Free Cornell Tech MBA Essay Samples
Spearheaded and managing international development projects and social enterprise since graduating from my BA shaped and solidified my decision to dedicate my career to building technologies that promote sustainable development, and a stronger, fairer world.
My passion for transforming traditional businesses through innovation was ignited in my first project at _____. Serving as the company’s youngest ever financial analyst, I joined a strategy team tasked with injecting new life into the cocoa industry through the creation of new products. Leading the B2B sales for these first-of-a-kind cocoa products, I formed and nurtured new collaborations with leading cocoa suppliers, traders and clients including ______.
Shortly thereafter, I was tapped by my current employer to advise them on the development of novel solutions for sustainability projects, such as a solar-powered desalinization plant for the remote and water deprived island. I quickly understood that the analytical skills I used to open new relationships and revenue channels in the cocoa industry could also be used to improve lives across the world. Since then, I’ve dedicated every skill at my disposal to helping our company develop and implement high-impact sustainability projects in underdeveloped countries and underprivileged communities. I seek a Cornell Tech MBA to enhance my ability to provide technologies and solutions, from solar-powered fertigation systems to mobile education hubs, that can fundamentally transform communities, governments, and lives.
Post-MBA, I aim to return to my employer as a Business Development Manager, where I’ll expand our activities into new markets and sectors. As a Senior Financial Analyst and Business Development Associate, I’ve gathered tools for developing strategic partnerships, leading negotiations, and arriving to win-win deals. Gaining better command of technology and product development in Cornell Tech’s Design Studio will help me to effectively ideate, propose, and deliver solutions in new arenas. The MBA will also strengthen my management skills and assist me in leading and advancing the professional level of larger teams, skills that will be indispensable for success in my long-term goal of becoming CEO of my family business, Innovative Agro Industry, and shaping it into an industry leader for sustainable agriculture.
Having already gained experience in strategy and business operations optimization for the past five years, a one-year MBA that focuses on R&D and will help me master how to take product ideas from conception, through development, and to launch, is the perfect complement for my existing skills.
My international experiences – managing teams and projects and travelling in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, as well as living in Israel and Australia – has lent me the abilities to view life from multiple lenses, develop common ground easily, and adapt quickly to new circumstances. I believe adaptability is the single most important characteristic a leader should possess in today’s digital age, where change is the only constant. I look forward to increasing my agility in the PiTech Studio, where I’ll practice innovating against urgent environmental and social problems with the collaboration of peers from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds. I’ll also soak up hacks for pivoting and resilience from interacting with trailblazing founders in NYC’s multifaceted start-up environment.
Moreover, internalizing lessons from Cornell Tech’s Studio Culture and Code and methods from Johnson core course “Critical and Strategic Thinking” will enable me to navigate dilemmas like the one I faced my previous employer, where the local government demanded $15 million in equity from us to launch a project for the benefit of smallholder farmers, a request that stood to severely downgrade our profitability. I faced a difficult decision: incur some risk to participate in a project that that would greatly increase productivity and prosperity of local smallholder farms via extension services, training, and innovative agricultural methods, or walk away.
Backed by world-class STEM and business training and the aspiration to impact the real world, I’ll lead my company and my family business in creating technologies that spur social-economic growth and transform lives.
I first realized my love for technology in 10th grade, when I was the only girl chosen from my class as the coordinator for a science exhibition held at my school. The complex application of the simple concepts taught in class fascinated me, and eventually drove me to pursue an engineering degree. After graduating from college, I started working at ______, and was given a choice between 2 service lines to join – Financial Services and Cyber Risk. This decision would carve out my career trajectory, and hence it was important for me to make the right choice. It was particularly difficult as I did not have sufficient information, and therefore I reached out to practitioners from both service lines to get their advice. I learned that even though the Cyber Risk service line had considerably fewer female leaders, which is unfortunately still the case for many tech verticals, it offered a lot of scope for innovation and growth. I decided to join the latter, with a zeal to change people’s perception of women in technology.
I quickly knew that I made the right decision, as I was making a true impact – presenting solutions to C-suite executives from Fortune 500 companies and persuading them to take action. I was particularly drawn to the use of AI in malware detection systems, as it could analyze large volume of data in a fraction of the time required by other methods. After a few years with _____, I realized that these systems were mostly infrastructure-centric rather than data-focused. This made them expensive to implement, leaving smaller businesses, which are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks but lack the resources to implement intricate controls, exposed. My long-term career goal is thus to develop cost-effective data-centric Cyber Risk solutions for small and medium-sized businesses focusing on cyber resilience, a concept that captures the steps taken in case a cyber-attack occurred. My company will also create an online platform to train these businesses and encourage them to adopt secure practices in their day-to-day operations.
I am confident that Cornell Tech’s MBA program, which is laser-focused on bridging business and technology while providing ample hands-on learning experiences for aspiring entrepreneurs, is the best way for me to achieve my career goals. A one-year MBA program will allow me to get back to the cybersecurity space after a relatively short break, having acquired the tools I need to eventually launch my own cybersecurity venture. At Cornell Tech, I will master product ideation techniques and strengthen my product design skills through courses such as Design Thinking and Designing Data Product. This will help me land a Product Manager role immediately after completing my MBA for a company that develops highly-specialized cybersecurity products, such as Cisco or Symantec. There, I will lead product teams to build innovative solutions and learn best practices for engaging customers, understanding their pain points and identifying how to solve them.
In Product Studio, I will cultivate my entrepreneurial mindset by collaborating with likeminded students, testing different hypotheses for my future venture with guidance from world-renowned faculty. I am especially interested in cybersecurity-focused projects, where I can contribute from my own experience; in one such project, MBA ‘19 students helped improve a startup’s Initial Coin Offering process. A consulting trip to Israel, a country that invests heavily in cybersecurity and has the second highest number of startups in the space, would add immensely to my existing industry knowledge and allow me to make invaluable connections.
I also look forward to bringing my leadership skills and ability to successfully plan and implement projects to student clubs at Johnson. I intend to take an officer role in the High Tech Club and organize panels to discuss trends and developments in cybersecurity with industry experts. Additionally, I will leverage my experience volunteering for an NGO to become an active member of the Community Impact Club and work relentlessly to find new volunteering opportunities for my classmates and I to help others.
Given my experience working in a fast-paced, dynamic environments, I am confident that I will thrive at Cornell Tech’s immersive one-year program, where I will get the best of both tech and business worlds to kickstart my own venture.
