INSEAD Essay Guide

(1)

(2)

Published by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Inc, Los Angeles, California, USA. www.stacyblackman.com Cover design by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Inc

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without

written permission from the publisher. Contact Stacy Blackman Consulting at [email protected].

ISBN-13: 978-1-61755-915-0 ISBN-10: 1-61755-915-6

Visit www.stacyblackman.com/storefor the latest Stacy Blackman Consulting ebooks.

DISCLAIMER:

(3)

INTRODUCTION:

The Stacy Blackman Consulting Essay Guides

MBA program applications require you to respond to a series of essay questions on a variety of topics including your career progress, career goals, accomplishments and setbacks, and potential contributions to the program’s student community. Before putting fingers to keyboard, it’s a good practice to first consider who your reader will be, what the subject matter is, and your objective for the writing assignment. The answers to these three questions are fairly straightforward:

WHO IS MY READER?

The Admissions Committee

WHAT IS THE SUBJECT MATTER?

My attributes, strengths, achievements, and goals, which combine to form a complete picture of me

WHAT IS MY OBJECTIVE IN WRITING THESE ESSAYS?

To earn an acceptance letter

The next question isn’t so easy to answer:

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT?

The subject matter of the essays – your attributes, strengths, achievements, and goals – is decidedly broad. At this point, most applicants feel a bit stumped. As they consider possible directions for their essays, one question crops up again and again:

WHAT IS THE ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE LOOKING FOR?

If they only knew what the admissions officers were looking for, then they’d have a much easier time selecting essay topics and stories that will feature those relevant attributes and talents.

It would be helpful if each school’s admissions committee told you exactly what they were looking for. Representatives of the program from admissions officers to current students certainly offer plenty of clues, but there is no definitive source of reference.

The dean of admissions for one of the top programs responded as follows when asked what his program was looking for:

“We look for people who will contribute in a meaningful way to our community.…We don’t just look at one thing – we look at the whole picture and think about the fit.”

When reviewing your application, the admissions committee is trying to determine if who you are, what you’ve accom-plished, and what you hope to achieve in the future is a good fit for their institution. With this in mind, we can refine our answer to the question above about your objective for this essay writing “assignment.” Your end goal is, of course, to earn an acceptance letter, but the way you do so is to persuade the admissions committee that you fit. You must look at your strengths and achievements through the lens of the admissions officers. The essays are your opportunity to communicate those strengths and provide multiple reasons to believe that you will fit in next year’s class.

(5)

You may be saying to yourself:

“OKAY, GREAT! BUT WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT?!”

This essay guide will help you answer that question in three key ways:

1)Based on over a decade of experience with the admissions offices of the most competitive MBA programs, we will offer some insight into what constitutes “fit” for the program being discussed. By listening carefully to the admissions officers over the years and by paying close attention to the profiles of successful applicants, we have assembled a list of the fun-damental qualities and attributes that each program values. As you might expect, there is some degree of overlap between programs, but we have tailored the discussion in each guide to the specific program being evaluated.

2)Keeping this list of qualities top of mind, we will offer analysis and advice on the typical essay questions asked by this program. We will share the most important lessons we’ve learned over the years while working with our clients on these essays. These practical lessons should significantly enhance your ability to choose the right subjects and stories for your essays and will help you to avoid the pitfalls that trip up many applicants, thereby saving you time and improving the quality of your output.

3)Many of the lessons and the do’s and don’ts will be illustrated with essay excerpts and, in some cases, complete drafts. Not only will we show you essays that worked and analyze why they worked, we also will show you essays that didn’t hit the mark and demonstrate how a different strategy or story was better suited. In other cases, we will discuss how to improve the execution to make a particular essay more effective. By applying these case study lessons to your own work, you will greatly improve your execution on the stories you decide to share with the admissions committee, enabling you to assemble a set of essays that represents the best of who you are.

(6)

PART ONE:

What is INSEAD looking for?

“Our aim is to build an exciting, dynamic and diverse student body.” - INSEAD Admissions

With representation from over 70 countries, INSEAD is a unique global program that allows MBA students to obtain a degree in ten months of study. The program has campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, with an opportunity for students to study at Wharton as part of an exchange program. The ideal INSEAD candidate has a diverse background and enough work experience to bring maturity to the group learning experience. INSEAD students are required to speak fluent English as well as one other language, infusing the culture with a global mindset.

Along with a global mindset, INSEAD values flexible and creative leaders. Successful applicants hail from every kind of background and nationality, yet share the ability and desire to be global business leaders and manage across cultures and personalities. Flexibility and the ability to solve problems with a range of soft and hard skills are a necessity in this envi-ronment.

Applicants to INSEAD have to be prepared to make the most of the one-year program, because the time to learn the skills you need from your MBA is limited. As the admissions committee says, “Life at INSEAD, whether inside or outside of the classroom, is stimulating and intense.” INSEAD is looking for students who know where they are going and how INSEAD will make their goals a reality.

Based on over a decade of experience helping our clients garner admissions letters from INSEAD, we’ve assembled a com-prehensive list of the qualities that interact and overlap and combine to form candidates who fit with the culture of INSEAD.

Global Awareness Analytical Skills Collaborative Leadership Self-Awareness Maturity Creative

Intellectual Curiosity Entrepreneurial Mindset

An effective set of INSEAD essays will convince the admissions committee that you possess the strengths they are looking for. In the following section of the guide, we discuss these qualities in more detail so that you can decide which of your strengths to feature and what stories to tell to convince the INSEAD admissions committee that you fit at INSEAD.

(7)

GLOBAL AWARENESS

“I thought I knew what diversity was before I joined INSEAD, but once I got here, I realized I had never experienced any-thing like it before. INSEAD is like a small United Nations.” - INSEAD Professor

With three campuses in France, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, and a popular exchange program with Wharton, INSEAD is literally a global educational experience. Approximately 70_{% of INSEAD students spend time studying at more than one} INSEAD campus.

Consequently, the admissions committee prizes an awareness and appreciation of other cultures and a demonstrated ability to connect with a diverse community of people. Candidates should emphasize concrete experiences outside their home country and highlight an ability to find common ground and form effective relationships with people different than themselves. Those applicants who can provide evidence that they not only survive, but thrive in a diverse and global envi-ronment, will be of particular interest to the admissions committee.

