Receiving an offer letter from a B-school can be tough. One of the reasons why the process of obtaining admit letter from a prestigious school may seem like an uphill battle is because B-school essays require deep & careful introspection. Whether you are an ISB/IIM aspirant or wish to pursue an Oxford or Harvard MBA, this stands true. Faith Career's co-founders, Dr. Kumar Anshul & Tanmay Singh, believe in simplifying the application process for B-school aspirants. Thus, we are here with a set of blog posts to help you in your journey. In this 3-part series, we will cover the "Whys" of B-school essays. Beginning with "Why an MBA?", we will talk about "Why now?" and "Why this school?" in our next blog posts. Stay tuned!
While most B-schools ask applicants to restrict their goals essay to 400-500 words, there are many schools which encourage (and require) a longer, more detailed goals essay which asks to highlight why that applicant needs an MBA degree. Thus, it becomes important that one does not simply write a general response to some form of the "Why an MBA?" question.
Since we believe in honesty, we would like to straightaway tell you to absolutely refrain from writing vague phrases such as "broadening my skill set" and "improving my transferable skills". You need to think about clear reasons for wanting to pursue a degree that's financially costly, mentally challenging, and temporally demanding (many MBA degrees are two years in duration).
Based on our 7+ years of experience in guiding & providing 1:1 coaching to aspirants, we are sharing 3 reasons that you can think about while writing your "Why an MBA?" essay.
#1) Career Advancement
In many cases, aspirants realize that in order to advance their career trajectory (promotions, lateral movement, etc.) in their specific industry, they would require an MBA degree. Aspirants get to know this either through job descriptions written on various job boards (such as Indeed or LinkedIn) or via virtual or in-person coffee chats with their external or internal mentors, supervisors, or even managers.
#2) Degree Recognition
An MBA degree is considered to be a universally-recognized degree that permits the degree holder to switch from one industry to another, or inter-functionally (say, from business development to finance), and sometimes even between countries. After finishing their MBA coursework, many students (especially from developing countries such as India) choose to move to find employment in countries where they have to pay either no or low income tax (such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, etc.) and can earn in USD or GBP.
#3) Entrepreneurship
Since an MBA degree provides a broad range of skills, many folks pursue it to learn skills to launch a business/start up or more effectively & profitably run their family's existing business. One learns everything from Human Resources Management & Organizational Behaviour to Supply Chain Management, Finance, & Marketing during their MBA degree. These skills come handy while building one's own business or taking their family's business ahead.
The above reasons are strong but general. In order to bolster them, you need to provide solid reasons that are unique to you. A good way is to think about the skills that you need in order to get the new job role post-MBA or pursue the professional trajectory that you want and the skills that you already have. Next, subtract the have from need and you will be left with skills that the MBA program could give you. Clearly write about them and you are good to go.
Regardless of the reason that you mention in your "Why an MBA?" essay, remember to be specific. Work with us on your ISB/IIM/XLRI or study abroad applications and realize your dream like many others - visit our Wall of Love.
Below are some success stories that you might find inspirational ✨
Smriti’s journey from Ambedkar University to London School of Economics (LSE) –https://www.faithcareer.org/post/progress-story-smriti-s-mpp-offer-letter-with-35-scholarship
Nikhil’s story of bagging offers from 5 B-Schools in the UK with scholarship, without a GMAT score - https://www.faithcareer.org/post/5-mba-offer-letters-in-4-months-without-gmat
Yash’s story of making it to Top 3 Canadian Universities (York University [Schulich School of Business], University of British Columbia [Sauder] and McGill University [Desautels]) - https://www.faithcareer.org/post/progress-story-yashashwat-s-mim-application-journey
Do you want to start your success story as well?
Message us on Instagram for a free consultation and we will immediately start the process - https://www.instagram.com/faithcareer/
You can also follow us on LinkedIn to get important tips and tricks for your MBA application which are posted every week - https://www.linkedin.com/company/89586646
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