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How to Get the Adcom Excited About Your MBA Career Goals Essay Plus an Example

In last week’s article, we provided some tips to ensure the short-term goals you share in your MBA career goals essay will resonate with the admissions committee. We shared that your post-MBA goals should be specific, realistic, and logical. This is all true, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. While a strong short-term MBA career goal will demonstrate to the admissions committee that you understand the type of companies that hire out of their program, it won’t get them excited about having you as part of their incoming class. This is where the long-term component of your MBA career goals essay comes in. By long-term MBA career goals, we mean your end game – where you see yourself at the pinnacle of your career. 

Don’t think small or hold back here, it’s ok to be ambitious. Top MBA programs aren’t looking for people who are afraid or unable to dream big. Exactly the opposite – they want to educate the next generation of leaders who will leave an indelible mark on the world. Intimidated? We get it! However, with some deep reflection, research and soul searching, we know your dream job is out there (or maybe it isn’t yet and your plan is to create it – that’s fine too!).

So that’s the big picture. Here are some guiding principles to use as you think about your long-term MBA career goals. At the end of this article, we’re also sharing a strong MBA career goals essay example from a past client that really puts our advice into practice.

1) Your Future Should Connect to Your Past

A great place to start when brainstorming your long-term career goals is with your past. Think about situations – whether early in life, in college, or throughout your career – where you’ve felt truly fulfilled or energized. What was it about these situations that made you feel this way? Is there a common thread between them?

As an example, perhaps in college you built a new campus organization from the ground up and loved the sense of ownership you had during the experience. Fast forward to your current job, perhaps the most exciting project you’ve been involved with was helping your company enter a new market or launch a new product. The connection I see between these two things is an entrepreneurial spirit, which is something that could absolutely factor into your ultimate career goal.

Beyond a linkage to your underlying passions or motivations, your long-term goal should have a more tactical connection to your past. It’s hard to make the case that you want to pursue a certain path if you haven’t had even a touch of exposure to it in the past. For instance, if your pre-MBA career is in investment banking, it would be hard to justify a long-term goal as the founder of a nonprofit (unless another part of your background is heavily social impact focused).

Said simply, there has to be a solid ‘why’ driving your long-term goal that the adcom will understand within the confines of your application and specifically within your MBA career goals essay.

2) You Don’t Have to Reinvent the Wheel

A common concern I work through with clients is how to differentiate themselves if their long-term career goals are ‘typical’. For instance, someone who followed the investment banking / private equity pre-MBA career path and wants to remain in the private equity space throughout their career.

Rest assured that targeting a finance career (or consulting, etc.) is ok! Remember that large portions of the graduates from top MBA programs go these ‘typical’ routes (see statistics at the far right of this table ) and a notable amount of them remain there for the long haul. Clearly the adcom is amenable to these goals.

I do, however, encourage my clients to make these types of goals ‘their own’.  Each of these careers has numerous areas of specialization, whether that be an industry focus, investing philosophy, etc. By identifying one about which you are passionate, rooted in past work or personal experience, makes the goal more unique and interesting.

If not an industry specialty, perhaps you are passionate about a certain leadership philosophy (like Ray Dalio, a Harvard Business School graduate, and his ‘idea meritocracy’) or a cause that could be tied in with your future career ambitions. The key, if you are targeting one of the more common post-MBA careers (and even if you aren’t, quite frankly), is to put your personal spin on the goal and tie it in with the values and passions that make you who you are.       

3) Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day – Your Career Goals Shouldn’t Be Either

As I said earlier, arriving at authentic, well developed long-term MBA career goals is hard – and that’s exactly why it matters to the admissions committees at top MBA programs. I find that many applicants rush to a conclusion about ‘what they want to be when they grow up’ without enough self-reflection and end up with a goal that is run of the mill and uninspiring.

Take the time to research where MBAs that have gone into your field of interest have ended up 10 to 20 years after graduation. Read about business leaders you admire and the path they followed to get where they are. Last and most important, network with alums of your target programs that have gone into your field of interest.  These things will get your wheels turning and help you develop a compelling narrative for your application, while inspiring you to set and achieve lofty goals.  

An MBA Career Goals Essay Example

To help put theory into practice, below is a career goals essay example from one of our past clients that does a particularly good job of incorporating the advice we’ve shared in this and last week’s article.

Prompt (Columbia Business School) : Through your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next 3-5 years and what, in your imagination, would be your long-term dream job? (500 words)

As a first-generation immigrant to the US, I was raised on the principle of investing in the future. My parents gave up their life in <country> to invest in better education and career opportunities in the US for me and my sister. When I moved to New York and struggled to learn English in 6th grade, I spent two months of my allowance on several pocket-size notebooks and pens that I carried around to jot down unfamiliar words that I would later look up in the dictionary. This habit earned me a few jeers on the playground, but I knew the long-term pay-off – mastering the English language – would be worth it.

This long-term lens continues to shape my career. At <Company>, I have stepped up to become the biomass industry lead analyst because I believe in the potential of the industry to be one of the long-term environmental solutions for carbon emission. I was particularly excited to lead a meeting in 2019 with a multi-billion dollar <Client> to share my biomass industry analysis, helping drive their investment in sustainable energy infrastructure. However, given the scope of credit rating analysis, I often find myself disappointed that I have no stake in the investment decision outcome. I want to be in a position to directly invest in companies that have a positive long-term impact. As such, I want to become an investment manager focusing in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing, which targets responsible investing opportunities.

In the next 3 – 5 years after CBS, I plan to work as a research associate for an asset manager or investment fund that has an ESG focus, such as Neuberger Berman or PIMCO. I hope to convert my summer internship into a full-time position at one of these funds, as did <Name> (’20). My goal as a research associate is to leverage my investing skills and application of ESG concepts garnered from my Columbia MBA, the Value Investing program and the Three Cairns Climate Fellowship in particular, to lead teams in crafting investment portfolios that meet the long-term investment objectives of ESG investors. From managing the entire investment process, I’ll understand every aspect that is factored into an investment decision, strengthening my analytical acumen and ultimately growing my network and reputation in the ESG investing community that will help me achieve my dream goal.

My dream job is to be the founder and CEO of a global ESG-focused investment fund that manages the entire ESG investment process in-house – from formulating the top-down ESG selection process to executing on the investment decisions – as most funds either offer ESG as one of many investment options or largely depend on third party analytics as an input to their ESG investment decisions. This tailored in-house investment approach would offer much-needed transparency, enabling investors and stakeholders to monitor the impact that their investments are making. From my personal experience, I fully understand what it means to “invest in the next generation”, and I firmly believe that ESG is a powerful way for investors to focus beyond monetary return.

Need help applying this advice to your own situation? We would love to help. Click here to schedule an initial consultation. 

Katie is a passionate mentor and coach, helping her clients craft a unique, compelling story by leveraging her experience as a corporate executive, alumni interviewer, and campus recruiter. Before completing her MBA at Kellogg, Katie spent five years in banking where she learned practical finance skills as well as how to operate in a demanding, high pressure environment. She pursued an MBA in order to transition to an industry role where she could utilize her finance knowledge to drive change within an organization. Post-MBA, she worked in finance and strategy for a leading CPG firm, progressing to an executive role leading the finance function for a $2B business segment. Her experience managing diverse teams led to a passion for developing others. In addition to her day-to-day responsibilities, she led her firm’s MBA recruiting efforts and served as an alumni admissions interviewer for Kellogg.

MBA Career Goals – Crafting a Compelling Short-Term Vision

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MBA Career Goals Essay Examples

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Career Goals Essay Samples

Almost every MBA application has a career goals essay. Here are some important resources to help you nail it. Scroll down for sample MBA Career Goal Essays from successful admits.

Career Goal Guidance from Key Members of our SBC team

How to Structure your MBA Essays

Successful Examples of Career Goal Essays

One of the things I value most at Company X is the collaboration between teams to advance new technologies. As a Program Manager, I coordinate research and development (R&D) projects for the engineering department. R&D is an exciting field to me because we make quick decisions, progress at lightning speed, and focus on the future. Currently, I am directing a X project that impacts the future of autonomous driving.

Post-MBA, I will join the R&D group for a technology or automotive company as a product manager. I want to own the product lifecycle and effectively shepherd a product from inception to market. Ultimately, I aspire to influence monumental decisions like Porsche’s recent $6B investment in electric cars and electric charging infrastructure.

Product management capitalizes on my strengths: communication, teamwork, leadership, planning and organization. I enjoy the breadth of exposure through this role because successful new product development requires me to leverage resources from all over the company – R&D, finance, marketing, supply chain, and production.

But to achieve this goal, I first need a Goizueta MBA. Specifically, Goizueta’s extensive core coursework will teach me how to manage budgets and identify new product markets. Opportunities to apply my classroom learnings to real-world problems through an IMPACT 360 project and to further my leadership development through the Goizueta Advanced Leadership Academy will enable me to pivot to a R&D product manager role and advance my career.

Additionally, Goizueta’s culture of engagement will be instrumental to my development. Building camaraderie through extracurricular and social opportunities will enhance the shared learning I seek in my MBA program, as I envision gathering with my classmates every Thursday at KEGS and exploring Atlanta on the weekends. Essentially, Goizueta provides a business education that will not only facilitate my career progression, but also offers a lasting, lifelong community.

My immediate post-MBA goal is to secure a client relations position at a private equity firm, focusing on global expansion in Latin America. In this position I will hone-in on my knowledge of Latin American banking and finance, coupled with my Spanish speaking fluency, to apply the financial acumen gained at Kelley, to help drive firm’s expansion into the Latin American market. I know that a Kelley MBA would help me pivot into the private equity space and enhance my technical finance and analytical skills needed to excel while working in this unique investment class.

In my three years of professional experience, I have an increased understanding in interpersonal skills needed for a client relations position; however, I want to continue to advance my career in finance through a private equity role. A Kelley MBA will help me enrich my financial expertise and build technical skills needed to succeed in the industry. Additionally, I will acquire deeper problem solving and data analytics skills through courses in the Quantitative Analysis for Business Decisions and Financial Accounting disciplines. Specifically, I am excited how Kelley offers finance electives as early as my second semester, which I will take advantage of in preparation for my summer internship. Finally, Kelley’s Capital Markets Academy will be key to my development. The Capital Markets Academy, particularly Academy Fridays, will provide me with additional coverage into the financial services industry where I can gain the core finance skills necessary to grow, as well as delve into networking opportunities outside of the classroom.

My immediate post-MBA goal also includes being a business leader with global perspective. I anticipate enhancing my managerial skills through courses such as International Management and Organizational Behavior and Leadership in order to be a more effective manager and a stronger communicator. Because of my interest in working with a global financial services organization, I will pursue the Global Business Achievement certificate program. Through Kelley’s Global Business Achievement certificate program, I can further develop my Spanish speaking skills and potentially work on a global research project in hopes of enhancing my worldview, gaining exposure to other international companies, and expanding my global perspective; all key to leading international teams.

In summary, I believe my MBA from Kelley, coupled with my experience working in Latin American finance, will make me a competitive candidate for a position at a private equity firm. In the event I do not get an offer from a private equity firm, I would look for client facing roles at an international bank or hedge fund. Ideally, these opportunities will also focus on Latin American expansion, as I am interested in continuing to work in Latin American finance and improving my Spanish language skills. I know that Kelley offers exposure to diverse financial firms and opportunities in banking, ensuring my successful launch on a new path.

I am excited by the ability of technology to make tools and information more accessible. Television and libraries have been made available globally through internet distribution at virtually no cost. I too have leveraged data and technology to exceed expectations in my educational and professional experiences. For example, I spearheaded the development of Energy First’s iPhone application in 2008, and integrated Live Meeting as a collaborative tool in my retail territory. As I uncovered further applications of technology, I began aspiring to work on the strategic development of such advances, rather than merely their adoption. Having spent the last three and a half years with Energy First, a conservative organization, I look to further my career with more innovative organizations that drive change – such as Facebook or Google – before working in a strategic capacity for a startup venture.

I have always been an entrepreneur at heart. In the sixth grade I published a magazine on my home computer, seeking subscribers from classmates. In 2005, I ran a consulting service that provided computer training for baby boomers. As I look to shift my career path to the technology sector, a strategic roadmap is required to ensure I develop the appropriate skills to facilitate this transition. In the short-term, I plan to gain experience with leading providers of online solutions through internships and post-graduate work. Industry experience will help me apply strategic theory in practice, while I learn best in class marketing tools and processes. I will learn to apply my refined analytical skills in scenarios that are pertinent to preparing for my long-term goals. Having already worked in strategy and execution roles with Energy First, I see myself applying these complimentary foundations in a new sector. After gaining industry experience, refining my quantitative skills and learning to apply a rounded skill set with leading organizations, I will be prepared for a prominent marketing and strategy role in an innovative online service startup. I seek to work on leveraging technology to improve accessibility to information and services. Just as Google has leveraged data mining to launch Google Books and expand global access to literature, I believe further opportunities exist that I plan to uncover as I gain industry knowledge. Any organization in which I work will also need to have a significant focus on leveraging their resources to help the community. UCLA Anderson provides an ideal foundation for achieving both my short-term and long-term goals, as well as allowing me to continue developing a socially conscious mindset through various leadership opportunities.

In order for my career to take a crucial step forward, I need to put myself in an innovative environment where I can challenge and be challenged. I have developed a strong understanding of what my strengths are, and more importantly, what areas require development – financial analysis and business planning in a new industry. An MBA at UCLA Anderson will provide me with the best foundation to take that next step for three reasons. First, the culture of energetic and passionate students and faculty from diverse professional and geographic backgrounds will facilitate idea sharing from varied points of view. For example, the opportunity to learn from Professor Bob Foster on technological business plan development will be a crucial element of my graduate studies. Secondly, Anderson’s reputation for developing exceptional team leaders is evidenced by some of the inspiring alumni, such as Jim Stengel. Teamwork will be at the forefront of any business that I enter, and learning leadership principles that have produced success in the past will ensure that I am adequately prepared to lead a team-based organization. I will develop my teamwork and leadership skills in clubs such as the High Tech Business Association as well as community-driven endeavors such as the Challenge for Charity. Finally, Anderson’s Applied Management Research Program will allow me to build on the principles of the rigorous curriculum, as well as acquire knowledge firsthand about an organization in an industry that I am passionate about. The challenge of working with a team to develop recommendations will provide invaluable experience that will prepare me for business plan development in a method unique to a traditional class-based curriculum. I am confident that my experience at UCLA Anderson will help me target my current weaknesses, share my strengths and experiences with my colleagues, and develop my entrepreneurial skills so that I am able to play a key role in a venture that is both financially and socially responsible.

After several years as a Wireline Field Engineer, I am at a crossroads where I will start to define the future of my career. I envision becoming the VP of Strategic Marketing at a technical firm. Unlike most of my fellow engineers, I plan to merge my technical background with a marketing education to put myself in a position where I can be successful in such a career. A marketing position in a technical firm fits my interests and talents perfectly. Cutting-edge technology fascinates me, and with an engineering background, it is a language I speak. Most engineering jobs deal with technology, but few are primarily focused on human interaction, something that is an essential part of my vision. I enjoy dealing with people; while solving a complex engineering problem can provide great pleasure, it is no match for the satisfaction I derive through team interaction. Similarly, I have always enjoyed coaching others, whether it’s by conducting mock interviews at the high school where I volunteer or teaching nuclear theory to new engineers at a wellsite. The idea of taking a complicated concept and packaging it in such a way that the client clearly understands the benefits is highly appealing.

While my current technical position has many advantages, it is time for a change. I love the challenge of problem solving, and I thrive in such an international role, but I lack a strong business background. As I progress and move into an office job within Schlumberger, I do not see a career path allowing me to follow my goal without taking the initiative to gain further marketing knowledge. I have set my sights on this goal and will devote the necessary time and energy to put myself in a position to be successful.