Global awareness isn’t just a matter of fitting in during your time at INSEAD. It also relates to your past experience and future career goals. INSEAD graduates will lead in a global marketplace; so experience with the challenges of doing business globally, and a natural curiosity for learning more about other countries and cultures will be valued by the admissions com-mittee. If possible, your career goals should not be limited to the borders of a single country.

ANALYTICAL

INSEAD values rigorous, data driven analysis. This approach goes beyond running models in finance class; every discipline at INSEAD is approached with a strong analytical basis.

Prospective students must exhibit the ability to handle the rigorous quantitative demands of the program. Even so, the school wants to attract applicants from a variety of professional backgrounds. Those applicants who do not have academic or professional evidence of analytical aptitude will probably want to take a college-level calculus and possibly a business statistics course to prove they possess analytical prowess. Scoring in the high percentiles on the GMAT’s quant section will certainly help.

Furthermore, the admissions officers will read your essays to glean your analytical approach to problem solving. In your essays, it’s critical to describe what you did but it’s equally important to share what you thought – the decision making process that provided the basis for your actions.

Proving that you made the best choice generally requires some discussion of the paths you didn’t chose. Where possible, feature your ability to analyze and breakdown a complex problem, weigh the alternatives, and select the one that best achieves your objectives. By doing so, you will show the admissions committee that you have the analytical aptitude to do well at INSEAD.

(8)

COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP

“All group work and group-generated grades come from [your study group] collaboration, so it is in your interest to create an effective team dynamic as soon as possible.” - INSEAD Student

When reviewing your application, the admissions committee will assess both your capacity to play on a team but also, when called upon, to lead it. INSEAD admissions officers are not only concerned with your achievements; they are also interested in the connection between those achievements and who you are, the means you used to reach the ends you achieved, and the value of your achievements to the organization or community. Leadership stories in which you’ve enriched the team and helped your teammates grow will be compelling to the INSEAD admissions committee.

Since the first thing that happens at INSEAD upon arrival is assignment to a study group, your capacity for working in a fluid, dynamic team environment, taking the lead when necessary, capitalizing on the strengths of others, and handing over the reins when the time is right, are important to earning an acceptance letter from INSEAD.

SELF-AWARENESS

Self-awareness isn’t a quality that you demonstrate by telling a story. Rather, it has to do with how you tell the story and your ability to communicate what you learned. Being able to explain to the admissions committee why you value one ac-complishment above others, what you learned from a setback, or the deeper meaning of your career goals, is evidence of self-awareness. Furthermore, the self-aware individual has insight into his or her strengths AND weaknesses.

When writing your essays go beyond just rattling off the plot, “I did A, then I did B, and we accomplished C.” The admissions committee also wants to know what you were thinking and feeling, why you made a particular choice given the alternatives, what you value, and what is meaningful to you. Look for opportunities in your essays to demonstrate self-awareness.

MATURITY

Unlike many programs based in the United States, INSEAD likes to see applicants with a wealth of experience in your career. As you have interacted with teams and leaders, you have inevitably matured in your approach to life and career.

While years in your career can naturally build maturity, the quality and extent of life experience and how you have matured, crystallized values and passion, and formulated a worldview as a result, are all more important than the years that have elapsed since you graduated from college. Maturity isn’t a matter of growing older - it’s a matter of growing wiser. The fact that the admissions committee is looking for evidence of maturity suggests that you should find opportunities to share defining moments in your life. These moments are often found in challenging experiences, sometimes in our lives outside of work. Try to balance the personal and professional, and share a portfolio of experiences that reveal your human side, not just your business persona.

(9)

CREATIVE

“We are willing to experiment and innovate; we are ready to take risks and manage the results of our actions.” - INSEAD Admissions Committee

One of INSEAD’s core values is entrepreneurial spirit, and the INSEAD admissions committee seeks students who have a creative approach and flexible attitude. Creative spirit infuses the curriculum with centers like INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute, The INSEAD Innovation and Policy Initiative, The INSEAD Social Innovation Centre, The Rudolf and Valeria Maag International Centre for Entrepreneurship and The INSEAD-Wharton Center for Global Research and Education.

As an applicant, demonstrating your own ability to think outside the bounds of your discipline or background, or even country of origin, will demonstrate your fit with the INSEAD creative spirit.

INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY

“Our participants bring to campus globally diverse backgrounds and work experience and bright and curious minds. When combined with the structure of our curriculum, it makes INSEAD an intense and magnificent learning environ-ment.” - Subramanian Rangan, Professor of Strategy and Management INSEAD

INSEAD students are drawn from a diverse array of professional backgrounds, which makes for a lively discussion with many different perspectives. You will be expected to defend your opinions, while listening carefully to and respecting the opinions of your fellow classmates. Keep that in mind, whenever your essay or story relates to a situation in which teaching and learning from others was essential to success. Demonstrate that you can be persuasive but also that you can be swayed by reason.

The best fit for INSEAD are applicants who are clearly well-read, have a history of demonstrated academic achievement, and who have investigated topics beyond their college majors or career paths. Also be aware that every essay is an oppor-tunity to share your point of view, convey points, provide examples, and build your “case.” The admissions committee will be evaluating these abilities, which is why the quality of your essays is critical to proving that you are cut out for the aca-demic environment at INSEAD.

(10)

ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET

A person who is “entrepreneurial” initiates change and creates something that has not existed before, whether it is a new product, process, or way of seeing the world. Entrepreneurially minded people know how to recognize and capture oppor-tunity, navigate risk, and make the best decisions possible with inadequate or incomplete information.

INSEAD is on the lookout for entrepreneurial qualities but does not define entrepreneurship narrowly – you need not have started a business or want to start one in the future. Rather, the school is looking for individuals who are not afraid to challenge the status quo and effect change in some way.

If you are having trouble coming up with ways to feature your entrepreneurial mindset, consider a situation in which you have taken initiative versus waiting to be assigned a task. Consider times that you have stepped forward to address a long-standing problem in your organization or community, or an instance in which you volunteered for additional respon-sibilities outside of your job description. Early in your career your superiors may be reluctant to entrust you with major leadership responsibilities because your ability to lead is untested; therefore, candidates who have actively sought out op-portunities to make an impact above and beyond the call of duty will have demonstrated the entrepreneurial mindset the admissions committee is looking for.

