“What are your goals, and why do you need an MBA from our school?” Virtually all MBA programs ask some version of this question, and the resulting essay is referred to as a “personal statement.” You must answer this question thoughtfully and with detail. So, what should you write to achieve this?
Why So Many MBA Programs Require a Personal Statement
The reason business school admissions committees ask applicants this type of question is that they want to know, without a doubt, that you have a clear plan for your future and that their school can get you there. Schools want to preserve their “yield,” which is the number of acceptances divided by the number of offers they give out, so they want to be as confident as possible that you will accept an offer if it is given. You need to show the admissions committee that you really fit with their program through your personal statement, or they just might give your place to someone else who is able to prove that fit!
The Components of an MBA Personal Statement
Although every MBA personal statement will vary slightly, the general components tend to be the same across the board. In a way, each personal statement will include something about your past, present, and future. First, even if a business school does not ask about your professional or personal history, you must give the admissions committee some indication of where you have been to provide some context for where you want to go. This background is your “past.” Next, you need to share your plan for going forward by presenting your professional goals. Some personal statement prompts ask specifically about your short- and long-term goals, while others will ask only about your goals more generally. Either way, in the context of your personal statement, your goals are your “future.” Lastly, you need to explain why you believe the school you are applying to can help you reach those goals, drawing the connection between your context (past), your goals (future), and how an MBA from the school is the key to making those goals a reality—your “present.”
How to Write About Your Post-MBA Career Goals
While your short-term post-MBA goals might be clear to you, your long-term aspirations might be more difficult to pin down. How do you know what you are really going to want to do so far in the future? As someone who has helped countless applicants perfect their MBA personal statement, I can tell you that admissions committees are fully aware that your actual goals could change during your time at business school, and that is okay! However, what is important is that in your personal statement, your short-term goals are clear and your overall goals are plausible. They need to be well-thought-out and ambitious, yet attainable. And you must be able to demonstrate a clear path between where you have been and where you hope to go. Having unclear or improbable goals is a major reason MBA applicants get dinged, so be sure to research your goals thoroughly and make sure that path is crystal clear in your personal statement.
For example, if you are an operations analyst and would like to move into consulting, you might state that you would like to join a rotational management program, or launch a search fund focused on operationally challenged businesses. Both of those paths would be considered plausible.
And let me reassure you that MBA admissions committees have no preference for one career path over another. They just want to know that you are passionate about your chosen path, that their MBA program can help you move forward on that path, and that you will be successful after you have graduated with your MBA.
With respect to your long-term post-MBA goals, you only need to identify an ideal: “If everything works out, this is where I would like to be.” Your goals should be exciting but not wildly ambitious or out of reach; again, you need to convince the admissions committee that they are attainable.
Researching Your Target MBA Programs
To be able to write about why a particular MBA program will help you attain your goals, you must first conduct extensive research on the program. If a school asks you to explain “Why us?,” you must be able to offer a thoughtful and specific answer.
Here are a few ways to learn more about your target MBA programs:
- Spend a day touring the school’s campus, attending a class, speaking with professors, and conversing over lunch with students.
- If visiting a program in person is not possible, you can still learn a lot by attending webinars and online information sessions.
- Reach out to colleagues and/or local alumni. Spend some time on LinkedIn to see whether you have a connection to anyone who has attended your target programs, and check to see whether the schools have any alumni clubs in your area. Schedule a chat to learn more about classes, clubs, career opportunities, and school culture.
- Follow your target MBA programs on social media. Schools regularly post on all major channels and generally share a lot of great and helpful information.
- Download mbaMission’s Insider’s Guides. This is not a shameless plug—our suite of guides to the top MBA programs is extensively researched and informed by direct input from students, alumni, and school representatives. We update them yearly, and they are free to download.
Every top business school offers a variety of in-person and online opportunities to connect with its community and learn more about it. Check out this blog post for a list of events and programs.
Doing this research will enable you to write a personal statement that is authentic and specific, which is crucial. Being vague and generic will not make a positive impression on the admissions committee. Consider the following example:
During my campus visit at Cornell, I was struck by the easygoing classroom discussion and the warmth of the professors. I also appreciated the time my first-year student guide spent with me, not only giving me a tour of the facilities but also taking me for coffee and asking several of his colleagues to join us.
