MBA ADMISSION ESSAY CONSULTING
ATTRIBUTES & INCLINATIONS
MUCH OF your admissions depend on the kind of essays or personal statements you write. And contrary to popular perception, admission essays or statement of purpose are not for testing the writing skills of an applicant. For, they are not trying to figure out a Shakespeare or an Eliot in an aspiring business manager or engineer. What they look at are your overall personality traits, varied attributes and inclinations, and the ability to outgrow and overcome stiff hurdles and your zeal to reach the pinnacle of success.
PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL TOOL
THE ADMISSION essays or statement of purpose act primarily as a psycho-analytical tool to judge a student. The most common college application essay questions asked are: what are your short and long term goals, what can you contribute to your class, leadership skills, prediction of various business situations, problem solving skills etc.
PRESENTING YOURSELF
OFTEN IT has been noticed that students with lower GMAT, GRE or SAT scores than the cut-off ranges of a particular university are accepted if they are able to present themselves very strongly through the admission essays. At the same time, applicants with much higher scores have often been rejected if they look too academic oriented, far from the realities of life.
WHAT REALLY MATTERS
THUS WHAT matters is – not what you are, but how you portray your profile before the University Admissions Screening Committee.
So it’s your opportunity to prove yourself and win the coveted Ivy League College admissions!
SPECIFIC PERSONAL APPROACH
THE MOST important feature of framing mba application essays for top b-school admissions is that you have to be absolutely specific and personal in your approach. It is ‘you’ who they are questioning, and hence you have to answer who you are and what you want to do. You have to come up with personal experiences in life, how and what have shaped you thus far, and what you foresee ahead that inspires you for the study.
PASSIONATE LEARNERS
TOP IVY League Universities believe, an academically meritorious student does not mean he or she would be able to perform equally well in all fields. One can excel only where the person has genuine interest. Thus, an average student would perform brilliantly if he or she has keen interest in the subject, whereas an academically meritorious student would fail miserably if the area of study is forcibly pursued, which does not inspire one from the core of the heart.
EYE FOR UNIQUE STRATEGIES
AS A business manager, your role would be to come up with innovative business management solutions to bring about a higher degree of efficiency within your system. Obviously identification of unique strategies or the role you would adopt for the purpose is of utmost importance. Thus you should try to portray your wide vision to perceive new business opportunities or optimal strategies through the essays. You must quote examples from the past, as this would lend credence to your claims.
CAREER GOALS
THE MOST common question of short term and long term goals in b-school MBA Admission Essays is to find out whether your studies are aimed at acquiring a degree or a university tag.
Here try to show that your primary aim of going for the degree is because you feel you need to learn various aspects of your respective areas of specialization. This enhanced knowledge would help you to bring about some extremely innovative ideas.
Say you have work experience in equity research in the Indian markets. Now you want to learn not only about the global markets in details based upon economic types but would also like to know how the commodities, forex, bullion, metal markets work and how they are related to the stock markets, and what is the co-relation between each of these markets. Once you specify your learning agenda, then spell out how you would use this knowledge to bring about the change in your work. Using this background you can say how this would help you position yourself in the short-term and long term.
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP
A VERY important attribute b-schools look at is business leadership. The most important trait of a successful business manager is to identify newer possibilities. New products, product profiles and product lines are being created with the convergence of technology. Thus the business manager who first identifies the market thus created stands to gain the most, because of the first mover advantage. Sabeer Bhatia, the creator of hotmail is the most recalled name in this respect for his vision to conceptualize such a possibility. Thus portray in your MBA Admission Essays how well you fit in this category.
FORESEEING A NEW FUTURE
HERE YOU should present your views about various business models, and how you foresee newer systems that can be implemented to improve the business of structures of such industries. To quote an example, you can say how with higher net connectivity and computer penetration, a lot of office jobs may be transferred to the employees’ home without requiring to go to office. This would be a cost saving for companies and give employees higher flexibility of time. And this is not a distant possibility.
TROUBLESHOOTING & TEAM WORK
ANOTHER IMPORTANT area is the problem-solving skills. Most b-school mba essays have a question on your ability to troubleshoot. Here try to quote examples where you were able to inspire others and had been their guiding force. You should project yourself as a leader who has the vision and far sight, which makes you unique from the rest. Try to show how you can command others and that you can solve problems not by getting into it but by moving ahead with the problem.
Your biggest contribution is to understand, care, share and make all others learn in the team spirit of oneness, creativity, hard work and fun and help acquiring a meaningful education for one and all in a globalized environment.
WHY NOW
ONE MORE important question asked in MBA application essays is why you intend to pursue higher studies at this juncture. Try to show you are in a crisis of systems and ideas in front of you. You feel as if your learning on the professional front has brought about more questions in front of you than what you have learnt and it is only through broader learning opportunities and through an international exposure that you can find a solution to these questions. And this is precisely why you want to go for the studies in the midst of your career.