The following is a list of entrepreneurial activities our clients have engaged in: • Revamping an outdated template or spreadsheet

• Spearheading a public speaking club

• Launching an organization to support an important cause • Organizing a group to facilitate learning a new language • Creating a team to raise funds to support a cause • Organizing a fund raising event

(11)

PART TWO:

Essay Strategies, Tactics, and Tips

Every year the top business schools receive thousands of applications for admission but only have the capacity to admit an average of 25_{% of those who apply. The most competitive programs may accept less than one applicant in ten. The} sobering truth is that there are many more qualified candidates in the applicant pool than there are seats in next year’s class; so the challenge for the admissions committee is how to select the best and brightest from this group of aspiring MBA scholars. Your college transcripts, resumes, and letters of recommendation tell part of the story, but the application essays are arguably the most important element in the application package. Certainly, an admissions interview is a richer source of information, but 90_{% of the programs interview candidates by invitation only; so how you represent yourself on} paper is of the utmost importance.

Your essays provide the admissions committee an opportunity to get to know you better, to “hear” your voice, and to learn more about you than a GPA, GMAT score, or resume bullet point can convey. In fact, it may help you to think about the es-says as an interview on paper. Don’t throw the lessons you learned in freshmen writing 101 out the window, but it would be a mistake to send in a set of essays that is bone dry, buttoned- up, or sleep- inducing. As you are writing, envision a bright-eyed admissions officer sitting in the chair across from you, hoping that what she learns about you will wow her so much that she will be one student closer to filling her classroom with an exceptional individual.

Most of the essay questions ask you to tell a story. Your reader has to plow through about forty to fifty of these story col-lections every day; so find a happy medium between a John Grisham thriller and a manuscript on Econometric Approaches to the Pricing of Linseed Oil, and you’ll strike the right tone. In other words, let your personality shine through, convey ex-citement and enthusiasm, inject a touch of wit and humor (with caution), and never forget that your reader is going to be asking himself or herself the question while reading, “Would I want to have this person sitting next to me in class for the next two years?”

In this section of the guide, we will provide insights, helpful hints, and examples that will help you in both content decisions (what you write about) and execution quality (how you write about it). We have focused on questions that appear frequently and applied thematic categories such as accomplishment essays, leadership essays, and career goals essays. In most cases, we will include a question or questions from a current or prior application that fit in that category. Please note that the ad-vice we offer on approach and execution will apply even if the wording of a particular question has changed. In fact, while the questions frequently change, the goals of the essays remain consistent: the admissions committee is looking for evi-dence that you have a combination of attributes that are a great fit for their program, the energy and talents to enrich the student community they are assembling, and the passion and potential to make a positive difference in the future.

The discussion on each essay question includes an:

Overview of the Question – Observations on what you are being asked and why the admissions committee is asking Essay Tips – Advice that will help you decide what to write about and tips that will help you to improve the quality of your essay from your first draft to final draft

(12)

THE CAREER GOALS ESSAY

Briefly summarise your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work,

major responsibilities, and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size

of budget, clients/products and results achieved.

Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you

were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms

of position?

If you are currently not working, what are you doing and what do you plan to do

until you start the MBA programme if applicable?

OVERVIEW OF THE QUESTION

IINSEAD’s required career goal essay is actually two separate prompts asking about your current job, your career thus far and finally your career goals. Ideally both essays have a logical flow and at the end of the final essay the reader will un-derstand how your experiences have led to your aspirations.

The third question is only for those candidates who are not currently working. If you are in this category of applicant the answer to that question should fit into your overall career goals strategy and demonstrate that you are actively working towards your goals even if you are not in a structured work setting at the moment.

While the questions are asked starting with your current job, you may want to write your essays starting with a career vision statement to know what your overall goal is. Then step back into your current job – what have you learned and what do you still need to learn? After knowing where you are and where you want to go, you will be better positioned to choose the information from your past professional experiences that is most relevant to your future plans.

CAREER GOALS

Your answer to this question should describe your short-term and long-term career goals, but, ideally, those goals should be an expression of an overarching goal—a “career vision.” A career vision goes beyond a particular industry and function and might include the organizational culture, geographical location, and, indeed, the desired setting of your life. Once you’ve developed that vision it is possible to define your immediate and future career goals including what job, experience, and knowledge you will pursue in order to realize your unique vision. The admissions committee is interested in what you are passionate about and your “vision” for translating your passions and deeper interests into a fulfilling career. Your pas-sion and enthusiasm for your goals is relevant to the admispas-sions committee because individuals who are highly motivated and know where they want to go in the future have a higher probability of getting there and will benefit most from the MBA experience.

(13)

In past years INSEAD always asked how studying at INSEAD would enable you to achieve your goals. While INSEAD did not include that question explicitly this year you should still build a convincing case that INSEAD is critical to achieving your career aspirations.

Consider also that this question is a test of your leadership abilities. Whether you are leading a club at INSEAD or a Fortune 500 company, you will be challenged to define goals with limited information and chart a course for realizing those goals. Leaders must be able to formulate goals in the face of uncertainty and with limited information, an accurate description of the challenge you face in answering this essay question.

YOUR CURRENT JOB

The detailed description of your current job prompt appears to ask for a simple list of what you do day-to-day. However, you will want to consider the question from the standpoint of the admissions committee. In asking about your current re-sponsibilities, budget, employees and results you are being asked about your impact on the organization, your leadership skills, and your management potential. These are crucial characteristics for a successful applicant to INSEAD and you will need to craft your response to showcase what you have done thus far in your job and the skills you will bring to INSEAD and your future career.

As you choose what to communicate about your current position you will want to ask yourself four questions: How does this information showcase my potential as a leader?

What am I communicating about my management skills? How can I demonstrate impact on my organization?

What are the relevant experiences in my current position that are leading me towards my future career goals?

WORK HISTORY

After hearing about your current position, INSEAD would like to know about your career since graduating from your un-dergraduate institution. Now that you have crafted your career vision and the most impactful information from your current job, you are well positioned to choose useful material from your career prior to your current position.

As you consider your career, spend time thinking about the inflection points. When did you make a choice, and why did you make the choice you did? Were there moments when you took a risk or switched course? At every point describe why you made the choices you did.

