How to Write a Leadership Essay for MBA Admissions Abroad
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The business schools (B-Schools) offering Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs look for qualities of initiative, leadership, team spirit, ability to work under pressure, time and people management, problem-solving skills, adaptability, and tolerance for diversity among others in their prospective students. To ensure these abilities, the B-Schools require applicants to write essays on various topics/ prompts that bring out their personalities.
More often than not, admission essays are asked as a part of MBA admission applications by reputed MBA universities or B-schools abroad. The total number of essays may vary from one to five. Also, while the actual questions may differ, they can be clubbed under broad categories or personality traits that the universities are looking for in their applicants. Universities abroad, especially for their MBA program, want to pick the people who are the best fit for their ideologies. As such, it becomes important for them to look at certain personality traits and markers, and one of the most often searched for is – Leadership.
Most of the top-tier universities abroad lay a premium on the ‘leadership’ ability of the candidate. After all, they are being trained to be future leaders of organizations and the business world. Thus, the top-tier universities abroad have a keen eye for recognizing traits of leadership in applicants, so that the foundation is already there for them to build upon. The verbiage of the prompts could vary, however, the intent, which is to find students with leadership qualities, remains the same.
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Before we learn how to write a leadership essay for MBA admissions abroad, let us look at a few leadership questions that universities abroad ask:
- If we were to admit one more student to the class of 2012, make a compelling argument as to why that student should be you? (300 words max)
- Describe an experience where, working in a team as a member or leader, you successfully managed to deal with a challenge posed by the diversity of the group. (Maximum 500 words)
- Discuss why you are interested in pursuing an MBA at this point in your career (250 words), why this university, and the specific program to which you have applied, is the best fit for your MBA experience (250 words), and discuss how you will leverage both your professional and academic experiences thus far to achieve your post-MBA career goals (250 words).
- Leadership and ethics are inevitably intertwined in the business world. Describe a situation in which you have dealt with these issues and how they have influenced you. (250 words)
Let us discuss how to write a leadership essay for MBA admissions abroad:
- Choose an example: You may discuss a personal, academic, or professional space, where you worked in a team situation and displayed your leadership skills. Use concrete examples and details.
- Focus on your role: The incident could be a challenging situation in terms of handling a diverse team, a project with a stringent deadline, an offshore assignment, or any other. It may be a small incident, but what is important is how you handled it and the leadership qualities that you demonstrated.
- Define your style of leadership: Your style of leading a team/ group is also crucial – leading from the front, empathy, sharing appreciation with the team, motivating and mentoring the team, innovation, good listening skills, ensuring maximum participation of the team in everything, being approachable, and other such aspects. Also, reflect on how your leadership style has evolved and what you have learnt.
- Be authentic: Your content should be authentic and not copied from somewhere else. The admissions committee (Ad Com) will know if the content is fabricated or plagiarized.
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How to Write a Leadership Essay for MBA Admissions Abroad - FAQs
Q. What are some basic leadership traits that one can choose to discuss in MBA essays?
A. Leadership is a broad term, which encompasses many qualities. Some basic traits of a leader are: good communication, people management, goal-orientation, initiative, empathy, motivating the team, sharing knowledge and appreciation with the team, keeping a positive attitude, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of team members, good inter-personal skills and so on.
Q. What kind of leadership experiences can one share if there are not many professional examples to talk about in the leadership essay for MBA admissions abroad?
A. The leadership instances do not necessarily have to come from your professional life. Some applicants are comparatively new in their field and do not have much to talk about. However, one can always go back and see if in college life there have been instances where one has taken an initiative to organize/conduct an event, led a team/group, started a club, impacted the community by taking some important steps and galvanized others, taken care of the family when a parent was seriously ill or out of job, and many others. You basically need to reflect on how you have been a leader in your own right.
Q. How to write a leadership essay for MBA admissions abroad?
A. To write a leadership essay for MBA admissions abroad, you must keep the requirements of the university/program in mind and align your values with those of the university. You must select a strong instance of leadership that you may have demonstrated in your life and then discuss the situation, challenges, your role in it, leadership qualities that you displayed, and the impact of your leadership on the team/ project. Adhere to the word limit specified and answer each part of the prompt adequately.
Q. What kind of leadership questions can I expect? Please share a sample prompt where I can learn how to write a leadership essay for MBA admissions abroad.
A. Given below is a prompt from Stanford University, which basically intends to gauge your leadership abilities:
Prompt: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.
Outline of the essay:
- Describe an incident/anecdote which shows the outcome of your efforts at creating a team, either in your job or college, or extracurricular life.
