The document provides guidance on answering essay questions for an application to Kellogg's MBA program. It discusses the content and focus that should be included in responses to questions about career progress and goals, leadership experience and development, unpopular decisions made, and steps taken to strengthen an application as a re-applicant. Key recommendations include connecting past experience to future goals, highlighting specific opportunities at Kellogg, and addressing any weaknesses identified in a prior application.

1. Kellogg Essay Questions The content in the file is copyright of the author and Apphelp. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Kellogg Northwestern Essay 1: Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing a graduate degree at Kellogg . (600 word limit) This is akin to connecting your past, present and future and also showing how and MBA from Kellogg will help in your goals and aspirations. While answering the first part of the essay, you need to show what you have done in your work life, how have you moved across roles and organizations. You should also talk about any noticeable moves in your work life. Please note that this essay asks you to ‘assess’ your progress. Hence you may bring a slight angle of critique or highlight any interesting incidents. For answer to part 2, treat this like a career goals question. Describe your short term as well as long term goals. Also state why you have chosen these goals (Eg – you may relate to Consulting as a person: because you seek variety, new challenges, like to travel, interact with people etc). Try to be specific in defining the goals (which industry and/or domain do you wish to work in). The most important part that Kellogg will look for is “How will Kellogg help you achieve what you want”. Do your homework on specific activities, clubs, communities, curriculum and other opportunities that Kellogg MBA would provide you and subsequently show a linkage between these points and your goals.

2. Kellogg Essay Questions The content in the file is copyright of the author and Apphelp. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Kellogg Northwestern Essay 2: Describe your key leadership experiences and evaluate what leadership areas you hope to develop through your MBA experiences. (600 word limit) Here you need to narrate a few (2-3) leadership experiences. While choosing the experiences, remember that impact/ magnitude is not the only parameter. Experiences which indicate your leadership style are also very important. You should select 1-2 experiences from work life and remaining from personal or community life. A good leadership experience is also one which gives you learning and enhances you capabilities as a leader. For the second part, you should demonstrate your homework and understanding of Kellogg. Be clear on what qualities you need to develop further (they need not necessarily be absent in you). Highlight specific resources, activities etc at Kellogg will help you develop them (e.g. diverse international community at Kellogg/ some exchange programs will help you enhance your ability to work across varied cultures).

3. Kellogg Essay Questions The content in the file is copyright of the author and Apphelp. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Kellogg Northwestern Essay 3: Assume you are evaluating your application from the perspective of a student member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Why would your peers select you to become a member of the Kellogg community? (600 word limit) Kellogg Northwestern Essay 4: Complete one of the following three questions or statements. (400 word limit) Re-applicants have the option to answer a question from this grouping, but this is not required. a. Describe a time when you had to make an unpopular decision. An MBA is a lot about team work and the same is reflected in this essay also. Also, motivating others is a strong leadership trait. Choose an incident which can bring out your ability to motivate others, in full color. Since this essay limits you to two paragraphs, you should be very crisp in presenting the situation, your actions and the impact. You can make this interesting by stating what you did differently to motivate another individual/ group. This example could range from your team at workplace to a neighborhood kid or friend. Kellogg will be interested in knowing how much you are concerned for others and make other perform.

4. Kellogg Essay Questions The content in the file is copyright of the author and Apphelp. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. b. People may be surprised to learn that I…. Bring out a genuine strength/ trait that you have which is not covered in essays so far. You may also represent your personality through certain keywords.. (EG – I am a person with strong sense of observation which is manifested through my poetry, interaction with people etc). Here you should try to show a different color/ facet of your life. Talk about what you love, what you are passionate about – this could range from movies to cooking or anything else under the roof. What matters is how have you gone out of your way to follow your heart. c. I wish the Admissions Committee had asked me… This essay could again be taken as a good opportunity to highlight some trait which is so far not covered. Please note that this must be a genuine characteristic/ strength admired by others. Whichever quality you choose to highlight, you need to substantiate that with examples/ incidents/quotes of admiration from others. (Example – If you mention ‘Helpfulness’ as a trait, you may quote an incident when you went out of your way to help a friend of yours or helped a colleague in need)Remember, this is not a place to brag about oneself but genuine praise of oneself never hurts.

5. Kellogg Essay Questions The content in the file is copyright of the author and Apphelp. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Kellogg Northwestern Essay 5 (Re-applicants only) : Since your previous application, what are the steps you’ve taken to strengthen your candidacy? Re-applicants need to be very clear (either on basis of feedback from the school or self evaluation or benchmarking with profiles at Kellogg) on areas lacking in their previous application. Any interaction with Kellogg in this regard would show your seriousness towards Kellogg. You need to talk about specific steps that you have taken to address those areas. You should also mention other areas where you have improved/performed well. This could be in work-life (appraisals, appreciations, awards, some unique assignments etc) or in community domain (initiative to run some events/ campaigns, voluntary work, appreciations for such work etc) What matters most is your fighting spirit, your motivation and drive to add value to yourself and to people around you.

6. Related Useful Links The content in the file is copyright of the author and Apphelp. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Kellogg Interview Questions: http://www.apphelp.co.in/Kellogg-Interview-Questions-Tips.htm Kellogg Class Profile http://www.apphelp.co.in/Kellogg-Class-Profile-Admission-Tips.htm

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