Your business school application is probably one of the most important chapters of your life. It is in this crossroad that you are going to make a lot of important decisions. It is actually in your application that you can change the course of your life and future. 2012 MBA Applicant can give you tips on how to come up with an effective MBA application essay.
Crafting a winning MBA application essay
# Think of what you want to say before you start writing. Put your thoughts down on paper, and then organize them in a cohesive manner. You could either use this as a rough blueprint for your essay or to ensure that you don’t forget to add all that you want to in the course of writing your essay.
# Make your essay personal; your desire to get into the college must come across through your words. This means you must write your essay on your own instead of outsourcing it to someone who you think is better suited to the task. While you can take their help, make sure the effort is all your own.
# Your reasons for wanting to study an MBA and to join this particular institution should be corroborated through other aspects of your application form, like the recommendation letters, your GMAT scores, and your academic grades. So if you want to say something just because you think it will touch the admissions panel, think again. The best essays are those that are true and spontaneous.
Before you start writing, you have to brainstorm for the topics or issues that you are going to include. You have to make an outline to guide you. It is also important that you make your essay personal. After all, the purpose of the personal statement is to let the admissions committee know who you really are and what is your attitude towards success. Your goals also need to be included. Through your essay, you need to show that you are goal-driven. Being honest and spontaneous is definitely a key in coming up with a winning essay.
The blog (2012 MBA Applicant) also puts importance to the technicalities of the MBA application essay.
# Don’t go off on tangents or be too verbose about one particular subject or topic. Be as concise as you can and ensure that your flow of your narration is natural and continuous and that it does not jump abruptly from one issue to the other.
# Don’t use words that you don’t understand or because they sound good and are bound to impress. When you use flowery and bombastic language, you come across as pretentious and overeager to impress with just your use of words.
# Once you’ve written your essay, read it over a few times to ensure that there are no spelling or grammatical errors. If language is not your forte, get someone who does not need a dictionary and who knows their verbs from their adverbs to look it over. An essay filled with mistakes does not make a good impression even if what you have to say is interesting.
It is important that your essay displays conciseness. You also have to avoid sounding superficial and pretentious. You can do this by not using highfalutin words. And lastly, you have to edit and proofread your work to ensure that it is free from error.
Your MBA application essay should give a four-dimensional image of yourself. Check out this blog for other more helpful essay writing tips.
Don’t just answer the essay questions. Treat each essay as an individual piece of written art work instead of an examination paper. This means:
- No repeating of the question (even partially) in your opening sentence. For example, when the question is What is your biggest professional decision so far? don’t begin your essay by saying My biggest professional decision so far is … Makes you sound like a repeat-after-me machine (no offense!)
- The opening paragraph sets the tone of the full essay so be a bit more creative. Make a little drama, tell a story, describe a scene — visualize your ideas!
- Use more powerful words. Vary the length of paragraphs (by the way, they look too long.) Don’t be mono-tone. Use a little artistic writing techniques. Be interesting.
Like your CV, the essays serve as a vivid portrait of you and you don’t want it to look like a thousand other people.
Think about your poor readers (adcom) who go through hundreds of essays a day. They need something that catches their eyes and keeps them from dozing off. Something that makes them want to read on, and better, makes them laugh or ponder.
Recollect your personal experience and bring yourself back to the day that important decision was made or that idea was created. Relive it in your essay and excite yourself and your readers!
You have to make your essay as interesting as possible. Sure, your essay should talk about yourself, but give it enough touch of creativity to make it attention-grabbing.
Your personal statement for your MBA application should be well-written. You need to choose the topics that you should include well. It is also necessary to ensure that the technical details are excellent. On top of these, you also need to incorporate enough dose of creativity to make your work interesting.
Your MBA essay is your chance to tell the admissions committee that you have the skills and the attitude to be admitted into your dream MBA school. But how can you secure a slot in a prestigious MBA school through your essay? Essay Writing Blog can give you ideas on how to make your essay catchy and effective.
Showcase your good qualities
According to essaywritingblog.com, the MBA essay should portray the writer as a four-dimensional character. The essay should showcase the good things about the applicant.
A mba essay for application purposes will have to be written with care and with much thought. It will have to showcase the writer’s various talents and skills as a leader and his capabilities of working together with a team. It will have to bring out a picture of the applicant as a mature and competent person who is ready to take on any challenge that comes his way. One will have to write about his special interests outside academic circles like may be trekking, or listening to music etc. It will help to create an all round picture of the writer as a normal human being yet different from others in certain special ways.
As the Essay Writing blog suggests, you should come up with an essay that will make you stand out among other applicants. This is very important because a very boring essay won’t give you a chance to be considered by the admission officers. Plus, one of the main purposes of coming up with an essay is to let the admission officers see a genuine yet different side of you.
Be honest
Although you have to portray your good points, you should keep an honest and sincere voice. You have to keep in your mind that the admissions committee can see through your lies.
While writing an application essay always remember to represent yourself honestly. Don’t exaggerate or make up attributes that you see in others and like, but don’t possess in yourself. So before writing this essay first introspect on yourself and check out your inner qualities and assess them fairly. Whatever you do don’t put on an air of arrogance and an air of know-all. This will immediately put off your reader and will most probably seal off your chances of joining the college. So the trick is to write honestly and from your heart.
Always keep this tip in mind since there is a fine line between being confident and arrogant.
Show how goal-oriented you are
You must show through your MBA essay that you are mature enough to accept the challenges when in an MBA school. One of the signs of maturity is being purpose-driven. This is why you should include your short term and long-term goals in your personal statement.
There are certain aspects which the person reading your mba essay will look for in your writing. They look for values that motivate you. So you will have to emphasize on what values you look for, the reasons you have to achieve something in your life, what made you choose that particular line of studies. Next, one will have to discuss the goals of his life and outline his post mba career objectives. So one will have to chalk out carefully and connect his objectives for joining the course and his post mba professional goals, that is, one will have to successfully bridge his present and future goals in life.
To successfully bridge your present and future goals, you need to instill self-discipline and be more persevering. These two qualities are just some of the things MBA admission officers look into applicants.
Other tips when writing your MBA essay
When you write your personal statement you have to start with an outline. The outline will serve as your guide in writing your essay. This helpful blog has tips on how to develop an outline.
Create an outline for your admissions letter using the basics of writing an essay. You’ll need an introduction, a body, and a conclusion for the letter. Open the admissions letter with something interesting, such as a quote, intriguing fact, or question. If you can engage your reader immediately, he or she will want to continue reading.
The body of your college admissions letter will cover the most important parts of the letter, showing your uniqueness as an applicant and answering questions. This part will require careful planning. Finally, the conclusion will bring your admissions letter to a logical close.
To ensure that all the important parts of the letter are included and to help you organize your thoughts, create an outline of your admissions letter. Ensure that everything is included that you need and wish to highlight.
Aside from these, having an outline will help you keep your focus and avoid including interesting but irrelevant details.
Your MBA essay is your ticket to the MBA school of your dream. When you write, start with an outline. For your content, you have to focus on your good qualities. It also pays to be honest and sincere when writing. It is also a plus if you show how goal-oriented you are on your essay.
