One of the prestigious MBA schools is the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. If you want to be part of its academic community, then you’ll do well getting some insights from Duke itself on how to write a personal statement that would ensure a slot in the said university. There are three common sets of MBA personal statement questions or prompts you can respond to on your essay for Fuqua School of Business. Here are some of them:
Goals on MBA personal statement
Describe your vision for your career, your inspiration for pursuing this career path, and the role of The Duke MBA in achieving your goals. If you are interested in a specific concentration or joint degree program, please discuss in this essay.
You have to respond to this essay question from Duke with utmost sincerity. It is important that you speak through your own voice and that you provide specific examples, not just general ideas on what make you a good fit for the program. So far, this has been one of the common mistakes of many applicants.
Here are other essay prompts from Duke:
Focus and fit on your admissions essay
Individuals choose a business school for many different reasons. Through your research, what attributes or characteristics of The Duke MBA program have most resonated with you and why? How do you plan to contribute to the strengthening and enhancement of those attributes and characteristics during your time at Duke and beyond?
The question above helps measure your focus and fit for the specific school. You have to provide clear and concise answers for this if you want the admissions panel to take your application seriously. Convey a clear sense of purpose and share some of your goals.
Discuss a person, event, or experience that has significantly shaped your life and explain why.
Your influences and experiences are important because they shaped and molded you to become a better person. It is worthy to discuss them. But remember that it is best to include experiences that have impact on your application. Weed out irrelevant details as much as possible.
Another MBA admission help suggests the following topics to discuss in your essay:
How has your background and life experiences including social, economic, cultural, familial, educational, or other opportunities and/or challenges shaped or influenced you as an individual and as a leader? How might you leverage your background to contribute to the Broad MBA community?
You have to delve deeper to answer the given questions. Make sure that you come up with answers that are reflective and deep enough to convey your sense of purpose. You also have to make sure that you weave the answers well on your essay, to reflect your critical thinking skills and qualifications to earn an MBA degree.
Harvard is a top choice for MBA programs. With world-class learning facilities, highly respected faculty, and a well-cultivated learning environment, this is a dream school for many aspiring MBA students. Securing a slot in Harvard’s School of Business is almost synonymous to securing a brighter future, according to some people. Unfortunately, making it to Harvard is not very easy, with the tight selection process and numerous competitions. Career Center shares some tips on how to make it to Harvard through the MBA personal statement.
Things that Harvard looks for in an MBA personal statement
According to Career Center:
The statement of purpose should demonstrate excellence in writing and clarity of thinking. It functions as a writing sample, often the only one you submit. Make it as solid a piece of writing as possible. It can also function as your interview if none is required. It is a chance to introduce yourself and describe who you are, what your background is, and what is important to you.
As one of the most important factors for admissions, you really need to take time writing your admissions essay. You need to write an essay that also highlights you as a would-be valuable addition to a certain community. Another tip says:
Another way to think about it is to consider “focus and fit” are your interests in graduate study focused, and is there a good fit with your interests and the particular program or school? This requires carefully researching the school or program to which you are applying. Read about the program’s emphasis, the nature of the required courses, the work or research of its faculty. The more you know about the program to which you are applying, the better. You will sound more knowledgeable and more convincing in your essay.
Here are some red flags on MBA admissions essay for Harvard:
Poor grammar and usage in an essay certainly signal a red flag to admissions committees, as does an inappropriate fit with program. It’s not a good sign if the applicant demonstrates little knowledge of program or school, or worse, names another school in the essay by mistake! Presentation matters: have others read the essay for grammar and ideas.
Who wants an applicant who does not know where he or she sees him or herself in the future? This is why you have to research about the school and the program and use the information on emphasizing your focus and fit through the essay. Needless to say, you have to be a good match for the school if you want the admissions officers to give due credit to your application.
Career Center adds that:
Similarly, if an applicant demonstrates a lack of relevant experience, sounds naive, inexperienced, or unfocused and unprepared for graduate study in an essay, it can hinder his or her application.
Experience is a very important factor that could make or break your application. You should take a good chance at it, but focus on the elements of a successful application essay, one of which is clear sense of purpose and direction.
According to The Writing Center, you must:
Refer to past experiences, both academic and “real world” that are relevant to graduate study.
Your experiences will show how ripe you are to accept the challenges in Harvard Business School. Making it to Harvard admissions is just one step. It takes a whole lot of effort to actually earn a degree and be successful in the chosen field.
If you really want to go to Harvard Business School, you have to tailor-fit your essay to the given standards. Put a lot of thought on what you’re writing and how you can give your application a boost.
A successful MBA personal statement is one that is persuasive and very engaging. This helps you secure a slot in the MBA school of your choice. But what does it take to write a personal statement that could give you better chances of success in the application process? SAS:Student Zone has some interesting ideas on writing an excellent admissions essay.
Your MBA personal statement should have a core idea
That essence or central point becomes the driver of all content for that essay. When responding to specific questions, your core must directly and elegantly answer the question. When writing a less-directed essay, you still need a driving concept; you just have more choice as to what your concept should be. Everything else in the essay should support that concept.
This core idea is your thesis. The thesis statement is what gives direction to your admissions essay. It is also the one that weaves your essay to make it a unified whole. The core idea is the driving force that makes your essay strong and well-directed. Without one, readers will be lost as to what you’ve been meaning to say. There will be no binding theme, and some details may seem irrelevant or out of place. Surely, the admissions panel won’t wait too long for them to fully grasp what you’re trying to convey.
Your essay must include only relevant details
Essays that are resumes in prose or that attempt to tell your entire life story descend into the mishmash category. MBA essays replete with irrelevant detail stray from their central mission. They are not engaging or persuasive. In fact, they bore.
Your MBA personal statement is your means to reveal who you are and what led to your character formation. However, you have to avoid writing details about yourself that are not really relevant to your application. These details can bore the readers. Remember that the essay have limits, especially in terms of wordcount. This is why you only have to focus on relevant information. You also have to keep in mind some things that you need to avoid on your essay. This article has some great ideas on the common mistakes when writing your personal statement:
Perhaps the most common personal statement writing blunder is to include an expository resume of your background and experience. This is not to say that the schools are not interested in your accomplishments. However, other portions of your application will provide this information. Strive for depth, not breadth.
Focus on your purpose for writing the essay. This will help you put together ideas that can help back up your application and support your claim for a much-coveted spot.
Another excerpt says that:
Finding help on your personal statement is not limited to the specifics of writing, such as grammar, style, and details. Choosing a topic that won’t offend readers is just as important.
You have to be sensitive to your readers. You cannot just write about any topic that may have serious repercussions on how they perceive you as an individual or candidate for admission.
In addition to this, the author also believes that:
Sometimes the same writer who relies too heavily on generalizations will also provide too many irrelevant details. The problem is that writers often don’t consider what is actually necessary to include in the graduate school personal statement, or they repeat points freely.
Aside from telling irrelevant details, listing down your accomplishments like you do in your resume is a no-no in writing your admission essay. You should not waste the limited space by stating what is found on your resume. You have to include more self-reflection because this is what the admissions panel wants to hear from you.
Your MBA personal statement should be almost flawless. It should have a central idea to make it a unified whole and it should only talk about details that are important and relevant.
