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More than 1,000 prospective MBA students who paid $30 to use a now-defunct Web site to get a sneak peak at live questions from the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) before taking the exam may have their scores canceled in coming weeks. For many, their B-school dreams may be effectively over.

On June 20, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted the test’s publisher, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), a $2.3 million judgment against the operator of the site, Scoretop.com. GMAC has seized the site’s domain name and shut down the site, and is analyzing a hard drive containing payment information.

GMAC said any students found to have used the Scoretop site will have their test scores canceled, the schools that received them will be notified, and the student will not be permitted to take the test again. Since most top B-schools require the GMAT, the students will have little chance of enrolling. “This is illegal,” said Judy Phair, GMAC’s vice-president for communications. “We have a hard drive, and we’re going to be analyzing it. If you used the site and paid your $30 to cheat, your scores will be canceled. They’re in big trouble.”

Small Advantage to Test Takers

GMAC sued the operator of the site, Lei Shi, for using it to distribute copyrighted GMAT-related materials without GMAC’s permission. Shi, who has reportedly returned from the site’s base in Ohio to his native China, is under investigation by the FBI, GMAC says. Shi, who did not have legal representation for the GMAC lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.

While the consequences for students may be severe, the advantage they gained by using Scoretop is almost inconsequential. Unlike other GMAT test-prep sites, which use retired questions, Scoretop and others claim to provide access to “live” questions that test takers might encounter when they show up for the exam. Participants on the site would debate the proper answers. But the GMAT uses a computer adaptive format that generates a new test for every user based on responses to previous questions from a stockpile that contains thousands of possible questions. “Even if a site is illegally able to obtain some real questions, it is extremely unlikely that a test taker will see the same questions on the live exam,” says Larry Rudner, GMAC vice-president for research and development.

Scoretop has been in operation since 2003. Visitors to the Scoretop Web site before it was shut down would have encountered posts from happy users and a list of “test experiences,” users’ firsthand reports about the most recent test questions. But on June 23, they found this message from GMAC: “GMAC takes cheating very seriously, especially attempts to obtain access to live test questions in advance of an exam. We also take very seriously any unauthorized distribution of our copyrighted GMAT preparation materials. If you are caught disclosing, accessing, or using ‘real’ GMAT questions your GMAT score will be cancelled [and] you may be subject to a civil lawsuit or criminal prosecution.”

The news about the cheating scandal was the talk of the annual GMAC conference in Chicago over the weekend, where the organization’s President and CEO David Wilson described the latest developments for an audience of 700.

It’s unclear how individual schools will respond. More than 4,000 graduate management programs use the test as part of the admissions process, but many of those using sites like Scoretop seek admission to the most competitive programs. So the fallout is likely to be limited to top schools.

Several schools, contacted June 23, said it was far too early to determine what fate awaits students or prospective students whose scores are canceled. “It’s impossible to say at this point what that means,” said Ed Anderson, Duke’s associate director of admissions.

Some Scoretop Users May Have MBAs

Joe Fox, director of MBA programs at Washington University’s Olin Business School, said a lot depends on what information GMAC can provide about individual students, especially the frequency with which they used the site. “There’s an infraction, that’s for sure,” Fox said. “At a minimum it flies in the face of our code of professional conduct. We could do anything we wanted—from a slap on the wrist to expulsion from the program—and we’d be well within our rights.”

Since the Scoretop site has been in operation since 2003, it’s possible that students with tainted GMAT scores are in the application process, currently enrolled, or already graduated. For those in the application process, the applicants may be rejected, and for those currently enrolled, expulsion is a possibility.

Several years ago, when a Chinese national was caught taking the GMAT for dozens of prospective students, one Olin student who had the test taken on his behalf was dismissed before he could complete his degree, Fox said. That’s a possibility this time around, too. “I think it’s fair to say we’ll take this seriously,” he added. “It could be the end of the line.”

I’ve taken the GMAT twice, once in 2003 right before (like, days) coming to Vietnam on EAP, and then again in 2005, first getting 680 (90 percentile) with a perfect writing score, and then 720 (97 percentile) but a 5.5 (/6.0) on writing but 90+ percentile in both math and English.

Before I took it in 2005, I probably prepared on and off for over a year, but hardcore for at least 5 months.

I knew virtually everything there was to know about the test, how to take it, the best materials to use, the best time and place to take it, and so on.

