mba personal statement

Many times, when you read admission essay tips and advice, you will find that writing about your achievements is often discouraged. This is because most of your achievements and accolades are already listed down on your other application forms. In truth, however, using your achievements as your essay topic can make for a great application essay. You just have to avoid simply repeating what has already been said in your application forms. This article will give you some good advice on how to go about discussing your achievements in your MBA school application essay.

Why achievements are a good MBA admission essay topic

Before we get into developing your achievement-based essay, let’s first have a look at why achievements make for good admission essay topics. First of all, focusing on what you have achieved is a good way of showing the admissions committee that you are a driven individual. Second, your achievements also express that you are willing to rise to the challenge at hand, if given the chance. Discussing that you are driven and that you can overcome challenges is a good way of subtly hinting to the admissions committee that you are ready for the challenges that MBA school is likely to throw your way. Finally, discussing your achievements gives you the chance to give a little background about who you are and what you have been through.

Tips in discussing achievements in your admission essays

Perhaps the most important tip to keep in mind when writing an essay based on your achievements is to tell a story, rather than simply listing down your achievements. When you tell a story, you tell the reader about the circumstances you were in, the challenges you faced, the adjustments you had to make, how it felt to triumph over the challenge, and why the achievement has made such a big impact on you that you even decided to use it as your MBA school admission essay topic. Furthermore, try to mention some of your aspirations, to express that you are goal-oriented and that you want to reach greater heights of achievement. Remember that your essay should be about you and not just about your achievements.

Related questions:

1. Do achievements make for a good topic for admission essays?

2. How can I avoid simply repeating the information given in my other admission forms, which list down my achievements?

3. How can I make an achievement-focused application essay more personal?

Getting into MBA school is quite a tough task. Not only do you have to meet the criteria and requirements of the school that you are applying to, but you will also be competing with hundreds or even thousands of other applicants. For this reason, grades and credentials often aren’t enough. Oftentimes, it will be the admission essay that will set you apart from the rest and prove to the committee that you belong in their school. Coming up with a great admission essay is not easy, however, and many have trouble simply coming up with an essay topic. One great topic that you can discuss in your essay is your life goals and the path that you wish to take after gaining your MBA degree.

Why goals are effective topics for MBA school admission essays

Aspirations are important in life, not only does it give you something to work for, but it also helps you to focus your actions and efforts toward your goals, which is important if you truly plan on reaching your goals. The reason that goals make for a great admission essay topic is because it shows that you are a goal-oriented individual who has a sense of direction and purpose in life. Furthermore, you can relate your goals to why you want to take up MBA studies. For example, if one of your dreams is to run a successful business, then you can relate that to your application for an MBA program specializing in entrepreneurship.

Tips when writing an MBA school admission essay about your aspirations

When writing your MBA admission essay based on your goals and aspirations, it is important to focus on one or two goals that are related to the MBA school or MBA program that you are applying to. This will help in keeping your essay clear and concise. You should also make clear connections and flowing links between your previous schooling, your work experience, your MBA school aspirations, and your future goals in life. Remember that your audience knows little about you, so it is essential to express your personality through your essay. Goals and aspirations alone do not dictate your personality, but if you can include discussions about some of the hardships, epiphanies, and life-changing experiences that you have had, then you can be sure that your essay will come out more personal and expressive, which is a significant means of showing your individuality and uniqueness.

Related questions:

1. Do goals and aspirations make for a good application essay topic?

2. How can I tie in my past and present with a discussion about my future aspirations?

3. How can I express more of my personality when writing an admission essay on my goals?

Writing an MBA admission essay can be quite difficult, especially when the admission office leaves it up to you to think of topics to write about. If you are having a hard time thinking of what to write about in your essay, then you may want to try writing about your role model. Role models make for great admission essay topics because a role model is usually someone with whom you have a relationship with in one way or another. Also, writing about your role model gives you a direct point or reference for you to compare and contrast your own personality with. This article will give you some great tips on how to use your role model as the topic for your admission essay.

