Inblue's MBA story

that covers most of it, so get started. all the best.

the fact that u started off with chicago is good and bad.

bad coz u now have to think, know and write about everything in one essay. It does not give u the kind of essay writing exp, say, harvard gives u, where u can work on one aspect in an essay and then on another aspect in another essay and gradually work on ur entire profile.

good coz once u r done with this one essay, u r ready for almost all of the conventional essays :) this might take some time, but make sure u do this really well.

AFAI see, the plan and breakup looks fine.

That's exactly ther reasson I love Chicago. Its more of an art to present yourself to Chicago. Its open and it allows the applicant to draw the picture he wants rahter than paint into a already sketched scenery.

"There are mostly two or three virtu we all vaule most and are distinct in our personality and are roots of our hobbies. Identify them and paint all applications with those 2- 3 colours or themes."

I beg to differ here. I feel the theme comes out much better and reaches the reader when you begin and write the essay with the theme in mind all the time. That way the theme guides the incidents elaborated and not the other way round. :-)

@juggler: "Idenfity the valueable and distinguishing personal traits and use them in all applications" and "begin and write the essay with a theme in mind all the time" doesnt sound any different for me!

Am i missin something!?!?

"There are mostly two or three virtu we all vaule most and are distinct in our personality and are roots of our hobbies. Identify them and paint all applications with those 2- 3 colours or themes."

I am commenting on the same line as juggler, but for different reasons. I wouldnt quite equate virtues with themes. You might want to show more than one virtue in one app, depending upon the question asked. But the theme, shoudl be the same across essays. Diff apps might have different themes, but your essay set for one school must have one theme, which must resonate from each essay.

Hobbes, huumm !! this is some perspective. But then what you choose as a theme is a question in itself.

Lets say you are Indian Male IT, you need to show diversity, leadership, maturity, everything in one apps ? Dont they all fall under differnt themes.

How are you going to keep the same theme ? Or am I mis reading you ?

Hmm, not quite... A theme, as I see it, is the what you want to position yourself as. Say post MBA you are interested in Business Dev, then the examples you choose, should align you with that goal. Even if you are an Indian IT applicant, you can pick up relevant examples from your experience that highlight this particular aspect.

Richard Mauntek talks extensively abt themes in his book. If you havnt read it yet, go ahead n get urself a copy. NOW! Does that help?

I guess Juggler is also pointing out the same fact, identifying your theme and letting that define the examples you choose.

i think a few days of introspection is good to start off with. i started with that and just writing a rather long essay on my beliefs and goals, not specifically answering any questions for any of the B-school essays. but once that was over, everything became much clearer. however, i wont be able to testify on the effectiveness on the approach till i get admitted. but knowing what you want, and belief in yourself will definitely help.

@hobbes - how will that work???
Lemme say i want to project myself as a wannabe "Bizz Dev" guy. But i cannot already have lived all my life that way. I cannot only present incidents/examples that project me this way. I can/must give justification for why this choice makes meaning to me. I think that the examples we present are gonna help the AdComm see different aspects of our profile and not just the career choice.