I can’t remember if I knew of Scoretop, however, but my guess is I had to have known. I know I didn’t pay $30 to access the site though.

The absolute best place for preparation is TestMagic: http://www.urch.com/forums/

Erin, the guy who runs the site runs a prep company out of San Francisco. I didn’t enroll with them (I self studied), but would have had I been in SF (I lived in San Jose).

The four simple keys to success:

• Read TestMagic Forums
• Participate and Help others in the forums (helping others really improved your own skills)
• Use official GMAT questions to analyze your skills. Real questions are much different from simulated ones from Kaplan, Princeton, Arco, etc. The consistency isn’t there with 3rd parties, especially in the accuracy of the answer logic.
• Sleep a very good amount (9 hours) before the exam (I virtually feel asleep the first time taking it, and the second time faded towards the end as well)

Then again, you could ignore me and be like my sister, who got a 750 (99 percentile) on her first try with half the amount of studying I did.

One more thing, for people who may feel “disappointed/angry” in the people who are going to get kicked for cheating, don’t. You yourself are probably full of it.

Just view the Business Week BSchool forums. It’s made up of a lot of egotistical and shallow a**holes who also happen to be getting into Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford, etc. despite their weaknesses.

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(I have one last set of essays to share, this one the short answer portion for Haas.)

1. What is your favorite quote, and why is it meaningful to you? (250 word maximum)

“I watch these guys every summer and I don’t think they grasp what is going on. They think it’s all about them, they’re supposed to be there, And1 is supposed to do this, they’re supposed to take them in.”- Rafer Alston on Streetball (basketball reality-television show), Season 1.

At [former company], I once called a meeting with a frustrated employee. She felt that the company had done nothing for her in terms of career development and that her current role held no possibility of advancement. I sat with her for a couple of hours to discuss how she could set goals with me in terms of her current work performance and how exceeding them would show she was ready for a promotion. Ultimately, while she said she understood my points, she was extremely reluctant to set performance metrics and never followed-up with me to do so.

I have also felt at times that I deserved more recognition or was upset that I had not reached a certain milestone. Alston’s quote and the memory of that meeting remind me that, to succeed, I need to look closer at my actions- what is it that I am doing or refusing to do that is stopping me? I look to others to let me know how I am missing the mark, no matter how difficult it is to hear. I place the burden of success on myself and accept no excuses in order to push myself to reaching my goals.

2. Tell us about your most significant accomplishment. (250 word maximum)

The experience of being a manager at [former company] was invaluable, but often strenuous. During [former company]’s employee review period, I gave two employees below-average ratings, with one employee receiving the minimum overall score. Going through the process, I knew I felt that they had performed inadequately, but I looked at my own responsibility in their failures and struggled with finding the right sense of objectivity towards their work while being able to give constructive criticism.

After I gave the two employees their reviews, both were so upset that they refused to sign the review forms to acknowledge the sessions. Both felt that their performances were completely opposite of what I had rated them, and any discrepancies or issues were my own and not theirs. I spent the next few days thinking carefully about their comments to learn about myself as a manager. While I believed my scores were fair and honest, I was still disappointed in myself that I had been unable to help the employees perform better. I hoped the reviews would cause them to consider my thoughts as well as themselves carefully over time.

When I last spoke to my former manager at [former company], he mentioned that the two employees had been progressing on the issues I had raised. I find some sense of accomplishment in this because even if I will not be benefiting directly from the changes, I was able to be part of the process that led to their developments.

3. At Haas, we value innovation and creativity. How have you demonstrated these qualities in your professional or personal life? (250 word maximum)

For [former company]’s first videogame release, [some game], I was asked to develop a preorder campaign for our online store.
[former company] was limited by its small budget and relative anonymity in the gaming market, but I felt that people could help us market the game at low-cost virally. My feeling was that if we could make a personal connection to our customers, they would respond positively to our brand and products over the long term, evangelizing our products to a broader community.
I reached out to select gaming community websites and gave exclusive access to production materials and company employees. I developed the image that we were developing a game for these fans and inviting them to be an intimate part of the process.

At the same time, I opened a corporate blog on [social networking site], exposing the game and company to a new demographic. Using the concept of “friends” in the [social networking site] community to create a more human rather than corporate image of the company, I provided behind the scenes access to company events, posted humorous pictures of employees, and wrote personal birthday wishes for friends. I wanted our company to connect to our fans’ lives as much as possible.

