INSEAD Essay's

I believe that the overall purpose of the Essay is to provide a qualitative view to your resume. You were the president of your student's association (resume), great, but what did you do to become president, what did you do after you became president (essay's). I feel the essays are a great opportunity to give 'stories' & 'anecdotes' supporting your overall theme & resume.

I was watching this program on TV called, "On the Lot". It's a reality show where amateur directors create small movies based on theme's. One of the director's mentioned that this success stemmed from his ability to lay down real simple story lines and then weave complex 'episodes' around them. I think an MBA app is very similar. Here are some example 'elevator pitches' for storylines (very relevant to an Entrepreneurial track)

"Highly accomplished individual seeking to build an enterprise on his own"
"Global exposure at an early age, seeking professional freedom"

Now, the next step is to take this mantra and write down all 'stages' of your life and see how they align. Here's what I did

Stages:
Childhood (birth -> Grade X)
Grade X - Grade XII
Undergrad
Internships
Grad School
Internships
Professional experience
ExtraCurrics across the board.

Now, write down accomplishments in each of the above stages. It can be very rough

Accomplishments:
1. Played Soccer for school team
2. Was member of TIE

Once you've got a huge laundry list, walk down through each item and decide which one's support your theme and which one's don't. This remaining list can serve as the foundation for all your remaining essays.

I found this approach very useful. Perhaps it helps others.