Prompt: Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders.
Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment.
Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words maximum)
This essay must include a variety of diverse elements to properly answer the prompt.
This can be short, but it is really the crux of the essay, which is about "intentionality." Kellogg seeks people who have really thought out why they are choosing to take the leap now.
You really must demonstrate your research and understanding of what Kellogg has to offer, and what you as an individual will gain from Kellogg. For example, the curriculum, or a major or pathway, student organizations, or some specific aspect of the Kellogg culture. Focus only on what is distinctive to you about Kellogg.
Identify perspective, knowledge, or experiences that will allow you to contribute something unique or valuable to the Kellogg community.
The Kellogg learning community encompasses your classmates, project team mates, fellow club members, fellow entrepreneurs, faculty, and alumni. You should know what clubs you want to join, pathways that you want to follow, etc., and be able to explain how what you bring will enhance their learning experience, friendships, networking, etc.
In considering what you will share, consider both your personal life and your professional life. The other essay demanded that you share a professional experience, so consider how you are expanding your application. In thinking about professional experiences or knowledge to share, consider what either doesn't appear on your resume or what on your resume that you really want to expand upon.
Prompt: Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process, and how it impacted your leadership style. (450 words maximum)
Kellogg asks for a story about a difficult professional decision that you made. This decision might be made in any context, from an ambiguous challenge to murky ethical waters, or perhaps the possible negative impact that the decision would make on the team, organization, or an individual, or even a potential negative impact that the decision would have on your own career. The decision might be one that requires you to leave your comfort zone to go into uncharted territory. Most of the story should be focused on what made the decision difficulty and your decision-making: the thought process behind your decision.
The decision does NOT have to been the right one, as long as you took away a deeper learning from the experience.
In addition, the decision process can be a short one, even a split-second decision, but you must be able to fully describe why you made that decision; you don't want to come off as lacking consideration in important decisions. Alternatively, the decision process can be a longer, more extended one, but you must be able to explain why the decision took to you so long to arrive at; you don't want to come across as indecisive.
Kellogg prefers the team mentality, so if there are other people impacted by the decision that you made, you must acknowledge that and describe how that people impact played a part in your ultimate decision.
The experience that you share in this essay should reflect your values. The decision that you arrive at must reflect your values.
Definition of values: a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life.
What values are important to you? (Also why are they important to you?)
Then consider how those values influenced your decision-making process and/or ultimate decision?
Use elements of the "STAR" story as a framework:
After the writing up the story, you should reflect and include the answer to this question: What did you learn in the process, and how has it shaped you as a leader?
Prompt: We know that life is full of extenuating circumstances. Whether you want to explain gaps in work experience, your choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance or something else, you can use this section to briefly tell us anything we need to know about your application. (280 words)
This space can be used to address any extenuating circumstances that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. Use to address:
Use this essay to turn a potential weakness into a strength. Tell the Admissions Committee what happened and why it happened. Be honest in your self-evaluation. Most importantly, tell them what you have learned from a negative experience, and how this learning has influenced future actions.
You have 96 hours after the application deadline to submit your video essays. It comes up pretty quickly, so you have to prepare well in advance.
You will be asked three questions. For each question, the question will be read by a person in a video (usually a member of the Admissions Committee). You will be prompted to respond, with a very brief pause (20 seconds) to prepare.
Video essays are due 96 hours after the application deadline.
Kellogg asks for a video essay component. You have 96 hours after the application deadline to submit your video essays. It comes up pretty quickly, so you have to prepare well in advance.
You have one minute to answer, and that is what you need to practice: The One Minute Answer.
These will all be random questions.....
"Introduce us to something that we wouldn't know through your resume."
"Please introduce yourself to the Admissions Committee."
There are five main components to the self-introduction.
Think of something to describe yourself or what you do that will stick with people, something that's engaging, interesting and short.
Example Hook: Someone who was creating a meditation app: "I create the monk in your pocket."
You might start with something personal from your background and tie it to the professional, or the opposite.
Example Hook: Someone developing consumer technology: "It all started with my 87-year-old grandmother saving my father's business by selling 5,000 plastic bags on the streets of Guatemala."
(Source for examples: Tatiana Kolovou, senior lecturer in the Department of Communication, Professional and Computer Skills at the IU Kelley School of Business)
If you have an international background that does not show up on your resume, work it into the introduction.
I recommend using a little humor in your video introduction - don't take yourself overly seriously.
My client James was accepted to Kellogg, and here is one of his practice runs. I think that he did a great job. Obviously, when he did the real video, he wore a suit and tie, and he had the laptop aligned with his head and shoulders. I provide this to you just a reference - you should develop your own "introduction." (Also, don't pass this around to anyone else.)
“What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you?”
Again, you can develop a script, and post bullet points just behind your web camera, but memorize it, so that you're not obviously reading.
This is your Why an MBA & Why Kellogg answer condensed into one minute.
Don't just provide general reasons that could be applied to other schools. Search for reasons why Kellogg the BEST school to help you reach your goals. This includes the Majors & Pathways that you would follow.
For this answer, you should definitely script out what you will say, and have me review.