Your prior jobs may be able to fill in certain holes between your current job and future goals. For example, if you want to be a venture capitalist and you are currently a project manager in the software industry, but you spent two years as an in-vestment banking analyst after college, you can show that your skills in finance and knowledge of technology along with an INSEAD MBA form an ideal trajectory.

(14)

WHY INSEAD?

In addition to answering your career goals and history, INSEAD asks how studying at INSEAD will enable you to achieve your goals. While straightforward on the surface, the Why MBA, Why Our School essay question that many of schools ask is actually multi-faceted, complex, and demanding. Building a more convincing case than your competitors that INSEAD is critical to achieving your career aspirations is exactly what you must do.

If your career ambitions are limited in size and scope, then investing the time and money in an INSEAD MBA education may not be wise. The program is designed to provide you with the leadership abilities and business skills to achieve amazing things in your career. But an INSEAD education will not benefit all careers equally. Therefore, the admissions committee will expect the candidate to argue persuasively that his or her career and personal development goals match what INSEAD has to offer. They want to admit students who are highly motivated to pursue an INSEAD MBA and who will benefit the most from the INSEAD experience.

ESSAY TIPS

TIP #1: Create a career vision statement.

TIP #2: Describe a realistic, logical course for the future. TIP #3: Be very specific about Why INSEAD

TIP #4: But what if I “just” want to be a CEO, or a banker, or a strategy consultant, or a venture capitalist…? TIP #5: Explaining unemployment

(15)

TIP #1: A CAREER VISION IS A VISION STATEMENT.

You probably are familiar with the term “vision statement,” but it is helpful to define it and to consider the characteristics of an effective vision statement. The list of questions below will help you draft and revise your career vision statement. Don’t be frustrated if it requires a number of iterations for you to craft a statement that is clear and inspirational. As you craft your career vision input from family and friends who know you well may be invaluable, and you should seek their as-sistance.

A vision statement outlines what you want to be and to do in the future. It can serve as a polestar or guiding light that you can look to at critical points in your career to help you make career decisions and formulate career goals that bring you a step closer to your desired destination.

Questions for evaluating your vision statement:

•Does it provide a clear, vivid picture of who you want to be and what you want to do?

• Is it inspiring, uplifting, and positive?

• Is the wording memorable and engaging?

• Is it bold and yet grounded in reality?

• Does it connect to abiding passions, values, and deeper interests?

•Is it deeply meaningful to you?

SAMPLES

In the samples, we have shared some effective career vision statements.

Sample 1:

My career vision is to expand my current technology company into the educational business and create a platform that will enable institutions to expand world-class curriculum to busy working professionals. I envision my technology enabling motivated students to achieve their educational goals across the world.

Sample 2:

As a child I was fascinated by fabric and color and spent time creating my own hypothetical designs. In my career as a marketing brand manager at a consumer product company I work with designers to create form and function in new products. After receiving my MBA at INSEAD I plan to combine my interest in aesthetics and my experience bringing products to market in by running the business development group at a major luxury goods retailer.

Sample 3:

(16)

TIP #2: DESCRIBE A REALISTIC, LOGICAL COURSE FOR THE FUTURE.

This essay is also a great opportunity to display your analytical abilities and your problem solving skills. What forks in the road do you see in your future career path? How is the industry you want to work in evolving and what new skills and abil-ities will you need in the future? Are there any contingencies to be managed or uncertainties to be resolved? By revealing some of the complexities of your career path rather than depicting it as a straightforward journey, you will add richness to your career goals essay and demonstrate that you can foresee twists and turns and architect effective plans in the face of uncertainty.

At each phase of your career action plan you should specify your professional-development goals. Generally speaking, each phase of your career will provide additional skills and experiences you need to advance to the next step in your plan. You don’t have to go into great detail but revealing the motives and rationale behind your short-term career goals will demonstrate maturity and self-awareness.

Many applicants overlook this tip or feel that tempering their bold plans with realistic, short-term steps or describing new skills needed, will brand them as timid. Ensuring that you have the necessary skills, capabilities, and reputation to succeed isn’t timid, it’s realistic and wise.

In this particular essay prompt INSEAD asks for your career progress before asking for your career goals. Therefore you will want to make sure your career progress clearly identifies your development plan, and you can easily make the case for your career goals in the subsequent essay.

SAMPLE 1

In the essay sample below, the applicant describes his thought process as he proceeded through his career.

Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position?

While at university I studied economics and political science. As part of a junior year fellowship I worked with a microfi-nance NGO in Thailand, which set me on my career path. After graduating I decided to gain experience in fimicrofi-nance by tak-ing a job as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. The experience taught me how to evaluate investments and to perform thorough due diligence. While I enjoyed the challenge presented in my career at Goldman, I felt compelled to help others in the world more directly. After two years I decided to start looking for a position within the non-profit sector. Because of my finance background I decided to start within a finance role, planning to transition to an operational role at some point in the future.

I researched the organizations that managed operations across the world from a NYC headquarters, and ultimately took a job as a manager of finance at ILO, an organization that provides fundraising services for NGOs internationally. I was soon promoted to senior finance manager, overseeing all of the forecasting for our partner organizations. If I were to remain with ILO my next step would be Director of finance, which would be a similar function with more management oversight.

(17)

SAMPLE 2

In the beginning of the second essay prompt our applicant describes his career goals, using the groundwork he set in the description of his career thus far.

Discuss your career goals.

Working with a microfinance NGO in Thailand as part of a college fellowship taught me the power of a small loan to change lives. Inspired by the change that can occur when I help others help themselves, my ultimate career goal is to start my own microfinance NGO in my home country of India, focusing on women’s economic development. My back-ground in finance at Goldman Sachs, and in fundraising at ILO, laid a basis for my future career path. However, to achieve my goals, I need to develop my management skills and particularly, the operational ability to run my own organization. Immediately after graduation from INSEAD I plan to work as a regional director within a large NGO, preferably in India, to gain the on-the-ground operational skills to start my own organization as my long-term career goal.

(18)

TIP #3: Complete extensive school research and be very specific in your answer to “Why INSEAD?” If you can

sub-stitute any school’s name in your “Why Our School” answer you haven’t answered the question properly.

