Kellogg Essay Questions 2011 - 2012 - Tips and Common Mistakes

Kellogg's Round 1 (Part 1) Deadline is on September 22nd!  Don't forget to send in Part I of your application before then.  You can view our Deadlines page to save this and other deadlines directly to your Gmail calendar. 


Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing an MBA. (600 word limit)

• Not only describe your career progression so far, but also assess it - what went right, what not quite?  This should just naturally lead the reader into thinking - "of course this candidate needs an MBA!"
• Candidates who try to answer the "Why Kellogg" question won't have enough words to fit in the real answer for this essay - keep it simple, answer what is asked - why an MBA? 

Describe your key leadership experiences and evaluate what leadership areas you hope to develop through your MBA experiences (600 word limit). 

• What are leadership experiences?  Situations that you've been in that you've been tested in, where a lot has been at stake, and you have led the way.  They can be personal or professional, but you should cite at least one professional experience
• Limit to three experiences at most
• What are leadership areas?   The most obvious one here is the one that Kellogg touts the most - "team leadership" or "community leadership".  But to write a truly compelling essay, think beyond -- what specific leadership areas are you looking to develop, that will tie in to the first part of your essay?   Motivating and empowering large groups of people, leadership in the community, product leadership in an industry, executive communication skills, etc. 

Assume you are evaluating your application from the perspective of a student member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Why would you and your peers select you for admission, and what impact would you make as a member of the Kellogg community? (600 word limit). 

• This is your "why Kellogg" and "why you" question - go all out and present yourself as the package that brings a mix of professional, personal and community based leadership experiences to the table
• Make it fun - describe yourself in a way that others would truly want to learn more about you!

Complete one of the following three questions or statements. (400 word limit) 
a) Describe a time you had to inspire a reluctant individual or group. 
b) People may be surprised to learn that I….. 
c) The riskiest personal or professional decision I ever made was….. 

• This is a wide-open essay, use it to demonstrate a part of your personality that may not have come through in your application thus far - you want the reader to feel pleasantly surprised about you after this - i,e., "Wow, he / she did x, y AND z?!  That's pretty awesome."

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