Although this applicant’s statements might in fact be true, the text contains no Cornell-specific language. If you were to substitute Yale, Michigan, or the name of any other school in place of Cornell here, the statement would essentially be unchanged. The claims are so generic as to be applicable to any other school—and this is not good. In contrast, the following statement could refer only to Darden:
While on Grounds, I was impressed by Professor Robert Carraway’s easygoing and humorous style, as he facilitated a fast-paced discussion of the ‘George’s T-Shirts’ case. Although I admittedly felt dizzied by the class’s pace, I was comforted when I encountered several students reviewing the finer points of the case later at First Coffee. I was impressed when my first-year guide stopped mid-tour to check in with a member of her Learning Team and reinforce the case’s central point. At that moment, I recognized that Darden offered the right learning environment for me.
If you were to substitute the Darden name and even the professor’s name with those of another school and professor, the paragraph would no longer work. The Darden-specific information regarding the day’s case, First Coffee, and Learning Teams ensures that the applicant’s statements have a sincere and personal feel—showing that they truly understand what the school is about. This level of specificity is necessary to create a compelling personal statement that will catch the admissions committee’s attention.
MBA Personal Statement Example and Analysis
Now I want to illustrate how to put these tips into practice. Here I will dissect an actual successful MBA personal statement essay from a past applicant to highlight some of the “dos” and “don’ts” in revealing your fit with your target MBA program. One quick note—this sample essay is not meant to be used as a template. I suggest that you use it as a resource, but do not copy it! Everyone has their own stories and nuances, and you need to focus on sharing yours in your own personal voice and style.
The essay I analyze here is in response to the following question from Wharton’s 2022–2023 application, but the advice I give is applicable to any school’s required personal or goal statement:
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)
This essay includes the three key personal statement elements: past, present, and future. Let us unveil and examine each one.
The Past
The writer starts, logically, with the past, which is discussed in the first part of the paragraph.
Transitioning from banking to private equity, I initially found the faster pace and expanded scope startling, but ultimately, it was invigorating. Shifting from agent to principal, I joined the VP Product at a Japanese industrial firm in repricing one hundred, long-ignored products and shepherded the acquisition of the rotational-molding division from a Korean chaebol. While I had neither pricing nor manufacturing experience, all that mattered was that I could learn, adapt, and contribute. At KJIP, I came to appreciate the “messiness” of investing and the opportunities to create value via ingenuity and collaboration.
No matter what the word limit is for the essay you are writing, you must explain to the admissions committee where you have been to create context for where you want to go. This applicant could not have just written, “I plan to accelerate my development at Wharton before returning to investing….” He needed to give the admissions reader a sense of his experiences and background before introducing his goals. He will not be the only private equity (PE) associate to apply to Wharton, of course, but he offers a window into how his time in PE was his own: he invested in Asia, gained experience working with portfolio firms on a repricing project, completed an industrial acquisition, and so on. And beyond his discussion of his actual work, he gives an honest view into what he enjoys about the experience—the “messiness,” as he calls it. He discusses the challenge of adjusting and the rewards of creating opportunity. He demonstrates that he is authentic and capable and does so in just 90 or so words. He has not shared anything earth-shattering, but he has created an identity for himself and done enough to grab the reader’s attention and distinguish himself ever so slightly from other, similar candidates. He has also set the stage for the next section of his essay.
The Future
In the next paragraph, of just under 100 words, the candidate tells us that he plans to return to investing back home in America, sticking with industrials. He even names specific firms.
Now, I plan to accelerate my development at Wharton before returning to investing to drive change on a greater scale. While I had a tremendous experience in Asia, I am eager to return home and would seek to join a middle-market PE firm, like BZPD or PowerStrat, that focuses on industrial innovation to benefit all stakeholders. Longer term, as I develop my leadership skills and breadth of industrial experience, I aspire to become a partner at a PE firm or to enter a CEO position with a larger industrial firm, where I can truly lead change.
The applicant does not need to “save the whales” or shift into tech to excite the admissions committee. He just needs to show that he has clear goals and that those aspirations make sense for him—and that ultimately, his MBA will be the bridge to get him there.
