Grad's guide to graduate admissions essays - Colleen Reding 2015

Northwestern university - Kellogg school of management and McCormick school of engineering and applied science [dual degree]
Business

Discuss moments or influences in your personal life that have defined who you are today.

A few days after graduation, I was sitting in Father Tom’s office. Father Tom, a Jesuit professor whose course I took senior year, and I had formed a close relationship during our semester together. As a “thank you” for making such a positive impact on me, I came to his office that day to give him a present, a custom-made book of photos that I had taken around Georgetown’s campus. As he finished paging through the book, he reached into his desk and pulled out a small card. It turns out Father had a present for me as well, something that was much more meaningful than the book of photos, and something that would help me reach an important realization in my life. It was a business card that had my name on one line; on the second line, where a professional title would normally be positioned, it simply said “Human.”

While we sometimes categorize ourselves as consultants and engineers, students and teachers, or husbands and wives, we all have the struggle of being human in common. This moment with Father helped me realize that my own human struggle—how I had worked to define myself—had been about finding an internally consistent picture of myself among the competing influences I had experienced up to that point.

I grew up in West Virginia as part of a large Italian family and attended Catholic school until eighth grade. I then received a full scholarship to a military academy in the Midwest, where I would spend my high school years. To say the least, my upbringing was spent in a conservative, often black and white world. I, in the meantime, was trying to make sense of the shades of gray I was personally experiencing. While living in the heart of the American Midwest, I was drawn to volunteering and studying in Bulgaria, China, and Russia. As I was struggling to understand my Catholicism and working my way through the institution’s military leadership system, I was also working my way through accepting being gay. And, at Georgetown, I was struggling to align my academic focus on international politics with my desired pursuit of a career in business. Needless to say, these competing influences, environments, and identities did not sync up in any obvious way.

I have worked hard to be committed to recognizing what I’m good at (and what I’m not good at), adapting to changing worldviews, and engaging with others as genuinely as I know how. These commitments and convictions—formed in large part because of these competing influences—define the person I am today. Making sense of the various competing influences in my life was not always easy, but I am grateful for the experiences of each influence, because they have pushed me to gain strong self-awareness and inspired me to bring authenticity to all that I do.

I have learned that I must know and lead myself before I can successfully lead others. What excites me about the potential to be a part of the Kellogg and McCormick community is its same commitment to authenticity, as evidenced by the authenticity I see in every student or alumnus/a that I know. I believe that the MMM experience would push me to find new ways to act on my convictions, as I work to make an impact on the world around me.