My efforts were completed without funding and the preorder program was a success; over the game’s first month in release, the online store sold [X]% of all units sold in the market, an outstanding accomplishment (most companies depend entirely on retail sales) for direct sales in the industry.

4. If you have visited Haas, please let us know what about your visit made the most lasting impression on you. If you have not visited Haas, what steps have you taken to familiarize yourself with our MBA program? (250 word maximum)

“We had cohort olympics. There was beer and kickball.”

Having gone to Berkeley for my undergraduate studies grants me an insight into the school, students, and surrounding community. I know, however, that my past does not necessarily give me an accurate assessment of who a Haas student is or what his life is like, and the same applies to the school website and program brochure.

To get a more intimate feel of Haas, I read every student blog I could find, uncovering revealing memories like the one above. I wanted to see impressions and experiences as students went through them, getting a feel of the impact Haas had on their lives. For some students, I got to read about their application process and see why they eventually decided on Haas.

I found that the people I was reading about were hopeful, energetic, and caring about other students. While hard working and accomplished, everyone was modest and simply trying to get better.

Haas has the type of student body that I want to meet and be part of. Their attitudes and motivations reflect my own, in the sense that they want to do well, but want to do so in a collaborative fashion so that no student gets left behind. In my long term plans of starting a business, I hope to find not only potential business partners from Haas, but life-long friends as well, and I feel excited about the opportunity to return to Berkeley.

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Essay B: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them? (Recommended length is 2-3 pages, double-spaced)

I want to be an entrepreneur in Vietnam to have the ability to create a better future for new generations of Vietnamese. My parents left Vietnam in the late 1970s knowing that they would be unable to utilize their potential under the newly-formed socialist government. With Vietnam making an attempt to catch up to the rest of the world economically and technologically, I am driven to even out the playing field for young ambitious Vietnamese so that they can fully utilize their potential in competing on an international level.

Based on my passion for and experience in the video game industry, I believe I can achieve this by starting a video game company in Vietnam. With the video game industry there just emerging, the window of opportunity is open right now, and I feel it is the perfect time for me to make an impact. To do so and create a company that will have a long-lasting effect on the landscape of the industry, I will supplement the skills I have learned through working at [former company] and [FORMER COMPANY] with an education at Stanford GSB.

I arrived in Hanoi this past September with the intention of spending the year before going to business school working on my language skills and doing research on the video game industry. Soon after my arrival, however, I was offered a six month contract to work on a project for [FORMER COMPANY] in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [FORMER COMPANY] emphasizes teamwork above everything, and its employees embrace this to the point that they are willing to sacrifice larger paychecks in order to work among friends in a family atmosphere. I decided to join [FORMER COMPANY] to experience this corporate structure and learn how I could install its values into my future company. Also, I knew that the lessons learned in joining Vietnam’s [] and working internationally with multiple ethnic groups would be invaluable.

The story of parents’ sacrifice to facilitate a better future for their children is a common one throughout the world. Similarly, the team at [FORMER COMPANY] is making sacrifices to provide a better future for Vietnam. The mission here is to legitimize not only the company, but Vietnam as a nation, as an international partner in Information Technology (IT). The project I am currently on is the first major international project that the company has landed. As the team works to meet deadlines, our struggles will help determine the future of Vietnam. If our work quality suffers, [FORMER COMPANY]’s failures will make another company less likely to choose [FORMER COMPANY], and by extension, Vietnam in the future. Therefore, the pressure is on us to make sure the project succeeds so that Vietnam can continue winning other projects. This is the same challenge that countries like China and India have faced, and subsequently passed, in order to continue sustained economic development.

The opportunity to work with [FORMER COMPANY] thus falls in line with my goal of working to benefit Vietnam and has also provided a venue in which to immerse myself in Vietnamese work culture with my Vietnamese coworkers. I am learning what their motivations and hopes are and gaining an understanding of how Vietnamese culture has shaped their lives. This knowledge will be invaluable when I start to hire and manage Vietnamese teams.
My work with [former company] ran the gamut of the company’s life span from its start when it struggled to pay for its employees’ drinking water to its acquisition for [x] six years later. My experience working for the company during this transformation period left a lasting effect on my career aspirations. I developed an understanding of the startup culture and the difficulties that are caused by growth and the changing of business models, as well as how a company can develop from grassroots marketing and small budgets into a mainstream success. With these lessons came the confidence that I could start my own business, install a specific type of company culture, and know the kind of sacrifices that can and often must be made without affecting the overall success of the company.

