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Off topic: Bizz -School Essay Writing
Thread poster: Williamson
Williamson
Williamson  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:44
Flemish to English
+ ...
Sep 2, 2003

(S)he who wants to go to a bizz-school has to present her/his GPA, pass Toefl and Gmat (the verbal part can be quite a good linguistic exercise) and write essays:
These essays are about your long-and short-term goals, your accomplishments, your significant activities, your skills and characteristics, your turning points.
In short : Who you are illustrated by quantitative examples, not by big words.

Now the prototype of a bizz school applicant is 24-32 years of age, engi... See more
(S)he who wants to go to a bizz-school has to present her/his GPA, pass Toefl and Gmat (the verbal part can be quite a good linguistic exercise) and write essays:
These essays are about your long-and short-term goals, your accomplishments, your significant activities, your skills and characteristics, your turning points.
In short : Who you are illustrated by quantitative examples, not by big words.

Now the prototype of a bizz school applicant is 24-32 years of age, engineer, economist, MD or somebody in the legal profession, who has worked for a company and is on his way to make a career in that company. Not a translator sitting behind a pc translating texts.
However, given the fiscal pressure in some countries as a freelancer you earn more.
Hence you are able to pay the bizz school's hefty fees, but you do not correspond to the “prototype applicant”, who has won some wars in corporate life.
In fact, by being a freelancer, you put yourself “outside” that corporate life and corporate culture. The only culture you know is how to market yourself, do your own administration and deliver a service in a timely manner.

Now then, how would you go about answering these questions?

*What draws you to business in general?
*What is your ultimate ambition (remain a freelancer-who wants to translate forever)?
*What short-term goals will help you fulfill your long-term vision?
*Describe what your ideal position would involve?
*Where do you see yourself in five years? Ten years?
*How can this academic program help you to reach your goals?
*What attracts you to this particular school?
----
Accomplishments
-----------------
* What significant challenges have you overcome in your professional life?
* Describe accomplishments for which you have not been formally recognized, but of which you are particularly proud. Take even more time to reflect on why these have special meaning for you?
* Discuss an accomplishment in which you exercised leadership (being a translator?). *How did people respond to your leadership (as a translator?)
* What did you learn that you can apply to future experiences (as a translator?)
* What was an important risk that you took in your personal or professional life? Why did you take this risk? What was the outcome? Would you do it again?
*Think of a time when you truly helped someone. What did you do? How did this impact the other person? How did your actions impact you?
*Please give an example of when you exhibited creativity in a personal or professional setting. Describe your thoughts and actions.
*Reflect on a time when you failed to accomplish what you set out to do (not meeting deadlines, too many typos...)?
How did you recover from that failure? How did you respond to your next challenge?

Significant activities
----------------------
* To what non-work (or non-academic) activity did you give most time over the past year?
* What has been your most significant service activity? Your most memorable one-time volunteer opportunity? Your longest volunteerism commitment? (Bear in mind that you are a translator with little/no time for these commitments).
*Can you identify trends in your commitments? What do they say about your values and abilities?
Skill and characteristics
*Strength weaknesses and opportunities analysis (SWOT-analysis).
*How would your friends describe you?
*What skills are you most proud of?
*What values are most important to you?
*Think of a team situation (in case of translators it can only be a virtual team connected by a webcam). What kind of role did you take?
*What abilities did you contribute?
*What skills do you possess that are most relevant to business? How have you applied them to specific situations? How have you continued to hone them?
*What personal qualities have made you successful in business? How have you demonstrated these qualities in specific situations?
-
Turning Points
---------------
* When and why did you first become interested in working in business?
* How has that interest evolved?
* Have you changed your career paths? What was your motivation?
Business is all about figures, growth and profit, but you are not allowed to say that you became a freelancer to organize your time yourself or to earn more money.
* Who were your early influences?
* Did you have a strong role models, general or business related?

Apparently, answers to these questions have to have a quantitative undertone,but show compassion.

I am fully aware that a lot of these questions are personal.But some views from others (e.g. Prozies who have send in such applications and have attended bizz schools) about how they would go about answering them would be greatly appreciated.

TIA.





[Edited at 2003-09-02 08:37] ▲ Collapse
 
Wenke Geddert
Wenke Geddert
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:44
Member (2004)
English to German
+ ...
Book recommendation Sep 3, 2003

Having had a look at the questions, I can recommend the following book "Great Answers to tough Interview Questions" by Martin John Yate. Although this is, as the title suggests, geared towards job interviews, there is a lot of overlap and will also apply to your area. There is a new edition coming out all the time - I've got the 5th edition (which I found useful for both interviews I attended in the past as well as interviewing applicants in my previous HR role). Good luck...
 


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Bizz -School Essay Writing






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