Essay 1:
Please tell us the motivations to pursue an MBA program, and why is now the best timing to do one. (~200 words)

This is a fairly common question that every B-School admissions committee wants to know – the trick to answering the same lies in being mercilessly terse, brief and to-the-point (remember, 200 words).
The applicants must realize that motivations need not be unique, but what should stand their profile out is the presentation and alignment to School’s USP. The biggest problem arises for Indian IT / BPO employee who would have been doing fairly mundane work due to the inherent nature of the project management processes. No matter how much the candidate stresses on how s/he managed to excel through client interactions and team interactions – the admissions committee will accept only a select few with IT / BPO process background. They have a mandate to recruit applicants from different industries. So effectively, the competition is fierce for only a few percentage of seats.
This certainly does not mean that a good presentation is not mandatory for applicants from other industries, but there are usually some brownie points that they score for being a “diversity candidate”.
The second part of essay focuses on the timing of decision to pursue an MBA. Here, a candidate should not sound like defending his choice of timing, but the whole profile should be oriented so that it looks like there could not have been a better time to go for MBA. Again, presentation of work experience, professional aspects lacking in the profile and orientation to the b-school’s USP play a major role to address this issue.
Top schools like HKUST look for candidates with qualities like fairly rounded profile, maturity in decision making, willingness to be a good corporate citizen with high integrity and good moral values / ethics. Nothing extraordinary, eh ?

Get in touch with us, and we will connect you to experts with whose expertise, you can work on your profile and ensure that you have covered the aspects demanded by HKUST’s prestigious program.


Essay 2: Please elaborate on your career goals. How will your academic training, professional experience coupled with an MBA education at HKUST help you achieve your goals? (~200 words)


To be able to present the career goals perfectly, one must look at the hidden question. The admissions committee is asking for both short term and long term professional goals. We need to present the end and also the means to achieve that end based on the work experience and skills gathered. Again, the admissions committee in not interested in long stories, and the candidate is expected to write in brief.
The basic requirement here is to do enough research on HKUST program’s USPs, probably even interact with the current students to judge the alignment of their profile with the existing program. The basic research done will be very helpful in explaining how the MBA program will help the candidate fill up the gaps s/he might be seeking in the profile.
We have been helping prospective applicants prepare their profile for HKUST for over 3 years now. All you have to do is fill up the form and get in touch with us to help you address such questions in HKUST’s application.


Essay 3: If admitted, how could your participation at HKUST MBA enrich fellow students’ experience inside or outside classroom? (~200 words)


“Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black”
~ Henry Ford
This is where the ‘diversity candidate” will score easy points. If the applicant is someone from oilfield services or shipping industry or high technology manufacturing industry or even garment manufacturing industry, then value addition to a class full of IT, consulting and finance background students will be immense. If presented properly, this essay should easily fetch good number of points for the “diversity candidate”. However, the competition is tough for the rest.
The best way to address this question is to start with some basic research on the profiles of the students admitted last year and see where the candidate’s profile fits in. This research also includes any possible interaction with the current students to collect the feedback on class participation levels in the current batch. We, at General Education could help you connect with our alumni who have been admitted to such prestigious programs.
The next step would be to focus on “diversity factor” of the applicant’s profile that and its proper presentation that will add value to in-class and out of the class participation. If it is hard to find a “diversity factor” then it could be something unique about the profile that can be used.
The essence of class participation banks on use of examples from real life. The concept of value addition to class can be based on a premise that longer the career, richer the examples and better the leverage for interaction with fellow students. The habit of using examples from real life will stand the applicant and his / her profile in good stead.
To understand what HKUST is seeking from this question, feel free to write or speak to us anytime through the form on the right hand side of the page.

Essay 4: Please pick and answer ONE of the two topics in the space below. State either 4a or 4b at the beginning of your essay. (~300 words)
4a. Describe a situation where your initial attempt to solve a problem failed. Tell us how you get around to finally solve the problem.
4b. Describe a situation where you created opportunities for yourself and led to a favorite outcome.

From the choice of questions given, it is very clear that HKUST is seeking applicants with leadership traits. Profiles with traits like problem solving, diligence in efforts, taking initiatives to create opportunities are valued a lot in current world. Not only the overall profile, but even the recommendations should be speaking and substantiate the facts to highlight these traits in the applicant’s profile.