My work experiences have helped to develop my vision for the company as well as shown me models to follow in terms of organizational behavior, resiliency in the face of crises, and understanding how to motivate people during hardship. However, as much as my experiences at [former company] and [FORMER COMPANY] have helped me understand how to develop my career aspirations and prepared me for those next steps, I believe that the Stanford MBA program will facilitate my abilities to refine my vision, build networking, develop a functional business framework, and provide me with a more complete understanding of the full spectrum of the business world, all of which are vital to my long term success.

My former boss at [former company] told me that the key to the success of a startup is being able to keep it alive, no matter how bad things become. This advice may seem obvious, but the point he was trying to make was that even if you have to cut the company down to a bare existence for a year or two, this is preferable to making one last do-or-die gamble. If one has the patience to wait out a lull and continue looking for opportunities in that time, one would eventually find the right one from which to pull the company out of trouble. This is exactly what happened to [former company] as it stayed slim but afloat during the Silicon Valley crash, eventually seizing opportunities that led to its eventual success. I have taken this lesson to heart and it is this wisdom that keeps me grounded in wanting to enter the highly dynamic but fluctuating Vietnamese market.

This is one reason why I would like to go Stanford for my MBA. I would like to work closely with Professor Charles Halloway because I greatly admire his expertise and experience in entrepreneurial operations, especially as I learn about understanding opportunities and being able to deal with rapidly changing market conditions. I must be prepared and realistic towards the possibility of change in an industry where long term can sometimes be considered as short as two years. This is even more relevant in Vietnam, where emerging industries leave the door open for competition. The more I am able to cope with change, the better I will be able to deal with varying conditions as a leader.

During my time at Stanford, I will focus my curriculum around global management, general management, and entrepreneurial courses. Each of these programs at the GSB is highly regarded worldwide, and this is why the GSB compliments my existing skills.

With my goals based around video gaming/technology, entrepreneurship, and Vietnam, remaining in the Bay Area for school makes perfect sense as it will keep me in close proximity to Silicon Valley, investment firms, and a large local community of Vietnamese-Americans. Developing connections within the Vietnamese-American community will give me access to other businessmen who have experience in Vietnam as well as potential investors. Utilizing these assets will be imperative in order to learn how to be successful in a country whose government is still struggling to meet Western standards of business transparency.

When I evaluate my success, I look first to understand what impact I have had on those around me, whether professionally or personally. Empowering my teammates/coworkers in order to succeed on a larger scale was my overarching goal at [former company], and I will continue this in my future ventures. To get a more intimate feel of Stanford GSB, I read every student blog I could find to acquire a sense of the impact that the GSB had on students’ lives. For some students, I even got to read about their application process and see why they eventually decided on Stanford. The overriding theme that I extracted was that the students at GSB felt united in their mission to develop cooperatively. The people I was reading about were hopeful, energetic, modest, and caring about other students. In this way, I am attracted to the GSB because the students I will meet there are the type of people that I will want to start a company with and from whom I will most enjoy learning.

At GSB, the rhetoric implies that we’re on a mission to Change the World. Ideas are powerful execution: key. And I believe the rhetoric.

Like the GSB student who wrote the above snippet in her blog, I believe I can change the world in helping to create a better Vietnam. My company will emphasize teamwork and camaraderie among its employees, pushing them to believe they can have a positive affect on the company as well as their country. Each success for the company will be a success for Vietnam. We will lead the company together. My experience at [former company] and [FORMER COMPANY] has taught me fundamental lessons on how I can do this, but my education at Stanford GSB will complement my existing knowledge with the skills and wisdom I need to execute my vision.

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(I was actually a little hesitant to post this essay for two reasons. One, it goes a little too much into my former company, so I have edited things slightly to hide information my former bosses (whom with I am still friends) would probably prefer I not disclose. Two, I’m still in love with my idea, but I think truthfully, it doesn’t matter. If someone stole the idea, and could execute the way I hoped for with myself, then that would be great for Vietnam.)