Anderson is my choice in an MBA program for three reasons. First, it has excellent access to the Asia Pacific region, a market I am familiar with and would like to do business with in the future. My time spent in Thailand has been phenomenal, and I hope to work with such gracious, hospitable people throughout my career. Second, Anderson has a diverse student body from all over the world, something that is essential if I am to be multi-cultural upon graduation. Finally, Anderson is known to be an excellent all-around program, and being well-rounded is extremely important to me. With high quality training from Anderson, I am certain that I can succeed in the strategic marketing position I desire. I understand that a career of this nature requires a great deal of work. I embrace the challenge and look forward to a career which combines my professional skills and my enjoyment in working with others, but for the near future I look forward to an MBA program with exposure to the brightest teachers and young professionals from different business sectors across the globe. Learning to solve business problems, not just technical ones, is the next critical step toward a career in which I will thrive for years to come.

Growing up as one of five bi-racial students in a small farm town south of Dallas, I yearned to see the world outside of Texas. Looking for the first opportunity to broaden my horizons, I only applied to East Coast colleges to ensure that I would experience a variety of ways of life. At seventeen, I moved to New York to attend NYU where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and immediately after moved to the Midwest to experience another area of the country, attending Indiana University Law School. Further pushing my boundaries, I studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain my first summer of law school and realized not only the joy of experiencing different cultures, but also my desire to have a career with a global impact. While interviewing for post-law school positions, I found I was not interested in the more traditional legal roles, but that my skills and passions were better suited for the business sector where I could combine the reasoning and analytical skills I learned in law school with my interest in marketing and travelling. My first job with Kaplan was a perfect balance of these qualities. My responsibilities as an account manager, including creating and implementing effective strategies, plans and promotions to increase preference at law schools, sparked my interest in discovering consumer needs. Last year, I accepted a position with Princeton Review as a regional manager, where I manage and analyze sales goals for over 100 representatives, work with outside corporate sponsors to increase revenue and brand recognition, and partner with cross-functional teams to drive growth. Additionally, this position has required numerous business travels, which, in addition to my international travels, has strongly piqued my interest in the hospitality and travel industry and I am now ready to make a career shift to this sector. My long-term vision is to become an innovator, developer and leader as a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of a large hospitality company. The most rewarding aspect of my past two roles is bringing a product that I believe in to other people. As a CMO, the opportunity to share my passion on an international level is exciting and motivating. After three years of sales and account management experience, I have developed a thirst for understanding consumers and discovering their needs, their motivation to purchase products or services and ultimately how they become loyal to a specific company or product. Within the hospitality industry, specifically airlines and hotels, providing excellent service and a quality product makes travel easier and more enjoyable, increases travelers’ happiness and encourages future travel and brand loyalty. To reach this goal, in the short term I want to become an associate brand manager within the hospitality industry with a company such as Virgin America or Kimpton Hotels, helping grow their business traveler segment, while maintaining their current brand as a luxury service. Here I will learn the ins and outs of the hospitality industry, while receiving hands on experience managing a product, coordinating marketing functions, and leading cross-functional teams to ensure that the marketing plan is properly executed. After learning the basic skills of brand management, I expect to progress through the company as a marketing director and eventually my ultimate goal of a CMO. An MBA is essential to reach my goals. As I have only worked on the sales side with a legal research and a bar review prep company, I realize my limitations without more formal training. Without knowledge of how to read and analyze a profit & loss statement, bring a brand to market and position it for success, evaluate pricing patterns, synthesize market reports and understand consumer learning, I cannot be successful in a brand management role. An MBA will not only ease the transition, but will also help me gain the building blocks of marketing and business in general and gain broader strategic skills to effectively manage multiple large products. I look forward to my MBA putting me on the path to achieving my personal and professional goals.

Having the opportunity to observe the intricacies of private real estate operations in my current position, I have come to the realization that there’s a considerable gap in how sustainable design (planning strategies that minimize environmental impact and reduce energy consumption) is integrated with development/construction efforts. Consequently, I see significant promise in expanding green awareness to urban planning and wish to dedicate my career to support sustainable growth in the real estate industry. Therefore, in the short term after earning an MBA, I plan to take a position as a development manager for a national REIT and work to implement programs that derive economic gain from environmentally-conscious construction. In the long run, I will capitalize on these experiences by founding a consulting firm that will provide strategic expertise to support and improve private retail, real estate, and development firms’ sustainable initiatives.

My passion for green design began when I was a young painter growing up in an overpopulated Taipei neighborhood. As a boy, I often found the city’s monotonous gray backdrop insufficient for the contents of my canvas. The drastic Taipei urban expansion, resulting from rapid economic growth in the 80’s, drained many environmental resources and plagued the sky with pollution. During this time, I started recreating the city’s outlines into a more ideal community through imagination, and in the process found a passion to combine my artistic talents with my creativity to reshape the surrounding neighborhood. After moving to the US, I decided to make a leap from my imagination to reality and embarked on a career in sustainable design by enrolling in the School of Architecture at the University of Arizona.

After graduating, I took a position with Thompson Architecture in 2004 for the opportunity to work on program implementations that emphasized green construction. Recognizing the potential impact of my position, I consistently went beyond my defined technical roles to assume managerial responsibilities and became the youngest Project Architect in the 600 employee firm at the age of 24. In this new role, I was provided significant exposure to project delivery management, contract negotiations, and client interactions, and in the process deepened my overall interest in business operations. My increased client access also enabled me to initiate sustainability research proposals for them, an endeavor that resulted in landing new green design deals with retailers including Coffeeland, Clothestime, and Shoetown. However, in the process of analyzing the costs and environmental benefits for these green stores, I learned that this case by case approach offers rather limited effects on the environment, and the only way to maximize the benefits of sustainability is through implementation on a more massive scale. After working with the real estate groups of these major retailers and witnessing the impact of ROI analysis on the direction of corporate development, I discovered my true passion would be to work in a business capacity that had exposure to all sides of the real estate development business and could drive environmental impact through broad company initiatives.

Upon evaluating my objectives, I believe I have attained the core technical knowledge necessary to fulfill my future aspirations, but lack the business expertise to execute upon my abilities. Specifically, I would like to enhance my knowledge of market analysis, financing options, economics, and the overall trends/cycles of the real estate industry, in order to propose effective, sustainable solutions. Additionally, as my current role is limited to serving only retailers, I would like to learn appropriate strategic frameworks for consulting other types of clients. I also hope to refine my managerial and communication skills, which will be essential for obtaining buy-in for alternative development proposals. Having identified my goals, I feel now is the right time to attain a business education that can complement my technical experience and facilitate a career transition into real estate development.

From my campus visit this summer, interaction with current students, and discussions with school alumni, I strongly believe that Haas offers the best MBA program for me. First, the Fisher Center offers a wide array of real estate courses, such as Real Estate and Urban Economics, that will provide a valuable foundation for understanding the market dynamics of the development industry. I have already studied Professor Jaffee’s insightful research on the trend toward green development and discussed my interests at length with current Haas Real Estate student Steven Shanks. Therefore, I sincerely believe the Fisher Center will empower me with the necessary resources to identify high-potential sustainable opportunities and organizational skills to generate substantial returns. Outside of the classroom, I plan to take on leadership roles within the Real Estate Club and contribute through activities such as the Bank of America: Low Income Housing Challenge. Finally, I am excited about the Real Estate career opportunities that Haas has to offer, and plan to be actively involved with the new ACRE program.

Haas also stresses global entrepreneurship and innovation. As an innate entrepreneur who has implemented numerous personal and professional initiatives to improve our environment, I look forward to participating in Lester Center activities such as the Berkeley Solutions Group and YEAH. Additionally, through the Haas Social Venture Competition, I plan to propose a business idea for assisting private real estate companies address public urban concerns while achieving financial returns. I also hope to explore different leadership styles and further expand my international exposure by interacting with a truly global student body and learning environment. To that end, I am interested in leveraging Haas’ global entrepreneurial perspective to assist underprivileged communities around the world by participating in the International Business Development program. Through the sponsorship of nonprofit sustainable-oriented clients, such as Beahrs ELP, I hope to assist low-income neighborhoods similar to where I grew up through proposing effective green planning and environmental conscious construction.

Lastly, I am ultimately impressed by Haas’ unparalleled commitment to integrating corporate social responsibility within its entire business curriculum. My definitive goal is to implement innovative programs that positively advance our surroundings and Berkeley’s socially active student body passionately shares such vision. I plan to contribute through the Net Impact Club by making use of my non-profit experience while proposing novel and publicly useful business plans to local private companies. Thus, I will stay involved with the local community while investing in my cross-functional skills alongside a diverse set of talented peers. I am deeply impressed by Haas’ strong support and tradition, and I sincerely believe Berkeley’s close-knit student body will strengthen my capacity to lead the important changes that I could only imagine as a young painter twenty years ago.

Entering the classical music industry just before the economic downturn has opened my eyes to disconcerting financial weaknesses in professional symphonies. As lucky as I was to be a working musician, I saw signs of economic instability in orchestras around America. As a committee member of the Santa Barbara Symphony, I see firsthand how orchestras are financed from year to year and the room for improvement is tremendous. Almost immediately after the housing bubble burst and the market crashed in 2008, orchestras began to show signs of financial insecurity. Due to the recent economic downturn, symphonies across the country are shortening seasons, instituting hiring freezes, and even filing bankruptcy. Top ranked symphony orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, have enacted hiring freezes for vacant positions, and highly regarded orchestras in Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Philadelphia have enforced pay cuts after posting an average of $1.5M in budget deficits. Clearly, changes need to be made on how these primarily nonprofit organizations operate.

After working as a cellist in this economic climate and seeing the strain on my colleagues, I am moved to make a career change to the business side and revolutionize how symphony orchestras are managed. Over the past four years, I have witnessed my peers struggle to find work, soloist friends go weeks without concerts, and prominent symphony musicians show deep concern for their livelihoods. In spite of recent hardships, I believe there is incredible room for growth and revitalization within the classical music community, specifically in symphony orchestras. With the right guidance, I know that symphonies can not only become more financially secure, but also stir a renewed interest in orchestra concerts in their surrounding areas. Armed with an education in general management and exposure to nonprofit business models, I will be able to exact that change. With the skills gained from a Rice MBA, I will join a symphony in a general management role to improve operations and better manage endowment funds and revenue from ticket sales and donations. Long-term, I will transition my career to consulting, where I will help orchestras around the country operate more efficiently and profitably, thus enabling them to thrive both financially and artistically.

To be effective, I need both the strong educational foundation and practical application that Rice offers. At Rice, I will gain the knowledge and skills I need through its comprehensive general management core curriculum. Specifically, I intend to maximize my education through the Leadership Intensive Learning Experience, case-based coursework, public/nonprofit financial management elective, and real-world Action Learning Project. I believe that attacking real world issues and learning from real examples will be key in my transition from a leader as a cellist to a leader as an executive. Coming from a collaborative musical background, I believe that Rice’s well-rounded core curriculum, which emphasizes a healthy balance of class lectures by leading faculty and real world applications of concepts, will give me the tools I need to transform from musician to businessman. Moreover, the Leadership ILE courses will give me a chance to turn my leadership skills in music into strong leadership skills in business. Finally, participating in the Consulting, Net Impact, and Finance Clubs will further equip me to work with orchestras by learning from and being inspired by my diverse peers, all the while building lifelong friendships with like-minded colleagues.

I look forward to bringing my experience as a team player and leader from a unique background as a musician back to Rice and growing both professionally and personally within a culture where students challenge and encourage each other. I am confident that I will contribute to the overall culture, atmosphere, and education of the Jones School by working well with my classmates both inside and outside the classroom. With my unique background as a concert cellist and pedagogue, I also look forward to offering a different perspective in class discussions while having my eyes opened to many different perspectives drawn from equally diverse experiences. Furthermore, I look forward to being able to exercise the problem-solving skills I acquired as a teacher, an ensemble team member, and a section leader in my transition to a businessman at Rice. As my MBA classmates inspire me to constantly evolve and improve on my strengths and weaknesses, I know will do the same for my peers.

As a high school senior, I was given an interesting Christmas present from my parents. They opened up a brokerage account in my name and deposited few hundred dollars into it. It wasn’t the stereo system or the new set of golf clubs that I had hoped for, but it would turn out to be the best present they could have given me. I did not realize it at the time, but this gift would ultimately have a great impact on my future. Sitting down at the computer with my father, he taught me the basics of investing in stocks and mutual funds. My interest in investing grew throughout that final year of high school and became even greater in college. The more I learned about finance and the capital markets, the greater my interest grew.

Not surprisingly, I chose to study economics and finance as an undergraduate student at SMU. The summer after my freshman year of college, I obtained an internship with Merrill Lynch, assisting a Senior Financial Advisor with the daily duties of his job. I continued my studies throughout college and upon graduation, accepted an Operations Associate position at Condera, a boutique asset management firm in Houston. Supporting several financial advisors in the management of around $200 million in assets, my duties include performing portfolio analysis, implementing our strategies by executing trades in client accounts, and interacting with clients on a daily basis. This role has enhanced my leadership and communication skills, two areas in which I can contribute in my endeavors at the Jones School. The autonomy of the position and the willingness of my supervisors to listen to my suggestions are extremely satisfying and for this experience, I am grateful.

Throughout my career at Company X, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the sophisticated investment strategies that we employ for our clients, institutions, and foundations. Working with two industry veterans, I make it a point to learn as much as possible from them. They allow me to undertake challenging tasks, such as explaining our investment philosophy to prospects and researching new products to use. As I have grown into a more proactive role in client service, the advisors have focused more on bringing in new assets, thereby increasing revenue for the firm. It is from these experiences that my passion for the analytical side of investing has emerged. I have a deep interest in modern portfolio theory and, after completing my MBA, plan to apply that theory in a role that focuses on market and securities analysis. I believe the Jones School curriculum and the environment fostered by the students and faculty will give me a more comprehensive understanding of modern portfolio theory and its application to institutional asset management.

Long-term, I plan to start a boutique asset management firm that services foundations, endowments, and institutions. Recent trends in the financial services industry indicate that the big box brokerage firms such as Merrill Lynch and UBS are losing favor with many investors. Independent advisors are leveraging the services of custodial firms like Fidelity and JP Morgan to run asset management shops that provide completely unbiased and independent financial advisory services. I see this trend continuing as the major investment houses go through drastic changes during the current financial crisis and intend to capitalize on the migration of assets to independent advisors.

The MBA program at the Jones School provides the best bridge for connecting my current career to the future career that I seek. I have gained a strong, core knowledge of investing and finance and need to build on this knowledge, acquiring a more in depth view of the capital markets. After visiting the campus, speaking with students at a partio, and sitting in on one of Professor Weston’s finance classes, I have concluded that the Jones School offers the curriculum and environment that will best prepare me for that career. The real-world asset management experience that the Wright Fund provides is also of particular interest. Another impressive aspect of the program is the wide array of finance courses available to students. I look forward to being a part of a diverse class that will allow me to learn as much from my peers as I will learn from my professors. It is this collaborative aspect of the Jones School that impresses me the most. I know that I will contribute to the Jones School community in a profound way while growing both personally and professionally from all that the program has to offer.

My earliest memories are punctuated with aromas of my Mexican mother cooking tamales, while my Iranian father taught us about Navroz – the Persian New Year – where life begins anew, and dreams are revitalized. This idealism excited me, and watching my parents struggle to provide for my sister and myself, I wanted to help them create a fresh start. I channeled this motivation into opportunities where I could deliver positive change. My career vision, to lead a Latin America-centric microfinance organization such as Accion, capitalizes on these experiences. In the interim, I will prepare myself by attaining an MBA, and joining the International Finance Corporation’s Global Transaction Team as an Investment Officer.

After graduating from UCSB, I wanted to maximize my contributions and exposure and found this opportunity at [XYZ Sports], a small, established apparel manufacturer. While my primary responsibilities were in finance, I made time to work with marketing, sales, and operations teams, understanding their challenges, and helping implement proposed solutions. I wanted to apply this newly acquired knowledge at a startup, passionate about influencing a fledgling entity. At [Memorabilia Retailer], my goal was to implement financial and accounting processes forming the company’s backbone. Working in an ambiguous, often chaotic startup environment, I holistically analyzed each issue and its ramifications. I also built relationships with functional experts, incorporating valuable insights from them. I confidently presented a tough but necessary set of strategic recommendations around financial operations reengineering to management, and won their approval. As an Investment Officer at IFC, and later, a leader in microfinance, I will leverage the poise I developed during these early-career experiences.

