A few tips from our reviews on Michigan Ross Essays:
1. Briefly describe your short-term and long-term career goals. Why is an MBA the best choice at this point in your career? What and/or who influenced your decision to apply to Ross?
Before you start writing this essay, create a map for yourself. Link your professional and personal experiences of the past to how you got to where you are now and why you think an MBA is the best thing for you at this point in your career. These experiences should lead the reader to the natural conclusion that an MBA would be the idea thing for your career right now.
Then, think through your short term and long term goals (don't forget either one) - and do it at a level of specificity that makes the reader believe that you have invested time in this self reflection. A lot of people tell us - "I don't know what I want to do yet!" Well, if there's one thing that you could do of the many that you want to do, what would it be?
Then lay out why Ross. For this piece it is important that you go a step beyond what jumps out at you from their website - go through specific programs and parts of their curriculum and link them to your goals. Discuss which programs or people that you have met or spoken to that caused you to consider Ross as a top school.
Your entire essay should appear to have a single theme - your past experiences, why MBA now, goals and Why Ross pieces should all appear tightly integrated with each other.
2. Describe your most significant professional accomplishment. Elaborate on the leadership skills you displayed, the actions you took and the impact you had on your organization.
First, let's remind ourselves - this question asks for THE most significant professional accomplishment. It's best to stick to one experience and describe it in detail. Lay out what the situation was and how it became an opportunity for you to demonstrate your leadership skills.
Describe what you did at a detailed level - e.g., don't say "I identified new ways for the group to collaborate" without calling out what these methods were. Your audience is very interested in learning how you achieved what you did, and not just what the impact of your actions were.
As far as impact goes, remember to include both short term and long term (if any) benefits. Describe the business, people, process and technology benefits that your actions brought about within the organization.
3. If you were not pursuing the career goals you described in Question 1, what profession would you pursue instead? (for example, teacher, musical, athlete, architect, etc.) How will this alternate interest contribute to your effectiveness in solving multi-disciplinary problems?
This is your opportunity to expose your personal side and endear yourself to your readers - don't let it go by without making an impression. Think back to when you were younger - what did you see yourself being before you knew about the consulting or investment banking professions?
Think through your personal experiences - has someone - a teacher, for instance, touched you in a way that inspired you to be who you are today? Is that something that you'd want to do for others?
Finally, explain how this interest will contribute to your success as a leader who will be creative and multi-faceted to solve the many challenges that will come your way.
4. Describe your experience during a challenging time in your life. Explain how you grew personally, either despite this challenge or because of it.
Again, another opportunity to expose your personal side to AdCom. We like to see personal experiences here, rather than professional, because the first two really do give you a lot of opportunity to discuss your professional experiences. However, if you think your professional experience was a really trying time through which you learned a lot, by all means, use it.
Once you have the situation picked out, describe why this was challenging. What may seem obvious to you may not be to the reader - explain what the challenges meant for you on a day to day basis and why you consider this one of the most difficult periods of your life.
Whether you eventually conquered (or "won" in some way) makes no difference here. Don't try to force fit a "I overcame it by.." - you don't have to. It's OK if you don't have a win story here. What's important is that you discuss very openly and clearly what you took away from the experience. How did your personality change after this incident(s) occurred? How did your attitude towards other people or an organization change? What would you do differently if you were faced with a similar situation in the future?
You don't have to answer each of these questions, but think of them as a checklist that you go through in your mind as you write your answer down.
Good luck, folks - look forward to reviewing some more of your essays.