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (Recommended length is 3-4 pages, double-spaced)

I grew up wanting to feel more Vietnamese. When I was younger, I went to school on Sundays to learn the language, but I never studied for class. My parents taught me and my sister our family rituals, but I never paid careful attention to them. I was in the common predicament of someone wanting things without a willingness to work for them. I want to be fluent, I want to make my parents proud, I want to help my countrymen¬- these thoughts would regularly be overridden by, I want to play computer games, I want to watch TV, I want to watch football on Sunday mornings. Today, what I find to be most important to me is gaining a better understanding of my Vietnamese heritage.

As I grew older, I started to fulfill some of the goals I had made in my youth. Before my junior year at UC Berkeley, I switched my major to Comparative Literature to study literature in English and Vietnamese. At the time, I considered myself a good writer and was stunned when I received a C on my first paper. I realized I needed to develop my skills considerably when I was told by another student that this was the lowest possible grade a professor would assign for a completed paper.

Improvement came slowly. A graduate student I had befriended showed me how to probe at the deeper issues in the works I was reading, and I used her instruction to gradually improve my analytic and writing skills over the rest of my time at Berkeley, managing reasonable grades. My grades were relatively lower than those of other students in the department, but when I graduated I felt accomplishment in reading the same Vietnamese authors my parents had grown up on. This desire to explore my heritage has also led me to write articles concerning Vietnamese-American identity that have been published by the newspaper Viet Weekly and Viet Voice Magazine.

In 2003, I studied abroad in Hanoi, Vietnam during the fall semester of my senior year to see firsthand the developments in the post-war society. It turned out to be the most rewarding experience of my life, and for the first time, I truly felt comfortable with my Vietnamese identity. At the same time, I saw the progress of the market economy and the exciting changes that were occurring there. When I returned to America, I started thinking about returning to Vietnam to work, learn more about my roots, and complete my fluency in the language. I realized, however, I did not have a plan for what I would do there and decided to stay in America to work, gain experience, and slowly develop a plan that would lead to my return.

In January 2004, after my return from Vietnam, I started work at a video game company named [former company], and was offered a full-time position once I graduated that spring. This was actually my second tenure there. In the spring of 2000, I was hired as a shipping intern at the age of 19, the 9th employee of the company. At the time, [former company] only rented video games online. When I left at the end of 2001 to finish my undergraduate degree, I had been entrusted with the company’s game purchasing decisions, controlling over fifty thousand dollars a month, but more significantly, the challenge of growing our subscriber base, and thus, the business, by balancing the needs of the customer within the restrictions of our limited budget.

At [former company], I fulfilled a childhood dream of working in the video game industry. When I was young, I could not afford to buy many video games, but I would accompany my parents to shopping malls each weekend so I could sit down at a bookstore and read video game magazines. When I think about my experience beyond the professional aspects, it is exciting to think about how I contributed to the development of three video games and two game peripherals, and was even interviewed by a gaming website!

In 2004, [former company] had started to manufacture video game peripherals and in 2005, video game publishing was added to the business. At that time, I was put in charge of our online store, initializing marketing strategies and inventory purchasing, because of my past success in recognizing sales opportunities and grassroots marketing. [former company]’s online store was unique from those of other video game companies because a sizable portion of our revenue had always come from direct sales. Recently, however, sales had stalled, and I was asked to return the store to its former prominence.

At the beginning of 2006, I was made E-Commerce Manager after leading the online store to a record holiday season, more than doubling our seasonal revenue goal with sales of $[]. More importantly, I had showed upper management my maturity and leadership skills in leading the office through a stressful season that forced the entire office to fulfill online store orders in the rain and cold for six straight weeks. I was twenty-five at the time and easily the youngest manager at the company.

Understanding the scope of my accomplishments helped me make the decision to leave [former company] and return to Vietnam. I felt that I was ready based on the experience and skills I had garnered from work at [former company] and slowly put together ideas on how I could combine my enthusiasm and experience in the video gaming industry with my desire to be in Vietnam.

On September 1st, 2006, I arrived in Vietnam to work towards starting a video game company.
Today, the video game industry is just emerging in Vietnam. While there are already companies with proven track records in the industry, their goals differ. Some take on game projects from outside the country. Others focus on licensing game properties from other nations and localizing them for use in Vietnam. The focus of my future company will be to sell Vietnamese games to a Vietnamese audience, catering to adult and female gamers, a demographic often called “casual gamers” and one currently not being fully tapped. This offers several advantages. One, casual gamers generally do not demand that their games be technically (graphics and audio) advanced. Successful games in this market are rarely those with the biggest budgets. This means that our company will not necessarily need a large amount of funding to launch its first game, and our games will require less development time compared to more complex titles.

