MBA admissions Career goals essay framework.

The Career goals essay is the most important essay one writes in the MBA admission process. After many failures and a few successes, I have distilled a few gems of wisdom from my experiences and by talking to other successful students at top schools. The most important thing I developed from my experiences was a framework for essay writing that kind of helped me get my thoughts straight.Of cource, I think Richard Montauk's book also talks about a few frameworks. I do not remember those and developed mine independently. But it may be similar to this. So do take a look at Montauk's book too if there are any better frameworks. Before even writing about my framework, I want to share a few thoughts that I think are important. They are as follows -

1. Keep it simple. Simple language. Simple style.Just go back to high-school grammar books if required.

2. Answer the whats/whys/hows in as much depth as possible and with vivid example.

3. Highlight what you learned/gained in each step - this directly translates to what you bring to the table when the ad-com reads it. So it is pretty important.

4. While recounting experiences, make sure you provide as much details as possible. Assume that the reader is not from your field/industry.

5. Make sure each experience shows multiple things - leadership and/or teamwork skills, results achieved, lessons learned.

6. Make sure atleast 1 experience is the one when you had the "moment of truth" when you felt you needed an MBA.

With these simple rules in mind, you might want to either brainstorm and get all your ideas on paper or use a framework as a starting point. The framework I used was as follows.

Essay 1 Framework
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Para 1 -
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1. Be upfront and state long-term goals.
- Make it VERY specific.
- Think about what you will do in a day-to-day basis. Think What, Where, When, How, Why. Desribe that. Give examples. Too many people think it is OK to just state a vague LTG. I have seen that that does not work unless you have been NYC during 9/11.
- Say Why you want to do what you want to do in the long-term - is it because of current job? personal experiences - a combination of both helps.

(Example - My vision/long-term goal is to start a company making petrochemicals of X variety in Darfur employing people from Nigeria because as a child I saw that people from Nigeria dont get to work in Darfur though it is important - I just made this up but hope you get the picture!)
- Say specifically what you/your company will do on a day to day basis.
(Example - My co. will take over russian oil fields through a bloodless coup and then process the crude from there through stolen japanese machinery to make me and entire Darfur rich. I will work hand in hand with the janjaweed to get a lot of my management done.

Again, BS but you get the idea - right?).



Para 2 -
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Support your LTG by stating what your STG is and how it will lead you to your LTG.
Explore the why/when/how/where principle.
Example - In order to achieve my LTG, I want to begin working as a Manager in the Crude Oil discovery and production division of Darfur Petrochemical corporation (what, when, where - narrowing down to a specific co is great I think - especially if the company is a major recrutier. If so say why that Co. too). As a manager, I will lead oil-discovery processes, manage innovation teams to design fancy drill bits etc. With the experience I gain, I will rise to senior management position in 5 years and build the network /gain the experience ( Remember - good to describe day to day activities and mid-term goals) to achieve my LTG.

Para 3 -
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Begin with why STG and how your current career has prepared you for that.

I realized I wanted to be in petrochemicals while working my first job in a gas station. In my first job/project, which I took because I loved the smell of oil (Nice touch - why you took first job) - I devised a way to make oil out of burnt tires, got management buy in and assembled a team to help me productionize the concept ( again, crazy example I made up but shows leadership and innovation). I learned that people can be enthused with concepts if I did this. I also learned how to make oil out of thin air and solve the world's oil problem ( Again, show what you learned). We were soon able to make oil for 0.2% of cost (results achieved). I was therefore promoted to VP of the gas station (career growth).

Para 4
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Similar to para 3. Maybe another example of success in you next position. How this experience made you realize an MBA is needed. ( Include as many of similar paras as you think will fit in within the word limit).

Para 5
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Through you career, what you have learned, but what you need to achieve STG/LTG and how an MBA will help. Think of it in terms of this formula.

Current experience/skills (A) + MBA(B) = skills to achieve STG (C) + some skills to achieve LTG (D)
A+B = C+D

In this para you need to summarize A, summarize C and say why B added to A will help get C and D. Again be specific with disciplines - say you want Finance skills to add to existing accounting skills, or leadership skills to add to existing Project management skills etc.

