Harvard Business School example essay topic

Oil Company based in Canada, carrying out extensive work in the North Sea off Scotland, requires a young executive with experience in the stock market and financial marketing. Salary $20,000 a year. Accommodation supplied. Based in London.

Apply Box No. 217 A. "Fantastic", said David to himself, "that sounds a challenge, and it must lead to other openings in an industry that large". He recalled what his tutor in European affairs used to say: "If you must work in Great Britain, better make it the North Sea. Nothing else great about the country. Lots of oil in lots of places equals lots of business opportunities for those who have the guts to invest with their balls". David Keller was a lean, clean-cut young American with a crew cut which would have been better suited to a lieutenant in the Marines, a fresh complexion and an unquenchable earnestness, who wanted to succeed in business with all the fervour of the new graduate from Harvard Business School. He had spent five years in all at Harvard, the first four studying mathematics, and the last two over the river Charles, at the Business School.

He had just graduated and, armed with an M.A. and an M.B.A., he was looking round for a job that would reward him for the exceptional capacity for hard work he knew he possessed. He had never been brilliant and envied the natural academics among his classmates who found post-Keynesian economic theories more fun than hard work. David had worked ferociously, only lifting his nose far enough from the grindstone for a daily workout at the gymnasium, and the occasional weekend watching Harvard jocks defending the honour of the university on the football field or in the basketball court. He would have enjoyed playing himself, but that would have meant another distraction. He read the advertisement again. David's parents had not found him an easy child to bring up.

His father, a Calvinist priest from Oregon, was almost as naive about the real world as his homely, apron string mother. Quite early on, they had stopped loving and protecting him and contented themselves with admiring his string of school and college successes. "David must not cry if he does not come in at the head of the class", said one report of the ten year old arithmetician. Later, he learnt not to cry at failure, but it still cut him deep. That was why at Harvard he had shut himself up with textbooks and nothing more yielding than a bar and some weights for relaxation. He had seen quite a few Harvard men who might have made it but for some dumb blonde.

That wasn't going to happen to him. For five years he had been as cloistered as a monk and as dull as a celibate and now it was time to gather the honey. He would apply for the job. He was young, of course, but that might count in his favour. The integrity of his self-confidence was unbleached by failure: people liked that. He read the advertisement again, and typed a neat letter to the box number.

A few days later, back came a questionnaire of a sort familiar to him from Harvard days, which asked: Name, age, address, marital status. Brothers / sisters, age, address, list of schools, colleges, universities attended with all dates. List of high school, college, university, when attended, dates. What program did you specialize in at Business School? Major field of study.

Major extracurricular activities in order of importance. Distinctions, honours and awards. What did you get out of your academic and extracurricular life at college? Describe your avocations and hobbies. On a full page, describe your three most substantial accomplishments and explain why you view them as such.

What factors led you to decide.