今年Wharton 的第二个essay疑问？

zhebie1721

今年Wharton 的第二个essay疑问？

Student and alumni engagement has at times led to the creation of innovative classes. For example, through extraordinary efforts, a small group of current students partnered with faculty to create a timely course entitled, “Disaster Response: Haiti and Beyond,” empowering students to leverage the talented Wharton community to improve the lives of the Haiti
earthquake victims. Similarly, Wharton students and alumni helped to create the “Innovation and the Indian Healthcare Industry” course which took students to India where they studied the full range of healthcare issues in India. If you were able to create a Wharton course on any topic, what would it be? (700 words)

本人对该essay的重心把握不准,还请高人帮助下.

我原来的写作思路如下：

我缺少一些并购金融领域的知识,在国内也学习不到。我希望在Wharton结合我对中国并购市场的了解以及Wharton的课程资源, 开设一门有针对性的面向中国并购市场领域的金融课程。这样,我就能弥补我在金融知识的不足,同时,我的working experience还可以通过这门课程给wharton带来的contribution.我的重点放在了这门课程能给我带来什么价值,能弥补我的哪些金融知识缺陷, 而并非我要开设的这门课程能给wharton带来什么contribution.

但是，我咨询了一些朋友,他们的建议正好与我的思路相反,他们说该题目的重心应该是说这门课程对Wharton学生的价值，比如通过我的工作经验让Wharton学生更加了解中国并购市场的特殊性等，而不是强调这门课程对我的价值，not just for you to gain something。

想听听对wharton比较熟悉的朋友的意见。

redstudent

完全同意你朋友的意见。

twibird

这题不是说，你希望沃顿给你开什么课，是说，你希望在沃顿你可以开什么课。

所以你原来的思路有点偏了。你朋友提的点是对的，但是你要更多的去想，你为什么要开这门课，如何设置，这门课对沃顿其他同学的帮助是什么？

zhebie1721

感谢楼上朋友的意见

cannedpineapple

This is not a question about what the school can give to you, nor is it a question about what you can give to the school. If you started a class, it certainly won't be built around your work experience, but other professors- with far more knowledge and experience than you- would lead the class instead.

Instead, this question is about what you think a business education should be. Look at the question itself. I think if you asked around, few people would have said that an important business school class would be "empowering students to leverage the talented Wharton community to improve the lives of the Haiti earthquake victims." But the school chose to highlight this class. Why? Because it reflects a group of civic-minded, socially-conscious students who have begun to look beyond business school simply giving students what they want, to business schools trying to mold students who do good for society.

So what would your ideal business school education look like, and how is that different from what is currently being offered now?

If I were to guess, I would say this question is most similar to Stanford's question: What matters most to you, and why? In this case, they're asking you to show this through explaining what you want in an ideal business school. So, be Wharton's dean for a day. How would you change the classes offered, and why? What values do you want to expound, and will you be happy if all of Wharton's students came out knowing only Finance, for instance, but nothing about how to bring business skills to help others?

Everyone will have their own answer to this. Some indeed will think that Wharton needs more, not less, 'hard-core' finance and accounting and marketing classes. That's what makes this such a fantastic essay question.

zhebie1721

jelt2359 的意见让我拿不定该essay的重心了啊

cannedpineapple

What are the values and skills that you think every Wharton MBA student should learn; in order to uphold the goals and mission of your ideal Wharton school?

Right there in the question they give you two examples of what others have thought are necessary classes in Wharton. Like I said, not Finance. Not Marketing. Not Accounting. But 1) Ability to apply business skills to social causes with a conscience (Haiti); 2) a vision that is global, rather than local (India).

zhebie1721

Hi,jelt2359
   有位朋友针对这个essay的问题给我做了如下的回复：

首先声明，在下不是Wharton的。但我们如果仔细看Wharton的题目中列举出来的两个案例，就不难看出一个玄机：

“Disaster Response: Haiti and Beyond”——improve the lives of the Haiti earthquake victims.

分析：这个course的目的既不是为了发起人自己也不是为了Wharton学生，目的是为了Haiti earthquake victims，当然，学生从这个course 中可以锻炼和学习到很多东西，应该还包括可以获得相应的学分吧。另外，Wharton一直以来主张的是“Global Presence”，因此，除了学生能从这个“利他”的项目中得到收益外，更能够得到收益的是Wharton。学生可以图利，学校主要还是图名，有了名，什么都有了。这个让Wharton名利双收的活动，挂出来的招牌是“救苦救难，大慈大悲”。

“Innovation and the Indian Healthcare Industry”——where they studied the full range of healthcare issues in India.

分析：这个Course的目的你说是单纯为了让学生能够学习印度的Healthcare Industry当中的实务吗？也许互惠互利的，也许发起人就是一个印度学生，也许这个学生之前就在这个领域，也许他/她还能够联系一定的当地资源来辅助项目进行……也许这些学生还给印度当地留下了很好的咨询建议，也许还有很多事情需要你亲身参加了才可以知道。但是，依旧是学生和学校都有收获。



总而言之，我比较支持你的朋友们的说法，但我觉得他们说的有些简单（没有单纯的单向利益，是一个共赢的结果）。你发起的Course，肯定基于你的兴趣、关注、职业甚至价值观，但是你利用学校的资源和同学的参与，需要达到的目标一定不是简单的“自我满足”，当然仅仅让“Wharton满足”也是不怎么完美的。最好的结局是：1）体现Wharton对世界大同的关注和贡献，强化他的Global Presence；2）你能够结合自己的经历、兴趣、能力、特长、背景等给学校和同学提供一个展现和锻炼的机会，这就是你的价值；3）你和你的同学包括那些教授同志们，在这个项目的进行过程中，都会受益，当然你们共同为你们的目标（国家、机构、社区等）做出了贡献。

基于上面的建议，我给你的建议是把课程题目定为：“中国人民币PE的失败案例研究与产业未来”

Jelt, 想听听你的意见。

cannedpineapple

1）体现Wharton对世界大同的关注和贡献，强化他的Global Presence；
If we wanted to do this, we'd start the class ourselves. Why do we need students to start classes?

2）你能够结合自己的经历、兴趣、能力、特长、背景等给学校和同学提供一个展现和锻炼的机会，这就是你的价值；
Trust me. There are so many professors here not just at Wharton but also the entire UPenn. Someone is bound to know a lot more about any topic than you. If not, they can also get visiting profs from other universities. This is not your true value. Just like a CEO thinks of the direction but doesn't have to use his own expertise to complete the project, neither do you.

3）你和你的同学包括那些教授同志们，在这个项目的进行过程中，都会受益，当然你们共同为你们的目标（国家、机构、社区等）做出了贡献。
Getting better. But the values of a school, and what benefits a school, is not merely the sum of what benefits the individuals in that school. If you think in terms of simply "let's do what everyone in the school wants", then you might miss out on some bigger, long-term goals that are important to an educational institution. For instance, almost no students will vote for 'ethics' being an important class or a reason to go to business school. Yet all schools teach it, because everyone thinks it's important to train business leaders with good ethics.

“中国人民币PE的失败案例研究与产业未来” is not a class that I would personally have wanted to start. But that's fine. We have different values, interests, and different views of what a business school education should comprise of.

That's why your essay will look different from mine. As with all essays, the key is not "what is your answer", but "how did you arrive at this answer, and why did you choose this answer"?

Good luck. This is obviously a very complex topic, and I apologise if I cannot make myself clearer.

sugaryun

举的两个例子，说的都是social responsibility and rewards to community。这也是大企业非常核心的一部分，尤其是上市公司。从这方面想想