In just 100 words, you don’t have too much room to play with. Describe your aspired position, industry and what the things are that you wish to accomplish in that role (the bulk of this short essay should focus on this part)
What are your core competencies? For instance, if you are a tech applicant, then certainly you can illuminate your peers about how technology is shaping our future. During case discussions, you can elaborate on Big Data, Analytics, Data driven decision making, Cloud Computing and so on. On the other hand, if you are a US military veteran, then you can narrate your experience of handling challenging situations in the battlefield. You can explain how you have handled leadership positions in your unit and what obstacles you have faced on your journey. Think of your various skills and competencies and then select 2~3 core strengths/knowledge areas of yours that you will share with your peers at USC.
Find out as much about the program as you can from all available sources – the USC Marshall website, alumni, current students, etc. As such, a visit to the campus would be highly recommended. Once you have a good idea of what the program is all about, it will be much easier for you to decide which areas you would like to contribute to. Therefore, when you state, in this essay, exactly where you would like to contribute, cite instances from your personal and/or professional life where you have participated in similar activities or been involved in similar engagements. This will be required to convince the adcom that you are not speaking merely theoretically, but are actually equipped to put your words into concrete action.
USC Marshall aspires to create a global society that is committed to diversity and inclusion. They believe that equity and well-being of all sections of the society are crucial components of leadership. Hence, they seek to create a B-school community that encompasses all dimensions of diversity and fosters excellence. This includes diversity of race, gender, religion, nationalities, political thoughts, social perspectives, job role, and so on.
In this endeavor, USC aspires to evaluate your thought process on diversity. The best approach is ‘show, don’t tell’. Narrate a story from your life to showcase how you contributed toward making a work environment or organization more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse. You can select a story from your personal life as well; however, I believe a professional story would carry a higher weightage in this essay.
Please review my tips for Optional MBA essays in my blog page here.
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Politicians have speech writers. Journalists use news editors. Famous writers and columnists have an army of professional editors. Don’t you think you also need to have one?