The graduate school application process is a gauntlet of questions that challenges applicants to tell their individual stories. Some of the trickiest questions to answer well are those that ask the applicant to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. These questions also offer the opportunity to craft exceptional answers that can distinguish one amid a sea of other applicants. This post will consider challenges, opportunities and strategies associated with answering essay and interview questions pertaining to your strengths and weaknesses.
First, let’s look at an example of an essay question that requires the applicant to address strengths and weaknesses. This is an INSEAD MBA essay question.
“Give a candid description of yourself (who you are as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary (maximum 500 words).”
While this question asks for more than a simple consideration of the applicant’s strengths and weaknesses, the other parts of the question give valuable hints about what elements and information can help generate a strong response to questions about strengths and weaknesses. Let’s break it down.
“Give a candid description of yourself (who you are as a person)…” Talking about strengths and weaknesses is highly personal, can feel quite sensitive and has the potential to reveal a good deal about your values, personality, worldview and, generally, ‘who you are as a person.’ Note the use of the word ‘candid,’ meaning honest and sincere. This is a reminder that the INSEAD admissions committee wants you to show your true self when speaking about your strengths and weaknesses.
“…stressing the personal characteristics…” Not every question is going to be about professional experiences and career goals. Universities also want to know who you are as a person. This is a critical part of this question and is a good example of why we always encourage applicants to read each question very carefully. Here INSEAD is asking about personality traits rather than skills. So empathy, patience, integrity or leadership could be good plays, but being a Python coding expert or a meticulous auditor would not.
“…the main factors which have influenced your personal development…” Talking about your strengths is likely to afford you the chance to talk about some growth experiences. Sharing these stories will make the essay more vivid and give the reader reasons to believe in your strengths. Similarly, talking about weaknesses is a great time to mention important learning moments and realizations that have shaped your understanding of yourself and your future goals.
“…giving examples when necessary.” When answering these questions, using real stories from your life will illustrate and qualify or quantify your strengths and weaknesses. If project management is a weakness, share that you struggled in your first junior account management role until a senior colleague began mentoring you. If leadership is a strength, share a detailed account of leading a team to win a group competition.
By breaking down this multi-part question, you can see the complete storytelling opportunity that INSEAD would like you to take. Here are a few more tips for building strong stories about your strengths and weaknesses.
“Please share a weakness and what you are doing about it.”
– London Business School MBA Interview Question
Give Each Rain Cloud a Silver Lining
Any story you tell about a weakness should result in learning or finding a growth opportunity. This is the real point of the question – the school wants to know about your resilience, your growth mindset, your willingness to learn, your manageability. The way you deal with a weakness, shortcoming, or failure can reveal those things.
Show What Motivates You
For many people, a weakness or defeat inspires them to do better or achieve something in the future. When talking about a weakness, it is advisable to spend a considerable portion of your word count – possibly more than half – talking about your resulting growth, what you have done and what you are continuing to do to improve yourself. Tie this experience and growth to your career goals whenever possible.
“What would your manager say are your strengths?”
– Indiana (Kelley) MBA Interview Question
Strength Involves Personal Growth
Some strengths come naturally to us, and these are usually personality traits such as empathy or leadership. But strengths can also come in the form of learned skills and habits. Becoming an expert at a skill or rigorously forming good work habits are processes that require years of practice and training. Sharing the story of the dedicated efforts you made to acquire and improve this ability tells the reader more about you than if you simply focus on results-based validation.
A Strength Can Be Something to Build On
Remember that the results and experiences you offer to back up your strengths don’t have to stop in the present. You are applying for a graduate program to continue to improve yourself and boost your career. Your strengths are likely related to your career direction or goals, so show that you are still hungry for more by including your intention to keep pushing to improve upon a given strength. If you have your sights on achieving a rare standard or becoming a verified expert, make that known.
[Conclusion]
Talking about your weaknesses and strengths is an opportunity to highlight some of the most formative experiences from your past while sharing insights about your motivations for the future. While some schools might ask it in your essays, others could pop the question in an interview. These are challenging but important topics that will help you prepare to ace similar questions in future job interviews.