Para 6
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Why that school? Be very specific. Which course is best for supplementing A with the knowledge to prepare for C? Which club? Which professor.
THen make it personal, Why you fell in love with the school when you talked to certain people. Talk about visits if you have made.

Also, include what you will contribute - SPECIFICALLY. Example, my role is CFO in a non-profit will help me contribute to making fin. statements and geeting sponsors for the "Help Darfur" project of club "Friends of Darfur".

Para 7
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Conclude with an overarching summary and maybe a statement of fit.

This is roughly the steps I followed. I say roughly because I am a reapplicant and so had to tweak this slightly. In fact, I will post my framework for reapplicants in the next post. These frameworks helped me get my thoughts in order. I felt much more in control once I had a framework. Again, it is just what I followed and felt comfortable doing. I would encourage everyone to find something that works for them.

Other than this, I guess you need to make sure the dots connect and it reads coherently. Remember, it helps to sound as if you had it all planned throughout. To sound like you are not a drifter going any which way life takes you. I hope this post is helpful to someone who is as clueless about MBA application essays as I was when I first started.

What not to do..lessons from a re-applicant!

You have read about what to do. You might not know how important it is to do what other tell you to do. I know. Because I got burnt. So here goes a laundry list of what I did wrong last time.

1. Did not do Career planning
I knew I was interested in Consulting. I also knew that only an MBA could get me there. So much I stated. What i did not do is state WHY I am interested in Consulting? What I did till date to explore that interest? And tie my goals to the offerings of the B School.

2. Did not research the school I typically went by the reputation of the school. All I had to say in my essays was - want to go here because it is a great school, great faculty, great infrastructure, great people....Yikes!

3. Did not talk to Students
I did not talk to anybody. Was so afraid of failure that I did not let my friends in other B schools know that I am applying. I did not reach out to current students for information. Now I know how important it is to talk to students.

4. Did not position myself
I attacked each essay question as a single entity instead of look at it as part of a whole. This was a major mistake. I was honest in my essays. But I showed little thought or positioning. Now they look so corny, I have laughed at myself several times. One tip I would give to prospective students is to create a document that lists all essay questions of some major schools and brainstorm for ideas to answer for each. It is surprising how you get ideas for an essay for your preferred school when you are thinking about the essay of a school you might not apply to.

5. Did not get my essays reviewed
Again, I wanted to do it alone! I did not have a single soul read my essays. My take was that - they are my own personal expressions. B schools want honest personal straight from the heart essays. Let them be the way I wrote them. This attitude made me miss the most important point - to convey the info that B schools are looking at. Getting essays reviewed is of utmost importance. To find out who a good reviewer would be, refer to Juggler's post here http://thembasaga.blogspot.com/search/label/Essays

My approach to essay-writing this year is -
1. Create a file containing essay questions of all major schools and the schools I plan to apply to.
2. Brainstorm! Fill this file with points.
3. Research each school and fill the Why XYZ school section in this file?

The above process should give enough material to pick and chose from.
Then, pick your first choice school, create an outline for all the essays.Start working on the first draft of these essays. Look at how each essays interacts with the other to present a holistic picture. Do NOT repeat material across essays. If possible, each essau . Repeat process for School 2 and 3. Then go back to School 1 and revise. Then get them reviewed and so on....

I now have my stories ready for most questions except the Failure question of Wharton and the Culture Shock and Ethical dilemma questions. These have always given my nightmares. But I am sure if I dig deep, I will find answers. What I am worried about most though is about what my Unique qualities are? Now I am a technically strong, academically brilliant, hard-working, ethical, integral, sincere, expert communicator , empathetic, diligent,visionary, brave, risk-taking, determined, innovative leader and all that. But then a normal top B school soup would have oodles of each of these ingredients. So what distinct flavor do I add? I have been talking to a lot of people and found some posts by Marquis especially useful. But then, I still am at a loss!