Next, I accepted a job at [ABC Healthcare], coming in to an under-resourced finance department. I suggested augmenting our human-capital base in Costa Rica, expanding our limited presence there, and lowering costs. Although this went far beyond my official job description, I spearheaded this project. Spending significant time in Costa Rica, I understood the work environment, hired resources, and trained them on our business processes. Under my direction our Costa Rican office now efficiently handles all our accounting processes, and has grown from a staff of two women, to 20. This success hinged on my ability to safeguard against the risks of developing an international location, a practice that is imperative to the sustainability of a microfinance organization. Further, witnessing the impact meaningful employment can have on families and communities paved the way for my professional ambitions.

Inspired by the transformation I saw in Costa Rica, I began actively volunteering at a local non-profit microfinance organization, Foundation for Women (FFW). As a Senior Advisor, I partner with low-income entrepreneurs to develop their businesses. Through this first-hand microfinance experience, I have reaffirmed that it is an area of business in which I thrive personally and professionally. I have also recognized the skills I need in order to attain my goals.

An MBA’s academic rigor will form the theoretical foundation on which I will build my future career. Courses such as Business Strategies for Emerging Markets, and Corporate Finance may sound similar to what other business schools offer, but Haas’s approach to the MBA via the BILD curriculum is distinctive, and especially appealing to me as its focus on forging change fits well with my personal leadership style. Through its emphasis on innovative leadership I will prepare myself for the volatility often inherent in international microfinance. I am looking forward to embracing knowledge outside the classroom as well. Applying academic theories to real world issues through Haas’s International Business Development Program will be a unique opportunity to learn from diverse teammates, professors, and clients, while gaining exposure to different geographies and their intricacies. I would also love to add an element of microfinance at the 2013 Latin American Business Conference, perhaps by inviting my contacts from FFW to attend or speak.

The Haas MBA will prepare me for a summer internship in banking and a full-time job at the IFC’s Global Transaction Team, where I will strengthen my understanding of the investor’s role in microfinance and build a toolkit for analyzing businesses with a discerning eye. Focusing on Latin America at the IFC and studying the design and productivity of the region’s microenterprise operations, I will become well versed in its cultural and socioeconomic challenges. Armed with this analytical acumen and regional perspective, I will be ideally positioned for a career at Accion, ultimately building on my experiences and network to establish a robust microfinance infrastructure in a country like Costa Rica and eventually across Latin America.

Upon receiving my MBA at USC Marshall, I will assume a managerial role at XYZ where my mother has been the President and CEO since she took the company over from my grandmother in 1998. XYZ is a leading managed care company in Southern California, providing billing and quality oversight services for over 7,400 physician practices. As the future leader of XYZ, I seek to expand its success by addressing the fast-changing management dynamics of medical groups; a Marshall MBA is critical to this career path.

To ensure an efficient transition to my managerial role at XYZ, I will enter the Marshall program with knowledge from my public health masters program and preceding consumer-oriented work. Through my public health masters program, I have developed an innovative masters thesis that evaluates Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), the latest healthcare delivery model put forth by the President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Through this project, I have become savvy in the ACO model and have gained an understanding of’s current and future potential clients, many of which are already ACOs in the Southern California region. My preceding work in connecting to the consumer mindset through marketing programs and, before that, through internships at XYZ, will also contribute to my informed managerial role.

I have a unique opportunity to create a renewed vision for our company that leverages the emerging paradigm shift in healthcare; the industry is moving away from a system of “sick care”—or acute care for diseases and illness—to a focus on preventing chronic disease and reducing costs. In the short-term, as a manager at XYZ, I intend to align my department and influence my employees to set the industry standard for coordinating care by evaluating the effectiveness of provider networks under this new model of care. I will expand XYZ’s services and client-base by creating sustainable, cutting edge products. I intend to enable the company to thrive in the next era of provider services.

My short-term career goals will be only realized if I fuel them with the functional knowledge and critical leadership skills of the Marshall MBA. I will immerse myself in the curriculum at USC Marshall and apply this knowledge in practice through its international programs and on-campus opportunities. In my first year, I will choose marketing as my functional area to hone my skills in management and team-building and will then take electives in healthcare during my second year to learn the specific business principles that guide my industry. The new core curriculum will allow me to explore subjects outside of my specialization to become a holistic leader. Marshall’s coursework will help me acquire the adaptability and rigorous knowledge that is critical for my high-impact career in healthcare.

My experience at Marshall will empower decision making that is socially-conscious within an increasingly global healthcare arena. I require an understanding of social responsibility to make my mark in the healthcare industry. The Pacific Rim International Management Education (PRIME) is a platform to understand these perspectives and will make me a more self-aware, globally-minded professional. The PRIME program will facilitate my learning of the global economy in healthcare as well as further my knowledge about XYZ’s client-base, as XYZ currently coordinates care for patients in the Pacific Rim. The PRIME program will give me a deeper understanding of our clients abroad and potential opportunities for global business development.

USC Marshall will also help me achieve my career goals because of its proximity to XYZ, as I will actively develop my professional network of future business partners and colleagues from the start of the program. Marshall’s core communities will create invaluable networking opportunities with fellow students. As healthcare is quickly evolving into a collaborative, interdisciplinary field, Marshall’s culture will reinforce the values that I will need as a healthcare leader. To further create connections with peers, I will be an active leader in the Healthcare Leadership Association and star player in Challenge for Charity, where I will use my passion for soccer for philanthropic benefit. After my MBA and several successful years working in a managerial position at XYZ, I hope to inherit my family’s business with a strong sense of duty and capability. Only an education from USC Marshall will give me the integrated foundations and networks to transform our business in the decades to come.

SBC’s star-studded consultant team is unparalleled. Our clients benefit from current intelligence that we receive from the former MBA Admissions Officers from Harvard HBS, Stanford GSB and every elite business program in the US and Europe.  These MBA Admissions Officers have chosen to work exclusively with SBC.

Just two of the many superstars on the SBC team: Meet Erin , who was Assistant Director of MBA Admissions at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) and Director of MBA Admissions at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Meet Andrea , who served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years.

Tap into this inside knowledge for your MBA applications by requesting a consultation .

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Writing a compelling MBA Career Goals Essay

W riting a compelling MBA Career Goals Essay requires you to do more than just list the companies and titles you plan to add to your resume following the completion of your studies.

Your essay needs to demonstrate that you are passionate about the career you envision while convincing the MBA admissions committee that a larger sense of purpose directs your career goals.

Furthermore, admissions officers will judge your career action plan to determine if the dots connect between your skills and experiences and future aspirations.

In this article, we provide you with insights and tools you need to build a powerful MBA Career Goals Essay.

First, we’ll talk about why admissions committees ask you to write an essay about your career goals and share the characteristics of an outstanding answer. We will also help you to avoid the common mistakes applicants make when writing a Career Goals Essay.

We’ll even provide you with a set of building blocks for crafting a unique and powerful essay of your own.

In the final section of this article, we analyze a sample Career Goals Essay to illustrate the principles we taught you in action.

Why Do MBA Admissions Officers Ask About Your Goals?

The MBA Career Goals essay question regularly appears in one form or another on just about every MBA application. Many applicants wonder why MBA admissions officers are so interested in what they plan to do after graduating from business school. Others feel these types of questions are downright unfair. Isn’t business school a chance to figure out what you want to be when you grow up? And what’s the point of making plans when everyone knows those plans are going to change?

The reason admissions officers ask the Career Goals Essay question year after year is because the mission of a top MBA program is to train future leaders who will go on to make an impact on the world. In a sense, when you apply for an MBA, you’re also applying for the job you will take upon graduation, the job you will progress to five years after graduating, and even the executive job you dream about taking 10-15 years after that.

An acceptance letter to a top-tier MBA program is not a blue ribbon for past achievements. Admissions committees want to know what you aspire to become and want to achieve as a future leader. As it turns out, a strong Career Goals Essay is one of the best tools in your application to get the Admissions Committee excited about your potential and to communicate where and how you plan to make an impact on the world after completing your MBA education.

Business schools ask about your career goals in a variety of ways :

• “What are your short-term and long-term career goals?”
• “What are your professional objectives?”
• “Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing an MBA.”
• “What do you want to do—REALLY?”

When answering these kinds of essay questions, top marks are earned by having clearly defined post-MBA career plans that go well beyond climbing the corporate ladder and making lots of money. Admission officers want to know that you have a passion for the career you imagine and that your career goals are fueled by a sense of purpose.

What Makes For a Strong MBA Career Goals Essay?

Defining your career goals is central to your Application Strategy because a powerful Career Goals Essay will tell the admissions officers how you plan to become a leader of consequence once you graduate. The coherence of your Career Goals Essay serves as elegant proof of your potential.

You’ll also need to persuade admissions officers that your career aspirations are realistic. In other words, they must be convinced that you possess many of the skills, talents, and experiences that you will need to achieve your ambitions. Many candidates undermine their chances for acceptance by proposing a set of lofty career goals that don’t appear achievable when viewed in the context of their past experiences and strengths. Grand ambitions are fine, but you must be able to convince admissions officers that the dots connect from your past accomplishments to your future aims.

Next, remember that admissions officers believe that their job is to find and accept future business leaders who will make a positive difference in the world. The goal of this essay is not to outline your plans for climbing the corporate ladder. Think about how you can devote energy and your career to helping others in some way. This doesn’t mean you have to go to work for a not-for-profit – no matter what field you are interested in, you can identify ways that your career will make a positive difference in the world.

Even when the essay question doesn’t include words like vision and aspiration or doesn’t ask you why your career goals are meaningful, you should let admissions officers know your deeper motivations and that you have a sense of purpose.

Finally, the caveat to all of this advice is that admission officers read thousands of these essays and can tell the difference between aspirations with integrity and those that are simply engineered for effect. To put it bluntly, admissions board members have world-class B.S. detectors, so make sure your career goals pass the sniff test.

Your career goals, if properly developed and defined, can set you apart from other candidates competing for a spot at that school, and that’s precisely what you want them to do. Before you begin brainstorming, you will need to do extensive career planning work to assemble the content building blocks for your Career Goals Essay.

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What Makes for a Weak MBA Career Goals Essay?

Let’s discuss some of the weaknesses in applicants’ MBA Career Goals Essays so you can avoid making mistakes in your essay that might hurt your chances of being admitted to a top business school:

Unfocused career vision

No sense of purpose: passion, meaning, and significance, lack of evidence that the candidate understands his or her future industry.

• Dots don’t connect between prior skills/experiences and post-MBA career goals

Unconvincing motivations for pursuing an MBA

We’ll expand on these common pitfalls.

When it comes to essay and interview questions about your career goals, the “I will figure out my goals once I’m in business school” answer isn’t sufficient. If you haven’t determined what your career goals are, then how can an admissions officer be sure an MBA is your best next step? More importantly, how can you?

The bottom line is that your candidacy will not compare favorably with the applicants who know where they want to go and can explain clearly how an MBA will help get them there. Admissions officers know that once you’re in business school, you’ll have more work to do than there are hours in the day; there’s not much time available for self-reflection and career planning. In fact, within weeks of arriving on campus for your first year, you’ll be polishing your resume up and submitting it to recruiters for summer internships. If you don’t have a vision for your career, you may not benefit from the MBA experience in the same way as other candidates who do have a defined and focused career vision.

MBA programs were founded on the belief that business leaders can and do play an influential role in contributing to society’s prosperity. Schools are looking for future leaders who aren’t just in it for themselves. Admissions officers are proud that their job is to find and accept future business leaders who will make a positive difference in the world. If your career goals are a thinly veiled plan for making loads of money, then your candidacy is in trouble.

Once your long-term career goals are in focus, you should further educate yourself on the industry in which you plan to work. Admissions officers are understandably skeptical when an applicant claims to want to work in a particular field like venture capital, sustainable energy, or social enterprise but doesn’t seem to know much, if anything, about those industries.

Dots don’t connect between prior skills / experiences and post-MBA career goals

Many candidates undermine their chances for acceptance by proposing a set of lofty career goals that don’t appear realistic when viewed in the context of their past experiences and strengths. An admissions officer will examine your resume through the lens of future corporate recruiters. Suppose your Career Goals Essay says that you want to work in strategy consulting post-MBA. In that case, admissions officers will evaluate whether your current resume, combined with the skills and knowledge you would acquire in their program, would appeal to a recruiter at a strategy consulting firm. If the dots don’t connect for the MBA admissions committee, your application will be less competitive.

Your career goals directly relate to your motivations for pursuing an MBA. Therefore, defining those career goals is critical to explaining why you want an MBA. Unconvincing motivations for pursuing an MBA can be another big weakness in your candidacy. If the only answer you can come up with for “why you want an MBA” is “I’m working at a private equity firm, and everyone here goes for an MBA,” then you need to do more thinking about your motivations and reasons for applying to business school. If you haven’t built a solid case for this huge investment of time and money, then admissions committees would be justified in wondering what kind of business leader you’re going to be in the future.

Now that you understand the characteristics of a successful MBA Career Goals Essay and some pitfalls to avoid, we will share some content building blocks to help you design and write a winning essay.

Content Building Blocks for the MBA Career Goals Essay

Now we’ll tie the preceding insights together into a set of building blocks and provide you with a Career Goals Essay example, so you feel fully prepared to write a convincing essay of your own.

The four content building blocks for an excellent Career Goals Essay are:

• Career Purpose
• Career Meaning
• Your Long-Term Career Goal, and;
• Your Career Action Plan

Your first step is to develop a statement of career purpose . The building block question is, “What is the purpose of your career — who will it serve, and how will it benefit others?” A statement of career purpose doesn’t exist on an organization chart. It’s not the job; it’s what you hope to achieve in the world in a larger sense.

The next content building block is career meaning . Ask yourself, “Why is the career I envision meaningful to me?” Admissions officers believe that great ambitions are achieved when an individual’s goals are fueled by their interests and passions. Even if the application doesn’t ask the question directly, you should tell the admissions committee why these career goals matter to you.

Once your career’s purpose and meaning are defined, you can progress to building a succinct statement of your long-term career goals . Your long-term career goal may indeed be found on an organization chart — you should include the job you want and the kind of organization you want to be leading in 15 years – CEO, founder, managing director of a non-profit, etc. What is your dream job ?

“What’s the path to your dream job?” — The final building block is your career action plan – it includes the jobs and organizations you plan to work for along the way toward your long-term career goal. For each position on your path, you can briefly explain how the role fits into your overall plan and moves you a step closer to your long-term career goal by providing additional skills, essential knowledge, and a more robust network.

To wrap up this lesson, let’s take a look at a Career Goals Essay sample so you can see these principles and our content building blocks in action.

MBA Career Goals Essay Sample

Our example applicant “Adam” is an investment banker who wants to return to the private equity world post-MBA.

As you’ll see, by using the content building blocks, he goes beyond answering the “what question” – as in WHAT are your career goals – and answers the “why question” – setting himself up to write a Career Goals Essay that will score top marks.

Adam was born in Ukraine, and his career goal is to help people in that part of the world by spurring economic development. He plans to share how troubled he was by the hardships he saw while on a recent visit to Kyiv, during which his career goals came into focus.

Adam makes his career goals more unique than simply saying he wants to start a private equity fund – the fund he wants to create will invest in the former Soviet Union, providing much-needed economic development in the region. Adam plans to work for an established fund in the CIS region before eventually starting his own fund. His dream job is to serve as an economic advisor to governments in that part of the world.

Having completed his building blocks exercise, Adam has the content he needs to satisfy the career goals question criteria. His answer will be comprehensive and memorable and will set him apart from other candidates who also have their sights set on a future in private equity.

Below you will find an excerpt of the essay that resulted when these content building blocks were assembled. Review the sample essay carefully, and then you will be ready to get to work outlining, drafting, and rewriting your own essay until you and your advisors feel you have an outstanding Career Goals Essay for your application.