- You could begin with a description of the team which you created, in order to create an impact straightaway.
- Next, go back to the time when you were first faced with the requirement, and describe it.
- You need to show not only that your team met the requirements, but that it went beyond and above them. Hence, outline expectations that were lesser than what your team actually achieved.
- Talk about the challenges to your leadership, and how you tackled and overcame them, systematically. You could pick out challenges in people-management, circumstances, and logistics.
- Finally, reiterate your brilliant results, and emphasize how your team went beyond expectations.
- Devote two-three lines to the learning from the experience.
Q: Is university of West of Scotland good for international students?
The University of the West of Scotland has five modern and diverse campuses in United Kingdom. The University has welcomed more than 3,000 international students which are representing 1/3 of the globe. They also have 130 European partners who are actively in global study and exchange options through the Commonwealth universities programmes. The University also offers study abroad opportunities for UWS who are eligible for the same and also have more than 20 transnational education partners worldwide which helps them deliver UWS Bachelors and Masters Degrees around the world.
Q: What rank is Wolverhampton University in UK?
The University of Wolverhampton is one of the best universities in the United Kingdom. The university is consistently ranked among the best universities nationally and globally. For nearly 200 years, the University of Wolverhampton has been consistently providing a quality of education to students and producing highly skilled graduates. The national rankings of the University of Wolverhampton are given below:
| Ranking Body | Ranking |
|---|---|
| The Guardian University Guide 2024 | #101 |
| The Complete University Guide 2024 | #117 |
Q: How to prepare for UK 10th board exam 2025?
Those who are preparing for the UK Class 10 exam 2025 are recommended to follow the tips below.
- Know the exam pattern
- Make a proper time table as per the syllabus
- Solve previous year question papers
- Make short notes of important formulas and theorems
- Revise regularly
- Figure out weaker areas and learn them well
With proper planning and hard work, students can easily clear the UK 10th board exam.
Q: How to download UK Board 12th date sheet 2024?
Following are the steps to download the UK 12th date sheet 2024.
- Open the Uttarakhand Board's official website at ubse.uk.gov.in
- Click on 'Examination Scheme' available on the homepage
- A new window will appear on the screen containing a link of the UK Board 12th date sheet 2024
- Click the link and download the Uttarakhand 12th date sheet 2024
Q: Does the University of Essex require IELTS?
International students whose native language is not English must meet the University of Essex English language requirements to get admission. The university accepts IELTS scores as proof of English language proficiency. Mentioned below are the IELTS scores required for UG and PG admission at the university:
English Language Test | Score |
|---|---|
IELTS | Overall score of 5.5 to 8.0 with minimum of 5.5 to 7.5 in each section |
The university also accepts the score of other English language tests such as TOEFL and PTE for admission to undergraduate and graduate programs:
English Language Test | Score |
TOEFL iBT | Overall score of 72 to 114 |
PTE | Overall score of 59 to 84 with minimum of 59 to 80 in each section |
Also read: Required IELTS Score for UK Universities
Q: Why indian students choose to study at Hult International Business School - UK?
Indian students choose to study at Hult International Business School in the UK for several reasons, including its highly ranked programs, global outlook, and career support. Hult offers a range of full-time master’s degrees, immersive bachelor's programs, and MBA options that prepare students to excel in the global job market. The school is the largest and top-ranked global business school, providing students with an incomparable universal outlook. Additionally, Hult's focus on experiential learning, extensive career support, and the opportunity to study at multiple campuses around the world are attractive to Indian students seeking a global business education. Furthermore, the school's emphasis on innovation and meeting the needs of students and employers may also contribute to its appeal to Indian students
Q: How can I get a 100% scholarship to study in UK?
Yes, it is possible to get 100% scholarships to study in the UK. There are various external funding agencies that offer 100% scholarships to international students to study in the UK. Three main UK government scholarships for international students are;
However, to get 100% scholarships to study in the UK, international students must meet all the eligibility criteria and apply within the deadlines.
Q: How to prepare for UK 10th board exam 2025?
Those who are preparing for the UK Class 10 exam 2025 are recommended to follow the tips below.
- Know the exam pattern
- Make a proper time table as per the syllabus
- Solve previous year question papers
- Make short notes of important formulas and theorems
- Revise regularly
- Figure out weaker areas and learn them well
With proper planning and hard work, students can easily clear the UK 10th board exam.
Aishwarya is a professional Writer currently working as a Study Abroad Expert in the Editorial Team at Shiksha. She has over 5 years of experience and is skilled at creating Online Content with leveraged knowledge i... Read Full Bio
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