The following are guidelines for completing your Shah Academy Membership application. These ideas will help you to think about how to structure your essay, what to include in your essay, and how to prepare for an interview if you are selected. They are not meant to be step-by-step instructions, nor are they given in any particular order of importance.
Focus your Essay
Below are some questions to think about as you develop your application essay. Use these and other questions you identify about your own learning and leadership goals to help you develop an integrated statement. Essays that are merely a list of separate answers to these questions will not be competitive.
Leadership
- What does leadership mean to you?
- What experiences have informed these understandings?
Impact
- What do you hope to learn through your membership at Shah Academy?
- How does this learning connect to your larger educational and/or life goals?
Interview Questions
In an interview, committee members will ask you to expand upon your essay. Some interview questions that committee members may ask:
- What do you hope to learn or gain from being a Shah Academy member?
- What characteristics are most important in a good leader?
- Tell me about a time when you had to make an important decision with limited facts.
- Tell me about a time when you had to take a risk.
- Tell me about a time when you had to confront authority.
- What are your 5, 10 and 25 year plans/goals?
- What was the most useful criticism you have received?
- What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?
- What distinguishes a great leader from a good one?
- What does the word ‘success’ mean to you?
