Re-write to be strong, clear, and concise. The subject of what matters most is regarding ″adaptability″ DON′T change the key information or examples. Just rewrite or reword to be strong, flowing, and

Length

Both essays combined may not exceed 1,150 words. We recommend up to 750 words for Essay A and up to 400 words for Essay B. We often find effective essays written in far fewer words.

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?

For this essay, we would like you to reflect deeply and write from the heart. Once you’ve identified what matters most to you, help us understand why. You might consider, for example, what makes this so important to you? What people, insights, or experiences have shaped your perspectives?

Become Like Water

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. Become like water, my friend.”

-- Bruce Lee

What allows water to change to any shape is adaptability, the quality I value the most. I grew up in a doctor family, I was trained to make detailed plans for everything. Consequently, I got used to only do things that I could foresee the result. When I came to the United States in 2007, my mother showed me the Bruce Lee’s interview, wanting me to understand that while planning is crucial to achieve a goal, embracing uncertainties and adapting to changes are the other indispensable element.

Adaptability had enabled my mother to successfully navigate through adversities and changes in her education and profession. Unsatisfied with teaching in a Chinese university, a stable job that many people admired, my mother had been looking for opportunities of studying abroad since graduation from college. In 1996, after passing a rigorous Japanese exam, she was offered a scholarship to pursue an MD degree in Ophthalmology at Kyoto University. Just as she was ready to put full effort into the study, she was informed that the foundation decided to stop providing scholarship to foreign students. Nevertheless, this hardship didn’t stop her. While studying full time at school, she worked part timely on any jobs she could find: cooking breakfast, hotel housekeeping, dishwashing, and store cleaning. In 2001, as she was finishing up her graduation paper and ready to become a doctor, suddenly most Japanese hospitals stopped offering doctor positions to foreigners. Without any hesitation, she applied to Ph.D. programs in the U.S. and finally became a clinical doctor.

My mother’s story deeply inspired me, but the first time I truly understood the power of adaptability was from the experience that I helped my mother open a new acupuncture clinic. To alleviate her concern about running a business alone, in addition to school work, I took on the responsibilities of managing the office and developing strategies to keep existing patients. Both undertakings had exciting outcomes. In only five months, the number of patients reached our maximum capacity. Knowing that we couldn’t accept more patients, I changed the direction to focus on expanding our services. After inquiring from insurance companies and patients, we decided to introduce facial treatment to patients. Promoting facial treatment subsequently became my new challenge. My first attempt, offering a 20 percent discount, was soon proved to be a failure. In the first two months, there were only two patients accepted the treatments. Clearly, even though patients expressed their interest, they weren’t willing to pay. As I continually looked for other creative ways to promote the service, a strategy named Scarcity Marketing, a marketing approach widely used in the fashion industry, got my attention. Based on our past experience that patients would notice results after three treatments, I came up with a plan that offered three free treatments to each patient at first, and then informed all patients that we only offered 15 treatments in total per week. This strategy later proved to be very successful. Many existing patients became loyal customers after they tried the free treatments, and the nature of limited offering not only attracted more new patients, but also helped us control inventory effectively. The facial treatment soon became our specialty, greatly contributed to the 60 percent of revenue increase in 2008.

This success of the facial treatment service made me appreciate the value of adaptability. All the work I did gave me confidence and made me passionate about running a business. During the two years of operation, I kept exploring new ways to expand our clinic. Regrettably, I didn’t get the opportunity to implement any more improvements. As I have planned to continually grow our family business, my mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and 2009 was the last year I spent with her.

Even though my first attempt to manage a business ended prematurely, the invaluable experience enabled me to adapt to other challenges in my life. Since joined PFM, I have regularly discussed with my managers about the skills I need in my role. When they asked me to focus on enhancing analytical skills, I studied and passed three CFA exams in additional to finish all training courses offered in the company. When they suggest me to improve writing skills, I asked for more writing tasks and took a three months long business writing class outside my work. To reach above managers’ expectations is my goal at this job and I know it’s what my mother achieved in each of her past jobs.

Although I am still enthusiastic about planning, I have gained the courage to embrace uncertainties, and these unexpected situations, in turn, further improved my adaptability for changes, as water does: changing its shape to fit in any container. Adaptability makes me step out of my comfort zone and proactively looks for opportunities to grow. With this courage, I will continue to journey that I won't be able to take with my mother and become a successful leader in this fast changing world.

Essay B: Why Stanford?

What are your goals?

What’s the gap?

How is the GSB going to fit in with that?

Dream big. Have big goals. Stanford wants to steward top talent to maximize the GSB impact. Clearly describe how you are going to change the world and how you are going to change lives.

Tell the reader what you have already done that will help them believe you can achieve those goals and what you are missing.

As a public finance consultant, I have been closely working with investment bankers, lawyers and government officials to sell $2 billion bonds in more than 50 transactions, helping fund many large infrastructures in California. While working at PFM and serving in a non-profit LGBTQ group, I learned the significant influence of government policy on the LGBTQ community. My long term goal is to establish a company that provides full retirement solution to people, especially to the LGBTQ community. Once it succeeds in the U.S., I’d like to expand the service to other countries and ultimately use the company as a medium to help people from other counties accept LGBTQ community. To achieve my long term goal, I decide to join a corporate consulting firm to build connections and enhance consultancy expertise in corporate sectors. After participating in the information sections and discussing with Wil Torres, Assistant Director, and Elisa Köppl, Assistant Supervisor of Admissions, I believe studying MBA in Stanford is an essential component to achieve both my short term and long term objectives.

In order to join a corporate consulting firm after graduation, there are additional classes I would like to take. I am very interested in real estate and healthcare, and a variety of such classes are currently offered at Stanford. Additionally, Having been a team manager for two years, I realized that managing people is an art and I am particularly interested in organizational behavior studies. As a prominent academic area in Stanford, organizational behavior studies will let me understand behavior both on individual and on company-wise level, preparing me well for the managerial role after graduation.

In addition, as a key member of Chinese Rainbow Network, the largest Chinese LGBTQ group in the country, I have planned and organized for more than 20 career and social events, successfully building connections in the Asian Americans LGBTQ community. To better serve the LGBTQ community in the long term, I would like to participate in a larger group whose members have various backgrounds. Stanford’s GSB Pride is such a national group which holds career and network events for students and alumni. Studying and working with them will allow me to know the LGBTQ group from different perspectives.

Furthermore, establishing a company to provide full retirement service requires the cooperation of experts in real estate, public policy, healthcare, and financing. As one of the most reputable universities in the world, Stanford GSB provides an extensive network that connects me to students and alumni around the world, making my long term objective achievable.

Finally, I am eager to contribute to the Stanford GSB in my way . In today’s environment, public policy and business interact to shape the companies. By closely working with governmental officials and helping draft many policies, I know the philosophy of public management and understand its effects on business decisions. I would like to share my experience in interpreting policy guidelines and balancing economic and political conflicts with classmates. Additionally, as an active LGBTQ group leader, I want to bring my experience in organizing events to the GSB Pride group. Based in the San Francisco bay area, Stanford has the advantage of reaching out to hundreds of companies nearby. I would work to expand connections with other LGBTQ groups, providing more network opportunities to Stanford students and alumni.