Requiring less development time per project means that we will be able to get to market faster, cutting into the advantage of market position held by more established companies. Requiring less funding at the onset will be a key to starting the company quickly and minimizing one barrier of entry to market. One of the company’s keys to success will be the ability to launch simple, yet fun games on a regular basis as we depend on word of mouth to gradually build a fan base for our titles.
I also intend to adapt a strategy used successfully in the South Korean and Chinese gaming markets called micro-transactions. This strategy dictates that revenue comes from not only the game, but transactions from within the game as well. For example, a gamer might pay fifty cents to access a new level or buy an outfit for her online avatar (the digital representation of the person in the game world).
One obstacle to successful software distribution, however, is gaining penetration into the nation’s gaming cafés. As in other Asian nations, computer gaming in Vietnam is primarily conducted at gaming cafés because normal retail packaging would be unable to compete with piracy. Over the next year, I will be researching the current economics behind café owners’ decisions to serve particular games and developing strategies on how to get our products visibility.

With our company’s continued success, Vietnam’s gaming industry will become increasingly self-reliant. Games that are developed in Vietnam for a Vietnamese audience create revenue that stays within the country. The company can serve as a role model for other Vietnamese gaming companies in terms of its success and contribution to the country, so that the industry will gradually be able to sustain itself rather than depend on outsourced projects or externally licensed properties and reach the current state of the video game industries in South Korea and China.

I have thus far defined the company as our company, rather than as my company. This is because I see our company’s fortunes resting on the collective shoulders of the staff rather than simply myself. The company will have a flat corporate hierarchal structure so that no matter how large the company gets, each employee feels the opportunity to make the success or failure of the company part of his own. Each employee will see another employee, no matter his rank, as an equal and will be treated as such. In that way, each employee will personally have a stake in creating a better future for Vietnam.

Over the long term, the success of our earlier products will allow us to tackle projects larger in scope. The role of the company will grow to introduce projects that by themselves have an impact on developing the next generation of Vietnamese. I would like to work with the Vietnamese government to develop games that will aid teachers in the classroom.

For example, war simulation games can recreate history on the computer screen. In May 1954, Vietnamese forces successfully fought off the French, leading to the end of the First Indochina War and Vietnam’s independence. This battle, known as the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, is considered to be one of the most significant in Vietnamese history. Over seventy five thousand soldiers from both sides were involved in the battle, with casualties exceeding over ten thousand. I envision a massively multiplayer online war game where each student takes the role of one of the soldiers who took part in the battle. Each player would have a specific role to fulfill, in the process learning the importance of teamwork, dilemma of military decisions, ramifications of military conflict beyond the soldiers in battle, and cultural values. Importantly, the game would let gamers play both sides of the battle, and there would be no moral judgment placed on either side.

Working with the Vietnamese government would be a way to gain funding but also a way to get our product into classrooms nationwide, ensuring that the game would have a genuine impact on a generation of school-goers, similar to the one Oregon Trail had on children from my generation.

When I think of these future objectives, I am excited about the ability to take a role in Vietnam’s future in terms of a fulfillment of lifelong aspirations to feel more Vietnamese. Although I realize there is no definitive way to “feel Vietnamese”, contributing to Vietnam’s development is one way of reaching this goal.

Over the last few years, as I have started to understand the influence I can have on a business, I have also learned what is important to me and how I can satisfy those aspects of my life. I now feel confident that I am on the right path to making an impact not only in starting a video game company, but also in making positive change within Vietnam.

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Here’s another of the essays I wrote:

Option 4: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating. (Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

At [former company], online store fulfillment (order shipping) was done through the office warehouse. Every holiday season, things became a little chaotic as the entire office staff was expected to help the existing shipping staff with the increased order load. When the season neared in [year], I was asked to oversee fulfillment in addition to my responsibilities working in marketing and sales for the online store. The role had gone unfulfilled for some time because of the staffing limitations common to many startup environments, but my good working relationship with the entire office and performance on other team-leading tasks made management feel that I would be a good choice for the job.

