To gain entry into a graduate business school, you may be required to submit a personal statement or MBA application essay. A good practice to follow, and this applies to writing in general, is to do smart preparation before you even thing about starting the writing task proper.
Some of the recommended activities before launching into your essay are to think creatively, brainstorm possible topics and themes, and draft a concise but well crafted outline. Read on for details about how to effectively prepare to write your MBA application essay.
Get Those Creative Juices Flowing when Writing MBA Graduate Essays
Writing an MBA admission essay is no simple task. Not only do you have to ensure that your essay is impeccable, but you also have to find a creative way to convey your personality and uniqueness.
Some MBA applicants have a hard time choosing a topic to write about because of the degree of difficulty of the task at hand. When this happens, the best thing to do is to reflect and find some inspiration to let your creative juices flow when writing your MBA personal statement.
Now, this is much easier said than done, but this section provides you with some advice on how to motivate and inspire your creativity for writing your essay.
Think of your inspirations when writing your personal statement
One of the best practices that will help get your creativity flowing is to think about your inspirations. Play a favourite song, read a favourite inspirational quote, or do anything that helps provoke your thoughts and emotions.
Finding inspiration in other things will help motivate you when writing your essay. You don’t necessarily have to write about the music or quotes that you love, but the idea is just to get yourself in the right state of mind.
From there, you can divert your focus to thinking about some of the experiences, hardships, and triumphs that you have been through and how you have developed as a person because of these experiences.
Find a point of connection between your inspirational thoughts or feelings and the essay that you have to write, and just let the creative juices flow. But remember that your are applying for a business administration course. Ultimately, your writing should follow a business style rather than being elaborate poetic prose.
Read unique sample essays for admission
If you are still having a hard time writing your admission essay, you may want to read sample essays. Reading sample essays will give you insights into what other applicants write about and how they develop their essays.
Make sure not to copy other essays, but instead try to come up with your own unique essay inspired by some of the samples that you have read. These samples should give you a good springboard to start your MBA personal statement from.
Different Topics for Your Statement of Purpose
One of the most important stages in the process of writing a personal statement is choosing the topic. Your topic will direct the flow of your whole essay.
But what are the topics that you can talk about in your personal statement? Here is a list of topics that can make your personal statement interesting.
- Talk about experiences that have made an impact in your life.
- Describe a significant interest or experience that has a special meaning for you.
- How have you grown and developed over the years?
- Have you experienced a moment of epiphany, as if your eyes were opened to something you were previously blind to? Describe this moment and your perceptions about it.
Experiences are among the popular topics for statements of purpose. This is because experiences shaped you to be the individual that you are now. You can actually use these experiences to reveal how you matured as an individual.
- Discuss your plans for the future
- Life is short. Why do you want to spend 5 or 6 years at a particular university or college?
- What do you plan to do with your college degree?
- Why have you chosen this career or profession?
- What are your long-term career goals?
- How is the degree necessary for the fulfillment of your goals?
If you talk about your plans for the future, this will show that you are mature enough and prepared enough to face the real world. Talking about the future will show that you are an optimistic and perceptive person. You could choose a topic that matches the major subject you plan to focus on during your MBA studies.
- Talk about your view of life
- What is a mission you are accomplishing on the earth?
- What is your approach to life? Reveal your life philosophy.
- What was the most difficult time in your life? How did you overcome these difficulties?
- How did your perspective on life change as a result of the difficulty?
Talking about your philosophy and beliefs can reveal much about your personality. This is why this subject is effective.
Just remember that whatever topic you choose, you need to make your essay fun and interesting to read. And the most important thing is to view your essay as a chance.
See it as something more than just a page to fill up with text and writing. The statement is a chance to tell the admissions committee about who you are as a person.
Your essay is an opportunity to appeal to the admissions panel. It is your chance to tell them exactly why you deserve to be admitted. Because of this, choose a topic that you are comfortable talking about.
The Outline as Your MBA Application Essay’s Backbone
Even before the writing of the first word in your MBA application essay, there is something important that needs to be done: the outline. Having an outline gives a number of benefits.
Importance of an outline for your essay for admission
An outline for the admission essay is like the overall game plan of a sports team. From this outline, you can begin the writing process with confidence. You have a map to be used and are not winging it. With an outline, your thoughts should be structured, logical, and coherent.
The outline shows you at a glance (it should just be a page ordinarily) what your areas of focus will be. Also, you can immediately see if there are loopholes in the arguments or if one aspect of the essay has been saturated.
Be flexible though, since an outline could and should be corrected as you go along; it is not a tabled commandment that could not be altered.
Tips when preparing an outline for your admission essay
In the essay paragraphs, indicate on the outline how you plan to go about it. As much as possible, every paragraph should have elements of your own and researched data. Assuming the paragraph talks of a life experience, then no research is necessary. But still, a logical sequence of events should be narrated.
Indicate how long (two paragraphs?) or short (just 3 lines?) your conclusion would be. It is a summary of all the high points of your essay, and gives a satisfying closure to the essay question (prompt).
At the end of the day, it comes down to organization. Having a good outline makes sure that you don’t go round in circles and that only necessary facts are included. Don’t neglect doing an outline, as it should be the foundation of the whole essay.
Once you actually get stuck into writing the essay proper, still be mindful of what you are trying to achieve. Here are some more tips on how to write a good application essay for business school: How to Boost Your MBA Application Essays