An effective leader understands his or her development needs and has an ability to formulate clear plans for self-improve-ment. The “Why INSEAD” question is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate this kind of self-awareness. Many applicants are loath to reveal any gaps or opportunities for growth, but this is a mistake because if you already possess all the skills and knowledge you require to succeed in your future career then it begs the question “why apply to an MBA program in the first place?”

Your reasons for pursuing an MBA may be fairly standard for all your applications, but the reasons for applying to each program must be highly customized. A quote from a student member of an admissions committee at one of the top five programs illustrates the importance of doing your research and providing clear, concrete reasons for your decision to apply:

“The one thing that stands out the most to me is how applicants fail to mention why our program is of particular interest to them. As an applicant, I often wondered just how much I needed to tailor my application essays to each school. Now I’m seeing things from the other side and realize it’s rather important. Just a modest bit of research (in the form of reach-ing out to current students, visitreach-ing campus, etc.) can go a long way towards makreach-ing an application shine a lot more than it otherwise would.”

You must build a compelling case for applying to INSEAD, but as every good litigator knows, cases are won by appealing to both reason and emotion. Along with providing logical justifications for applying to the program you will want to express your understanding of and enthusiasm for the school’s unique culture and spirit. Admissions personnel, especially student members of the committee, want to admit candidates who are in love with the program as much as they are -- candidates who feel a connection to the school that goes deeper than logic alone. Furthermore, they want students who will grow into passionate alumni who will stay connected to the program and their classmates long after graduation.

To answer this essay question, you must do your due diligence on the program including visiting the school, talking to stu-dents, alums, professors, and reading extensively about the program and its unique resources and offerings. Admissions officers are impressed by applicants who have done their homework and can speak about specifics – rather than just the activities, professors, and clubs listed on the website. The best information is “inside information”: speak to current stu-dents at the school who understand your career objectives and development goals and ask them for concrete ways the school will prepare you to achieve these goals.

You want to balance give and take in your response to the “Why Our School” portion of the essay. The bulk of this essay will of course be about what the INSEAD MBA program can do for you. Nevertheless, you should also use this as an op-portunity to tell the admissions officers what you can do for INSEAD. If you are excited about a particular campus organ-ization, you might write about how you could make that organization even more fantastic with your leadership if accepted. If you look forward to studying with a particular professor, you might write about how you could contribute to that profes-sor’s research with an innovative, field study project. If you have a professional network and connections that will benefit others who might have career interests similar to your own, then share those with the admissions officers. All successful relationships are two-way in nature in which both party offers something valuable to the other – your relationship to a future MBA community is no exception. You can also talk about your eagerness to engage with the community, contribute to discussions, forge friendships, give back as an alumnus and more. This is where your track record of engaging with a community and giving back comes in handy.

To help you to better appreciate the challenge and opportunity presented by this question we have detailed the goals for this aspect of the essay and also provided a list of additional questions that may help you generate content for your answer. Ultimately, your objective is to make five to six tailored points that supply iron clad reasoning for attending INSEAD.

(19)

Your goals for answering the Why MBA/Why INSEAD aspect of this essay are:

•To prove that you have thought deeply about why you are returning to school

•To prove that you’ve done thorough due diligence on the program – talked to students, alums, professors; visited campus; read extensively

• To demonstrate that you understand what an MBA program has to offer you specifically

•To demonstrate an exceptional understanding of what the program stands for and why it’s different and better for you than any other program

• To prove a glove in hand fit between your learning agenda and this program specifically and the culture/personality of the school

•To leave no question in the admissions committees’ mind that if offered admission that you will accept

•To explain your own very personal motives for choosing this school. If anyone could have provided the same set of reasons then you haven’t met this goal.

Questions you might address in your essay response:

•What are my highest priority learning/development needs given my specific career goals and career vi-sion? What specific classes, professors, and clubs are a perfect fit with my learning/development agenda? How does this school excel in the functional area or industry where I plan to build my career?

•How will the MBA experience change me in fundamental and necessary ways? An MBA program is not just about acquiring “MBA skills” like finance. It’s also about growing as a person, broadening perspec-tives, being exposed to new idea, developing as a manager and leader, etc…

•How does this school, its culture and/or the type of students it attracts fit perfectly with my own unique personality?

•What impressed me and convinced me to choose this program over all the others? What stood out for me when I visited the school and/or talked with current students, professors, or alumni?

• Why does the size of the program, teaching style, program design, or regional location appeal to me?

•What leadership, management, and teamwork development needs will the program address for me with its specific programs, resources, and student organizations?s

•How can I contribute and take advantage of all aspects of the program, including extracurricular?

(20)

My career goal of starting my own NGO one day will be served by the curriculum at INSEAD. From classes like Microeco-nomics in the Global Economy, that will provide a general overview of global trends, to Building Business in India, that will provide a deep dive into one specific economy, I will gain the educational basis to achieve my goals. I look forward to working with a diverse study group to learn about my classmates’ culture, while reconnecting with my own through “Desi” Indian Week. In my free time I plan to connect with my fellow students on the field as part of the INSEAD Rugby Club. As a leader within INDEVOR (an affiliate chapter of Net Impact) I plan to bring speakers I know through my work within the NGO community, like the CEO of an organization that was instrumental in keeping small business alive after the earthquake in Haiti.

TIP #4: But what if I “just” want to be a CEO, or a banker, or a strategy consultant, or a venture capitalist…?

But what if your career vision is to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or the managing director of an investment bank, or the partner of a high-flying consulting company?

INSEAD has yet to change their name to the INSEAD Not-For-Profit School, so these career ambitions are certainly ac-ceptable to the admissions committee. Just remember that your career vision is more expansive than your job title and in-dustry. Your career vision includes the type of organization you imagine leading. As a future leader, you will not just participate in corporate culture; you will shape it.

You must still ask yourself: How could I make a game changing, innovative impact in my field of choice? For example, if you want to be an investment banker, perhaps you have a credible plan to change the banking industry in a way that will ensure that future financial crises are averted. If you feel that consulting companies are long on advice and short on inspiring real change, then describe how your firm will be different once you are in charge. If you want to be a corporate turn-around specialist, explain how you might also use those same skills in your off hours to turn around a social crisis that concerns you.

