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EXCERPT FROM MBA Studio�s �MBA
ADMISSIONS STRATEGY: FROM PROFILE BUILDING TO ESSAY
WRITING,� McGraw Hill, 2005.
10 Question Archetypes
The key to good essays right is knowing what each
question seeks. But schools each ask different
questions. Or do they? The questions appear different but if you
look closely they are just variations on a few classics.
Almost every question is an adaptation of an archetype
or a combination of two archetypes. The following is a
guide to question archetype 1.
Archetype 1:
"Why an MBA?"
1. Question
Samples
�Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate
on your future career plans and your motivation for
pursuing a graduate degree at the Kellogg School.�
�Think about the decisions you have made in your life.
Describe the following: Past: What choices have you made
that led you to your current position? Present: Why is a
Stern MBA necessary at this point in your life? Future:
What is your desired position upon graduation from the
Stern School?�
�Why do you want to do an MBA at London Business School
at this point in your life? What will you do if you are
not offered a place on the London Business School MBA or
any other MBA?�
2. How to
recognize this archetype
Keywords: progress, past, present, future, career, goal,
plan, aspiration, ambition, decision, position,
objective, aim, intention, purpose, life, short-term,
long-term.
3. The
underlying issue you are asked to address
Stripped of its verbiage this question always asks you:
why do you need an MBA, why now, and why from us? Your
response forms the backbone of your essay set and your
whole application.
Notice that there are five parts to the question,
covering three time periods:
Past � What experiences have led you to this point and
this ambition?
Present � Why an MBA right now, at this point in your
career?
Future � What do you want to do with your degree, in the
short and long term?
Why an MBA from this school particularly?
Why an MBA at all? (Why not another kind of Masters, or
a PhD?)
You should touch
on all five topics somewhere in your complete essay set,
but be careful to answer this and all questions exactly
as posed. If the question is broadly posed, as will
Kellogg above, all topics can be fully addressed.
Notice, however, that Stern does not ask for long term
goals and LBS has a particular sub-question. In general,
shape your �Why an MBA� answer carefully to whether the
question asks more about your past (�What has led you to
want an MBA?�) or about your future (�What will you do
when you graduate? How will an MBA help you?�)
4. How to
tackle it
You can be creative in your answers to many other
questions, but here it is too risky. The committee is
looking above all for unequivocal evidence of your
professional maturity, as shown by clarity of
purpose.
Show due diligence: The �Why an MBA� question is one of
the best places to prove you have done your homework on
the school, and to argue that there is a specific match
between your agenda and what�s on offer. Mention the
school�s features, courses, or extra-mural
opportunities, and say which are relevant to you and
why.
Have definite
goals: The admissions committee is looking for an
organized career strategy that rests on solid
self-understanding. They want to know why you have made
the decisions you made, how they have brought you to
this point in your life, and where you are going from
here. Goals can include broader, non-career and personal
or community aspirations � but your first priority is to
establish a clear professional path.
Connect past to
future: The committee is asking how your past connects
to your future via business school. You must show that
the MBA is the bridge between you yesterday and you
tomorrow. Paint a picture of a future that rests
naturally on your past, assuming the MBA from the school
in question.
Past, present and future can be presented in any order.
What works will depend on the details of your situation.
A generally versatile template is:
-
Start with your direct goal on graduation
-
Then give a sense of your long-term (major) goals
-
Show why an MBA is relevant to these goals, and why now
-
Bolster this with what in your past has led you to this
point
-
Finish with the particular aspects of the target school
that are relevant and attractive, given your stated
goals.
Communicating future aspirations
a. Dream and be real: You have to walk a fine line here.
On the one hand you must think big. Whether you want to
manage a billion dollars, or create new brain technology
industries, or fix Africa � whatever it is, you should
communicate high aspirations and a potential career
worthy of an MBA graduate in 20 years time. On the other
hand you must demonstrate career-path realism: your
dreams will take a lifetime to mature, and even then
they may not. You should sound like you understand how
careers evolve in your field and the ways you might have
to �do your time� (even if highly paid) before you
become a true titan of your industry.
b. Show first steps: The best don�t wait for acceptance
of their b-school application before getting on with
their dreams. You raise you stock immeasurably if you
can show you have already taken steps towards the goal
you claim to aspire to. Have you done the certifications
you need for your career move? Do you have a plan for
attracting investors to the business you hope to set up?
Convince the committee that you will make it happen no
matter what � even if you don�t get into their school,
or any school.
c. Have a worthwhile future: Faced with applicants who
have equivalent grades and GMATs, the admissions
committee will promote those who are on a unique,
interesting, worthwhile career mission. You may have to
work hard to polish up whatever dullness or omissions
lurk in your past, but your aspirations are safely ahead
of you where no committee can verify them. So don�t
hesitate to project yourself into valuable, distinctive
roles.
d. Don�t hedge on your aspirations: Applicants sometimes
say something like: �I want to go to Silicon Valley and
create a startup using my knowledge of XPF-Bio data
mining. If that doesn�t work out I may go back to my old
job at Bear Stearns, or join the family business.� Adcom
prefers to bet on candidates who have a single-minded
focus and who will do anything (legal) to realize their
dream. If you don�t back yourself 100 percent the
committee won�t either.
e. Differentiate yourself: A common question is: �Should
I include a family and kids in my stated life goals?�
The problem in doing this is not that you will appear a
less serious candidate if you want a family; it is that
you will spend precious space talking about a very
common goal. You benefit most by focusing your reader on
the aspirations that set you apart.
5. How to
flunk the �why an MBA� question
- You don�t answer parts of the question asked, or you
answer parts not asked
- Your style for this essay is flippant or frivolous
- You fail to talk about the specific attributes of the
program you are applying to, and why these are relevant
to your education and your future career
- You have aspirations that are too low, too dull, or
you are uncertain of them
- Your career goals don�t require an MBA, or the role of
an MBA is not clear in your future
- You have goals that are unrealistic, or you fail to
explain a realistic path to them
- Your goals are illogical or an extreme stretch given
your past � suggesting career flakiness. (You�re a
Kurdish linguist: you want to be a Wall Street analyst.)
The committee will ask: �Is this aspiration logical?
Will s/he be recruited?�
Extracted from MBA Studio�s �MBA Admission Strategy:
From Profile Building to Essay Writing,� McGraw Hill,
2005. No part of this document may be published without
written permission.
� The MBA Admissions Studio. All rights reserved.
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