MBA admission requirements and processes

¶ … Admission

Dear Members of the Committee

I would like to first begin by thanking you for considering my application to the Jones School. I am so excited to be entering a new stage of my life and would be honored to pursue my MBA at your renowned institution. I am looking forward to telling you a little bit more about myself through this letter. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read and consider my application.

My current employment is at Sprint and, over the course of three years, I have led various innovative projects at the retail store where I work. I have also been responsible for introducing various and original techniques that addressed traditional business dilemmas, implemented new systems in response to corporate competition, reached out to and successfully created relationships with new target demographics, and, as a result, was a key player in doubling my retail location's monthly revenue.

These endeavors in leadership came about as a result of various ineffective marketing campaigns that caused significant losses to corporate, national and international competition, dwindling customer satisfaction, and an disturbing decrease of customers at our retail location. So, what was the problem, I asked myself? I lived in the area where I worked and this gave me a lot of insight into what the problem was with Sprint's marketing campaign: the company was using great amounts of effort to target a demographic that was in the minority in that area. Basically stated, Sprint's ad campaign was in English in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood.

After this realization, which then seemed so glaringly obvious, it dawned on me that the people in that area probably did not even understand what the marketing said -- much less give them reason to contemplate on it or decide to buy it. However, there was a big problem because the marketing campaign probably would not be willing to change its ads for just one location, or give any real money toward the change. I did not want to sit back while the issue was so obvious and I knew that something could be done about it. My retail location's revenue was decreasing every day and I wasn't going to sit and wait to lose my job.

In order to get in touch with the Hispanic community, my first step was to hire a bilingual employee. This created almost an immediate change in the location's performance as we were now equipped to handle a wider customer base and our sales quickly rose. I then utilized this same employee to help create a smaller marketing campaign that would not require a contract with an expensive advertising agency. During slower periods in the day, we worked on the small ads for the local green sheet and Hispanic newspapers. These ads were placed for a relatively low cost and were created virtually for free. We went on to create television commercials and radio ads, which ran during rush hour for a period of time, so as to attract the suitable clientele. These actions all helped to build up a customer base in the neighborhood and it continued to grow.

I further introduced various innovative practices that improved my retail location's profitability and future viability over the course of my employment with Sprint. I created and implemented the store's first Bill Pay system, which, ultimately, allowed the business to bill any company, expanding our reach capabilities and subsequent marketing efforts. Instituting a $3 charge to every transaction further increased profits. The Bill Pay system has since grown to be one of the top three methods of payment used and has been a major factor in the doubling of revenue we've experienced since I have been with Sprint.

Both of these instances attest to the fact that I was able to work as an innovative and efficient leader. By hiring a bilingual employee and working with him to create a new -- but smaller -- marketing campaign, I was able to expand our customer base to include the people in that area. It made complete sense and it turned around our retail location's profits. The Bill Pay system is another example of innovative leadership that work in a way as to create revenue. I am extremely proud of my work at Sprint and I believe that innovative leadership is essential -- especially in a struggling economy. I would like to bring my abilities to be an innovative leader to the Jones School.

I am a big fan of literature; one of my favorite hobbies is reading for pleasure and I went through a period where I tried to catch up on some of the "classics." During this period, I read the Great Gatsby and it really struck a chord in me. I enjoyed the book immensely and it might even be on my top five list of books. The writing is simple and exquisite and it represents a period in America that I find to be very fascinating.

There are many characters from literature that I admire, so it is very difficult to pick one. I also realized during contemplation of this is that I would like to take different attributes from several different characters in order to make the best one -- but, that's not the question. So, on that note, the character I am picking is probably not typical because he isn't necessarily one to be admired, but rather, he is a character that we can learn from.

The literary character that I feel would describe me is Jay Gatsby -- but, before you stop reading and wonder if I'm really talking about Jay Gatsby of F. Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby, I will concede that Gatsby himself is materialistic and a bit obsessive and not the first great literary character that comes to most peoples' minds, but there is something that I find very interesting about him and that is that he was in search of the "American Dream." This was his pursuit in life.

Before Gatsby became the "great Gatsby," he was just a kid named Jay Gatz from North Dakota. He dreamed big and he realized those big dreams. The persona that he put on in West Egg was just that -- a persona. It was as if he was two people -- the small town kid and the privileged great Gatsby. but, Gatsby had a plan and the motivation to escape that North Dakota town and pursue his dreams with vigor and passion. This is something that I admire a lot in him for I, too, had to leave my home to pursue my dreams; it is not something that is very easy to do. It is this same early drive from the small town days (which is found out later in the story) that we see later in Gatsby as he throws his lavish parties and mingles with the elites of West Egg.

For people not from America, like myself, America is an idolized place that is at once mysterious and inviting; we learn from a very young age that America produces heroes, it produces legends, and it is a place where everyone can have a shot at that elusive American Dream. Gatsby, while in search of a more obsessive pursuit for greatness, he also has a very generous spirit and he is not like the other characters in the novel. He, for one, throws these massive and elegant parties replete with the finest champagne and food and jazz -- always jazz. He watches as everyone else eats his food and drinks his champagne, always observant, always aware. I was fascinated by this quality in Gatsby and I think that his ending is a tragic one, but I also think that he is symbolic of what happens when people want too much. I try to remember that when I see others with so much. I have enough and most people do. The pure idea of the American Dream is what I am in pursuit of -- but Gatsby was too; he just got a bit lost.

Another aspect that makes Gatsby so different from the nouveau riche of West Egg is that he is incredibly loyal to those people whom he loves. He is deeply loyal to his father, to Dan Cody and to Daisy, the woman he still loves and wants to be with. His sense of loyalty is striking in the novel because everyone else is so utterly whimsical in his or her loyalties. I have always considered myself a loyal person and I admired this aspect of Gatsby. It is often difficult to maintain such a strong sense of self when one is surrounded by individuals who do not hold the same types of values that you yourself hold. This is one of the best qualities that I believe a person can possess; people know it when they see it and everyone wishes for loyalty.

Jay Gatsby was an outsider who was trying to fit in and I can definitely relate to what it feels like to, literally, be a foreigner. While Gatsby is foreign to his class and thus he must put on a show to fit in, being foreign in America can also be difficult, but it also one of the places that I feel most at home because this is a place created by immigrants and the idea that everyone is welcome to come here and pursue their dreams. America is the land of hope.

Gatsby tries so hard to fit in and he is able to create this aura and mystique about him, so much so that Nick Caraway, the narrator, becomes immensely curious about the great Jay Gatsby. Unlike Gatsby, I don't intend to make my living through criminal activity nor am I dishonest, but Gatsby was, at one time, a simple man. So, what I see in Gatsby is a deep sense of not being good enough. He became set on being wealthy, changed his name and turned to immoral acts. However, Gatsby is incredibly optimistic, which is what is so alluring to most everyone he meets. Gatsby's life and death are so tragic because, I believe, he was driven by Daisy and the prospect of having her love again. It was because of love that he changed who he was; it did not come out of greed like, perhaps, a lot of people believe. He is very simple in heart because of this fact and Nick gets it right when he says Gatsby is, "better than the whole damn bunch put together." He is a simple man in a world of phonies.