4a. The first question is seeking qualities like diligence, patience and resolution. Many a times, the problems don’t get resolved in first attempt. They get resolved in multiple attempts. The crux of the situation is to focus on applicant’s contribution and how the above mentioned qualities are substantiated through the situation.

4b. The second question is seeking qualities like proactive nature, ability to see through the obvious and ability to create opportunities out of challenges. A real-life situation need not be unique. Quite often, in our lives we are present with challenges that we ignore in favor of easy work-arounds. A situation need not be complicated here as the background setting will eat up a lot of words. The applicant should make reasonable assumptions and lead the evaluator logically to the favorable outcome. The connection between effort, qualities sought, outcome and background of the situation has to be water-tight, seamless and well aligned with other components of the application (like recommendations) so that the whole profile is well rounded and acceptable.

Essay 5: Please pick and answer ONE of the two topics in the space below. State either 5a or 5b at the beginning of your essay. (~300 words)
5a. Tell us a situation when you experienced challenges in team setting, and what you have done to help the team achieve its goals.
5b. Describe a situation when you got frustrated over differences in culture or work style. What have you learnt from that experience?


By now, the prospective applicant would have realized that admissions committee of HKUST is looking for leaders with real life examples. So, if there are examples that can substantiate these qualities in a real life situation, then effective presentation of such a situation can help the applicant’s cause immensely.
Experiencing challenges is different from getting frustrated. The latter is a positive way of presentation whereas latter is not. Questions that exude negativity or seek answers with negative connotations should be approached with caution.
5a. Applicants are expected not to go over-the-board in addressing the question. On lighter note, even if the applicant is spiderman whose only job is to save the world, the excruciating circumstances need to be presented in a way that they look believable. The emphasis should be on teamwork and the context of the situation. The outcome and way of achieving that outcome should all point towards the leader’s role effectively rather than the applicant focusing on how personal traits helped him / her achieve the goals. The modest approach showcasing on what applicant learnt from challenges / experiences would definitely be an approach in right direction for this essay.
5b. HKUST admissions committee wants to assess the applicant’s capabilities to manage work pressures in a diverse cultural setting through this essay. A reputed MBA program usually attracts applicants from diverse cultures. So the class profile could range from a Latin American journalist who covered Afghan war for 10 years to a Russian scientist in microbiology. The classwork of a reputed MBA program usually demands heavy interaction amongst the class participants as small groups. The capability to handle pressures of working with diverse group would enhance applicant’s chances and showcase him / her as a true global leader. For applicants who have worked in IT in different global assignments – this should not be a difficult question to answer as they come across such pressures quite frequently. The trick in scoring winning points here lies in underlining and using the basic tenets of managing such pressures.
Applicants are encouraged to get in touch with General Education experts to understand these tenets. A simple form filling exercise on the right side of this page would help.

Essay 6: Please tell us a situation where you faced an ethical dilemma. How did you handle the situation? (~200 words)

Not many prospective applicants really understand what an ethical dilemma is because most of us breach different boundaries on a daily basis in professional and personal lives. The unfortunate aspect is that the mish-mash of cultures and local professional environments makes decision making even more difficult. In essence, using a left hand for a particular work might be considered inauspicious in one culture whereas it might be absolutely required for the particular job at hand. Hence it is important for the applicant to focus on the setting of the situation and clearly explain why the situation resulted into an ethical dilemma.
An ethical dilemma arises at a juncture where pursuing one way or another would result in a breach of moral code of conduct. Even if the applicant is showcasing that ethical boundaries were breached; the essay should not look like a defence or a justification. The best case would be when outcome actually justifies the means on its own. A deft handling of the situation has to be shown in such a manner that it leads to resolution of the dilemma within the black and white boundaries without making any grey assumptions
Do get in touch with experts of General Education to understand, evaluate and answer this question so that it leaves the right impact.


Essay 7: What do you want the Admissions Committee to know about you as a person? (~200 words)

This admissions committee of HKUST has already got relevant answers on qualities it is seeking in a profile of a prospective student.
However, there might be areas that are left out and which could possibly define the personality of an applicant. Say for example, a person’s life defining passion could have been missed out in questions earlier.
Ideally, answer to this question should include qualities / passions, traits or hobbies that are not substantiated in the questions earlier. The best way to address this question is not to go bombastic and go with and example / situation that defines that particular trait / quality or hobby.

This question could also be used to mention / explain any personal challenges / disabilities that might have defined the applicant’s life.

Do get in touch with experts at General Education for help on this question.