• General MBA Application Essay Tips
  A few rules to keep in mind while writing your essays.
• How to Write an “Accomplishment Essay”
  The goal in answering this kind of question is to analyze, rather than summarize, an achievement. This advice is particularly true if you’re discussing an accomplishment that is listed elsewhere on the application. Your readers want to gain insight into your character, not read a factual summary of what occurred.
• How to Write Career Goal Essay
  Almost all top MBA programs ask applicants to write an essay about there short term and long term goal and how this MBA program will help the applicant reach the goal.
• A Few Things to Consider When Writing Aaccomplishments Essay
  Typically, you will be asked to list one or several of your greatest accomplishments. A few things to consider when writing this essay…
• Sample MBA Achivements Essay and Comments
  A sampel MBA achivement essay along with comments by profesionals.

This is a repost from Free Essay Writing Topics, Templates, Tips and Examples.

Sample Analysis of an Issue Question

“The best strategy for managing a business, or any enterprise, is to find the most capable people and give them as much authority as possible.�

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Sample Analysis of an Argument Question

The following appeared in an article in a health and fitness magazine.

“Laboratory studies show that Saluda Natural Spring Water contains several of the minerals necessary for good health and that it is completely free of bacteria. Residents of Saluda, the small town where the water is bottled, are hospitalized less frequently than the national average. Even though Saluda Natural Spring Water may seem expensive, drinking it instead of tap water is a wise investment in good health.�

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

As with the Issue essay, there is no single “correct,” way to organize an Argument essay. In our view, however, your essay should include separate “introduction” and “conclusion” paragraphs, as well as at least two “body” paragraphs in which you develop your critique of the stated argument.

The following template spells out this structure in more detail, and each of the sample Analysis of Argument essays in this book follow this basic pattern.

You do not have to adhere strictly to this format in order to write an effective Argument essay. You may find that some other form works better for you, especially for the body of your essay. Also, the numbers of sentences indicated for each paragraph here are merely suggestions or guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules. (Note: The transitional phrases used here are purposely simplistic; do not simply “parrot” them word-for-word in your essay or adopt a mechanistic fill-in the blank approach. If you do, your essay might appear stilted or contrived.)

Try to accomplish three goals in your introductory paragraph (2-4 sentences) :

• Briefly restate the argument.
• Briefly trace the argument’s line of reasoning.
• Indicate the extent to which the argument is logically convincing.
• If possible, sum up your arguments in one sentence (or two brief sentences).
• Here’s a sample template for the first paragraph that accomplishes these goals:

The author concludes that____________, because ________. The author’s line of reasoning is that ______________. This argument is unconvincing for several reasons; it is____________ and it uses _____________.

In the first body paragraph your goal is to critique one of the following (3-5 sentences):

• The reasoning of the argument
• One of the premises of the argument
• One of the assumptions of the argument

Here’s a sample template for this paragraph that accomplishes this goal:
First of all, ____________________________ is based upon the questionable assumption________________________________. That _______________, however, _________________. Moreover, ________________________.

The purpose of the second paragraph is to address one of the following (3-4 sentences):

• The reasoning of the argument
• One of the premises of the argument
• One of the assumptions of the argument

Here’s a sample template for this paragraph that accomplishes this goal:

Secondly, the author assumes that_________________________. However, __________________________. It seems equally reasonable to assume that ____________________.

Third (and optional Fourth) Body Paragraph
In this paragraph your goal is to critique one of the following:

• The reasoning of the argument
• One of the premises of the argument
• One of the assumptions of the argument

Here’s a sample template for this paragraph that accomplishes this goal:

Finally, _______________________________________. The author fails to consider__________________________________. For example, __________________. Because the author’s argument_________________.

Final Paragraph (2-3 sentences)
In the final paragraph your goals are to:

• Summarize your critique of the argument
• State the main point of your essay
• The final paragraph is not the placer to introduce new arguments or issues. Sample template:

In sum, I agree that______________________. However, ____________________; on balance, ____________________.

Depending on personal experience, personality type and emotional concern, we find that some people hold the idea of ……A….. meanwhile others prefer to …..B…., form my point of view, it is more advisable to chose A rather than B. My arguments for this point are listed as follows.

The main reason for my propensity for A is that ______________________. _______________. For instance, ________________________.

Another reason can be seen by every one is that ____________________. ______________________. For example, ________________________.

The argument I support in the first paragraph is also in a position of advantage because ___________________________________________________.

Although I agree that there may be a couple of advantages of B, I feel that the disadvantages are more obvious. Such as _____________________. In a word, _________________________________________. So, it is sagacious to support the statement that it is better to A.

Some people call this outline ‘Structure Template‘ while I disagree. You can use this for practice to learn how a good essay structure is, but I have to mention please don’t abuse it!

A1.The following appeared in a memorandum from the business department of the Apogee Company:
“When the Apogee Company had all its operations in one location, it was more profitable than it is today. Therefore, the Apogee Company should close down its field offices and conduct all its operations from a single location. Such centralization would improve profitability by cutting costs and helping the company maintain better supervision of all employees.�

A2. The following appeared in an editorial from a magazine produced by an organization dedicated to environmental protection:
“In order to effectively reduce the amount of environmental damage that industrial manufacturing plants cause, those who manage the plants must be aware of the specific amount and types of damage caused by each of their various manufacturing processes. However, few corporations have enough financial incentive to monitor this information. In order to guarantee that corporations reduce the damage caused by their plants, the federal government should require every corporation to produce detailed annual reports on the environmental impact of their manufacturing process, and the government should impose stiff financial penalties for failure to produce these reports.�

A3. The following appeared in a memorandum from the head of a human resources department at a major automobile manufacturing company to the company’s managers: “Studies have found that employees of not-for-profit organizations and charities are often more highly motivated than employees of for-profit corporations to perform well at work when their performance is not being monitored or evaluated. Interviews with employees of not-for-profit organizations suggest that the reason for their greater motivation is the belief that their work helps to improve society. Because they believe in the importance of their work, they have personal reasons to perform well, even when no financial reward is present. Thus, if our corporation began donating a significant portion of its profits to humanitarian causes, our employees’ motivation and productivity would increase substantially and our overall profits would increase as well.”