(CAREER PURPOSE) By the end of the trip, my career goals were clearly in focus. I want to play a leadership role in economic development in the CIS, first as a private equity investor, and eventually, an economic advisor to the government in Ukraine.

(CAREER ACTION PLAN) Directly out of business school, I want to move to Russia and work with an established private equity group such as Baring Vostok (“BV”). I’ve worked for almost two years in private equity in the US, and working for a firm in Moscow like BV for five to seven years would give me regional private equity experience and ties to capital in Russia and the CIS.

(LONG-TERM CAREER GOAL) Long-term, I want to start my own fund in the former Soviet Union, ideally based in Kyiv. I believe there’s plenty of opportunities. My Uncle’s manufacturing company in Kyiv is actually a good example; he needs growth capital, but his business’s risk profile is wrong for a bank and better suited for a private equity fund.

Final Thoughts

Sharing your excitement about your future career path with admissions officers via your MBA Career Goals Essay is an essential step toward earning an acceptance letter from a top MBA program. The coherence and clarity of your essay can convey your desire to be a leader of consequence once you finish your MBA studies.

Ultimately, the goal of an MBA Career Goals Essay is to convince admissions officers that you will go on to use your MBA education to make a positive difference in the world. The lessons we’ve shared in this article can help you to write a high-quality essay. The effort you devote to writing an excellent MBA Career Goals essay will almost certainly help increase your chances of being accepted by one of the world’s top business schools.

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How to Write a Powerful MBA Essay—With Examples

The MBA essay is critical to your business school application. Read our guide to writing the perfect MBA essay, with successful admit examples.

Posted July 4, 2024

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Why You Should Consider Getting an MD/MBA

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Table of Contents

What is the mba essay.

The MBA admissions essay.

Those words alone are enough to make most MBA candidates run screaming. Writing in general is hard enough. Writing about why you want an MBA? Your short-term goals and career aspirations? What matters to you most, and why? Forget it.

Of course, you still have to write these essays.

The MBA essay is perhaps the most important part of the business school application. Every other part of the application — your GPA, your test scores, your letters of recommendation — is quantified, cut and dried, or out of your control. The essay is your chance to show up as a fully realized MBA candidate, with hopes, dreams, and vulnerabilities. Admissions committees are not simply assessing your candidacy as a future leader — they're looking to admit human beings. That's where the MBA applicant essays come in.

That being the case, rather than being intimidated by it, treat the MBA essay writing process like the opportunity that it is — the chance for you to highlight your unique, iridescent self; the only moment in the MBA admissions process (prior to the interview) when you can speak directly to admissions officers; the time when you'll show them who you really are. It's not easy to write something that will do that, of course, but with the tips and tricks in this guide, and some help from one of Leland's vetted, world-class admissions coaches, we know you can do it. Give the essay the time, attention, and respect it deserves, and you'll be on your way to an offer of admission at your dream school.

Without further ado, let's dive in!

Ultimate MBA Essay Guide

See the MBA essay prompts, top tips from experts, and real examples from admits with this comprehensive guide.

How Long Will My MBA Essay Take?

First things first: let's talk about timing.

The MBA application is a behemoth; between exams, resumes, gathering your official transcripts, letters of recommendation, and the applications themselves, there's a lot to juggle. That being the case, we suggest you give yourself ample time to draft, write, and revise your essays. The last thing you want is to be rushed to the finish line.

So, give yourself at least three months to write your MBA admission essays. That should allow you enough time to draft, write, and edit. For more information on timing your entire business school application, click here for  A Comprehensive MBA Application Timeline--With Chart .

Now, on to the critical question:

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What Makes a Great MBA Essay?

At the highest level, the answer is the one that is truest to you. The whole point of an MBA application essay is to shine through as an authentic, vibrant human being, so the best essays are the ones that cut through the clutter, and allow you to do that.

Which begs the question — how do you cut through the clutter and shine through as a vibrant human being? Here are four critical tips to follow as you begin thinking about your essays.

1. Answer the Question

This one sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many applicants launch into their story, get carried away, and forget to answer the question. Follow the prompt, and answer the question the admissions committee has asked you. Those prompts can actually be very useful when writing MBA essays — it's a great deal harder to write when you have no guidance or guardrails. With these essays, you have a very specific question you need to answer. So answer it!

2. Be Specific

Another mistake some MBA applicants make is to stay at a high level in their essays, keeping their writing abstract and therefore inaccessible to the admissions committee. If at any point, an admissions officer could replace your name with the name of another applicant, then your essay isn't getting deep enough. It's not enough, for instance, to say that you suffered adversity in high school, or that you really, really want a Wharton MBA. You need to explain, in detail, the adversity you faced, and give concrete and unique reasons why you think Wharton is the right program for you. The best essays offer hyper-specific examples and anecdotes, with details and anecdotes that no other candidate could bring to the table. To get those anecdotes, we recommend using the STAR template, as explained below:

• Situation : What was the situation you were facing? Where were you? How old were you? If you were in a professional role during this anecdote, what was the role, and how long had you been in it? If you were volunteering, at what organization? How long had you been volunteering there? Why did you start? Offer all the relevant information that the admissions readers will need to understand your story.
• Task : What was the task at hand? What went wrong? In your professional role, what was the challenge you faced? In that volunteering experience, what were the hurdles you had to overcome? You can't have a good story without conflict or tension, so after you set up the anecdote, explain what that conflict or tension was (and remember, be specific!).
• Action : What was the action you took to resolve the problem? What did you have to do to fix that issue at work? How did you clear that hurdle in your volunteer experience? Again, be specific about how you came through on the other side of that conflict/tension — and while you're doing it, highlight your leadership capabilities as much as possible! Remember that top MBA programs are looking for future leaders who can assess a situation and decisively take action. (We'll say a bit more about this below, in the Personal Statement section.
• Result : What was the result of your action? If you were facing a growth problem at work, were you able to increase sales? If so, by what percentage? If you were advocating for diversity and inclusion at your local charity, what new programs did you implement to help with that effort, and what was the enrollment like in those new programs? Detail what happened in your anecdote with as much specificity as possible — and quantify, quantify, quantify!

If you want to learn more about how to master the STAR Method, read our article How to Nail “Tell Me About a Time…” Interview Questions .

3. Get Vulnerable

Most MBA admissions essay prompts are written with the goal of getting to know as much about you as possible in the shortest number of words. To do that, you're going to have to share real things from your life — to get personal, intimate, and vulnerable. Do not shy away from this. If you're starting to get emotional during the reflection, drafting, and writing process, good — that means you're on the right track. Keep going.

Pro tip: If it’s making you cry, it will make them cry.

Another good rule of thumb is to put something real and true on the table. Admissions officers have to read thousands of applications from thoroughly qualified individuals, some of whom might come from similar roles to yours, with letters of recommendation from equally impressive supervisors. In order to cut through that noise, you'll have to share something honest.

If you're doing it right, this can feel risky. At some point, you’ll likely think to yourself: “Can I say that?” The answer is: “Yes.” Of course, there is a line, you don’t want to be crass or offensive but always err on the side of being open and authentic.

The very worst thing you can do is be overly cautious and write something you think will please the admissions committee. These poor people have to read thousands of essays. If yours is just like everyone else’s, they’ll fall asleep. Don’t let that happen. Wake them up by putting yourself —your true, bright, vibrant, quirky self—on the page.

4. Don't Exaggerate

Finally, do not exaggerate, over-inflate, or lie. This goes without saying, but admissions committees are looking for honest candidates. The surest way to get rejected is to lie about something. (Business schools do a background check on you before you're properly admitted, so they will find out.) Don't be the person who over-inflates on their essays and then has their offer letter rescinded.

The Types of MBA Essays

All right — since we've covered high-level approaches to the MBA essays, it's time to dig into the various types.

There are three general categories of MBA essays you'll see across the board.

1. Personal Statement

These questions ask you to offer up something sincere about yourself. They'll often touch on such things as your values and your character. In these, you'll want to be as authentic as possible, while also highlighting attributes like leadership, intellectual vitality, and teamwork that business schools are looking for.

Here are a few examples of previous personal statement essays:

• As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program? (HBS)
• What matters most to you, and why? (Stanford GSB)

2. Why an MBA/Why This School

In these, schools first want to hear about how an MBA will fit into your career, both short and long term. Top MBA programs are looking for candidates who will: first of all, be gainfully employed upon graduating, second of all, have an illustrious career that will make their institution look good and encourage future generations of applicants to apply, and third, be consistent and generous donors. That being the case, they want to know about your career trajectory, and how an MBA will fit into it.

Pro tip: Here, you want to be ambitious and inspiring in laying out your future career, but not naïve. Walk the line between shooting for the stars and sounding dreamlike and uninformed.

In this set of questions, you'll also encounter questions geared at figuring out why you would want to attend a specific school. MBA programs want to know that you're serious about attending their school — yield, or the percentage of admitted candidates who accept their offers of admission, is an important metric for them — but they also want to envision how you'll contribute to their admitted class. What will you uniquely bring to the table, the things that you'll do that the other candidates wouldn’t be able to offer?

We've heard former deans of business schools say that, in choosing a class, they're curating a world-class dinner party, and that each person invited to the dinner party has to bring something different. What will you bring to the dinner party?

Another Pro tip: To demonstrate that you've done your research, and to help the admissions committee envision you in their program, indicate which classes you might take when earning your MBA and why, which professors you might hope to study with, and in which clubs you might participate.

Here are a few examples of "why MBA / why this school" essays we've seen before:

• How is a Columbia MBA going to help you? (Columbia)
• What do you hope to gain professionally from the Wharton MBA? (Wharton)
• Why Stanford? Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. (Stanford GSB)

3. Behavioral/Other

Finally, most other essays will be behavioral in the sense that they’ll ask you about experiences, traits, strengths, weaknesses, and achievements. There's a wide variety of topics here, but all the guidelines from above apply, with the final note to always prioritize authenticity (as mentioned in the Personal Statement section) and leadership ability (remember, business schools are choosing future leaders).

Here are a few examples of behavioral/other essays from the past:

• Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. (Yale SOM)
• Tell us about your favorite book, movie, or song and why it resonates with you. (Columbia)
• Think about times you’ve created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others? (Stanford GSB)

Top MBA Program Essay Prompts (Updated 2024)

To help you get started, we've compiled the required prompts from a few top MBA programs below:

1. Harvard Business School (HBS)

• Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (300 words)
• Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (250 words)
• Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (250 words)

For more information, visit A Guide to the HBS Essay .

2. Stanford Graduate School of Business

• What matters to you most, and why? (650 words)
• Why Stanford? (400 words)

Read: What Matters Most When Writing the GSB Essays.

• How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (500 words)
• Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (400 words)

For Wharton-specific advice, visit A Guide to the Wharton Essays .

4. Columbia Business School

• Essay 1: Through your resume and recommendation, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next three to five years and what, in your imagination, would be your long-term dream job? (500 words)
• Essay 2: The Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership (PPIL) is a co-curricular program designed to provide students with the skills and strategies needed to develop as inclusive leaders. Through various resources and programming, students explore and reflect on the following five inclusive leadership skills: Mitigating Bias and Prejudice; Managing Intercultural Dialogue; Addressing Systemic Inequity; Understanding Identity and Perspective Taking; and Creating an Inclusive Environment. Describe a time or situation when you had the need to utilize one of these five skills, and tell us the actions you took and the outcome. (250 words)
• Essay 3: We believe Columbia Business School is a special place with a collaborative learning environment in which students feel a sense of belonging, agency, and partnership--academically, culturally, and professionally. How would you co-create your optimal MBA experience at CBS? Please be specific. (250 words)

If you’re looking for more tips on the CBS essays, read our Guide to the Columbia Business School Essays .

5. Chicago Booth

• How will a Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250-word minimum)
• An MBA is as much about personal growth as it is about professional development. In addition to sharing your experience and goals in terms of career, we’d like to learn more about you outside of the office. Use this opportunity to tell us something about who you are… (250-word minimum)

*Pro tip: Some essay questions such as these will say “no maximum.” While it’s certainly a good thing that you’re allowed to write more, keep in mind to never write too much. Our rule of thumb for things like this is to never go over 200 words past the “minimum” count.

Read more at A Guide to the Booth Essays .

6. Northwestern Kellogg

• Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words)
• Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. (450 words)

For more on Kellogg’s essays, read How to Nail Your Kellogg MBA Application Essays .

7. MIT Sloan

MIT Sloan doesn’t use traditional essay prompts; instead, applicants are required to submit a cover letter, video, and short answer questions, as well as the other traditional application materials.

Cover Letter

MIT Sloan seeks students whose personal characteristics demonstrate that they will make the most of the incredible opportunities at MIT, both academic and non-academic. We are on a quest to find those whose presence will enhance the experience of other students. We seek thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world. We welcome people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers. We want people who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to preempt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas. We demand integrity, respect, and passion.

Taking the above into consideration, please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA program. Your letter should conform to standard business correspondence, include one or more professional examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria above, and be addressed to the Admissions Committee (300 words or fewer, excluding address and salutation)

Video Question 1

Introduce yourself to your future classmates. Here’s your chance to put a face with a name, let your personality shine through, be conversational, be yourself. We can’t wait to meet you!

Videos should adhere to the following guidelines:

• No more than 1 minute (60 second) in length
• Single take (no editing)
• Speaking directly to the camera
• Do not include background music or subtitles

Note: While we ask you to introduce yourself to your future classmates in this video, the video will not be shared beyond the admissions committee and is for use in the application process only.

Video Question 2

All MBA applicants will be prompted to respond to a randomly generated, open-ended question. The question is designed to help us get to know you better; to see how you express yourself and to assess fit with the MIT Sloan culture. It does not require prior preparation.

Video Essay 2 is part of your required application materials and will appear as a page within the application, once the other parts of your application are completed. Applicants are given 5 seconds to prepare for a 60-second response.

Short Answer Question

How has the world you come from shaped who you are today? For example, your family, culture, community, all help to shape aspects of your life experiences and perspective. Please use this opportunity to share more about your background. (250 words)

For top-notch advice on the MIT Sloan question prompts, read our articles Expert Guide to the MIT Sloan Short Answer Question and MIT Sloan Video Statement: Overview, Advice, & Common Mistakes .

How to Start Writing Your MBA Essay

So you've read about the types of essays, and seen some of the prompts from top MBA programs. Now it's time to actually start diving into the essay.

The very first thing to do, before putting pen to paper, is to look inward .

Why do you want an MBA? What role will this degree play in your professional growth? How do you imagine it will shape your life? What do you want out of your career? What is the most important thing in the world to you?

Yes, these are life’s deep-end questions, but you’ll need to tackle them in these essays, so before you start all of your writing, take the time to think through them. Go for a run, swim some laps, bake a cake—however you get into the flow — and start a dialogue with yourself. Put down your work, turn your phone off, and give your mind permission to go to the places it usually avoids. That’s a good place to start. That’s where the answers are.

Pro tip: The first sentence is the hardest one to write. When you're starting out, it can be intimidating and anxiety-producing. The trick is to simply put anything down — and don't look back. Keep putting one sentence after the other. You can edit later: let whatever comes to you out onto the page. If you’re struggling with self-critique, dim your computer screen until you can’t even see the words you’re typing. Then keep going.

Additional Tips & Tricks

Once you've started your essay, it's a matter of persistence: keep writing, then keep drafting and editing until you have something you're really proud of.

To help you write a successful MBA essay, here are a few more tips and tricks:

Take Breaks

When you hit the wall — and you will hit the wall — stop and take a breather. This is your brain telling you it needs to do something else. Walk your dog. Take a lap around your room. Eat some cheese. Your body needs sleep every night to function; your mind is the same way. That next leap of inspiration will come exactly at the moment when you’re least expecting it.

Read it Out Loud

When you finally have a draft, print it and read it out loud to yourself. Your ear will catch things your eyes miss. Reading out loud is the best way to pick up on spelling errors, clunky transitions, and paragraphs that still need ironing out. It’s also a good way to envision how the admissions committee will experience your essay.

Don’t be precious with your essay. Send it to anyone willing to read it. Solicit as much feedback as you can. If you don’t like what people have to say, you don’t have to incorporate it, but you need an impartial third party to give notes on what they’re seeing, thinking, and feeling. (You’re too close to things to do it for yourself.) This is where a Leland coach comes very much in handy!