Discussing your role model’s attributes when statement writing

When using your role model as your topic, it is important to give the reader a clear picture of who your role model is and why. To do this, you will have to write about your role model’s attributes and what makes them such an appealing character to you. Some people have real-life role models, such as a relative, teacher, colleague, or simple someone that they look up to. Others may have fictional characters such as characters in books, superheroes, or movie characters. Whether your role model is true to life or not, you will want to focus on real-world and real-life characteristics that you and your readers can relate to. For example, instead of focusing on a superpower, like the ability to fly, you can focus on something more tangible and meaningful, such as your role model’s honesty, dedication to good, or humanitarianism.

Discussing your role model’s influence on you in your college application or MBA essay

Now, you can easily get caught up just writing about your role model, but you have to remember that the main focus of your essay should be you. You are only using your role model as an example, a point of reference, from which you can launch the discussion of your own personality, traits, characteristics, and experiences. Discuss how looking up to your role model and emulating your role model’s positive attributes has helped you get through tough experiences and develop as a person. Your essay should express how you, yourself, have become a worthy role model who makes a good fit in the school that you are applying to. Finally, to get a good idea of how to develop your essay, try using example essays based on role models so you can get a good idea of how other writers have discussed their role models in their application essay.

Related questions:

1. Is it acceptable to discuss my role model in my admission essay?

2. How do I go about discussing my role model as my admission essay topic?

3. When using role models as an admission essay topic, does my role model have to be real, or can I use a fictional character?

As its blog title implies, Wharton MBA for Executives is a blog managed by and written for MBA students of Wharton School?s Executives program. There are actually two blog administrators, although the blog also features guest bloggers from time to time. Basically, the contents of the blog chronicle the authors? experiences in their pursuit of an MBA program.

What makes this blog special

Unlike most MBA blogs, which may be classified as informative or feature blogs that typically discuss basic management and business principles, this Wharton blog falls under the “personal blog” category. For instance, one of the authors wrote about his trip to Marrakech and how price-haggling with souvenir vendors gave him an idea for a paper in his negotiations class. Set on a clean and simple three-column WordPress layout, the blog contains links to the official Wharton EMBA site and other Wharton blogs, as well as the authors? Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. Since the target readers are Wharton EMBA students?and those who aspire to be?other useful links include business journals and news articles on finance.

Navigating through the site is easy, as one of its three columns show the blog categories and tag clouds. This allows readers to find entries only on topics that they are interested in without having to spend too much time digging through the site. The archive link and RSS button enable followers of the blog to find old entries and receive blog updates conveniently.

Areas for improvement

However, the blog still needs tweaking in some areas. The blog description on the header indicates that one person maintains the blog, although its “About” pages show two different authors. Also, simple does not have to mean “boring,” so adding images to the entries will make the page more attractive to readers. Adding relevant widgets will also optimize the blog?s clean look and readership.

MBA Answers is a blog that seeks to provide sound answers to all MBA-related questions. This is one place on the Internet where current and would-be MBA students can get useful information from someone who has plenty of experience in the field, ranging from taking the GMAT to online MBA programs and international business schools.

What makes this blog special

One thing that makes MBA Answers stand out as a career blog is its magazine-type layout. On its homepage, you can see snippets of its featured posts, which are grouped under the categories, “About MBA?s,” “GMAT & Business Schools,” “MBA Updates,” and “More MBA Answers.” Write-ups in About MBA?s contain general information on the degree, such as its benefits and factors to consider when assessing one?s readiness to pursue an MBA. Posts under GMAT & Business Schools help readers choose which program and business school is right for them. The MBA Updates category provides links to useful and recent MBA materials, while More MBA Answers is where readers interact with each other in typical Q&A fashion commonly found in e-forums.

What makes MBA Answers stand out is that by subscribing to the blog (simply type your e-mail address into the appropriate field), you will also get newsletter issues delivered to your inbox. For those who don?t like getting too many messages in their inbox, they can still subscribe to the blog?s post and comments updates via the RSS button.

