Grad's guide to graduate admissions essays - Colleen Reding 2015
University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
Business
How will the Wharton MBA help you achieve your professional objectives?
There is a reason why President Obama’s campaign for change in 2008 was a winning one. It struck a chord with Americans who were desperate after a decade of gridlock. The crushing realization followed that perhaps the promise of change was just “talk” and that things really cannot get done in Washington.
I was one of the Americans who had hoped for “change” and a new era of cooperation, but my hope slowly fizzled, and by the onset of the 2012 campaign, it had evaporated completely. The partisan finger-pointing and entrenchment stifled innovation and defeated ideas before they had a chance. All good policy starts with a visionary idea—like the New Deal and women’s suffrage—but currently, what our country faces is not a lack of good ideas, it is an inability to implement them.
The skills missing from the equation are those that can take ideas and turn them into action, take strategy and transform it into reality, and I believe those are business skills. In 2 years at Google, I have seen firsthand how a successful business operates. Google values efficiency, productivity, and the promise of a new idea. I have learned that, to move anything forward, you have to do the legwork, get buy-in from stakeholders who often have competing interests, and above all else, execute well—and the same is true of policy making.
The Wharton MBA program will continue my education on what it takes to make an organization successful and how to be an effective leader. Wharton graduates can apply the skills acquired from the program to practical, real-life issues. Unlike many, I do not seek an MBA to work at a hedge fund or investment bank. I want to be a person who can take an idea and successfully turn it into something great. If admitted I would explore the Business and Public Policy major as a way to further understand their intersection.
At Wharton, the diversity and sheer number of classes, the emphasis on leadership, and the idea that the Wharton education does not end upon graduation are exciting and unique features of the MBA program. A Wharton education brings practical force to visionary ideals, and I plan to put my degree to good use. Our country needs policy leaders who can dream up the next big idea and execute it effectively—and I hope to be one of them.
Select a Wharton course, co-curricular opportunity or extra-curricular engagement that you are interested in. Tell us why you chose this activity and how it connects to your interests.
It would be an understatement to say that I was busy during my undergraduate years at Georgetown. I immersed myself in a variety of clubs and organizations that, while beautifully supplementing my academic life, certainly kept me active and mostly out of trouble. I managed a student-run snack shop (aptly called “Hoya Snaxa” in homage to our university), I was the Editor-in-Chief of a student newsmagazine, and I helped run new student orientation. Though I loved my classes and knew to prioritize my coursework, looking back I realize how academics formed only one part of my education. My extracurricular clubs and responsibilities, my friends and social life, together with my classes created a well-rounded, full education worthy of the financial investment.
When deciding whether to apply to Wharton’s MBA program, I researched the classes I would be able to take, student testimonials about life at Wharton, and extracurricular opportunities, and tried to imagine what my life would be like on campus. I did so because I understand that, for me, education occurs in and out of the classroom. Along with taking core and elective classes, I want to feel engaged with the student body and feel like I am an important part of a community greater than myself. You’ve received my application because I am confident I would have that at Wharton.
From Women in Business to table tennis, Wharton offers an assortment of clubs and organizations all geared toward introducing students and enhancing campus life. The one club that excites me and that I will definitely join is the Politics and Public Policy club. Casual political conversation can be a dangerous minefield (my extended family is living proof of this). People become impassioned, stubborn, and unable to hear what others are saying. When the same debate is fostered within a willing, participatory group of people who simply want to share ideas and hear others, it can be an exhilarating experience. I am currently a member of a similar club in San Francisco and each month, I look forward to seeing the people who care enough about the issues that they not only encourage, but demand, respectful debate.
I have a lot to learn from Wharton. I know that I will be challenged by my classes, and I’m excited for that experience. The content of the classes will be completely new to me, and I’m eager to roll up my sleeves. However, I know from experience that there are more ways to be challenged and pleasantly uncomfortable while at a university. It’s like jumping into the deep end, only half confident that you can swim. I am sure I will find common ground with fellow students in the Politics and Public Policy club, but I also know that I will test my personal limits and explore new interests while pursuing a Wharton MBA.
Imagine your work obligations for the afternoon were cancelled and you found yourself work free for three hours, what would you do?
I live in a truly special part of San Francisco called Hayes Valley or, if you are a fan of the show Full House, right near the show’s iconic pastel houses in Alamo Square. Rarely do I have the opportunity to enjoy my neighborhood in the calm of a workweek afternoon—when there are fewer tourists in Alamo Square, fewer runners in the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park, and fewer groups who love cheap weekend mimosas at my favorite cafe. I work an hour south of the city at Google’s headquarters and, like many Bay Area commuters, dream of a free workday afternoon in the city. If given 3 afternoon hours off today, I would do the things I love most and recharge in my own pocket of San Francisco. First up—what will I cook for dinner?
My grocery list formulates as I walk up the stairs to my apartment. Down the hall and in my room, it solidifies. Brussels sprouts, my new favorite vegetable, make the cut. Chicken, maybe fish, because even with extra time, I am not terribly clever with a menu. And of course, a given for me, pasta in any form. I quickly change into my running clothes, slip my keys and a credit card into my pocket, and grab my old Winchester High School Tennis sweatshirt because, no matter the time of year, you need it in San Francisco. I rush out the door in hot pursuit of the last bit of sunlight on a sure-to-be foggy late afternoon. Some people fear running in San Francisco because of the many hills, but save one minimal hill, my chosen run through the Panhandle and into the park is purposefully flat. The route smells amazingly fresh due to countless eucalyptus trees and if I can make it all the way to the waterfall, past the de Young museum, I’ll have experienced an unparalleled mental escape.
On the way home, I’ll stop off at a market on Divisadero Street to collect my groceries and a few other things I won’t have intended to buy but, of course, will. After a quick (read: very long) shower in my usually crowded apartment, I’ll grab the new Erik Larsen book my Dad gave me that I haven’t yet started and head to my favorite cafe for a few hours of peace and an out-of-this-world latte. By the time I return home to cook, my three roommates will be trickling in to share the remainder of my day.
It occurs to me that I ought to plan for rain, in which case, my backup to the run is to cross a movie off my growing list with a matinee or enjoy an episode or two of The West Wing from the couch. Everything else in my gifted afternoon remains the same — the cooking, the latte, and the untouched book. It won’t be a crazy afternoon, but it will be perfectly and honestly me.