Complete Everything Early

This is more of a timing consideration, but you do not want to trip at the finish line because your internet went down the night before the deadline, or your credit card was denied when paying your application fee (it's happened before). Don't let that be you!

Here is another article to get you started, written by an expert essay coach: 7 MBA Essay Tips to Make You Stand Out in 2022 .

Example MBA Essays

Finally, here are two essays to help inspire you. The first, a personal statement essay, was submitted by an admit to Berkeley Haas' Executive MBA program; the second, a career goals / why MBA essay, was submitted by an admit to Chicago Booth's deferred MBA program.

Haas Admit:

A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects, including family, culture, personal interests, and surrounding environments. Please share a facet of your identity or story that is essential to who you are. (300 words) My upbringing in India, filled with countless myths and legends, had a profound influence on me. The most formative tale was about a sage who prays for years to the goddess of knowledge, but in vain. In the end, the goddess didn’t appear for the sage because he was turning his prayer beads the wrong way! As a child, this story upset me: the sage worked so hard and had the right intentions. As an adult, though, I’ve come to realize that the goddess of knowledge was right: you can’t succeed unless you do things the right way.

Seven years ago, two friends and I started a company, XXXX: a digital health platform that would allow patients to store medical records online and consult doctors remotely. We had early success—we brought on 2,000 patients at XXXX, a gynecology clinic in XXXX—but ultimately we didn’t have the resources to properly scale, and had to shut the company down. Among the many lessons I learned, the most valuable was that ideas and hard work are common; businesses succeed or fail based on execution—on doing things the right way. Two years ago, I relearned this lesson in the most painful way possible: when my marriage ended. My wife and I loved each other, but we weren’t there for each other when it mattered most. Our feelings weren’t enough—we had to back them up with the right actions.

It’s disheartening when you have good intentions but still fall short. When this happens, though, you have to keep trying—because eventually you will do things the right way. I carry the story of the sage with me always, not as a harsh lesson, but as a motivating goal: one that keeps me striving towards doing things the right way.

Booth Admit:

How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250 word minimum)

I want to start a geothermal company that will help lead the energy transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy—by targeting existing oil wells as sites for geothermal plants. Oil fields are close to electric grids and have high nearby subsurface temperatures, making them ideal sites for geothermal plants. By building geothermal infrastructure nearby, my company will produce cleaner, cheaper energy, making it more profitable for operators to switch from oil to geothermal. As oil companies decommission their wells, I’ll negotiate for their land rights, so I can use their existing wells for new geothermal vents. I want my company to prove the case for economically viable, carbon-neutral energy production.

After getting an MBA, I want to start a geothermal company which will help me lead the energy transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. I plan to target developed oil fields in Texas, where, in many places, producing wells are flowing enough hot fluid to generate clean energy. Using this geothermal heat, the carbon footprint of oil and gas extraction will decrease as fewer fossil fuels are utilized to power surrounding infrastructure. As the wells approach their economic life, I will negotiate the lease from various operators, saving them millions in plug and abandonment costs, and retrofit the wells for direct geothermal energy production via closed-loop binary fluid systems, bringing emissions to zero. To accomplish this goal, I need to shore up my knowledge of energy economics and entrepreneurial finance, develop a strong sense of leadership, and build a network of like-minded individuals that will help me lead the transition and I believe I can get those things at Chicago Booth.

My immediate career goal is to develop my first co-production site in Shelby County, Texas at the Blanton well site, which produces abnormally heated fluid from the flanks of an active salt dome. Before investing in capital expenditures, developing a strong sense of energy economics and broader markets is necessary to verify financial feasibility. The University of Chicago, through the Graduate-Student-At-Large: Business program, is already allowing me to accomplish this goal with my enrollment in “Microeconomics” with Professor Andrew McClellan. His instruction helped me understand the impact taxes and subsidies have on market equilibrium, an important aspect of renewable energy as green energy tax incentives continue to change on a yearly basis. As my company continues to grow, having a strong finance and accounting foundation is imperative to building and sustaining a healthy company. Electives such as “Accounting for Entrepreneurship: From Start-Up through IPO” will provide the skills I need to be successful by following the life-cycle of a business that originates as a start-up and covers topics such as building an initial accounting infrastructure. I understand that the execution of the business is as important as developing the idea and proof of concept, and Booth is the best place for me to develop financial fluency.

Leading the energy transition will require a strong sense of leadership. Not only will I need to lead those I get to work with over my career, but to lead the energy transition, and reverse the impact fossil fuels have had thus far, I must have the emotional intelligence to inspire others to join me in my journey. The “Interpersonal Dynamics” course at Booth will allow me to develop my communication skills and better understand the emotions and perceptions of my colleagues. These skills, synthesized with leadership development acquired in “Leadership Practicum” will prepare me to act as a relational leader, who understands the needs of others. As a relational leader, I hope to foster an environment which promotes happiness and maximizes efficiency, not only to make our efforts in changing the world more successful, but to excite other people to join our cause.

To find the greatest chance of success in leading the energy transition, I will need a network of like-minded individuals who can provide a diversity of thought. Chicago Booth provides the opportunity to develop that network through different community experiences. The Energy Club’s “Energy Forward” conference, which designates time to topics in oil and gas and renewable energy will allow me to hear from industry leaders, build meaningful relationships with peers, and contribute my sector experience to the public forum as I learn from those around me. Opportunities through the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Group such as “SeedCon” will help me connect with successful entrepreneurs and early-stage investors whose ideas and funding might change the course of my venture’s trajectory. Even in the GSALB program, I have had the opportunity to connect with other students in various sectors, including the energy industry. I hope to continue to strengthen those connections and continue building new ones with matriculation into the full time program.

Connect with an Expert for all your MBA Essay Questions

We know that a lot goes into the process of MBA essay writing. Research, planning, and execution all are major stages that take a lot of time. If you’re looking to fast-track your essay writing process while still blowing away the admission committee, try looking at some of our all-star MBA admissions consultants . We have a wide array of experts ready to give you as much help with MBA essays as you need, just check out some of our top-rated coaches below!

FAQs for Writing Your MBA Essay

What is the most important aspect of an MBA essay that admissions committees are looking for?

• The most crucial aspect of an MBA essay is authenticity. Admissions committees want to see the real you, so be honest and genuine in your responses. Highlight your unique experiences, values, and aspirations to stand out.

How long should my MBA essay be?

• The length of your MBA essay will depend on the specific prompts and guidelines provided by each school. Generally, essays range from 500 to 1,000 words. Always adhere to the word limit specified in the prompt. In the event that there’s no limit, we recommend floating within 200-300 words of whatever posted word count there is.

Can I use the same essay for multiple MBA applications?

• You can use similar content, but it’s essential to edit each essay to be about the specific school and prompt. Schools are looking for personalized responses that demonstrate your understanding of their program and how it aligns with your goals.

How do I figure out what to write about?

• Select experiences that showcase your leadership, problem-solving skills, and personal growth. Focus on stories that highlight your unique qualities and align with the values and culture of the MBA program you're applying to.

What should I avoid doing in my essay?

• Avoid clichés, generic statements, and exaggerations. Be specific and detailed in your responses. Also, steer clear of overly technical jargon that might be hard for the admissions committee to understand unless it’s directly relevant to your story.

Who can I ask for feedback on my essay?

• Seeking feedback from trusted friends, family, or mentors can be very helpful. In addition, consider working with one of our admissions coaches who can provide professional insights and help refine your essay to make it more compelling.

What should I do if I don’t have a traditional business background?

• If you don’t have a traditional business background, focus on transferable skills and experiences that highlight your leadership, analytical abilities, and teamwork. Demonstrate how your unique perspective will contribute to the MBA program and your future career.

How do I handle multiple essay prompts for the same school?

• Approach each prompt separately and ensure that each essay provides new insights about you. Avoid repeating the same information across essays. Instead, use each essay to highlight different aspects of your experiences, skills, and aspirations.

Here are several other articles that you may find helpful as you put together your MBA application:

• The Most Frequently Asked Questions on MBA Applications
• How to Answer the "Why an MBA?" Essay Question
• My Top Piece of Advice for MBA Applicants
• How I Nailed My MBA Interview and Gained Admission to Top 10 Business Schools
• 4 Expert Tips on Paying for Business School

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The Key to Writing Your Best MBA Goals Essay

Understanding what you want to get out of business school plays a larger role in your MBA essay than you may think.

Top MBA programs are looking for applicants who have a clear idea of how a business degree will help shape their future. This is why the MBA goals essay is such an important piece of your business school application.

But how do you write a goals essay if you’re unsure of your post-MBA goals? What if you are changing careers  and know you want to obtain the skills that an MBA program provides , but aren’t sure which career direction you want to pursue after your degree? Should you spend time looking into post-MBA options? Should you try out different jobs or shadow people in different careers, so that you can submit your MBA essay with a secure MBA goal? Or is it better to write your MBA essay with undefined goals?

The role of post-MBA goals in your MBA essay

Your post-MBA goals should guide you in the application process, and at the very least help you decide where to apply. Not only is it worthwhile spending time finalizing a post-MBA direction, it’s required. You need to know why you want to spend a large amount of your time and money before you apply. Not knowing what your post MBA-goals are could turn your MBA investment into a huge debt with no job to pay it off. Think of your goals as a weathervane—if it’s broken, it spins uselessly in the wind, but when working properly, it points you in the right direction.

Still wondering if business school is right for you? Ask yourself these five questions .

Steps to take before writing your MBA essay

When thinking about how to write an MBA essay, you also need to think about how to identify and define your personal MBA goals. Perhaps you already have a good idea of why you want to attend b-school and what it can help you achieve. If not, here are four steps that will help you understand and articulate your post-MBA goals, so you can write an impressive MBA essay:

Determine your likes and dislikes

Think about what you like and dislike about your current and past jobs. Compile a list of what you’d like more of and what you’d like less of. A simple exercise like this will ensure that you’re not just going through the motions, but that your MBA goals will actually bring you satisfaction in your career and life.

Talk to people in careers you want

Talk to people in jobs that appeal to you. Organize informal interviews or email a list of questions to people you know who have positions that you find attractive. While a post-MBA job or career path may seem appealing on paper, you want to ensure you have a full understanding of the positives, negatives, and opportunities that truly exist .

Consider a career counselor

Think about hiring a career counselor. With the right guidance, you can gain a better understanding of what opportunities exist for MBA graduates, and hone your MBA goals so that you can write a more competitive MBA goals essay. This short-term investment will pay off when you are able to get into the b-school you want and land your dream job after graduation.

Establish connections at companies that interest you

Once you have a better idea of your direction, take a look at the career listings for the bigger employers in the field or fields that interest you. Check out profiles of some of the recent MBAs these companies have hired and see if you can arrange to speak to someone in the roles that appeal to you. Talking with people that were once in your position (and who work at a company of interest) is a great way to grow your network and establish connections that can give you the advantage come interview time. However, it’s also a way to learn more about different positions and better define your MBA goals for yourself and your MBA essay.

MBA goals can be flexible

Not having clear goals will leave admissions officers wondering why you’re putting in the time, effort, and money to obtain an MBA. An MBA essay with clearly defined goals, may also concern b-schools that you won’t be able to find an internship, or eventually a full-time job because you don’t know what you want to do. But don’t worry—admissions officers also recognize that your goals may change over the course of your MBA program and that what you say in your MBA essay is somewhat preliminary. It’s okay to be flexible, but not clueless.

Want more advice on MBA programs and applications and an opportunity to meet with admissions directors? Join top b-schools at The MBA Tour's events across the globe .

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Career Goals in MBA Admissions Essays

How to write a career vision essay for mba applications.

You can’t get through an MBA application without being asked about your career goals, but a lot of applicants struggle to answer the question convincingly. This post is dedicated to helping you do just that. I’ll not only be talking about the keys to writing a convincing career goals essay, but I’ll also be using my own career goals essay from my HBS application to illustrate my points.

Ultimately, a good career goals essay is five things: it’s clear, it’s specific, it’s genuine, it’s ambitious, and it’s congruous. Let’s take each of the five in turn.

Be Clear. State your goal unambiguously and immediately. No one ever got admitted to business school for a beautifully written and captivating introduction, but plenty have gotten dinged because admissions committees couldn’t understand what exactly the applicant’s career goal was. My advice to applicants is always the same: lead your essay with a clear statement of your career goal. Here’s the first sentence of my HBS career vision essay:

“My career will focus on launching and managing social ventures that can provide innovative private-sector solutions to public problems.”

It’s simple, straightforward, and most importantly, it isn’t hiding amidst paragraphs of cliche prose and wannabe poetry.

The one ding I’d give myself is that, by itself, it’s a little broad, which is why it’s also important to quickly get very specific…

Be Specific. Most MBA applicants are a few years out of college. Most are incredibly successful, they’re frequently promoted, and yet they’re starting to get bored. They know they want to move on to The Next Big Thing, but they’re not sure what that is yet. This creates a problem for business school admissions committees, which find themselves ingesting hundreds of applicants every year that aren’t entirely sure what they want to do next. They only know that they don’t want to fall behind their fast-ascending peers.

Admissions committees don’t want to admit applicants who are attending business school because it’s a safe way to figure out what to do next. They want to admit students with specific long-term career visions. So it’s important to convey this specificity and confidence in your career vision essay. There are four ways to do this:

• Function . You can talk about a specific function: brand manager, investment banker, operations manager.
• Industry . You can talk about a specific industry: renewable energy, government, commercial banking, management consulting.
• Geography . You can talk about a specific geography: emerging markets, urban communities, your home state.
• Quantification . You can talk about a quantifiable goal: create 25,000 jobs, raise a $25 million fund, reduce the poverty rate in a country by 1%.

Here’s how, immediately after my first sentence, I got specific in my HBS career vision essay:

“After graduating from business school, I plan to launch a social venture dedicated to providing inner-city schools with journalism programs. The goal would not be to train new journalists for careers in a rapidly evaporating field. Instead it would be to teach students the broadly applicable skills that comprise good journalism: analyzing real-life issues, asking significant questions, and composing precise writings. These skills, which have been so important to my academic and professional success, can enable students inhibited by a stagnating education system. 

“After successfully growing this organization, I envision taking leadership roles in other established ventures and eventually managing a company, such as Google.org, that can offer new approaches to a variety of persistent economic and social problems.” 

It’s worth noting that I’ve gone on to do exactly none of that, and that’s OK. Instead, I joined a startup in Chicago and launched MBA Admissions Advisors. The HBS admissions committee isn’t hunting me down trying to hold me to the vision I laid out in my application; they aren’t threatening to revoke my degree. Don’t get me wrong — I believed what I wrote at the time that I wrote it, and it fit with my background and priorities. But things change, and admissions committees are all right with that. What they aren’t OK with is applicants using business school to figure out what they want to do with their lives. So be specific in your career vision essay, but also, be genuine…

Be Genuine. After the financial crisis in 2008, business schools received a lot of criticism for the role they played propagating greed among its graduates — pushing them to high-paying jobs in investment banking and on Wall Street. Fair or unfair, MBA programs reacted by investing heavily in social enterprise classes, and admissions committees began admitting more students with non-profit and public sector backgrounds. Applicants quickly caught on, and many financial services and management consulting applicants began writing about career visions in social enterprise. A lot of them got dinged.

Past actions are one of the best predictors of future actions. So if your career choices to date don’t support the career vision you are professing in your essay, then you’re going to have problems. It won’t seem genuine, and business schools have a seriously oversensitive bullshit meter. So as you think through your career vision, take a hard look at the career and life choices to date, and make sure those choices support your long-term vision. And for the record — simply volunteering a few hours once a month does not support a career vision around a lifetime in social enterprise, and traveling a few times over the past few years does not support a career vision around a lifetime in emerging markets.

I had the background leading up to business school to support my career vision in social enterprise. I’d spent nearly 5 years working first in politics and then in the White House, and I argued that I’d learned “government alone cannot support society. The private sector must be an agent of change, too.” This helped me connect the dots between what I had been doing in government and why I wanted to go to business school.

