Lesson
One: Why MBA?
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Why
MBA?
Discuss the
factors that influenced your career decisions to date. Please
describe your professional goals for the future. How will the
M.B.A. experience influence your ability to achieve your
goals? (Wharton)
Discuss your
career progression to date. Why do you want an M.B.A.? How do
you envision your career progressing after receiving the
M.B.A.? (Tuck)
Specifically
address your post-M.B.A. short- and long-term professional
goals. How will Darden assist you in attaining these goals?
Briefly assess
your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career
plans and your motivation for pursuing a graduate degree at
Kellogg.
What are your
post-M.B.A. career plans? (Harvard)
This is the most
common type of essay question, asked on virtually every
business school application. This question asks you to
present, clearly and coherently, your all too familiar reasons
for wanting an M.B.A. The questions usually consist of a few
distinct parts. Most will ask about your past (How has your
career progressed to date? What has motivated you thus far?),
your future (How do you envision your career progressing? What
are your goals for the future?), or both. All of them expect
you to relate the information to your present desire to attain
an M.B.A.
Since this is
usually the first question asked, this essay will be the first
one the officers see when they get your file. Let it create
your first impression. It is similar to the moment in an
interview when you shake the interviewer’s hand and smile.
Similarly, your first essay needs to be confident, direct, and
to the point. The admissions committee uses this question to
ascertain your motivation, maturity, and focus. While
undergraduate application essays are understandably fuzzy
about career choices and goals, graduate essays should, in
contrast, be crystal clear. If you have vague reasons for
pursuing an M.B.A., you need to reconsider your decision to
apply. Giving a vague response to this question is akin to
having a weak handshake and not looking the interviewer in the
eye.
You must
accomplish a lot in this essay, so pay special attention to
structure. You can tackle the question by dividing your answer
into three separate pieces. The first can be about your past
professional experience. The second can discuss your future
career goals. The third can be about the school’s particular
program. At each step, demonstrate why and how these
experiences, goals, or attributes motivate you to get your
M.B.A.
Limiting yourself
to one career goal is best, if it is general. If you have a
couple of different jobs in mind, that is all right, too.
However, your reasons for them should be easily inferred or
specifically stated. If you are truly unsure of what your
goals are (and we cannot talk you out of applying) always
admit so honestly rather than make up something. At the very
least, though, give credible reasons for your indecision, and
explain why you believe that this school’s program will help
you overcome your ambivalence.
Even if the
question does not specifically ask for it, articulate why the
particular program makes sense for you given your unique
professional and personal goals. To do this well, you must
spend the necessary time in introspection and also research
the school. When you understand the school’s program and
positioning, use what you have uncovered only if you can apply
it to yourself. Do not write what you think they want to hear.
Admissions officers can spot this kind of insincerity from a
mile away. They also seek a heterogeneous mix of backgrounds
and experiences. Therefore, trying to fashion yourself after
your conception of a typical applicant can hurt you even if
you do it well. The truer you are to your real motivations and
desires, the better your essay will be.
SAMPLE ESSAY:
Note:
This essay appears unedited for instructional purposes. Essays
edited by EssayEdge are substantially improved. For samples of
EssayEdge editing, please click
here.
Discuss the
factors that influenced your career decisions to date. Please
describe your professional goals for the future. How will the
M.B.A. experience influence your ability to achieve your
goals? (Wharton)
“Stop foolin’
around, old boy. How would an M.B.A. help you? Better get on
with your career.” That’s what they say. Friends,
colleagues, others.
I ‘ve heard it
all before. “If I were you, I would not do it. Don’t waste
your time, get ahead with your studies as quickly as
possible”, my professor for experimental physics told me.
That was back in ’88, and of course he was not talking about
my M.B.A., but about my intention to go to China: Take a
special scholarship and go-for a year, to study Chinese, and
physics, in China. Get in line, professor. He was just one of
many who did not approve of my idea.
But for me, my
plan clearly was: A chance, a challenge, and a choice. A
chance to open my intellectual door to the world Europeans
consider the (psychologically) most distant one from Western
culture, and to broaden my view well beyond the usual. A
challenge to learn a language Westerners see as one of the
most difficult in a compressed timeframe and to adapt to a
completely unfamiliar environment-while not letting this
impact my overall physics studies timeline. A choice to
diverge from the mainstream path to exclusive specialization
in a single intellectual realm, not just on a spare time
basis-but with serious commitment.
Looking back
after seven years, I could not feel more assured that at that
time, I made the right choice. My unusual combination of
experiences sets me worlds apart from my physics-only
ex-fellow students. Working for (Big Consulting Company), (so
far) exclusively on international assignments in high tech
industries, is the kind of job I had envisioned at that time.
I could not have come here without that choice I made back
then.
Now I am-on a
higher playing field, though-back to square one: Once again,
about to make an academic detour form the prescribed path. An
unnecessary delay for my career progression.
But stop! Is that
at all true? Getting an M.B.A. makes perfect sense for a
consultant-after all, most consultants are M.B.A.s. Getting an
M.B.A. makes even more sense in my particular case: it is the
perfect academic supplement to my physics background-the one I
need to become a leading edge high tech consultant. Detailed
technology understanding plus profound business and group
skills, that is a rare combination which really gets the
career rocket roaring. This is certainly true for me, and I
think that this is one of my most important and convincing
reasons for an M.B.A.
