1

Entrepreneur: In 1998, at the age of eighteen, I cofounded what is now Australia’s largest online accounting firm—www.eTax.com.au. Together, my father, younger brother, and I launched an entirely new concept in the Australian market—“Do your tax return over the Internet.” Since that time, several hundreds of thousands of Australians have registered to use our eTax product.

Under my leadership as business manager over eight years, we survived the dot-com bust—these were tough times, often working seven days a week around the clock. In 2001, I suggested and implemented an aggressive new marketing strategy that generated revenue growth of over 450 percent in that year. More recently, while simultaneously employed at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), I launched a taxation call center in India that was the first of its kind for Australia. My brother and I developed all of the software including workflow management systems, online payments, and digital signatures. In 2005, we again doubled our revenues, and I am in the process of changing the way we think about our company structure and governance.

I feel it is a substantial accomplishment, first, to develop a successful national business and, second, to continue to do so while working full time for an international consulting firm, completing a triple degree, and touring the international music circuit.

2

Community leader: At present, I am leading a $10 million indigenous tourism project in Cape York, Australia. Indigenous Australians represent one of Australia’s most disadvantaged minorities. The statistics are shocking for a first-world country—life expectancy at Mossman Gorge (where I currently work) is around fifty years of age. Nearby, wealthy “white” Australians have a life expectancy of seventy-seven. Over the past four months, I have brought together a team of over twenty stakeholders including state, federal, and local government; national parks; community leaders; and investors. We recently agreed on a comprehensive plan to change the quality of life for residents at Mossman Gorge. Unable to find anyone else to continue this important work, I arranged project funding myself and have taken leave without pay from BCG to turn the plan into reality. Over the next six months, I will lead construction of an indigenous tourism business that will begin to transform this community from one dependent on passive welfare to one that is sustainable and self-sufficient. The project will be a role model for sixteen other disadvantaged communities in the Cape.

I feel honored, at a young age, to be given the responsibility and trust to run a multi-million-dollar community development project, and so far I am enjoying the challenge immensely.

3

International musician: for the past eight years I have sung as a tenor in over thirteen countries around the world, as well as across Australia. I sing with The Australian Voices (TAV), Australia’s premier a capella ensemble, and performed with the Chamber Choir of the World in 2001.

One of many highlights was performing a harmonic overtone solo to a crowd of over seven thousand people in Llangollen, Wales, which was broadcast live by BBC television. Harmonic overtone singing is an ancient technique used by indigenous Australians for over forty thousand years when playing the didgeridoo. I have developed a skill using this technique to sing two notes at the same time, creating beautiful chords. As well as performing on the concert stage, I have given demonstrations of harmonic overtone singing to workshops of thousands of school children, teachers, and adult choristers across the world.

Personally, it gave me great joy to be recognized as achieving the highest professional artistic standards and to pass on my skills to my peers.

Analysis

We chose this essay to highlight that there is no one defined formula or writing style that will lure the admissions committee. Scott is to the point and focused on facts, yet passionate about what he does. Scott takes a literal approach and offers three distinct bullet-point vignettes that do not necessarily bind together as a cohesive essay. It is okay to do so as long as the applicant clearly conveys his logic, not just the positive outcome.

Scott has chosen three achievements carefully, ones that offer a quick glance into his busy and interesting life that includes a capella performances, helping expand a family business, and leading an indigenous tourism business. Scott successfully demonstrates his sense of initiative, his leadership potential, his multitasking abilities, and his heterogeneous interests—admirable qualities in a business school applicant.

Scott tells it like it is. Nevertheless, the essay would have been stronger if he had been able to show rather than tell. You may have noticed that Scott chose not to dwell on his individual thought process. This distinctly contrasts with some of the other essays we chose for this book, which allow for more self-refection. This is probably the biggest critique of this essay. Although Scott’s actions and positive outcome are abundantly clear, he undermines himself by dedicating only a few words to the takeaways from the experience. 

Furthermore, we still do not know what Scott would be like in a classroom. Scott has not revealed a lot about his personality and makes the following classic mistake: he has not reflected on how these achievements have shaped him. This essay would have been more effective if Scott had focused on why he chose these challenges and the lessons learned from these experiences.

From 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays edited by the Staff of the Harvard Crimson. Copyright (c) 2009 by the authors and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Publishing Group