[Prompt: We all experience “defining moments, ” significant events that can have a major impact on our lives. Briefly describe such an event and how it affected you.]

Failed Internet startup

The president of our company announced the final vote: “five to three in favor of ending the business.” Instantly, the tumultuous adventure of Versaworks abruptly ended. This web-based company we had founded aimed to promote an online reservation system for restaurants. Planning to run the company part-time while we sought initial business contracts to generate some base revenue, we had hoped to attract enough investors to provide funding for the team to work full-time. In the end, however, our inability to solidify relationships with restaurants led to the vote on closing the business, and the vote’s outcome was what everyone had expected.

However, closing this chapter in my life allowed me to open a new one, as it caused me to re-evaluate my career goals. I asked myself, why was I so motivated to start a business in the first place? Why did I find its possibilities more rewarding than my successful engineering career? I came to realize that while engineering allowed me to apply my technical skills to developing advanced technology, I believed I had the opportunity and privilege to enhance people’s lives more effectively by guiding a collaborative effort, a whole company directed towards providing for the needs of its customers.

In a word, today I understand that my long-term career goal is to maximize my contribution to society. Through my Versaworks experience, I gained a new perspective on what it takes to start a business. The closing of that project compelled me to refocus on my goals and evaluate what I need in order to achieve them. Today, I know that the pursuit of an MBA education is the next step I must take.

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

這篇文章的特別之處在于用反面的例子來(lái)論證自己攻讀MBA的目的。文章要求是寫(xiě)一個(gè)可以改變?nèi)艘簧摹匾詴r(shí)刻’，作者采用了一個(gè)發(fā)生在自己身上的創(chuàng)業(yè)失敗的例子。

很多的時(shí)候，當(dāng)我們寫(xiě)這類(lèi)的文章時(shí)，都會(huì)盡量的采用一些積極的，或者能正面反映出自己優(yōu)勢(shì)的素材。但是在這篇文章里，作者選用了一個(gè)失敗的例子，突出了自己的不足，無(wú)論是在思想上，還是計(jì)劃上。在文章的字里行間，可以看出作者是一個(gè)極有社會(huì)責(zé)任感的人，希望通過(guò)充分利用自己的技術(shù)，盡可能的提高人類(lèi)的生活水準(zhǔn)。 

盡管作者創(chuàng)業(yè)的出發(fā)點(diǎn)是好的，但是畢竟缺乏市場(chǎng)調(diào)查，市場(chǎng)知識(shí)，和市場(chǎng)實(shí)際操作經(jīng)驗(yàn)。 導(dǎo)致創(chuàng)業(yè)最終失敗，然而作者并沒(méi)有因此一蹶不振。作者認(rèn)為這次的失敗只會(huì)讓他更清楚地意識(shí)到自己真正的創(chuàng)業(yè)目的。通過(guò)深刻的自我反省和重新評(píng)估創(chuàng)業(yè)真正需要的的東西，作者發(fā)現(xiàn)，自己需要做的下一步，也是最重要的一步就是攻讀MBA學(xué)位。通過(guò)MBA的學(xué)習(xí)，能使作者彌補(bǔ)自己對(duì)市場(chǎng)知識(shí)不足的缺陷。

這篇文章的篇幅盡管不算長(zhǎng)，但是段落分明，也能夠清晰的表達(dá)出促使作者萌發(fā)攻讀MBA需求的真實(shí)動(dòng)機(jī)?？傮w來(lái)說(shuō)，還是蠻有說(shuō)服力的。

譯文：

失敗的IT創(chuàng)業(yè)

[命題要求：我們都經(jīng)歷過(guò)‘決定性的時(shí)刻’- 能夠?qū)ξ覀兊纳町a(chǎn)生重大的影響重大新聞事件，簡(jiǎn)單描述這類(lèi)的事件及它是如何影響你。]

當(dāng)我們公司的總裁宣布最終投票結(jié)果時(shí)：“五比三贊成結(jié)束公司。”瞬間，Versaworks的轟轟烈烈的冒險(xiǎn)突然就結(jié)束了。這是一個(gè)我們當(dāng)初為了促進(jìn)網(wǎng)上訂餐系統(tǒng)而成立的網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司。起初只是計(jì)劃以兼職的形式來(lái)運(yùn)行這間公司，等初步開(kāi)發(fā)了一些客源及積累了部分資金，我們期望去吸引足夠的投資者來(lái)提供資金供這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)全職工作。然而最終，我們無(wú)法維持和鞏固與餐館之間的關(guān)系導(dǎo)致投票結(jié)束營(yíng)業(yè)，而投票的結(jié)果正如大家所預(yù)期的。

但是，這一章的結(jié)束允許我在我的人生中打開(kāi)另一個(gè)新章，因?yàn)樗刮抑匦略u(píng)價(jià)我的職業(yè)目標(biāo)。 我問(wèn)自己，為什么我熱衷于把創(chuàng)業(yè)放在首位？為什么我會(huì)覺(jué)得它會(huì)比我成功的工程事業(yè)有更高的回報(bào)率？我后來(lái)意識(shí)到，工程學(xué)讓我可以運(yùn)用我的技術(shù)技能去開(kāi)發(fā)先進(jìn)技術(shù)，我曾相信我有機(jī)會(huì)和優(yōu)勢(shì)去通過(guò)組織一個(gè)共同的努力從而更有效的提高人民的生活水平，而整個(gè)公司也都是朝著為提供客戶(hù)的需要的方向前進(jìn)的。

總而言之，現(xiàn)在我知道了我的長(zhǎng)期職業(yè)目標(biāo)是使我對(duì)社會(huì)的貢獻(xiàn)達(dá)到最大限度的。通過(guò)我在Versaworks的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，我對(duì)如何創(chuàng)業(yè)有了新的認(rèn)識(shí)。這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的結(jié)束迫使我把注意力重新集中在我的目標(biāo)和評(píng)估為實(shí)現(xiàn)這些目標(biāo)的需求。今天，我知道攻讀MBA學(xué)位是我必須走下一步。