Hi,
I?m applying for an MBA and one of my recommenders asked me to answer
one of the questions for him: In which areas could the applicant
exhibit growth or improvement?

I don?t know what to tell him. If I tell him things I truly believe
that I need improvement on, like leadership or analytical skills, then
that will point out a weakness in my application.

What kind of answers to the above question will not cast a negative
light on me, yet is plausible enough to use?

Thanks.

I thought this article might have something of use in it for you -
http://www.savetimeonline.info/business/mba.html

Personally, I'd go for honesty but try to turn it to a positive. FOr
example, an acocutnant says his 'biggest fault' is that he gets too
tied up in details - but that actually sounds good for someone dealing
with numbers!

Also, you are actually meant to be doing the MBA to learn thigns so
you shouldn't feel as if you need ot know it all already.

Maybe you can say you need growth in statistics (rather than that you
can't analyse information) or want to learn more about the pyschology
behind leadership.

I agree with savetimeonline that you want to be honest, but try to
emphasize weaknesses that do not reflect that poorly on you.  One way
you might approach it is to think about your good qualities and how
they might cause problems sometimes (like savetimeonline's
detail-oriented example).

For instance, business school is very team oriented.  There are a lot
of group projects.  I tend to want to do a whole project myself
because I want to control how every piece works using the "if you want
a job done right, do it yourself" philosophy.  Business school then
would be a good opportunity to learn to delegate responsibility and
work effectively with and learn to trust other people.  So my fault is
a real fault, it may lead to me working ineffectively with other
people, but it also shows I'm a hard worker and accept responsibility.

You should definitely pick something that is personal to you so it
doesn't sound made up.  Do you have any of these qualities:
perfectionist/tend to over prepare (makes you inefficient), too task
oriented (too interested in seeing each task completed right away when
it might make more sense to multi-task based on their different
priorities ), too risk averse (overthink things weighing pros and
cons), too risk taking (make bold decisions intuitively, but may need
more analytical rigor in certain circumstances).  It would help if you
could use, or at least think of, an example, particularly if you may
be interviewed based on your response.

Hi, 
Thank you both for your comments. I was also hoping to get some
answers on the "growth" aspect.

Thanks!

Pinkbunny,
Sounds like you are a female, which could having a bearing on the
recommender's response to the question:  "In which areas could the
applicant exhibit growth or improvement?"

The statement is actually quite cleverly worded, allowing an answer
about weaknesses but also about positive traits:  "S/He is natural
leader in groups but would be more effective if s/he could hone
her/his analytical skills."

Well, that is probably a poor example.
I suggest that you discuss this and maybe the other questions with
someone who knows you well, could be one or both of your parents,
someone with whom you have worked together on projects  - of any type,
team sport, extra-curricular activity, academic group project,
whatever.

Good luck, Myoarin