testing. I implemented new quality measures to quantify the coverage of our tests. I added quality as a subject of regular discussion in the weekly meetings and publicly recognized excellent efforts to improve reliability. As a result, the motivation of the teams grew more and more intense. Ultimately we were able to successfully complete the project on time and with “zero-defect”.
The user friendly website made it absolutely easy for customers to get their question answered with only few clicks of the mouse reducing the call volumes to Call center by more than 35% and cutting operational expense of WellPoint by almost 20%. It also improved customer satisfaction rating of the company by 40%.
Thousands of applicants from IT background have written this kind of essay in the last 2 decades. As a result, it has lost its flavour. Does this essay differentiate the writer from thousands of other IT applicants? NO. Has he done something different from any other IT guy in such a situation? NO. He was asked by the management to lead an IT project and create a website so that customers can check their insurance status online. Next, he did a series of things such as created process charts, created software applications, discussed problems with other team members, worked for extra hours and so on. Even though he was successful in delivering that IT project, he was unsuccessful in “differentiating” himself from thousands of other IT applicants. And that’s the biggest drawback of this essay.
It is quite boring to read. At no point of time, it will raise the curiosity or inquisitiveness of the reader about what might happen next. They will understand from the very first paragraph that what possibly is going to happen throughout the course of events. A mere Google search on this essay topic will show you hundreds of this kind of essays in various admissions consulting website. So how can this essay differentiate the writer from other applicants?
If your essay reads like hundreds of other essays that can be found in a simple Google search, don’t submit that essay. There is a very high degree of probability that hundreds of other applicants have also read that essay from those admission websites and crafted their essay in that format. Generally a significant number of MBA applicants spend a lot of time for increasing their GMAT score and then they are left with very little time to create engaging essays. Hence, they ransack the internet for ideas and invariably lands up in the website of admission consultants who have given hundreds of sample essays in their website. Those applicants usually have less than a month to fill up the complete application for various schools i.e. they have to write the essays, polish their resume and run behind their managers or former colleagues to get Letters of Recommendation.
All they can do is read numerous essays and then combine ideas from different sources to create their own essays. In the rush of submitting two or three applications while managing their job, they can’t afford to focus on creativity. Hence, the essays that they create lack in-depth thinking and imagination and don’t stand out from the pile of other application essays. As a result, the applicant gets rejected from top ranked business schools despite having good GMAT score and leadership profile.
Check the Describe a Challenging Situation essay that we developed for one of our clients. Compare the writing style and the method to unfold the story slowly to the reader in order to raise their curiosity. Don’t unravel the entire story in the introduction. It kills the reader’s interest. Slowly and gradually unravel the events so that you can engage the Admission Officers to sit straight and read your essay with a renewed interest.
Whether you are writing your essay all by yourself or taking help from some admission consultants, just do a Google search on that essay topic. You will certainly get numerous website with hundreds of application essays. If your essay reads like those hundreds of other essays, don’t submit that essay. If you don’t want to rework and modify your essay substantially either because your are too much busy with your job or you are tired with the entire essay writing process, just don’t submit the application in that round in a hurry. Doing the same set of activities that other applicants from India, China and the rest of the world are doing will not differentiate you from others. If you really want to be different, then do something that others usually don’t do. Use your imagination and try to write creatively. Introduce a relevant quotation in the introduction, give an anecdote from your life or from the life stories of other leaders, and show admission officers how the challenges that you faced has changed your perspectives and gave a whole new meaning to the word “leadership”.
Bottom-line – Do something different in order to be truly different.
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