There’s no shame in telling the admissions committee that you aspire to be a CEO; you are applying to INSEAD Business School, after all. Still, your ambitions must go beyond clawing your way to the top of the corporate mountain.

SAMPLE

The candidate who wrote the career goals essay below has fairly traditional post-MBA career plans, but he was able to show how he will bring his skills to transform his industry of choice.

When I graduated from college I knew that I had a passion for problem solving and an interest in the tech industry. My hobbies have always revolved around learning as much as possible about the latest gadget, and I spent many hours in high school building rudimentary web pages. My degree in economics and finance turned out to be a great fit for the business development analyst position at TechCo, and I quickly learned how to evaluate potential investments in tech-nology and products.

While working at TechCo I have realized that I am passionate about leading teams and seeing new products find a market. However, I have also observed the inefficiencies that come with a large risk-averse corporate environment. Many of the products I have worked on could have been developed to be even more revolutionary and customer friendly if the team had been comfortable with failure. I plan to work towards a leadership position in a company like TechCo, and my plan is to encourage as much failure as success. I firmly believe that to develop the products of the future we need to be nimble and innovative, and the fear of taking a real risk ends many innovative ideas before they can be developed. To encourage risk taking I will form small teams that are empowered to spend a limited amount of money on developing as many ideas as they would like and to evaluate them against the principles of customer usability and function. Only then will we apply the pressure of a profit and loss plan. I firmly believe that my technical and business background, along with the education I receive at INSEAD will help me develop my vision into a long and successful career.

(21)

TIP #5: Explaining Unemployment

If you are currently not working, what are you doing and what do you plan to do until you start the MBA programme? The new prompt in the INSEAD application this year can be ignored by all candidates who are currently working. If you are applying to INSEAD and not currently working, this question is for you. For someone who is not currently working, this question is a gift. You are able to use this space to talk about the activities you are currently involved in instead of won-dering how you will answer question one. You also know that INSEAD will not treat your unemployment as a barrier to ad-mission and that the school is assuming some percentage of applicants will not be currently employed.

To answer this question productively it may help to think about what INSEAD hopes to learn about you from this essay. The assumption in the question is that you are doing something, and that you have a proactive plan to keep yourself busy until you start the MBA programme. If you are currently job hunting and do not have a strategic plan, this might be a good time to think about how you have been spending your time outside of looking for work, and what you hope to accomplish before you enter school.

Here are some possible activities you might be pursuing: International travel

Volunteering

Skills development (formally or informally) Building your professional network

Researching your career goals

Learning more about your skills and interests Starting a business

Spending time with family

In the limited space you have for this question you will certainly want to include the professional activities you are involved in. At the same time, mentioning that you are taking this time to follow a passion like your family or travel can show the school who you are as a whole person.

Essay Sample:

My work with Flyline Ventures ended on January 15, 2011 when we were turned down for Series A funding, and the start up funding ran out. The team was disappointed that our networking site for Tweens would need to be downsized, yet the founders remained on the project in hopes that they could find financial backing to hire the product development team back.

Since I left Flyline I have been researching my long-term career aspirations. To learn more about the retail industry I have met with professionals working in women’s apparel and shoes. In the process of getting to know the industry I have shadowed a designer at a small clothing line, met with merchandising professionals, networked with retail shop owners, and spoken with web retailers I know through my prior job. This process has helped me understand the retail business

(22)

THE ACCOMPLISHMENT AND FAILURE ESSAY

Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In

addi-tion, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact

your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned.

OVERVIEW OF THE QUESTION

The Accomplishments Essay question is well designed because it operates on at least three levels.

First, the question requires the applicant to do more than just rattle off a list of strengths. The essay is of course an op-portunity to feature your strong suits, but rather than “tell” the admissions committee about your capabilities, you are ex-pected to “show” them what you are capable of via two very short stories. Your objective in crafting these stories is to persuade the admissions committee that you are a high-achiever equipped to excel at INSEAD and in your future career. Second, the question is open-ended, offering you maximum flexibility. All your life achievements are in scope: academic, personal, professional, and community service. Moreover, you are free to interpret the essay question as you see fit: What contributions have I made that really matter to me and to others? When have I made the biggest impact? What have I done thus far in my life of which I am truly proud? There is no single right way to interpret the question. In fact, your in-terpretation of the question is an important way for you to convey your unique perspective to the admissions committee. Third, the accomplishments essay is in fact a two-part question. The first question requires you to tell your accomplishment stories. The follow-up question requires you to explain why you are most proud of this accomplishment. Some applicants answer the second part of the question by trying to defend the significance of their accomplishment. In actuality, the second question is an opportunity to express your individuality and to reveal the personal meaning behind each of your two achievement stories. This part of the question is an opportunity to communicate your values, reveal your passions, express your individuality, and explain the deeper meaning behind each success. From your choice of accomplishments, the admissions officer will infer your own unique definition of success. Keep this in mind as you review your resume of achievements and favor those that mean the most to you over those you believe might one-up the competition.

The second part of this question is about failure. Making mistakes is an inevitable consequence of leading. By definition, the leader is blazing a new trail where guidebooks and guidelines simply don’t exist; so missteps are sure to occur. The ad-missions committee will be very leery of a candidate who claims a flawless string of successes and no blunders. All of the possibilities are red flags: the candidate is being dis- honest; the candidate is incapable of recognizing a mistake and lacks self-awareness; the candidate is so cautious that he or she never makes a move unless success is assured. The opportunities for growth for this person are slim; the chances of admission to INSEAD are even slimmer.

Mistakes or disappointment occur when one’s assumptions about how the world works are off base or unrealistic. The mis-take is a reality check. Some people cling to faulty assumptions and continue to hit brick walls while others learn something new, course-correct, and move forward. Moreover, a leader who is capable of admitting when he is wrong is showing his followers that making and admitting mistakes is okay. Facing disappointment and solving the problem that led to your feel-ings shows introspection and maturity. It’s easy to see why these leadership characteristics are paramount.

(23)

ESSAY TIPS

TIP #1: Write about the times you’ve left “footprints” in your areas of passion. TIP #2: Feature recent accomplishments with some exceptions.

TIP #3: Consider both “I” and “We” accomplishments. TIP #4: Own your mistake and demonstrate self-awareness. TIP #5: Show initiative.

