Almost all of us have experienced having writer’s block. There could be nothing worse than staring at the blank page while your mind continues to be numbingly empty. Fortunately, there are ways for you to defeat the dreaded writer’s block. Get Into MBA shares some tips on how you can overcome this challenge.
Surround yourself with positivity
Stop staring at the blank page. The emptiness of your mind will just continue to go on and on. According to the blog:
Research has shown that negative thoughts are a significant hindrance to creativity. Don’t make this mistake. The key then is to surround yourself with positivity and creativity. How can we do this?
You can actually visit interesting sites on the Internet. Read about the topics you are passionate about, just to wake yourself up from your seemingly sleeping mind.
Listen to music
Some of the most influential music is about significant moments and thoughts in an artist’s life. These lyrics are what you want to grab on to. Pull up a google search of the song’s lyrics and read along.
You can choose any song that has emotional impact to listeners. These songs will rouse your emotion and imagination.
Read people’s blogs before writing a personal statement
There are hundreds of blogs out there where interesting people are writing about their lives. Do the same thing as with the music you were listening to. Take the authors’ stores and relate them to your own life experiences. Don’t worry if yours have trouble comparing; the people reading your essay realize you are only 17 or 18 years old and will adjust their expectations accordingly.
Don’t pressure yourself too much. Try reading other articles or blogs. Usually, entertainment news and interesting scoops about people and events will inspire you to write. Here’s a good tip from another article:
Here’s what you should do – pick up a copy of People magazine and take a look at their articles (yes, there are articles). Actually, don’t read any article in its entirety – just read the first 2-3 sentences. Their articles aren’t brilliant or unbelievably well-written but the writers for People magazine do an outstanding job of grabbing their readers’ attention at the beginning of an article. And while admissions counselors do not read applications while standing in line at the grocery store, it is equally important for you to catch their attention at the beginning of your essay.
Bearing these tips in mind will help you overcome mental block when you write your personal statement. Sometimes, a few distractions can inspire you to write. Don’t stress yourself too much. Some ideas will come naturally to you, or you can just start writing down whatever comes to mind even if they seem non-sense at first. You can always edit later.
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.
Applying for MBA can be a very daunting task to a lot of people. One of the reasons is that it is very challenging to write an attention-grabbing MBA essay that will give you an upperhand over other applicants. Fortunately, there are some simple guidelines on writing an MBA personal statement that are not that difficult to follow. Magic MBA’s blog can give you the tips on how to make your personal statement more remarkable. Below are some of the things that students should avoid when writing their MBA essay.
* Answering a different question. Answering a different question tells me the candidate cannot follow directions and gets distracted easily.
* Using distracting creative imagery. Many candidates fall into trap of trying to become a best selling novelist. Unless you’re a naturally talented writer, don’t try. Just answer the question as powerfully, precisely, and efficiently as possible. And when appropriate, entertain the reader.
* Glorifying accomplishments. I read a client essay that was filled with over 20 different names; this technique is commonly referred to as “name dropping” I didn’t recognize any of the names. And even if she claimed some relation to Barack Obama or Michael Jordan, it would be completely useless if it didn’t include some context that was specific and relevant to the essay question.
Other MBA essay writing mistakes
Here are the other mistakes mentioned in the blog.
* Skimming over the Details
* Language and Grammar error
These two are very common mistakes among applicants when writing their MBA admission essays. When you skim over the details, you are actually stuffing your essay with tidbits of information without really discussing them. This would leave the readers hanging and unsatisfied. You have to include a few but relevant details and make sure that you explain them clearly. The language and grammar error, on the other hand, are technical mistakes that could give readers a negative impression about you.
How to avoid the common mistakes in MBA personal statement
Here are another set of tips from an MBA blog on how to avoid the mistakes people make when writing a personal statement for MBA.
* Know the possible questions to be asked
If you don’t have anyone to ask for MBA essay topics, what you can do is research on your own. Online, you’ll find tons of good samples. These samples don’t necessarily have to be the same as your own. You can use them merely as guide to possible questions and topics to be discussed. By reading some of them, you’ll also see what separates the good from the bad.
* Stick to the topic or question
The common mistake in writing an MBA admission essay comes from saying too much that the message tends to get lost somewhere in between the paragraphs. In which case, an outline will help get the message across more clearly. Develop different ideas for the topic. From the main ideas, create sub-topics that will help expound your thoughts and even make a relevant connection to your application for an MBA program. Only cite experiences or ideas that will support the thesis of your essay.
* Read, edit, and proofread
After you’ve written your article, go over your essay several times. Note what’s missing or what’s not clear. List them out, and use the list as a guide for editing. Don’t rush yourself to edit the whole thing. Be patient and take time to consider not just some ideas but the content of the entire article as well. You should stop at nothing to get the whole thing right. Don’t try to be so poetic or profound. Remember your readers.
Writing an MBA essay that could make your dream of going to MBA school a reality does require a keen eye for details. Avoid the common mistakes and follow the helpful tips mentioned above, so you can be confident that your application will be given due consideration by the admissions panel.
