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MBA INSIDER: SAMPLE APPLICATION ESSAYS Virginia (Darden): Essay 1 QUESTION: The Darden School seeks a diverse and unique entering class of future leaders. How will your distinctiveness enrich our learning environment and enhance your prospects for success as a leader?
My experience as an immigrant to the United States enhances my prospects for being a successful leader and will add to the diversity and uniqueness at Darden. My family and I overcame much hardship in order to immigrate to the United States. During this time, I learned from my parents some key characteristics of being a successful leader: persistence, self-confidence, and the betterment of others.
In July of [deleted], my family and I left Vietnam on a wooden boat in hopes of finding a better life in America. The day we left, my world changed dramatically. We spent five months at an immigration camp in Indonesia and then arrived in Boston in January [deleted]. As new immigrants, we encountered more challenges and struggled to survive in a foreign country. With only a high school education from Vietnam and unable to communicate in English, my parents managed to get a job on an assembly line. When I arrived in the United States, I was eight years old, and I struggled with a language barrier and a new culture. With persistence and self-confidence, I overcame these challenges and adapted quickly to the American way of life. I relentlessly pursued my goal of attaining a higher education and worked part-time to support my education as well as my parents. Upon graduating from the University of [deleted], I knew I wanted to work at a major consulting company and obtained a position at [deleted]. Hence of the success of my persistence and self-confidence was demonstrated by my promotion to manager five years later. As I realized my personal goals, I remembered my parent's struggles to better my life and my brother's life. For this reason, I am committed to bettering the lives of others through volunteerism. At the age of 13, I wanted to help empower other immigrants and taught ESL at a summer school for immigrant children. This was the same program I had attended for many years as an immigrant. At [deleted], I served as a tutor for three years at the United Asian Learning Resource Center (UALRC). This interest in empowering others continues today where I work remotely with the Executive Director of [deleted] in NYC to create a national campaign to recruit e-mentors to guide high school students towards career goals. Last year, I was recognized for my efforts by the UALRC who named an award after me. To further the spirit of leadership and community service, I helped establish a criterion for the award that required the student to have a leadership role in at least one organization on campus. In addition to getting a plaque, the student would also receive $300 in scholarship money from me to aid in his or her future endeavor. In April 2001, I proudly awarded the first recipient of the [deleted] award. I will bring to Darden my diverse background and the same level of persistence, self-confidence, and belief in bettering others as I have demonstrated in the past. As a female, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Asian American, I will provide my multicultural perspective and add to the school's diversity. With my persistence and self- confidence, I will challenge others to excel academically and enrich the entering class with my personal and professional life and experiences. Most importantly, I will continue to live my belief of bettering others by assisting with student organizations on campus, especially the Darden Outreach group. I also plan to explore opportunities beyond Darden's environment by connecting local high schools in the Charlottesville community with [deleted] so local teens can benefit from mentoring services. Although 22 years have passed since my family and I left Vietnam, I will never forget the hardships we overcame to fulfill our hopes in United States. These memories keep me steadfast and confident about my goals and true to my belief in helping others. I believe that my achievements demonstrate the qualities that I value. I will continue to strive to be a successful leader, and I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate my abilities at Darden. 
BW MALL
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