(24)

TIP #1: Write about the times you’ve left “footprints” in your areas of passion.

One of the first questions you should ask yourself while surveying your past accomplishments is “When have I left my foot-prints in an area I’m passionate about?” The central insight here is that your achievements are more meaningful and more revealing to the admissions officer if your actions are fueled by more than simply a desire to climb another rung on the corporate ladder or win for the sake of winning. The things about which we feel strongly provide insight into who we are and how we stand out from the crowd. Your passions make you unique. Your achievements in the areas of your passion show the admissions committee that you are the type of person who knows what is important to you and takes action in accordance with your values. Moreover, achievements related to your passions qualify the achievement as substantial, so answering part two of the essay question will be straightforward.

Personal accomplishments and contributions to a community that you are connected to are often good sources of achieve-ments, but professional accomplishments are important too. Ideally, our careers do provide another outlet for expressing our passion and desire to make an impact. The following before and after samples from one of our clients illustrate this point. In the first version, her achievement is noteworthy, but as we talked more about her accomplishment in the second version, the connection between the achievement, her own passions, and the project’s role in clarifying her career vision brought the story to life, making it more memorable and meaningful.

Before:

The achievement that is most important to me was closing my first deal for our organic lotion line, Swell. Not only was

the deal my first, it generated $500K annually, which constituted 20_{% of the brand’s annual revenue. I am proud that I}

was able to identify the decision maker at the retailer and convince her that Swell offered a different consumer proposition than her current product assortment – particularly in Swell’s customized fresh scents. Even more difficult was convincing our internal product team to adapt Swell’s formulation to adhere to the tough standards of the retailer. As a major national outlet, the retailer insisted upon all natural and all organic products – which is a more stringent standard than the FDA re-quirements for the organic label. I convinced the product team that while reformulating would cost additional time and money, having Swell sold at the most popular organic market in the United States would translate to increased sales. The scientists were able to reformulate Swell, maintaining our stand out scents while ensuring shelf-stability.

After:

I have always been passionate about beauty products, and as a child I “designed” my own lotions and shampoos with customized scents often created with the kitchen spice cabinet. Now, I love the act of developing products that people enjoy in their day to day life. Therefore, landing a job in business development for a major beauty products company was a dream come true. The achievement that is most important to me was closing my first deal for our organic lotion

line, Swell. Not only was the deal my first, it generated $500K annually, which constituted 20_{% of the brand’s annual}

revenue. Though it was challenging to convince the large natural foods retailer that Swell offered a different consumer proposition than her current product assortment – I sold the value of Swell’s customized fresh scents. However, the re-tailer insisted upon all natural and all organic products. I convinced my product team that while reformulating would cost additional time and money, Swell’s placement at the most popular organic market in the United States would increase sales. The scientists were able to reformulate Swell, maintaining our stand out scents while ensuring shelf-stability. This accomplishment is especially meaningful to me because I learned that creating win-win solutions to benefit both my company and the environment makes me personally satisfied. I want to look back at my life and know that I was part of making women’s lives more beautiful, while maintaining the natural beauty of our world.

TIP #2: Feature recent accomplishments with some exceptions.

In general, you should write about achievements you’ve made in the last several years. Admissions officers will place greater weight on more recent accomplishments. They are seeking a snapshot of who you are at present, and most recent expe-riences will help them develop this picture. In fact, some program’s essay instructions specifically require you to select ex-periences only from within the last three years.

(25)

For many people this is easy because they experience their most significant accomplishments after leaving college and spending the time to mature in the workplace. However, you may have a different life path. If you are someone who had a major, life changing accomplishment in college or before, this is your opportunity to showcase that achievement. Because INSEAD allows you to write about an accomplishment at any point in your life, you can use your own judgment about the scale and scope of the accomplishments in your life.

SAMPLE

This candidate was an Olympic ice skater in high school, which was an accomplishment that taught her quite a bit about herself and how to handle competition.

I felt my body hit the ice as I was attempting to land my third double axel jump. My hip burned, but I picked myself up and finished my routine with my final salchow jump. I held back tears as I realized that all my work to qualify for the Salt Lake City Olympics would not lead to a medal. As one of the few world-class skaters in Taiwan, I easily qualified for 2002 Olympics. However, it was clear at practices that I was out-classed by the skaters from Russia, Ukraine and the United States. I remained determined and did my best in spite of my fear. While I ultimately did not place at the 2002 games, I am proud of my ability to persist and compete despite the odds. I have carried the lessons learned as a competitive skater through my career. Last year I faced a disappointment at work when I was passed over for promotion despite my hard work. Instead of letting the setback affect my attitude, I worked harder and ultimately won the respect of my boss and a promotion in another department. Whenever I face difficulty, I remember the moment when I fell on the ice in front of an international audience of millions and carried on to finish strong.

TIP #3: Consider both “I” and “We” accomplishments.

The INSEAD accomplishments essay is an open invitation to feature your achievements as a leader. Another one of the mistakes that some applicants make is to write only about solo accomplishments, thereby missing an opportunity to show-case collaborative abilities and team leadership. We’ll have more to say later about effective leadership essays, but this is a good time to point out that what distinguishes a leadership essay from an individual achievement essay is that the success is the result of the cooperative efforts of a group of people. Your ability to provide direction, to motivate a team, and harness the combined talents and energies of the group are central to a good leadership story.

SAMPLE

Here’s an example of a solid “we” accomplishment essay.

As a member of the alumni committee for Mayan College in Los Angeles, I had a personal desire to leverage our 300 members to provide career guidance to new graduates. The other members of the committee had varying goals including building a fundraising base for the college, and just having fun with like-minded alumni. To generate support for my idea I identified several successful alums of Mayan and interviewed them about their career path. In many cases they had used their personal network to accomplish their career goals. I wanted to formalize that network by providing access to current students and recent graduates to those who had blazed a path in different fields in Los Angeles. I rallied a group to help me accomplish this goal, and we brainstormed ideas like social networking, happy hours, lecture series and job shadowing. The team voted and we decided to set up three focused lectures on the entertainment industry, the real estate industry and technology as the three most sought after industries among recent grads. Our lectures were followed

(26)

TIP #4: Own your mistake and demonstrate self-awareness

By its very nature the mistake essay is a test of your maturity and self-awareness. In a situation where you are marketing yourself, it may feel awkward to highlight the instances in which you have made an error. It’s much more fun to share your accomplishments, and it’s natural to want to highlight strengths. What many applicants don’t understand is that the ability to recognize, accept responsibility for, react to, and learn from a mistake is a tremendous strength – one that not all early-career, high achievers possess.