Be Ambitious . Sometimes I think it helps to think about MBA admissions committees a little bit link venture capital firms. They’re not necessarily looking to invest in hundreds of students that will all perform well; they’re looking to invest in hundreds of students, only a handful of who will do exceptionally well, becoming the next Jaime Diamond (HBS ’82), Michael Bloomberg (HBS ’66), and Phil Knight (Stanford ’62). Big names breed big publicity, and that’s good for business schools.

So dream big, and be confident that you can achieve your vision. Business schools want you to sell them on your potential, since ultimately that’s the investment they are making in you.

Be Congruous. You’re applying to an MBA program, so be coherent in how that decision to attend business school fits in your larger career vision. It should be the bridge between the skills you have now, and the skills you need to achieve your goals.

“To achieve this vision, I need to expand on my success in the public sector. On the President campaign, I gained experience managing fundraising events, working with business leaders and high-dollar donors, and effecting change at a grassroots level. In the White House, I’ve gained experience developing and implementing large-scale public policies. Business school will help me achieve my career vision by exposing me to students and faculty with diverse private sector work experience. It will exercise my leadership abilities and provide me a business education that will prove critical to launching and managing successful social ventures.”

Looking back, I’m not sure this is the most compelling paragraph I wrote in my essays, but it does accomplish two things. One, it reminds them of the choices I have made (and therefore reinforces that my career vision is genuine). Two, it begin to fill in the gaps of why I still need business school. I continue on that line of thought (with a bit more specificity, thankfully!) in talking about why, in particular, I need Harvard:

“After conversations with current HBS students and faculty, it is clear that HBS promotes a culture that supports my career vision and will expose me to other students with diverse backgrounds but similar aspirations. In addition, HBS offers an academic and financial infrastructure to support social entrepreneurship for its students and its alumni, and programs like the Social Venture Track of the HBS Business Plan Contest will help develop my social venture idea.”

This paragraph added a little more specificity than the one above, which is always critical. Schools don’t want to be your second choice, and they want to know that you’ve taken the decision to attend seriously enough to have checked out a few programs, clubs, classes, and even visited campus and a few admissions events.

Get Support. Writing a good career vision essay takes a lot of introspection. It requires that you be each of the five key characteristics above (clear, specific, genuine, ambitious, and congruous). But it inevitably also requires that you get support from friends, family, and colleagues, who will be your best mentors in working through exactly what you want to do with you career.

Of course, it helps to have someone who doesn’t know you that well read your career vision, too, since they’ll be far more likely to spot gaps or inconsistencies that, while they make sense to someone who knows you well, stand out to someone who does not. If you’re interested in having one of us take a look, then reach out through our  free consultation  service. And of course, stay tuned to this blog for more posts on how to write effective MBA applications.

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Career Goals for MBA Admissions Essay Writing and More

When it comes to MBA admissions, a captivating personal story and high test scores are not enough. MBA programs are in the business of boosting your career, which boosts their stats and reputation in turn. In preparing your application, you will need to think carefully about career goals for MBA jobs that are realistic for someone with your background, and then formulate achievable short- and long-term career goals that support your overall application narrative.

This article will cover the basics of how to best articulate your career goals for MBA admissions committees, with tips on how—and how not—to make your case.

MBA Career Goals and MBA Rankings

In order to frame your career goals for MBA Adcoms in the right way, you need to understand why career goals are so important to them in the first place. It comes down to two reasons: 

• Your career prospects after graduation directly affect the school’s ranking
• More generally, they have a major impact on your future satisfaction with the MBA itself 

First, let’s consider the effect of your post-MBA career on school rankings. Even if you are sick and tired of hearing about the MBA ranking and how it factors into every aspect of your application, you have to accept that business school admissions committees (or “AdComs”) think about their ranking constantly, and admitting the right applicants is their best bet to improve it.

As you are likely aware, every MBA program publishes an employment report that details the statistics of the most recently graduated class: how many people have a job, its location, its starting salary, its sector. For top-tier MBA programs, these numbers are always high. 

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In 2019, for example, Wharton reported that 98.5% of their graduating student body had job offers . And with fierce competition for top-rankings, MBA programs pay close attention to even the smallest movement of the needle in either direction. Selecting candidates with ambitious-yet-realistic career goals is an excellent way to maintain a prestigious ranking.

That is not to say, however, that rankings are the only factor when evaluating your career goals. More generally, admissions committees want to ensure that applicants will find success after an MBA, as career success often translates to satisfaction with the decision to pursue the MBA in the first place. AdComs really do consider whether you can benefit from their program, and you want them to believe that you’ll secure a job that satisfies you when you graduate.

Of course, this is not totally selfless thinking. Admissions officers know that graduates who are happy with their post-MBA careers make for involved alumni who are more likely to speak positively about their MBA experience and to give back, whether by donating money, volunteering their time, or both.

All this means that you want to present the very best case for your future employability, keeping the rationale of the AdCom in mind. 

Your Career Goals Should Help Define Your MBA Plan

In order to convince an admissions committee that you will be able to land a good job after graduation, you need to demonstrate exactly why a given MBA program will help you advance your short- and long-term career goals.

This might run counter to your personal desires surrounding your MBA aspirations. After all, you have been working hard for years at your job and the MBA may seem like a two-year respite: traveling, international exchange, and cocktail receptions for recruitment events.

But the AdCom knows something you don’t: even if you have been working an extremely demanding job like consulting or private equity, you will probably be working harder during your MBA than you ever have before.

After all, while the MBA will temporarily halt the stressors from your work, you will still be in a situation where you have to network with 300-900 classmates, return to the classroom after five years of freedom, do your research on which clubs to join and which corporate info sessions to attend, and learn how to prep for your job interviews. It will be incredibly stressful and busy. (Sponsored students are the rare exception.)

We even recall an HBS alumna who talked about the public service announcement posters all over campus informing stressed students that free counseling and trained emotional support dogs were available. Those services are advertised because they are necessary.

The admissions committee wants to know that when you are at your breaking point, stress-wise, you have a plan for making the most of the MBA program, since “figuring it out after you arrive on campus” is not going to work reliably.

Finding the Creative “Sweet Spot” In the Career Goals Essay

We’ve already touched on it in this article: your post-MBA job plans should be focused and realistic. This is not the place to talk about pie in the sky ambitions that reasonable readers would find totally unrealistic.

You also don’t need to try and distinguish yourself–and your application–by listing career goals that are different from every other applicant’s. Let’s take a closer look at the most common post-MBA career paths to see why.

First, many MBA candidates are sponsored by their employer and they will return to a job there after graduation. This is the least creative career goal possible! And it is perfectly acceptable to admissions committees. Usually, these sponsored applicants will write more about what they hope to accomplish after their return, since getting the job is a given.

Second, consulting or finance tracks are also common even for non-sponsored applicants, and MBA programs may send >50% of the class into these fields. Just take a look at Harvard’s employment report from 2019 .

Snippet from Harvard Business School’s Employment Report

So What Makes a Goal Realistic and Interesting?

It is perfectly acceptable to write in your career goals essay that you want to work in the consulting or finance industries—even if many other applicants will have similar goals—so long as you can explain why that is your goal. Too much idiosyncrasy in your career goals will make you look like a wild card. For example, an investment banker with no volunteering experience has no business stating their post-MBA goal is to become an impact investor, since the reader won’t believe the goal is sincere.

At the same time, you don’t want to be underwhelming. Saying that you want to “be promoted from consultant to senior consultant” is thinking too small and too transactionally. MBA programs are designed to transform your career in bigger ways.

So aim for the “sweet spot”: state a realistic career goal, explain how the MBA program will help you to achieve it, and use your story to explain why the goal is personally meaningful to you.

Use these employment reports to research the most common placements at your target schools, and craft your MBA career goals accordingly.

Employment Reports

• HBS Employment Report
• GSB Employment Report
• Wharton Employment Report
• Kellogg Employment Report
• Booth Employment Report
• Columbia Employment Report
• MIT Employment Report
• Dartmouth Employment Report
• Haas Employment Report
• Yale SOM Employment Report

Articulate your career goals effectively and enhance your MBA application with support from our expert MBA consulting services .

The MBA Career Goals Essay: Mastering the Golden Circle Approach

August 27, 2024, introduction: why your career goals essay can make or break your mba application.

Picture this:

You’re an admissions officer at Stanford GSB. You’ve just read your 100th “I want to be a consultant/banker/tech entrepreneur” essay of the day. Your eyes are glazing over. You reach for another coffee.

Then, you start reading an essay that makes you forget about your caffeine craving. An essay that doesn’t just tell you what the applicant wants to do, but why it matters. An essay that doesn’t just list achievements, but paints a vivid picture of a future you can’t wait to see unfold.

That, my friend, is the power of a killer MBA career goals essay.

Here’s a mind-blowing stat:

According to GMAC, 87% of employers say that focusing on career goals is the number one thing applicants can do to stand out.

But here’s the kicker: Most applicants focus on the what and how, completely missing the why.

That’s a mistake they’ll surely regret…

In this ultimate guide, you’ll discover:

• The “Golden Circle” approach that will transform your career goals essay from snooze-fest to page-turner
• How to craft a compelling “Why” that will make admissions officers champion your application
• The secret to aligning your goals with your past experiences and your target MBA program
• Real examples of career goals essays that got applicants into top B-schools (and why they worked)
• Plus, we’ll tackle the top 10 FAQs about MBA career goals essays to ensure you’re fully equipped to nail this crucial part of your application.

Ready to turn your career goals essay from meh to magnificent? Let’s dive in!

Start Your MBA Journey with a Free Profile Evaluation Today

Part 1: understanding the golden circle approach.

Before we jump into the nitty-gritty of essay writing, let’s talk about a game-changing concept: Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle .

What is the Golden Circle?

The Golden Circle is a simple but powerful model that consists of three concentric circles:

• Why (innermost circle)
• How (middle circle)
• What (outermost circle)

Most people communicate from the outside in. They start with what they do, sometimes touch on how they do it, and rarely get to why they do it.

But here’s the secret sauce:

Inspiring leaders and organizations think, act, and communicate from the inside out. They start with the why.

How Does This Apply to Your MBA Career Goals Essay?

Imagine your essay as a three-course meal:

• The “Why” is your appetizer. It whets the admissions committee’s appetite and sets the tone for what’s to come.
• The “How” is your main course. It’s substantial and satisfying, showing how you’ll achieve your goals.
• The “What” is your dessert. It’s the tangible, sweet outcome of your journey.

Crackverbal Hack: Start brainstorming your essay by asking yourself these questions:

• Why do you want to pursue this career path? What impact do you want to make?
• How will you achieve these goals? What skills and experiences will you need?
• What specific roles or positions are you aiming for in the short and long term?

Pro Tip: Your “Why” should be so compelling that someone could disagree with your “What” but still support your “Why.”

Part 2: Crafting Your “Why” – The Heart of Your Essay

Your “Why” is your north star. It’s the driving force behind your career goals. Here’s how to nail it:

1. Dig Deep

Don’t settle for surface-level motivations. Keep asking yourself “Why?” until you hit an emotional core.

• I want to be a fintech entrepreneur. Why?
• To create innovative financial products. Ok, but Why?
• To make financial services more accessible. Ok, but Why?
• Because I believe financial inclusion is key to reducing global poverty. Jackpot!

Now that’s a “Why” that packs a punch!

2. Make It Personal

Your “Why” should be uniquely yours. Connect it to your experiences, values, and passions.

Crackverbal Insight: Use the “Pivotal Moment” technique. Identify a moment in your life that shaped your worldview or career aspirations. This adds authenticity and emotional resonance to your “Why.”

3. Think Big, But Be Authentic

Your “Why” should be ambitious but genuine. Don’t say you want to solve world hunger if your experiences don’t back it up.

Pro Tip: Use the “Grandma Test.” Explain your “Why” to your grandmother. If she gets it and believes it, you’re on the right track.

4. Align with the School’s Mission

Research your target schools’ missions and values. Find genuine connections between your “Why” and what the school stands for.

For example , if you’re applying to Berkeley Haas , known for its emphasis on innovation and social impact, your “Why” could focus on using business innovation to drive positive societal change.

Part 3: Developing Your “How” – The Bridge to Your Goals

Your “How” shows the admissions committee that you’re not just a dreamer, but a strategic thinker with a solid plan.

1. Showcase Your Research

Demonstrate that you understand the industry or field you’re targeting.

Example: “To achieve my goal of revolutionizing rural healthcare through telemedicine, I plan to leverage emerging technologies like 5G and AI. According to a recent McKinsey report, these technologies could potentially improve healthcare access for over 1 billion people globally.”

2. Highlight Relevant Skills and Experiences

Show how your past experiences have prepared you for your future goals.

Crackverbal Hack: Use the “Skill Bridge” technique. For each key skill needed for your goals, provide an example of how you’ve developed or demonstrated that skill in your past experiences.

3. Explain Why an MBA is Crucial

Be specific about how an MBA, particularly from your target school, fits into your plan.

Pro Tip: Mention specific courses, clubs, or initiatives at the school that align with your “How.”

4. Address Potential Obstacles

Show that you’ve thought about challenges you might face and how you plan to overcome them.

Example: “Transitioning from engineering to venture capital will be challenging. To bridge this gap, I plan to leverage the VC club at [School Name] and seek internships in VC firms during my MBA.”

Part 4: Articulating Your “What” – The Tangible Outcomes

Your “What” is the most straightforward part of your essay, but don’t underestimate its importance.

1. Be Specific, But Flexible

Provide clear short-term and long-term goals, but show that you’re open to learning and adapting.

Example: “Post-MBA, I aim to join a leading strategy consulting firm like Bain or BCG, focusing on their sustainability practice. Long-term, I envision launching my own consultancy specializing in helping traditional industries transition to sustainable practices.”

2. Show Progression

Your short-term and long-term goals should show a clear progression and growth trajectory.

Crackverbal Insight: Use the “Career Ladder” technique. Outline 2-3 steps between your short-term and long-term goals to show thoughtful career progression.

3. Quantify Your Impact

Where possible, use numbers to make your goals more tangible and impressive.

Example: “Within five years of graduation, I aim to have helped at least 100 small businesses in emerging markets secure ethical financing, supporting the creation of an estimated 1,000 jobs.”

4. Tie It Back to Your “Why”

Show how achieving these specific goals will enable you to fulfill the purpose you outlined in your “Why.”

Pro Tip: End your essay by bringing it full circle, connecting your “What” back to your “Why” for a powerful conclusion.

Part 5: Putting It All Together – The Golden Circle in Action

Now that we’ve broken down each component, let’s see how they all fit together in a compelling career goals essay.

Example Outline:

• Opening Hook (Why): Vivid anecdote about witnessing the impact of financial exclusion
• Expanded Why: Personal connection to the mission of financial inclusion
• Relevant past experiences in fintech and microfinance
• Specific skills to be gained from MBA program
• Post-MBA strategy for entering impact investing
• Short-term goal: Join an impact investing firm
• Mid-term goal: Lead investments in fintech for financial inclusion
• Long-term goal: Launch a fund focused on financial inclusion in emerging markets
• Conclusion: Tie back to opening anecdote, reaffirm commitment to Why

Real Essay Excerpt (Anonymized):

“The day I saw my neighbor, a brilliant local artisan, turned away from a bank loan that could have expanded her business, I understood the real cost of financial exclusion. At that moment, I committed myself to a mission: leveraging technology to make financial services accessible to everyone, regardless of their economic status.

My journey in fintech has equipped me with a deep understanding of how technology can revolutionize financial services. At TechPay, I led the development of a mobile payment system that now serves over 2 million users in rural India. This experience showed me the transformative power of financial technology, but also revealed the immense challenges in scaling such solutions.

An MBA from [School Name], with its renowned Fintech Innovation Lab and Social Impact Initiative, will be crucial in bridging the gap between my technical expertise and the business acumen needed to drive large-scale financial inclusion. I’m particularly excited about Professor [Name]’s course on ‘Blockchain for Social Impact’, which aligns perfectly with my goal of exploring decentralized finance solutions for underserved communities.