[former company] released a video game that November called [game]. In late October, I had called a meeting with the entire office to outline fulfillment procedures and employee shifts for the holidays. When [game] was released, however, all my preparations were instantly rendered useless. While initial preorders for the game had been modest, word of mouth advertising and critics’ reviews propelled our online store and retail sales upwards, a trend that continued the remainder of the year.

As the season got colder and wetter, the order loads for the store kept increasing. I had originally planned for each employee to work four or five shifts during the entire eight week season. Instead, every employee worked a shift each day. A consequence of our small warehouse was that we needed to ship outdoors, and while I had ordered several heavy duty canopies to protect us from the weather, they did little to take the bite away from an unusually rainy season in the Bay Area. The pressure placed on the staff by having to work extended hours unprotected from the weather affected morale heavily; many were upset that they were unable to attend to their normal work and questioned why we even had the store in the first place.

While the online store held significance in that it was an additional revenue stream, it was especially important that holiday season. Few people in the company knew that although we were doing well through our retail vendors, we would not be compensated for those sales until early the next year, a normal billing practice in retail. At the same time, however, we were heavily in debt to our partners in manufacturing and logistics and they threatened to cut off their services completely if we could not pay off some of the outstanding debt. The online store was a tremendous asset for the company because of the higher margins we received in comparison to retail, but also because unlike retail, all revenue from online store sales was available to us immediately. Therefore, every dollar that the online store produced could be used to pay off bills without delay and keep the supply chain going for [game]. [former company] would have actually preferred to never sell in retail, but getting into retail was a major requirement of making our products accessible to a larger audience as well as creating other revenue streams.

My work that season was somewhat of a contradiction. On one end, I tried to make things as comfortable for the other employees as possible even as my workload kept increasing. I reorganized the schedules and our shipping methods to improve our efficiency. I spoke to employees on a daily basis so they could relieve their frustrations. I also made sure employees got regular breaks and I organized lunches and breakfasts to be available at the office, paid for by the company. On the other end, I worked late nights and weekends optimizing our search engine campaigns, creating additional promotions, and researching user metrics to find ways to increase sales (perhaps ironically making fulfillment more difficult). The promotions increased bundle sales, increasing our average order amount, and the success of the search engine campaigns resulted in a conversion (a shopper clicking on an advertisement and then making a purchase) rate four times the industry average.

Although I had been placed in charge of the shipping operations, I actually had no particular ranking in the organization, and some may have felt uncomfortable that a peer was suddenly directing and assigning tasks to them. I worked with various personalities and was not always successful motivating them. At times I took things personally when my planning did not hold up to changing conditions, or when I was having trouble getting support from an employee. I spoke to upper management daily to discuss my approach and the encouragement I received helped me keep things in perspective.

That winter, I led the online store to more than double its sales goal, breaking all its previous sales records. After the season ended, I met with our CEO and asked him to give the entire company an extra day off to help staff recover from some of the bitter feelings of the holidays. He agreed. I also gave out bonuses to thank specific employees who had remained firmly committed to the work despite the difficulties. My efforts that season led to my being named E-Commerce Manager soon afterwards. Even after becoming manager, however, I made it a priority to continue open communication with those who may have been disgruntled with me from the winter. I worked to repair damaged relationships, asking several employees to lunch. I knew that I could not necessarily change how people felt, but also recognized that managing personnel is a continual learning process in keeping good working relations. That season, I was tested with working through conflict, but the lessons I learned then will be applicable for the rest of my life.

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A year ago (give or take a week), I left my first real job and began to prepare to go to Vietnam. I wasn’t sure what Vietnam would be for me, but I was also balancing thoughts of going to get my MBA at the same time. A year later, I’m happy with how things turned out and I’m here indefinitely.

Last fall, I applied to the Stanford GSB. I didn’t get in, but I did interview while I was working in KL, so that makes me feel like I was pretty impressive or at least a legit candidate. The GSB is the toughest business school to get into in the world, accepting about 10% of its applicants. From my calculations, 20% are interviewed.

One of my former managers told me after learning I had been rejected that it was actually better for me this way, so my future in Vietnam wouldn’t be clouded. Now I could think clearly and pursue one fantastic option instead of struggling in deciding between two. He was right. Of course, it sounds good when you don’t have the two options, and you say that the remaining option was the true perfect option for you all along, but what he said turned out to be completely on-target.