In some ways, the mistake essay exists to weed out that subset of future leaders who will rise to the top based on tremen-dous willpower and self-confidence but will ultimately be brought down because they don’t have the ability to recover when things don’t go according to plan. The mistake essay then is the “yang” to the accomplishments essay’s “yin.” The admis-sions committee has offered you an opportunity to share your strengths and tout your achievements; now it is time to demonstrate a different kind of confidence: the confidence to admit that you are fallible and that you take advantage of the instruction provided by the inevitable missteps that will test even high achievers. Don’t defend your mistake or deflect the blame.

SAMPLE 1

In the first sample example, the applicant did a particularly good job of presenting the mistake because her essay also highlighted some character strengths and accomplishments. Yes, she tripped up in the process. Still, her error is cloaked in a great story about an impressive undertaking.

It was my first opportunity to run a project as a manager in the business development group at HIP magazine. I was thrilled about the opportunity to launch a microsite for our new sub brand and immediately wrote up the outcome I was seeking and some steps I felt the team needed to take in order to accomplish a successful launch. Though I had little technical experience, I was confident I knew exactly how we could accomplish our goals.

At the first meeting of the microsite team I laid out my goals for the team and started assigning people to next steps. While the atmosphere in the room was subdued, I felt good about the proactive direction in which I was leading the team. In our next meeting I asked for updates and noticed that every member of the team was presenting what I perceived as excuses for their lack of progress. I was upset about the lack of progress, and asked the team why the project was slipping behind schedule. Everyone had a different issue and the meeting ended without resolution.

I was frustrated and upset that my first project management job seemed to be failing already. I met with my boss during our weekly meeting and told him about the issues. His response was to suggest that my job was not to lay out every next step for the technical team, especially with my lack of technical knowledge, but rather to communicate my vision. I realized I had been too focused on the details of execution, and had failed to rally the team behind a bigger picture goal. At our next meeting I left my spreadsheet of next steps in my office and spent the time communicating my vision and leading an interactive discussion on it. Together we distilled the project down to three key messages: 1. The microsite needed to engage the consumer and increase time spent on the website, 2. The microsite should reflect the most user-friendly design possible and 3. The microsite needed to comply with our HIP brand guidelines. We mapped out next steps so that each stakeholder understood deliverables. I then told the team that I trusted their expertise in the execution and I was available to help them with resources and ideas if needed.

My new approach paid off and our HIP microsite launched at our deadline and under budget. Most importantly, the site accomplished all of the goals we had developed together and was a key traffic driver for the overall site for the year.

SAMPLE 2

The second sample illustrates what not to do in the mistake essay. The same candidate attempts to defend the mistake and deflect blame to others. Avoid the trap that many applicants fall into, and demonstrate that you have the maturity to acknowledge your errors, learn from them, and grow.

(27)

It was my first opportunity to run a project as a manager in the business development group at HIP magazine. I was thrilled about the opportunity to launch a microsite for our new sub brand and immediately wrote up the outcome I was seeking and some steps I felt the team needed to take in order to accomplish a successful launch. Though I had little technical experience, I was confident I knew exactly how we could accomplish our goals.

At the first meeting of the microsite team I laid out my goals for the team and started assigning people to next steps. While the atmosphere in the room was subdued, I felt good about the proactive direction I was leading the team. In our next meeting I asked for updates and noticed that every member of the team was presenting excuses for their lack of progress – the developer told me he didn’t have the resources to accomplish my objectives and that the microsite would be four weeks behind schedule. I was upset about the lack of progress, and asked the team why the project was slipping behind schedule. Everyone had a different issue and the meeting ended without resolution.

I was frustrated and upset that my first project management job seemed to be failing already. I felt that the team was not engaged in the process and that we did not have the proper resources to complete the job. The website developer I was working with seemed to be obstructing me at every turn, and the designer kept sending me designs for approval that did not comply with the brand guidelines. I found myself spending hours a day running the logos and designs through our marketing department and meeting with the development team to understand why the microsite was delayed. Finally, I met with my boss and discussed the issues with the teams. I told him that our designer didn’t understand the company process, that the developer was unfocused and that we didn’t have the headcount to finish the project. My boss was upset with me and frustrated that our project was delayed. He then went to his boss and discussed the issue, and I eventually received more resources and support in order to complete the project. I learned from this project that it is not possible to control all aspects of a given job. Despite my vision and the work I poured in to lay out all steps, I was unable to control the outcome. Hiccups and disappointments are inevitable, but perseverance and focus will allow me to see my projects through.

TIP #5: Show initiative

Think about the times that have not met your personal objectives at work or with an organization. Did your disappointment lead to positive change? If so, you have found an excellent topic for this essay.

Especially in the early drafts, you may struggle to simply properly describe the situation and how you responded in the limited space allocated. Often times, applicants spend the majority of the essay explaining, or worse – defending – the issue and only a sentence or two sharing what they learned.

At least some percentage of the essay should be reserved for sharing what you learned and how you grew both personally and professionally as a result of missing your own objectives. Everyone makes mistakes, but it is the ability to learn from those mistakes that leads to wisdom and future success. Try to extract the universal lessons from the experience, and when possible tell the reader how what you learned has changed the way you approach similar situations today. This is the case regardless of how the mistake question is phrased; the purpose of talking about mistakes is not just to outline the experience – it is to share what you learned.

INSEAD Essay Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION:

The Stacy Blackman Consulting Essay Guides

PART ONE:

What is INSEAD looking for?

PART TWO:

Essay Strategies, Tactics, and Tips

THE CAREER GOALS ESSAY

Briefly summarise your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work,

major responsibilities, and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size

of budget, clients/products and results achieved.

Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you

were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms

of position?

If you are currently not working, what are you doing and what do you plan to do

until you start the MBA programme if applicable?

THE ACCOMPLISHMENT AND FAILURE ESSAY

Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In

addi-tion, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact

your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned.