Sample of Our Work

ESSAY Topic: What are your short-term and long-term career aspirations? How will an MBA education further your development? Why does the academic experience offered at the GSB appeal to you?

Essay Before Edited

My long-term career aspiration is to be a successful entrepreneur and own myself business kingdom. It sounds somehow unimaginable: especially for me, a mother having 2 kids. Even my husband thinks my goal is unreachable. But my belief is: no dream, no success.

Specifically, I hope I will have chances to start my own business. It could be a corporate strategy consulting company, the idea shaped when I worked at Austrian Embassy in China, providing consulting service to Chinese companies about how to grow quickly and globally. It could also be a Chinese software company, which develops the software for the enterprise administration. Many software for the enterprise administration just emerged in China, with great marketing potential to grow. For example, the markets for the software ERP and CRM in China are almost monopolized by the US companies such as Siebel and Oracle. Even so, the total market share occupied is still less than 10 percent. Thus, there are still great opportunities.

In terms of my short-term career goal, I plan to continue my current career until I have chances to get admission from a top business school for the MBA program, and make a career change after graduation. Up to now, I already have more than 5 years work experience in the software development field, which is already a enough basic level technical experience for me. Apparently, my current need is to advance my management knowledge and skills for the future enterprise administration. Therefore, pursuing a MBA education is my urgent task for now.

I hope that after a high-quality MBA program, I could successfully change my career from the technical side to the management side, get sufficient skills to start and run a business, and develop my network of contacts. Furthermore, I want to seek an intellectually challenging and interesting experience to fulfill my former regret: to be able to pursue the major I love in a world-class university. In this sense, Stanford GSB is absolutely the first choice for me.

Since the first day I worked at Stanford, I became to love everything here immediately. Everyday, when I walk around the memorial church, listen the toll of the old bell and watch the biking students shuttle back and forth, my regret always appears again in my mind. If I am one of these students, it would be fantastic!

Consequently, I started to research Stanford GSB, and I was immediately fascinated by its curriculum, with the special interests in its general management perspective and the GMP and PMP programs. Via them, I could broaden my professional skills by taking classes on a range of topics, while still have chance to learn depth on some specific academic disciplines. Based on my former non-profit work and leadership experiences and my future interests in the global management and helping Chinese enterprise globalize, all of these flexible curriculum, combing with the group studying learning method, will definitely advance my team work and leadership skills, which gives me an intellectual foundation for my future career.

In addition, the reputation of Stanford GSB and its faculty are no doubt the best in the world. Being a graduate of Stanford GSB will gain me more credibility and advantages in my future career, make me more confident to deal with lenders, investors and customers when I start my own business, and give me a strong lifelong alumni connection. Furthermore, being a graduate of Stanford GSB, my career chances will be automatically better than the graduates of other Business schools.

In sum, Stanford GSB will be the best vehicle to make my dream come true and drive me to the brightest success!

Stanford GSB, I can’t wait to join you!

Essays After Edited

ESSAY B: What are your short-term and long-term career aspirations? How will an MBA education further your development? Why does the academic experience offered at the GSB appeal to you?

My long-term goal is to establish a marketing consulting company, providing strategic recommendation to the Chinese software vendors who seek global presence. Nowadays, many Chinese companies have top quality products and an elite team of engineers. However, they have difficulties in finding a feasible and proven strategy for global expansion. Driven by a sense of social responsibility and the desire to take up new challenges, I have always dreamed of introducing foreign investment and advanced management skills to high potential local enterprises, helping them establish a worldwide reputation.

I understand that in order to pursue my entrepreneurial interest in IT industry, I will need the skills and knowledge to manage across an entire organization, from finance and production to sales and marketing. I have developed strong technical skills and gained experience in line management in my current career. An MBA education is clearly not a perfect substitute for experience, but I believe it will provide me with the frame necessary for effective decision-making in these areas. An MBA program would also allow me to further research my business ideas through the experience of my peers, independent study, and related summer employment. Finally, since I will not be able to create this organization alone, I look forward to the opportunity to meet other individuals who share my interests in entrepreneurship, consulting, and sustainable development.

My next destination after an MBA is to pursue a management consultant career with one of the leading strategic consulting company, such as McKinsey, or BCG. The work of consulting is rewarding, since it will call on all of my skills, developed both in my course work and through previous work experience, to complete consulting involvements which have senior executive visibility. These intensive involvements will deepen my understanding of the key elements that a company requires in order to succeed. Also, solving strategic problems in a team-based environment can significantly polish my teamwork and leadership experience that is invaluable to run a start-up company.

As a mother of two kids, I am always told not to put unnecessary pressure and risk on my life, but just enjoy my current career as a software engineer in non-profit sector. But I am not satisfied with my current position. I like more challenges. I hope that after a high-quality MBA program, I could successfully change my career from the technical side to the management side, get sufficient skills to start and run a business, and develop my network of contacts. Furthermore, I want to seek an intellectually challenging and interesting experience to fulfill my former regret: to be able to pursue the business major I love in a world-class university. In this sense, Stanford GSB is absolutely the first choice for me.

Firstly, I was attracted by Stanford’s Global Management Program (GMP). I always dreams of an environment where students come from all round the world. We can share our different experience and background inside and outside the classroom. Stanford’s global focus can definite fulfill my expectation by its diverse student body, truly globally-thinking teachers, and its wide range of electives on international management.

Secondly, the PMP program perfectly matches my background as an employee in non-profit sector for the past five years. A rich professional life will involve many interactions with various administrations (national governments, IMF, World Bank) and non-profit organizations.

Thirdly, Stanford clearly excels in Entrepreneurship, thanks to its Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, its electives on Entrepreneurship and its location in Silicon Valley. The conference held every year must have been an incredible opportunity to meet some of the most successful entrepreneurs worldwide. I can’t help thinking how much I would enjoy talking to Jeff Bezos, discussing his impressions on the Bertelsmann effort, and get access to his plans for the future.

Fourth, the reputation of Stanford GSB and its faculty are no doubt the best in the world. Being a graduate of Stanford GSB will gain me more credibility and advantages in my future career, make me more confident to deal with lenders, investors and customers when I start my own business, and give me a strong lifelong alumni connection.

Lastly, I would definitely enjoy my life in Stanford GSB. Since the first day I worked at Stanford, I began to love everything here immediately. Everyday, when I walk around the memorial church, listen to the toll of the old bell and watch the biking student’s shuttle back and forth, I always think if I am one of these students, it would be fantastic! Stanford GSB, I can’t wait to join you!

In sum, I believe an MBA at Stanford GSB will enable me to fulfill my long and short-term goals by equipping me with the right business tools to pursue a career in consulting, take risks on my own as an entrepreneur, or even change careers entirely and venture in new areas.