Having spent
considerable time and energy studying Chinese and traveling in
Asia (and the rest of the world), an exclusively German career
certainly is the opposite of what I am interested in. No cozy,
warm place in an easy, totally predictable environment.
Guaranteed career progression when the guy above me retires.
Getting a dog at 35 and the BMW and house that go with it. No
thanks.
So what is it I
am interested in? I want to be where the guerilla wars of
business are fought (the shoestring traveller resurfaces).
Where global language and intercultural/personal skills make
the difference. Where intelligence translates into quantum
leaps (courtesy of the physicist). This is where I can make my
best contribution. In short, I want to be where the action and
the challenges are.
For the late 20th
and early 21st century, this means, in terms of topic, clearly
one industry: High Tech (just watch the stock market). I am
well equipped for this with my physics background. In terms of
region, it clearly means Asia. Through language study and
travel exposure, I have come a long way in getting myself
prepared. In terms of function, it clearly means strategy
consulting. If there is any place better for this than (Big
Consulting Company), please let me know.
Thus the reasons
why I want to go back to university and do a dual degree in
business and East Asian studies are: Get myself a thorough
business background to put all the pieces of case experience I
have accumulated during my (Big Consulting Company), life in
their right places and understand their context. Do the same
with all my pieces of Asian studies and travel experiences.
Get ready for the real action I want to be a part and a driver
of-and satisfy academic ambitions lurking beneath the surface
of the “hands-on” consultant.
The knowledge I
will gain should help facilitate a career change. After
extensive work in European High Tech industry, I want to
transfer to Asia. Completion of my desired academic program
should give me perfect preparation, some initial contacts,
and, through a summer internship in Asia, a clear idea of what
to expect from working there (in contrast to studying and
traveling).
Of at least equal
importance, the Lauder/Wharton dual degree program will also
give me a clear view on all the options that I have with my
very special combination of skills. While I currently cannot
imagine going anywhere else but to one of the Asian offices of
(Big Consulting Company), after my graduation, I am also
realistic enough to understand that there certainly is a
number of other opportunities out there which I would be
attracted to, but just know nothing about at this time. I am a
firm believer in having many options and in exploring quite a
few in detail-whatever position you’re in, there may always
be one which is an even better fit with your ambitions and
capabilities.
I think it is
obvious why I apply to the Wharton School. Among all the
leading business schools, Lauder/Wharton is one of the very
few offering a serious joint-degree program that makes sense.
With its strong international orientation, Lauder/Wharton
offers the type of courses I am looking for. With my diverse
set of unusual ideas, experiences and capabilities, I would
make a most valuable and colorful addition to the student body
of Wharton.
So what are my
concrete plans for the time after my graduation? Where in Asia
can I be a driver the way described above? One extremely
attractive option for me would be helping to set up the (Big
Consulting Company), office in (Asian Capital). Or one in
(Other Asian Capital). Or in Saigon (Cantonese and Vietnamese
are no more different than Swedish and German). But frankly,
these are just a few options I can pinpoint now-and I
am sure that many more will become apparent during my Wharton
experience.
After all, my
desire to come to Wharton is just another manifestation of the
characteristics that made me go to China a couple of years
ago: Take the chance to widen your scope. Accept the challenge
that goes with replacing narrow security by broad uncertainty.
Make the choice to put all your effort into fully developing
and playing out your talents.
So I am not going
to take my friends’ advice. They have their dogs already,
and the BMW is ordered. Sorry-I am not ready for that.
COMMENTS:
The writer of
this essay begins painting a picture of himself by discussing
his trip to China. The fact that he took the trip instead of
heeding all the advice others gave him shows determination,
maturity, and character without him ever having to say the
words. He clearly demonstrates why an M.B.A. makes sense for
him generally (as a consultant) and specifically (to
supplement his technical background). He pointedly bucks the
usual stereotype of, “Getting a dog at 35 and the BMW and
house that go with it.” Instead, the essayist makes his
reasons personal and unique by relating them directly to his
professional goal of high-tech consulting in Asia. He then
spends a paragraph specifically addressing the Wharton
program. To demonstrate the sincerity and focused nature of
his goals further, he lists a few very specific options that
will be available to him once he graduates.
Certainly, his
background and experience make him unusual. However, his style
makes him stand out. The essayist consistently uses questions
to transition to each new point without being distracting. He
begins with a question. “Stop foolin’ around, old boy. How
would an M.B.A. help you?” Then he carries the theme
throughout, “But stop! Is this all true?” and “So what
is it I am interested in?” Finally, he writes, “So what
are my concrete plans for the time after my graduation? Where
in Asia can I be a driver the way described above?” To every
question he asks he gives a succinct and pointed answer. He
concludes by subtly reiterating his main points of chance,
challenge, and choice. His last sentence adds the final
stylistic touch by referring back to the question posed in the
first sentence. In doing this, he effectively nails down the
impression we have formed about his character-without him ever
having to espouse his own virtues directly.
From
ESSAYS THAT WILL GET YOU INTO BUSINESS SCHOOL, by Amy Burnham,
Daniel Kaufman, and Chris Dowhan. Copyright 1998 by Dan
Kaufman. Reprinted by arrangement with Barron's
Educational Series, Inc.
© Copyright 2002-2007 MBA Programs - All Rights Reserved
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