Post-MBA, I aim to join an impact investing firm like Acumen or Omidyar Network, focusing on fintech investments in emerging markets. This role will allow me to leverage my tech background and newly acquired business skills to identify and scale promising financial inclusion solutions. Within five years, I envision leading the firm’s fintech investment strategy, with the goal of improving financial access for at least 10 million unbanked individuals.

Long-term, my ambition is to launch a dedicated impact fund focusing on fintech solutions for financial inclusion in Southeast Asia and Africa. By partnering with local entrepreneurs and leveraging my network from [School Name], I aim to catalyze the growth of at least 100 fintech startups, potentially reaching 100 million unbanked individuals by 2035.

As I think back to my neighbor’s dejected face outside that bank, I’m reminded of why this mission matters. With an MBA from [School Name], I’m confident I can turn my vision of universal financial access into reality, one startup, one village, one life at a time.”

This essay effectively uses the Golden Circle approach:

• Why: Personal connection to financial exclusion, mission of universal financial access
• How: Leveraging past fintech experience, gaining new skills through MBA, strategic career progression
• What: Specific short-term (impact investing) and long-term (launching a fund) goals with quantifiable impact

Conclusion: Your Career Goals, Your MBA Ticket

You’ve done it!

You’ve mastered the art of crafting a compelling career goals essay using the Golden Circle approach.

Let’s recap your journey:

• You’ve learned to start with a powerful “Why” that drives your ambitions
• You’ve discovered how to articulate a clear “How” that shows you’re strategic and prepared
• You’ve mastered presenting a concrete “What” that makes your goals tangible and exciting
• You’ve got answers to all your burning questions about career goals essays

But remember: This essay is just one piece of your MBA application puzzle.

Key takeaways:

• Your career goals essay should align with the rest of your application
• Be authentic – let your true passions and motivations shine through
• Show that you’ve done your homework on both your target industry and the MBA program

So, what’s next?

It’s time to put these strategies into action. Start with your “Why,” research your “How,” and define your “What.” Then, weave them together into an essay that will make admissions committees champion your candidacy.

But if you find yourself staring at a blank page, or if you want that extra edge to make your essay truly stand out, remember: You don’t have to do this alone.

At Crackverbal, we’ve helped thousands of applicants craft career goals essays that have opened doors to top B-schools. Our MBA Application service provides personalized feedback to ensure your essay hits all the right notes.

Ready to turn your MBA dreams into reality?

Your future at a top B-school is closer than you think. Let’s make your career goals roar!

In this blog, we'll discuss...

• The “Golden Circle” Approach
• Craft a Compelling “Why”
• The Secret to Aligning Your Goals & Experiences
• Real Examples of Career Goals Essays
• Top 10 FAQs about MBA Career Goals Essays

Start with a Free Profile Evaluation Today

Top 10 FAQs: Cracking the MBA Career Goals Essay

1. how long should my career goals essay be.

Most schools specify a word limit, typically between 500-750 words. Stick to this limit strictly. If no limit is specified, aim for 500-600 words. Quality matters more than quantity.

2. Should I mention salary expectations or job titles in my career goals?

Focus on the impact you want to make rather than specific salaries or titles. However, mentioning general roles (e.g., “product manager at a leading tech firm” or “founding a health tech startup”) can help concretize your goals.

3. What if I'm not sure about my long-term career goals?

It’s okay to have some uncertainty, but you should still present a clear direction. Use phrases like “I envision” or “I aim to” for long-term goals to show aspiration while allowing for flexibility.

4. Should I name specific companies I want to work for?

Mentioning 1-2 companies as examples can show you’ve done your research. However, don’t limit yourself to just one company. Say something like “companies like X or Y that are leaders in Z field.”

5. How do I address a major career shift in my goals essay?

Explain the motivation behind the shift, focusing on transferable skills and experiences. Show how your past, combined with an MBA, prepares you for this new direction.

6. Should my short-term and long-term goals be in the same industry or role?

They don’t have to be, but there should be a logical progression. If they’re in different industries or roles, explain how one leads to or prepares you for the other.

7. How specific should I be about the skills I want to gain from the MBA?

Be specific, but don’t just list courses. Mention 2-3 key areas you want to develop (e.g., “deepen my understanding of corporate finance” or “enhance my cross-cultural leadership skills”) and tie them to your goals.

8. Is it okay to mention backup plans or alternative career paths?

While it’s good to have backup plans, your essay should focus on your primary goal. You can briefly mention flexibility (“while my primary goal is X, I’m also open to exploring Y”), but don’t devote much space to alternatives.

9. How do I make my goals seem ambitious yet achievable?

Show that you’ve done your research. Mention industry trends, growth projections, or examples of people with similar backgrounds who’ve achieved comparable goals. Balance ambition with a clear, stepwise plan.

10. Should I mention my personal life or family goals in this essay?

Unless directly relevant to your career goals or a significant factor in your decisions, it’s best to focus on professional aspirations in this essay. Personal goals can be addressed in other parts of your application if appropriate.

Written by Arun J.

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How To Think About Your Career Goals Essay

Most business school applications will require you to articulate your career goals. After all, your ambitions for advancing your career are likely what is motivating you to apply to business school.

Career goals are a critical component of your application (granted, they are more important for some schools than for others). Business schools want to know how you will make the world better when you leave their campuses and what your unique mark will be.

The best career goals essay will do five things:

1)    Connect your past career to your future goals: Whether you plan to take your career in a completely different direction, make a small career pivot or return to the same job post-MBA, it is important to connect your past accomplishments to your future goals. This does NOT mean that your essay should include a chronological history of your career to date. You will submit your resume to cover all of the details. Instead, you want to think about a few highlights from your career and link them to your future. What are your strengths? When did you truly shine at work? For some essays, you will have the space to spell out a few leadership accomplishments in detail; for others, you will only be able to share a sentence or two. Either way, making this link is important.

2)    Be specific: Your goals essay should generally include both a short-term and long-term goal (though for some schools, there will not be space for both). These goals should be specific. I generally do not recommend using OR in your essay. Pick a set of goals and run with them. That said, if you do have multiple ideas in mind, some schools are comfortable with understanding your thought process and decision-making criteria, while many others will want that very clear plan laid out before you arrive on campus. Your goals may very well change while you are in school and this is expected – no one will hold you to what you put in your essays. However, you should put a stake in the ground and be specific for your applications.

3)    Communicate passion: A strong career goals essay will communicate passion for your future field. This does not mean that you need a long explanation for why you selected your career, but as you provide the context and discuss your future, it should be clear to the reader that this is a profession you are excited about.

4)    Share how you will be unique: Even if you have a very common career goal, such as becoming a management consultant, you want to share with the reader how you will make your unique mark. You must go beyond simply stating what position you are hoping to achieve. Think deeper and show what change you hope to drive in your chosen field and how specifically you plan to do so.

5)    Discuss an attainable yet ambitious goal: Your career goal should also be attainable. As valuable as an MBA is, you likely will not be running a department on the first day out of business school. Do your research and figure out what jobs are realistic for you. This does not mean you should not be ambitious, of course! This is part of why I tell clients to have two goals in most essays, short-term and long-term.

If you would like individual and personal application support, please find information about Personal MBA Coach’s comprehensive admissions consulting packages or contact me to discuss your profile as well as how I can help! As a Wharton and MIT graduate, I regularly help applicants navigate their applications each year . We also conduct mock interviews with former M7 and top 10 interviewers on our team.

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MBA Career Goals Essay That’ll Help You Succeed in Admissions

EssayEdge > Blog > MBA Career Goals Essay That’ll Help You Succeed in Admissions

Writing a perfect long term goals MBA essay can significantly increase the chances for success during the admissions process. But students are often confused with this issue, as they do not know for sure what to write. As a result, some applicants often just skip this point in their MBA essays, which is a big mistake. 

That’s why we created a guide on writing a long term goals essay and getting accepted to a desired Master’s program.

Table of Contents:

What Do Long Term Goals Mean?

Long term goals are usually career goals for approximately the next ten years. They define your overall target, the peak of a professional path. Imagine that you answer a question like: “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” The main aim of MBA long term goals is to show the admission committee your motivation and career plans referring to the graduation program.

Thus, the applicant should thoroughly research the industry to choose the companies you want to work in. Finally, the long term goals in your MBA essay should demonstrate that you will have a backup plan if the ideal vision of a career does not work.

List of MBA long term goals main characteristics:

• The time frame is ten or more years;
• Can include both aspirational and inspirational objectives;
• Should explain the motivation supporting the more precise goals;
• Demonstrate the alternative vision of the future plan;
• Correlate with the student’s values;
• Are linked with past experience, MBA, and post MBA intentions.

How to Frame Long Term Career Goals for MBA Students?

Defining perfect long term career goals is 50 percent of success. It is better to apply a SMARTi approach, which helps set up a long term goal easily. This method involves several features of a perfect career goal. Let’s look through them in detail:

• Specific: the goal should be clear and reinforced by strong arguments;
• Measurable: quantify your intentions to evaluate the achievements;
• Attainable: the goals should correlate with your past experience and skills;
• Relevant: your intentions should be linked to a graduate program;
• Time-framed: set up deadlines;
• Informed: it’s also possible to demonstrate the awareness of the chosen industry.

Example: In the nearest 15 years (time-framed), I would like to start my own business (attainable and relevant) and head a prospering consulting firm (specific), which will be in the list of the top 100 best US companies (measurable).

Does Formatting Matter for Long Term Goals MBA Essays?

Formatting is one more important issue to consider. The applicant should know how to organize the long term career essay professionally, as it may affect the overall impression of you as a fitting candidate.

Here are the main requirements for a long term goals MBA essay:

• Choose the 5-paragraph essay format;
• Pay attention to the font (Arial or Times New Roman are the best variants) and its size (11 or 12-point);
• Set one-inch margins to make the document well-organized;
• Make sure that there is a logical linkage between the paragraphs;
• Choose formal style; do not use colloquial language;
• Avoid writing long sentences; they can confuse the reader.

Strong Career Plan: Main Secrets

This table will be helpful in developing a strong career plan that works.

Winning Formula of a Long Term Career Goal

It is possible to compare an essay describing long term goals for MBA students with a personal story of an applicant. What are the main parts of a personal narrative? Right, the description of past, present, and future. The same is in a long term career goals MBA essay.

The important requirement is to make all these experiences/goals/skills linked to the grad school program. So, you can use this formula for writing a winning MBA essay:

One more necessary thing is making a linkage between these components. We recommend structuring your essay this way:

• A paragraph with your past experience;
• Then, a paragraph with your future plans and long term career goals;
• Finally, your aims for the MBA program (implying present).

Click here to see some essays with long-term goals examples for MBA students published in our blog.

Effective Long Term Career Goals Essay Sample

Here is an example of merging and acquisition long term career goals essay MBA by one of the students who applied for the grad program this year.

“My ultimate goal is to finance the expansion of renewable energy sources as a stable and dominant power source for American energy security. There is a huge need for renewable energy sources in the US, and the deregulation of the energy market and potential of offshore wind power are great opportunities if tens of billions USD investment can be realized. I’ll lead this movement as a leader in Atlantic Capital, bringing together the government, power companies and international financial institutions into a global business consortium financing and bringing leading-edge technology to plants.

I’ve gained finance and corporate management skills through 10-years of experience and now I need to learn how to lead a diverse international team bringing finance and technology innovation to American energy industry. 

Through my own experience in the Berkeley short program “Leading High-Impact Teams”, I was impressed with how strongly participants (competent leaders from all over the world) concentrated on how to make the team’s atmosphere collaborative and positive to make a difference. From this I learned that in the Berkeley MBA I can best foster such a collaborative leadership style through intense communication with peers under the collaborative culture the this program respects. 

I am convinced that combined with my professional experience in finance, the Berkeley 1-year opportunities are crucial for my goals as it offers the chance to build the collaborative leadership style needed to unify different organizations, a global perspective and eye for creating and harnessing innovation.”

Need help? Check out EssayEdge editing services:

Let’s analyze this essay to find out why it works. First of all, the author clearly defines the motivation and sets up an ambitious goal to grab the attention of the committee: “My ultimate goal is to finance the expansion of renewable energy sources as a stable and dominant power source for American energy security.”

Next, the applicant highlights the central long term goal: “I’ll lead this movement as a leader in Atlantic Capital, bringing together the government, power companies and international financial institutions into a global business consortium financing and bringing leading-edge technology to plants.”

Finally, the student mentions the correlation between long term goals and the MBA program: “I am convinced that combined with my professional experience in finance, the Berkeley 1-year opportunities are crucial for my goals as it offers the chance to build the collaborative leadership style needed to unify different organizations, a global perspective and eye for creating and harnessing innovation.”

Hence, the writer followed all the necessary steps to write an MBA essay that clarifies career goals.

Tips for Defining Long Term Career Goals

Apart from long term goals examples for MBA students, it will be useful to use several tips for writing a perfect essay. Here are the main ones:

Tip 1: Tell why education is important for achieving your career goals.

As is mentioned above, explaining the scholarship’s importance for your career is a prior aim of the MBA essay. Thus, focus on their linkage to persuade the admission committee that you are the fitting candidate.

Tip 2: If you decide to mention several goals, highlight the central one.

Of course, it’s great to include Plan B. But, if you are writing about multiple goals, emphasize the long term goal you suppose is the central one in your long term career plan.

Tip 3: When you mention challenges, you need to write about them in terms of solutions.

While describing past experiences, you need to show problems themselves and your ability to overcome various challenges on your professional path.

Tip 4. Make sure that you put everything in logical order.

The events should be put in chronological order. Make sure that the sentences and paragraphs are logically connected. For this purpose, proofread the text several times.

Questions to Answer in Long Term Career Goals MBA Essay

Here are several questions that can help you define your career goals in a long term goals for MBA students essay.

• Why did you decide to choose this business school?
• What do you expect after an MBA application?
• Describe your past experience and how it helped to grow as a professional. Why do you believe our graduate program affects your skills and career growth post-MBA?
• How will your long term goals help you build a successful career?
• How is the MBA program related to your career plan?

If you have no idea what to write in each paragraph, ask yourself the question from this list. This way, you will maintain the logical flow of the sentences in each paragraph of your long term goals MBA essay.

MBA Long Term Career Goals Outline

Look through this outline for a long-term goals MBA essay sample, which demonstrates the typical structure of this admission paper.

Outline Sample

1. Introduction.

• Creative methods to grab the attention of the committee;
• A strong statement describing your central goal.

2. Main Body.

• Paragraph 1. Describe what affected your career decisions and plans. Tell about your experience, educational background, and challenges you overcame, and the skills you’ve got.
• Paragraph 2. Write about your career goals in detail. Be as specific as possible.
• Paragraph 3. Describe how the MBA program can help you achieve your career goals.

3. Conclusion.

• Summarize everything and highlight the importance of the graduate program for your career one more time.

Key Takeaway

To conclude, your MBA career goals essay is a chance to apply for your dream university. That’s why you need to put all effort you can to write a perfect sample MBA essay on long term career goals. Here are the main recommendations discussed in this review to achieve this aim:

• Be specific while describing your long term career goals;
• Make connections between your past experience, plans for the future, and the MBA program;
• Consider the structure of your essay;
• Ensure that there is a logical connection between the sentences and paragraphs;
• The events should be put in chronological order;
• Format the MBA essay according to the basic requirements.

In case you still have some questions related to admission essays, you can search for more information on our blog .

Applying for MBA makes sense only if you have a clear career plan and know how this degree can help you achieve your goal. When we do MBA application essay editing, we always pay attention to how students’ career goals are described. Are you sure you sound convincing enough? Let us revise your paper, and we’ll answer you.

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Accepted Admissions Blog

Everything you need to know to get Accepted

Sample Essays from Admitted HBS Students

• Sample HBS Essay [2020]: Vulnerable But Invincible
• Sample HBS Essay [2016]: The Mechanical Engineer
• Sample HBS Essay [2015]: The Author

I read the new 2020 Harbus MBA Essay Guide wondering what I was going to gain from it. I’ve been reading HBS MBA application essays for 26 years. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. I also had read the previous Harbus MBA Essay Guide , and the question Harvard is asking hasn’t changed since that one was published. However, while I started The Essay Guide a skeptic, I quickly saw its value, and can whole-heartedly recommend it to HBS applicants. 

