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ISB YLP Essay Samples with Stage 1 & Stage 2 Structure
Essays are a critical part of the ISB Young Leaders Programme (YLP) application and your chance to showcase your profile to the admissions committee. With word limits ranging from 300 to 500 words, it is important to craft a compelling narrative that stands out. This blog shares insider tips and sample essay responses to help you brainstorm ideas and compose winning ISB YLP essays.
ISB YLP Essay Samples with Prompts
The ISB YLP application has two stages, each with one key essay:
ISB YLP Stage 1 Essay Prompt (300 words):
“Each applicant has core interests and goals they feel deeply passionate about, whether in academics or extracurricular domains. Share examples of efforts undertaken already and concrete future plans to further your proficiency in this passion area. Why will ISB offerings catalyse your success?”
This essay aims to evaluate your core passion, existing activities demonstrating it, and future roadmap to realise aspirations. You must link why ISB YLP aids this.
ISB YLP Stage 2 Essay Prompt (300 words):
“Describe a personal event or accomplishment that fundamentally shifted your self-perspective. How did this experience alter the way you see yourself or others?”
This essay checks for transformative experiences, revealing your key strengths and areas of development. Elaborate how ISB YLP helps build desired attributes.
ISB YLP Stage 1 Essay Structure
- Introduction – Establish your core passion (50-60 words).
Succinctly reveal the one major interest driving your academic/extracurricular choices.
- Elaborate on Passion with Examples (80-100 words).
Share 1-2 initiatives undertaken that demonstrate active pursuit of this passion:
- Discuss Future Roadmap Aligned to Passion (150-170 words).
Outline feasible plans to channel this passion. Highlight the envisioned role, skills required, and how you will obtain them.
- Conclude by Highlighting Fit with ISB’s Offerings (50-60 words).
Underscore 1-2 key ISB offerings like courses and leadership avenues critical for your plans:
ISB YLP Stage 2 Essay Structure
- Introduce Key Strengths Already Demonstrated (100 words)
Cover 2-3 skills already evident through academics, ECAs, internships, etc.
- Share the Transformative Experience (100 words)
Build a narrative arc – set context, share details of the incident/achievement and its immediate impact, and recognise your skills /areas for improvement.
- Elaborate Insights Gained (50 words)
Discuss 2-3 key personal/social insights gained, demonstrating self-awareness and maturity.
- Conclude Highlighting ISB YLP Value Addition (50 words)
Share how 1-2 specific ISB offerings, like mentorship, global immersions, etc, will further shape desired attributes.
Consider Career Launcher for ISB admission consulting. Our comprehensive consulting doesn’t just help craft your story but ensures you shine across all aspects of rigorous 360-degree evaluation.
ISB YLP Stage 1 Essay Sample
Passion for Environmental Sustainability
Throughout my life, I have been deeply drawn to environmental sustainability. This passion, rooted in a profound concern for our planet, drives my academic pursuits and extracurricular engagements. I am committed to finding and implementing innovative solutions to environmental challenges that have consistently shaped my journey.
In college, my passion took a tangible form when I led a project aimed at reducing our campus’s carbon footprint. We successfully collaborated with the administration to install solar panels, significantly cutting down on energy consumption. This project was not only an achievement in itself but also a learning experience about the power of initiative and teamwork in making a tangible environmental impact.
My passion for sustainability only intensified after organising an intercollegiate summit on sustainable development. Drawing a whopping 200 participants, it turned into a vibrant idea exchange on environmental protection strategies. Chatting with so many committed folks working towards change was seriously energising!
Looking towards the future, I envision a career as a sustainability consultant, helping organisations transition towards more eco-friendly operations. This role is where I can make the most impact, leveraging my knowledge and passion to foster global sustainability. To prepare for this, I plan to immerse myself in environmental policy analysis and green technology studies. Attending specialised workshops and pursuing certifications will be key steps in this journey.
My ultimate goal is to be at the forefront of global sustainability efforts, influencing policies and practices on a large scale. I envision being an empathetic yet results-oriented consultant who can speak the languages of both business and sustainability. With the expertise and exposure gained from ISB YLP, I hope to play this bridging role with integrity and compassion.
ISB YLP Stage 2 Essay Sample
Transformative Leadership Experience
A transformative experience that profoundly changed me was during a volunteer mission in rural India. Tasked with organising a health camp, I was confronted with a myriad of unforeseen challenges, from logistical hurdles to cultural barriers. This experience became a defining moment in my life, reshaping my perspectives and understanding of leadership.
But when you stare at obstacles in a health crisis, you can’t blink. Lives depended on it. So I tapped into my problem-solving instincts – learned the regional language for team coordination, got innovative with resources and built local trust. Led by empathy and strategising with flexibility, we served over 500 patients!
However, the bigger revelation was my transformed understanding of adaptable, inclusive leadership. Earlier, I approached it mechanically, focusing on tasks rather than the team. This experiential learning opened my eyes to diverse viewpoints, motivations and the need to lead sensitively. I realised effective leaders stand in the shoes of their team – that’s the only way to extract their finest performance. It taught me leadership is not one style-fits-all but demands situational tuning.
This truth shook me, drastically shifting how I operate ever since. I now consciously listen more, enabling teams to voice constraints while highlighting the vision. This empathetic approach also once helped my university blood donation drive achieve 75% participation, the highest ever!
I realised leadership demands self-awareness, compassion and grasping people’s disparate realities. The ISB’s courses spanning organisational behaviour theories, psychology and intense leadership modules will undoubtedly hone such “soft skills” – priming me for CEO roles where I hope to drive positive change through this lens of inclusive leadership.
Final Thoughts
ISB YLP essays require time, self-awareness and strategic thinking. You must start early, get feedback from mentors, and revise multiple times. Showcase your achievements without exaggeration and elucidate your thought process without needless jargon. Authentic, thoughtful stories and clear career plans drive winning ISB YLP essays. Use these tips and your unique voice to craft essays that make you stand out. The time invested will be well worth it!