I was thinking about this manager a few minutes ago, remembering a time he came back to the office late after our annual Christmas dinner to help me process some paperwork

I remember the talk we had:

He (my boss was only in his mid 30’s himself) said, sometimes you see a 32 year old serving as a vice president at successful company, making 250K a year and wonder, “how the hell did he get there at such a young age?” And he continued, it’s because he got in to a company early, and as the company grew and more things were demanded of him, he met the challenge. He got a high position early-on, but then showed he was up to the task and held on to it.

I think he said this to me because he knew I was going through a rough season, and he wanted to let me know that good things come from the struggles in times like these. After that holiday season, I became a manager but that wasn’t the good thing he was talking about. It’s actually about where I am right now. Because of my work and struggles in the past, I now have that chance to be a VP-level executive at a successful company by the time I’m 30. I’ve put myself in a position to have a huge impact and help lead us to success, and if I can hang on, I’ll be that guy in his story, and that really sums up what working in a startup is about.

Anyway, I’ve decided to post my Stanford essays over the next few days and the first one is below. I’m actually very happy with the way they turned out (thanks a lot to Lily, my sister, my dad, and so on), and even if I ever did apply again, I don’t think I could make better ones.

Option 1: Tell us about a time when you did something that was not established, expected, or popular. (Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

My experience managing at [former company] was invaluable, but the progression of learning how to manage was often strenuous. My final week working at [former company] coincided with the company’s employee review period. I gave two employees below-average ratings, with one employee receiving the minimum overall score. I had met with both employees concerning their work attitudes, performance issues, and abilities to work with others in the past, but had seen little improvement. These two employees also had not been happy with me as their manager, and I was a little hesitant about the reviews because I expected a difficult time. Going through the process, I knew I felt that they had performed inadequately, but I looked at my own responsibility in their failures and struggled with finding the right sense of objectivity towards their work while still being able to give constructive criticism. It took me several days of questioning myself before I truly felt confident in my assessments. I completed the reviews by adding specific examples of what influenced me to grade a specific way, what I thought were that employee’s positive attributes, and suggestions on how the employee could improve to return to the company’s expected performance levels.

After I gave these two employees their reviews (separately), both were so upset that they refused to sign the review form to acknowledge we had conducted the session. One employee wanted to poll co-workers and other managers to see if they had felt the same way about his performance. When I conducted the personal review sessions, I tried to be positive; with my leaving the following week, I emphasized the chance for a new start and I hoped that they would think about what I had said. I told them they were not far away from being at-level with the company’s expectations and that I had confidence in them to improve. Both felt that their performances were completely opposite of what I had rated them, however, and that any discrepancies or issues were my own and not theirs. I spent the next few days thinking carefully about their comments to learn about myself as a manager. While I believed my scores were fair and honest, I was still disappointed in myself that I had been unable to help the employees perform better.

Five months before the review period, I had called a meeting with one of the employees mentioned earlier. She was frustrated that the company had done nothing for her in terms of career development and that her current role held no possibility of advancement. I sat with her for a couple of hours to discuss how she could set goals with me in terms of her current work performance and how exceeding them would show she was ready for a promotion. Ultimately, while she said she understood my points, she was extremely reluctant to set performance metrics and never followed-up with me to do so.

In a way, my attempts that meeting resulted in failure, but one of the lessons I have learned is that it is not always possible to get people to change their mentality. People need to make that choice for themselves. This does not mean, however, I cannot strive to continue improving my abilities to motivate, communicate, and help others develop.

Ending my tenure at [former company] with employee evaluations felt like I had gone full-circle as an employee at the company. While I had started there trying to understand how I could better serve the company, I ended trying to learn how I could help my employees reach their potential, for the benefit of themselves and the company. With a number of my employees over time, I felt that I had been able to communicate to them well, and we mutually learned from each other. I had been unable to progress with my two low-rated employees in the same way, but I hoped that they would consider my thoughts as well as themselves carefully over time. They could even use my ratings as motivation to show their new manager that I was completely wrong about them.

When I last spoke to my former manager at [former company], he mentioned that the two employees were gradually addressing the issues I had raised with them and striving to improve. I find accomplishment in this because my efforts eventually resonated with my former employees, even if I will not be around to see the results myself. Their improvements can only end in positives, and they have taken the right first steps towards fulfilling their own professional aspirations.

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