He can go from PE pre-MBA to PE post-MBA, no problem, or he could suggest that he wants to transition into industry right away. He could probably find ways to shift into other careers as well. What is important is the logic behind the career goals, not the target industry. And in this case, this applicant’s path makes sense. In addition, his long-term goals naturally extend from his short-term goals. His logic continues, and his objectives, while unrevolutionary, are, importantly, significant, ambitious, and prestigious. In short, the admissions committee can see a credible path for him to be a successful alumnus. Of course, all this logic and “pathing” is critical. For the applicant to say that he wants to go from industrial PE into sports management or into leading a consumer marketing business would sound strange with the information we have, so again, the focus is on being logical, credible, and ambitious.
If I were to critique this portion of the essay, I would say that he might add another sentence to offer more depth here. His goals are possibly a little thin. Maybe he could elaborate on the work he would seek at his post-MBA firm or present an intermediary goal that would lend more credibility to his long-term aspiration of landing that C-suite position. Of course, if he did so, he would need to find space to do so elsewhere in his essay, because Wharton has a hard limit of 500 words. You literally cannot enter even one word more into the space allotted for this essay on the school’s application. Not a word! At some other programs, you do not need to worry so much about being a few words over, though we always recommend that applicants not exceed an MBA program’s stated word count by more than 5%, tops.
The Present
Finally, the bulk of his essay is on Wharton—approximately 60% of it. The admissions committee wants to know that you have thoroughly researched their school, because they have thousands of applicants and do not need to accept anyone who lacks a complete understanding of what their program has to offer.
I recognize that I need to grow beyond the financial plain and will pursue Wharton’s Strategic Management major, both to expand my ability to advance my future firm’s strategic rationale and to quickly grasp the challenges faced by management at portfolio firms. After taking core courses such as “Operations, Information, and Decisions” and “Foundations of Teamwork and Leadership” to deepen my managerial point of view, I would specialize via such electives as “Managing Organizational Change,” “Corporate Diplomacy,” and “Advanced Global Strategy.” Of course, beyond Wharton’s course options, I find the opportunities to unify theory and practice to be incredibly compelling. In particular, I would pursue the Advanced Management Practicum so I could collaborate with classmates by providing actionable solutions for a specific management problem, while gaining the enduring benefit of a consultant’s perspective. And a Global Modular Course, such as “Supply Chain Management in Mexico,” would introduce me to our most vexing global business issue, while expanding my network within industry and with classmates.
I feel fortunate to have already witnessed the role my diverse and dynamic Wharton classmates will play in my education; I recently visited my cousin, Tarek Masoud (W ’22) and observed his “Managerial Decision Making” class, also attending that week’s Pub. Both class and Pub revealed a community that comes together to share ideas—and even laughs together amid the intensity of the experience. Indeed, this reflective aspect is deeply appealing; by pursuing a Leadership Venture, I would work with peers to better understand myself and hone my leadership style. Meantime, through my Learning Team experience, I will be constantly adapting as I seek to contribute to a unit that Tarek described as his “lifeline.” I would come to Wharton ready to listen, absorb, and share, knowing that by bringing the entirety of my energy, I will confidently embark on the next phase of my career.
Has the applicant proven that he has done sufficient research on the school? Unequivocally, yes! He has visited the program, sat in on a class, selected an appropriate major, reasoned through the courses he wants to take, noted experiential opportunities, and familiarized himself with the school’s Learning Team model. And he does not just present a list—he is able to discuss how these resources will help shape his experience.
I want to highlight a few specific details. The candidate does not just say that he visited his cousin at Wharton and had a great time; he visited his cousin with a sense of purpose and absorbed the experience both academically and socially. He has takeaways about the Learning Team experience. If I were to critique this section, I would focus on the Leadership Venture element. Which one would he want to pursue? Why? Would any Leadership Venture work to help him gain what he needs? Small details like this add to the sincerity of the essay, thereby making it more convincing.
The brevity of this essay—at a mere 500 words—could always leave us second-guessing the applicant. In this case, though, he delivers a fairly straightforward story, identifies some nuances within his experience, offers clear and connected goals, and is able to identify with Wharton as his target. He does a very solid job and generally makes the most of his space. Again, do not try to copy this sample essay. Use the tips in this post to make your essay truly your own. I hope this has helped you understand the depth that is necessary in your writing and the logical connections you need to make. This should launch you on your journey.
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