Areas for improvement

Despite the blog?s nice layout, readers may find some difficulty navigating through the site. The homepage contains tabs and links which turn out to be serving the same function?directing the reader to the same page containing the same information. For instance, clicking on the “About MBA?s” tab on the upper-left side of the homepage and the “More Featured Posts” link under the “About MBA?s” box on the same page will give you the same result. In addition, it will be much better if readers get to post questions directly, as most are posted (moderated) through the site administrator.

KoolKareers.com is an informative career blog created by Kudos Infomedia, a web development firm based in India. Mainly, it caters to readers who plan to pursue post graduate education or study abroad, although it also contains reference materials for those preparing to make a career move.

Strong points

KoolKareers.com is very professional-looking, which gives any reader an impression that it is more of a website than a regular blog. It contains articles that are useful and necessary for people preparing for graduate school, particularly in complying with admission requirements. Anyone who comes across this blog will surely get the impression that it is well-organized, as its contents are classified according to the type of admission test or process one is preparing for. Its main categories include CAT, GATE, GMAT, and MBA preparation, as well as SNAP, JMET, FMS, XAT, IIFT, CET, IRMA, and interviews.

Much of the blog?s appeal is in the relevance and usefulness of the content itself. Under MBA preparation, for instance, an entry on funding your studies through an education loan provides information on educational loan schemes, the expenses considered by such loans, and the documents necessary in filing a loan application. The site is also easy to navigate, because the tag cloud, links to recent and most viewed articles, and a more specific category list appear on the page even while you jump from one article to the next. Another good point for KoolKareers.com is its reader-friendly quality. Ads are minimal and are positioned in a way that won?t get readers redirected to an external site by mistake. The blog also has an RSS button, making it easy for readers to subscribe to its content.

Weak points

KoolKareers also has its Achilles? heel, though. Some tabs don?t function, such as the “sitemap” link that gives an error message when clicked and a “watch this video” link that doesn?t play. The same goes for its Facebook and Twitter “share” tab. If these issues are fixed, then this site will become more popular among its target audience.

Inside HBS is a personal blog maintained by an MBA student at Harvard Business School. In this blog, the author considerably writes about life on campus and in Boston, and a little bit about the MBA program.

What I like about this blog

One thing that you will notice about this blog is that the writing style is consistent with the two functions the blog serves: one, to document the writer?s life as a student at the Harvard Business School; and two, to tell the reader about the sights and the culture in Boston. Unlike most personal blogs in which the writer simply expresses his or her thoughts without the need to explain things to whoever cares enough to read, this one doubles as an informative/travel blog. For instance, in a post about hiking in Blue Hills, the writer tells the readers that it is “the most popular of the Boston-area hiking spots” and that it “may be the biggest of the three major state parks within the I-95 inner Boston loop,” after which he or she embeds a map of Boston parks.

It also contains landscape photos and posts on Boston holidays, as well as the writer?s observation on the attitude of HBS students. The blog layout is a simple two-column, three-page Cutline theme, with links to other HBS blogs. Site navigation is relatively easy, as there are not too many links, and posts are tagged accordingly.

Suggestions for improvement

Although the contents of the blog make for an educational and entertaining read, the layout does little justice to it. Its upbeat tone will work well with “Follow me” or “Tweet this” Twitter widgets or those that encourage more interaction from readers (other than the comment field). The sitemap link displays an error message when clicked, so the link must be broken and needs to be re-configured. Lastly, it will be better if the archive is transferred to the right column, as it is more noticeable there than in a separate page.

What are the secrets of an excellent MBA essay? There are various ingredients in concocting a winning personal statement for MBA. You have to familiarize yourself to these key ingredients to essay writing success to come up with an effective writing piece. Read on to know the keys to having a notable MBA personal statement:

Answer the questions

There are MBA schools that require applicants to answer some questions. If this is the case, you have to make sure that you leave no questions unanswered. Although you have to give attention to answering the questions, you still have to give importance to the unity and coherence of your essay. Your MBA personal statement is not merely judged according to how well you answer the question, but also how well you deliver the answer.

Put limits on creative writing

Creativity is one of the spices that could make your MBA essay notable. However, you should not overdo it. You have to keep in mind that you are not writing an essay for your creative writing class. This is why you still have to limit the creativity of your essay. Don’t turn it into poetry or short novel.