Even after having read hundreds of HBS essays, I still found it worthwhile to read The Essay Guide . For applicants who have preconceived notions of what an admissible essay should be, The Essay Guide will open your eyes to 22 successful and different responses. For applicants who are wondering how on earth they should approach their essay, the guide will give them 22 different answers. 

For me it reinforced several valuable lessons:

• There really is no template for a successful HBS essay. The diversity of essays that are acceptable — no pun intended, well maybe a little intended — to Harvard Business School is striking.  
• The commitment of most of the authors to telling their story is also noteworthy. Several said they asked friends to confirm that the essay really mirrors them. Others wrote that they were determined that the essay present an authentic portrait of them.
• Most of the students wrote the essay over the course of months. Give yourself time to draft a persuasive, introspective, and authentic essay. 

Harvard’s question is a fantastic one. It is a probing one. And it requires you to probe yourself so that you can provide a profound reflection of you as you tell the HBS admissions committee what you really want them to know.

A successful Harvard Business School application essay [2020]

This sample essay is from The Harbus MBA Essay Guide and is reprinted with permission from Harbus .  

Essay: Vulnerable But Invincible 

Home country: USA

Previous industry: Consulting

Analysis: The author takes a rather bold approach here. She uses the essay to point to the times when she showed vulnerability in the workplace. This essay presents a strong example of how an essay can be used to complement different aspects of your personality – while resume and application can be used to highlight accomplishments, the essay has been intelligently used to show author’s capacity to be strong enough to talk about situations when she broke down in a professional capacity, but took lessons from each of these situations and employed them to her strength.

I have cried exactly four times at work.

The first time was early in my career. It was 2AM and I was lying in bed struggling with an Excel model. An overachiever my whole life, I was wholly unused to the feelings of inadequacy and incompetence bubbling up inside me. After clicking through dozens of Excel forums with still no right answer, I gave up and cried myself to sleep, vowing to never let myself feel so incapable again.

The second time was a year and a half later. I was unsatisfied with my project and role, and questioning my decision to be a consultant. That uncertainty must have been apparent to everyone, because my manager pulled me aside and bluntly told me that my attitude was affecting the entire team. I cried in front of him, devastated that I had let my doubts bleed into my work.

The third time was just a year ago. I was overseeing a process redesign and struggling to balance the many changes needed. The Partner called me into his office to say, “I’m worried our process is not as sound as it needs to be. I need to know that you care about this as much as I do.” I nodded, say that I do, then ran to the bathroom to cry, overwhelmed by how much change I knew was coming.

Each of the first three times was driven by frustration and anger. I had tamped down my emotions to the point where they overwhelmed me. Particularly as a young woman in business, I never wanted to be viewed as a stereotype or incapable. I was ashamed of my tears and terrified at how others would perceive me.

However, each of those experiences proved to be a turning point. My tears motivated me to ask for help when I needed it, pushed me to restructure my mindset and approach, and gave me a moment to breathe, rebalance, and reprioritize. In each case, my work was better for it. I have also used each experience as a learning moment. Each time I asked myself what decisions led me to the point of tears, and what I could have done differently. I could have raised my hand earlier for help, initiated a conversation with my manager about my uncertainty and dissatisfaction, or involved the Partner more actively in the planning and prioritization. While I can’t change the past, I can learn from it, and am more considerate of such outcomes when I make these decisions today.

Emotions are an inevitable part of the human experience, and as such, an inevitable part of the office. Rather than keeping them at bay, I have begun embracing my emotions to be a better manager and leader, and build more authentic connections. As a manager, I understand my team as people, not just colleagues. I have regular conversations with each of my team members to understand their individual goals and motivations, so I can take those into consideration when building the team structure and delegating responsibilities. As a leader, I invest in traditions and events that foster camaraderie and high morale. I am the proud founder of [NAME OF OFFICE PROGRAM] in the office, a beloved tradition that is now an integral part of the office and that I hope will continue even after I leave.

The fourth time I cried was at the rollout of a process redesign I oversaw. This was our first time demo-ing the new process end-to-end for the rest of the team. As the demo progressed, I felt the team’s energy turn from nervous anticipation to dawning excitement, and finally to sheer awe and amazement. As the demo ended, one of my teammates turned to me, and asked in a hushed voice, “Are you crying?” And I was. This time, I cried not with frustration or anger. This time, I cried with joy for our success and with pride for my team. Embracing my emotions allowed me to show that tears are not shameful and don’t need to be hidden in the workplace. I am no longer ashamed of my tears, and I am proud to demonstrate that a strong leader can be pragmatic and emotional all at once.

Word count: 705

Author’s comment: “I started early on my essay (~ 3 months before the submission deadline) because it was important to me to iterate and be thoughtful. I started by laying out potential themes and stories for my essay, and while there are a lot of similarities, the core message changed quite a bit. Don’t get too attached to any one story or theme and allow yourself to let go of a draft if it’s not the right one. What I found most helpful was having 2-3 close friends that I trust wholeheartedly review multiple drafts, because they were able to provide continuous feedback and help me combine pieces from multiple drafts. None of them had ever gone to or applied to business school, but were experienced in writing and communication (e.g. one is a screenwriter) which helped me focus on communicating MY story more so than what is the story that HBS Admissions would most like.”

A successful Harvard Business School application essay [2016]

This sample essay is from  The Harbus MBA Essay Guide  and is reprinted with permission from Harbus. 

Essay: The Mechanical Engineer

Author’s home country: United States of America Author’s previous industry/profession: Operations consulting, operations management  Author gender: Male

Analysis:   The author focuses his essay on two themes – his professional experience as an operations consultant and an experience which motivated him to go for an MBA. Through the essay, the author is able to highlight his professional skills, achievement as well as give a clear picture of his long-term career plans and his reasons for doing an MBA.

I’m [APPLICANT’S FIRST NAME] and I have journeyed here from the hallowed grounds of [APPLICANT’S U.S. NEW ENGLAND HOMETOWN], where I spent my formative years amid wild dreams of achieving greatness by setting world records and winning the Olympics. As I’ve hung up my [OLYMPIC SPORT’S TRADITIONAL SHOES] in favor of business shoes, those dreams have evolved into a desire to achieve greatness in a different arena. Today, my dream centers on helping companies leverage technology to propel their operations into the future, providing unparalleled customer service and delivery, with an operational efficiency to match.

I graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in [GRADUATION YEAR] and spent my first 3 years out of college working as an operations consultant. It was my job to walk into a manufacturing plant and drive significant operational change – for example, I once spent 3 months walking the sticky floors of a milk plant in [MID-SIZED U.S. SOUTHEASTERN CITY] helping plant management boost throughput by 30% in order to take on a new customer. We accomplished this goal with zero capital spend, a feat many had believed was impossible. In our projects, the biggest challenge was almost always convincing managers to reach for that extra tad of unseen opportunity hiding within the operation, because oftentimes it was very difficult to look beyond the daily struggles that plagued their operations. I worked directly with 5-8 person “rapid results teams,” coaching them on how to think about operational improvement, motivating them to sprint towards it, and leading them through the analysis required to capture it. I left those milk, water and oil sands plants with many enduring friendships and inspiring operational victories borne from our journey from ambitious goals to concrete results.

<< READ: What is HBS Looking For? >>

I’ve spent the past two years working in supply chain management at a private industrial goods supplier. I chose direct management because I wanted to drive these same inspirational improvements in an operation I owned. My role was to manage and improve the operation, and through my experience, I learned the nuts and bolts of the supply chain industry. However, my dream of innovating supply chain operations pushed me to consider transitioning to an organization with an ambitious, transformative purpose. In fact, last year I had a unique opportunity to reflect on what type of impact matters to me. This opportunity was my first ever trip to [NORTHWEST AFRICAN REGION], the place of my family’s origin.

On the second day of the trip, I journeyed to [LOCAL NORTHEASTERN AFRICAN TOWN], a small town nestled next an enormous active volcano that is surrounded by a wide expanse of rich volcanic soil, which is used to make wine. This wine is sipped by adventure-seeking tourists relaxing after a long day on the volcano, and thus the town’s two major industries, wine and tourism, are sustained. When we arrived at the town, I was shocked to see it buried by an avalanche of volcanic rock from an eruption [A FEW YEARS PRIOR]. As our guide lamented on the dreary prospects of the Page 2 of 2 town, I was amazed to see just how important these two industries had been to its development.

Through this real world example, I was able to clearly visualize the impact businesses can have on their broader environment, an understanding that had not been as evident to me while working in the larger, more complex American economy. For example, I had spent hours walking among the dilapidated buildings speckling the warehouse district in Cleveland, but only after my trip did I connect them to the decline of the Midwestern manufacturing industry. Upon my return, armed with this broader perspective, I decided my next step would be to attend business school. There I would gain the technical, operational and leadership skills to make my transition to an organization whose goal was to drive change in its broader industry and community, as those wine and tourism companies had done in [LOCAL NORTHEASTERN AFRICAN TOWN OF FAMILY’S ORIGIN].

So, that is how I arrived in front of you today. My goal is to humbly learn as much as I can from our section, our professors, and our experiences. I am excited to get to know you, and will always do my best to support our section intellectually and athletically (we will be the future section Olympics champions!).

How about yourself?

Word Count: 711

Author’s comment:   While the initial draft of my essay did not take more than an hour or two, it was the revision process that I spent a significant amount of time on. I think the most important part of the essay writing process is to ensure that your story and personality come through – and this is perhaps the most difficult part! To help with this, I had individuals who were not as familiar with my story and why I wanted to go to business school provide me with feedback in addition to those with whom I worked closely.

Linda’s comment:

I would hate for any of you to read this essay or any of the other essays in  The Harbus MBA Essay Guide , which I recommend, and think “This is a great template. I’m going to tell a story just like this one!” Bad idea. Wrong response.

The one take-away from this essay and the other successful essays in this book is that the reader feels a little like s/he is meeting the author – not someone else and not some masked being.  Individuality is the common thread in those essays; it isn’t brilliant prose or incredible writing. It’s authenticity and humanity. And yes, the author is accomplished too.

I chose this essay from the Harbus collection because I know there are many engineers applying. Some — both in and out of their field — think of the profession as boring or common. But this essay is neither boring nor common. I loved it because the writer comes to life, and  his passion  and personality shine through. He doesn’t get bogged down in technicalities, industrial jargon, or an alphabet soup of acronyms. He tells his story with energy and clarity, from his perspective, and with a focus on his impact.

Now that’s an example you can follow: Tell  your  story with energy and clarity, from  your  perspective, and with a focus on  your  impact.

Check out what recent applicants have to say about working with Accepted:

A successful harvard business school application essay [2015], the 2014-15 harvard business school essay question:.

You’re applying to Harvard Business School. We can see your resume, academic transcripts, extracurricular activities, awards, post-MBA career goals, test scores, and what your recommenders have to say about you. What else would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?

This sample essay is from The Harbus MBA Essay Guide and is reprinted with permission from Harbus.  

Essay: The Author

Author’s Background: Finance & Media

The author sets the stage for the remainder of the essay by first presenting a notable accomplishment of hers and then explicitly illustrating the entrepreneurial drive and diligence she used to see it through. More importantly, the author’s opening introduces a theme – storytelling – that is consistently interwoven through different stages of her life. The reader is lead through the author’s childhood, professional and extracurricular experiences, along with accomplishments, all the while being reminded of the integral role storytelling has played. Beyond highlighting her gift, or passion for the art of storytelling, the author goes on to connect this theme with her future career ambitions, as well as describe how this could also serve the HBS community.

In 2012, I realized a life ambition – I completed my first novel, all while working full time at [Top U.S. Investment Bank]. I could not wait to share it with the world and eagerly went in search of a literary agent. But each agent I contacted declined to represent my novel.

Storytelling is my lifelong passion; it saw me through a difficult childhood. After my father left, my mother raised me as a single parent in [U.S. City/State], a rural Bible Belt town two hours south of [U.S. State]. We did not have much money and that coupled with my bookishness made me a target for bullies. Books and writing were an escape; they gave me an avenue to articulate the feelings of abandonment and powerlessness I otherwise did not want to express. Writing made me happy and the more I wrote, the more my talent blossomed. I began to win awards and my work was published in youth literary journals. These experiences made me more confident, a key part of my success later in life. It all started with a pen, a notebook, and my imagination. Nevertheless, I was passionate about my work and was determined to put it into readers’ hands. In true entrepreneurial fashion, I self-published my novel through the digital platforms Smashwords and Createspace. I worked with a promotional expert to organize a month-long book tour to promote the book to prominent book bloggers and their readers. The result? My novel has received multiple 5-star reader reviews, from Amazon to Goodreads, and was a semifinalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Stories are an integral part of the human experience. They uplift and inspire, give us permission to dream and to visualize what could be. Storytelling has been an integral part of my career, from building financial models at [Top U.S. Investment Bank] that illustrated my expectations for the companies that I covered to delivering a presentation to [International Daily Newspaper] ’s chief revenue officer explaining why reducing ad prices for tender house advertisers would not lead to an increase in revenue.

My passion has also informed my growth as a leader; I believe my most impactful expressions of leadership have been my efforts to help others write the narratives of their own lives and careers. At [Top U.S. Investment Bank], I created an informal mentorship program for female and minority interns and first-year analysts in the research division and led a “soft skills” class to help new analysts handle difficult interpersonal situations. For four years, I’ve mentored a young Hispanic woman through Student Sponsor Partners, a nonprofit that gives low-income students scholarships to private high schools. Being a mentor gave me the privilege of guiding another first generation college student along what I know can be a lonely, difficult path. This fall, she started college with a full scholarship.

Storytelling will be a part of my future career path; as an MBA graduate, my goal is to obtain a position in strategy and business development at an entertainment company that specializes in film or television. Long term, I want to start a multimedia and merchandising company with a publishing arm (books and magazines) as well as film, TV, and digital operations. Using strong, fictional heroines and informative lifestyle content, my company’s goal will be to educate and inspire women to become their best selves. My particular focus is creating compelling, multidimensional characters to inspire young women of color, who are constantly bombarded by negative images of women who look like them in media.

I’m pursuing a Harvard MBA because I want to become a better business strategist and strong general manager. Also, I want to further develop my leadership and presentation skills as I will manage professionals on the content and business side; it will be my task to unite them behind a shared strategic vision. Specifically, I want to learn how to motivate teams and individuals to perform at their highest level, and to become more adept at persuasion and generating “buy-in” from others. Harvard’s unique approach using the case method and emphasis on leadership development will challenge me to grow in both these areas. I also feel that I have much to contribute to Harvard’s community. My varied background in finance and media has given me a unique perspective that will be valuable in classroom discussions and team projects. I want to share my passion for the entertainment industry with my classmates by chairing the Entertainment & Media club and planning conferences, career treks, and other opportunities.

My background gives me the capacity for fearless thinking that is needed to meet the challenges of the entertainment industry’s shifting landscape. A Harvard MBA will strengthen that foundation and help me to become the kind of dynamic leader who can bring the vision for my own company to life and be at the forefront of entertainment’s structural shift.

Time & Effort: “It was about 6 or 7 drafts. Not sure on the hours.”

Word Count: 805

This sample essay is from The Harbus MBA Essay Guide and is reprinted with permission from Harbus . We highly recommend the book!

If you would like advice on responding to this year’s HBS essay question, (which is different from the 2014-15 prompt) please read our Harvard Business School essay tips .

Linda’s comments:

Bottom line: You want your readers to feel like that they are meeting you — not someone else, not a scripted piece of shallow PR devoid of personality and humanity, and not some phony combo of you and the author of an essay in a guidebook or on a website. They really and truly want to meet you!

So think about your story. 

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Related Resources:

• Get Accepted to Harvard Business School , a free webinar • Harvard Business School MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines • What is HBS Looking For:   Analytical Aptitude and Appetite , The Habit of Leadership , Engaged Community Citizenship • M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2022 • More sample MBA application essays

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