Be personal but objective

As your personal statement serves as a lens through which the admissions committee can see your personality, you have to use a personal approach on your essay. However, make sure that you are objective in your points and views. You have to keep in mind that the admissions officers want to know your personality, but they’re probably not interested in knowing you intimately. So even if you use a personal approach, you should set a limit.

Keeping these things in mind will guide you in writing an essay that would give you better chances of gaining admission to your chosen MBA school.

Related links:

Kitchen Sink Strategy – What to avoid when writing your MBA personal statement
Bad MBA Essays – All about things that make up a bad MBA personal statement
Business School Profiles – About top business school profiles
MBA Essay topics – About the McCombs essay topics
MBA Essay Tips – All about applying to MBA school

Your MBA personal statement is a tool through which you can sell yourself to the admissions committee. Through your MBA personal statement, you can show the admissions officers that you deserve to be given a slot in the MBA school you’ve chosen. Below are some tips from experts that you should consider when you write your personal statement for MBA.

Don’t just summarize your accomplishments

Your MBA admission essay should portray a four dimensional image of you. This means that the essay should be more than a list of your accomplishments. It should also show how you come up with those achievements and the obstacles you have faced. You have to share some of your thoughts and emotions as well. Your goal is to make the admissions committee see your personality, and that includes how you think, feel, and react to your problems.

Be passionate about your goals and interest

One of the effective ways to convince the admissions officers of your worth is by showing passion on your essay. You can discuss about your goals and plans to achieve these goals in your personal statement. Doing this would give an impression that you are a goal-driven and passionate individual. You can also include your interest in learning more. Passion for learning is really a big factor in your application success.

Be real and sincere

Talking about your good qualities and achievements is an excellent way to sell yourself, but you have to do it subtly. Aside from this, you also have to make sure that you’re telling the truth in your essay. Keep in mind that the admissions officers have read thousands of essays before. For sure, they have a way of seeing through your lies. They can sense if you’re too good to be true or just a strong candidate for admission.

Related links:

MBA Application Checklist – All about applying to MBA school
Customized Essays – All about writing a customized MBA admission essay
Business School Profiles – About top business school profiles
MBA Essay topics – About the McCombs essay topics
MBA Essay Tips – All about applying to MBA school

Many believe that an MBA degree could be one of the tickets to career success. Well, they’re not wrong. In business schools, students are honed and equipped with skills that would be necessary for dealing with the real world. MBA degree holders are presented with many privileges and career opportunities. Below are some things you need to know about the MBA degree:

Where MBA degrees lead you?

If you are equipped with an MBA degree, companies and corporations would prioritize you over non-MBA degree holders. This is because companies know that MBA schools train the students to develop the necessary skills that would help them survive and obtain success in the corporate world. If you are an MBA degree holder, you can explore more career opportunities.

What are the hassles in pursuing MBA education?

A bright future awaits those who pursue MBA education. However, pursuing MBA education is not an easy task. There are lots of things that could hinder one’s success in obtaining the degree. One of the hassles in pursuing MBA education is the tuition. A master’s degree would really cost a great deal, especially if you are going to study in a prestigious university. But if you overcome the obstacle, you will see that your efforts will be worth it. An MBA school could also be demanding. Because of this, you really have to learn how to balance your academic and personal life in order to survive in MBA school.

Are you clear about your goals and know how to achieve them?

An MBA degree could only be your ticket to success if you have clear objectives. Why do you want to pursue an MBA study? What are your plans for your career? How can an MBA degree help you achieve your goals? These are just some of the questions you have to ask yourself before you decide on pursuing MBA studies.

Before you start making preparations for your MBA admission, you have to consider the things mentioned above. These can help you determine if an MBA degree can be a real ticket to career success.

Related links:

MBA Application Checklist – All about applying to MBA school
Top MBA Programs – All about MBA programs and application
Choosing a Program – Top considerations in choosing an MBA program
MBA Applications – Discussions on MBA school applications
MBA Essay Tips – All about applying to MBA school