sample assignment mba

• MBA assignment help
• MBA Solved Assignments
• MBA case study help
• Short Case Studies for MBA Students
• MBA financial management case study
• HR Case Studies for MBA Students
• MIS Case Study for MBA Students
• Case Study for MBA Students
• MIS Case Study Assignment Help
• MBA Case Studies with Solutions
• Business Ethics Case Study Assignment Help
• Management Case Study Assignment Help
• HRM Case Study Assignment Help
• MBA essay writing help
• MBA Essay Help
• MBA Paper Writing Services
• MBA Admission Essay Help
• MBA Application Essay Help
• Persuasive Essay Writing Help
• Argumentative Essay Writing
• MBA dissertation writing help
• MBA dissertation writing services
• MBA Dissertation Help
• MBA Dissertation Proposal Help
• MBA research project report
• HR Project Report for MBA
• MBA thesis writing help
• SOP for MBA
• SOP for MBA Finance
• SOP for Admission
• Personal Statement for MBA Program
• Statement of Purpose for MBA in Finance
• Presentation
• management assignment help
• Marketing Management Assignment Help
• Business Management Assignment Help
• Operations Management Assignment Help
• Hotel Management Assignment Help
• Sports Management Assignment Help
• Supply Chain Management Assignment Help
• Brand Management Assignment Help
• Strategic Management Assignment Help
• HRM Assignment Help
• Management Assignment Writing Help
• Corporate Finance Assignment Help
• Financial Management Assignment Help
• MBA Finance Project Reports
• MBA Marketing Project Reports
• Managerial Economics Assignment Help
• Corporate Accounting Assignment Help
• Managerial Accounting Assignment Help
• Database Management Assignment Help
• Free Samples
• Testimonial

Have a Look at Our MBA Assignment Samples All Assignment Case Study Essay Dissertation Report Research Paper coursework A   15 Accounting E   13 Economics F   13 Finance H   10 Human Resource 2 Human Resourcse M   146 Management 27 Marketing P   30 Project Management A   2 Accounting E   4 Economics F   2 Finance H   2 Human Resource M   7 Management 6 Marketing A   3 Accounting E   3 Economics F   3 Finance M   21 Management 3 Marketing P   6 Project management A   2 Accounting H   2 Human Resourcse M   11 Management P   1 Project management A   8 Accounting E   6 Economics F   7 Finance H   6 Human Resource M   103 Management 18 Marketing P   22 Project Management M   4 Management F   1 Finance H   2 Human Resource P   1 Project Management A   3 Accounting2 1 Auditing B   3 Biology C   15 Computer Science and IT E   1 Economics 2 Engineering F   1 Finance L   7 Law M   16 Management 4 Marketing N   9 Nursing P   4 Project Management A   4 Accounting3 2 Architecture 3 Auditing B   1 Biology C   2 Computer Science and IT E   3 Economics 2 Engineering F   2 Finance H   5 Humanities L   3 Law M   15 Management 5 Marketing N   17 Nursing S   2 Science A   1 Accounting4 1 Auditing B   1 Biology C   2 Computer Science and IT E   1 Economics F   1 Finance H   1 Humanities L   1 Law M   2 Management N   1 Nursing C   5 Computer Science and IT A   1 Accounting5 1 Auditing B   1 Biology C   1 Child Care 4 Computer Science and IT 18 Cookery D   11 Diploma E   2 Economics 2 Engineering F   2 Finance H   1 Humanities L   2 Law M   10 Management N   5 Nursing P   3 Project Management A   1 Accounting6 1 Architecture 1 Auditing B   1 Biology C   1 Computer Science and IT E   1 Economics 1 Engineering F   1 Finance H   1 Humanities L   1 Law N   1 Nursing A   7 Accounting7 1 Architecture 4 Auditing B   4 Biology C   37 Computer Science and IT E   3 Economics 9 Engineering F   9 Finance H   5 Humanities L   9 Law M   54 Management 7 Marketing N   19 Nursing P   15 Project Management S   1 Science 4 Statistics MBA Assignment Sample

The best MBA assignment samples online, provided by our service, are valuable resources for MBA students. We offer vital resources for academic achievement since they include formatting examples, excellent insights, and structural direction. Reading these samples will help you write more effectively, get more ideas, and save time. Thus, to succeed in your MBA program, we provide the Best MBA Assignment samples and use these helpful resources. Let's examine the MBA assignment sample online and why you should use it.

Why our Free MBA Assignment Sample are helpful for students?

Online Accessibility: With a brief web search, you may quickly locate MBA assignment examples thanks to the internet. We provide Free Assignment samples for MBA students.

Diversity of themes: The themes covered in the MBA assignment sample range from strategy and leadership to marketing and finance. This variety guarantees you can locate a sample pertinent to your task.

Structural Guidance: Assignment samples for MBA students often include a well-organized framework that can assist you in learning how to arrange your work efficiently. This is particularly helpful if this is your first time doing an MBA project.

High-quality insights: We gave the Best MBA Assignment samples that exhibit excellent writing, analysis, and research. You may understand what makes a perfect MBA project by dissecting these samples.

Benefits from Our Free MBA Assignment Samples

Let's now talk about the advantages that students may get from reading our MBA assignment sample:

1. Clarity of Expectations:

Your professor's expectations are only sometimes apparent in MBA assignments since they might be complicated. Assignment requirements might be made more explicit by reading an organized example.

2. Taking Advice from the Best:

With our Free MBA Assignment Sample showcases superiority in scholarly writing. By dissecting these examples, you may enhance your writing abilities and pick up tips from the pros.

3. Inspiration and Ideas:

Students sometimes find developing concepts or methods for their tasks challenging. Reading our Best MBA Assignment samples might provide fresh insights and serve as an inspiration.

4. Time Management:

You may save time by using an excellent MBA assignment sample . You may finish your homework more quickly using these samples as a guide rather than spending hours researching and organizing.

5. Confidence Boost:

MBA tasks may be scary if you're new to the program. Examining an example with high proficiency might help you become more confident while working on your responsibilities.

So, if you're looking for the best MBA Assignment Experts , start your search online with us and leverage these valuable resources to excel in your MBA program.

GET A FREE ASSISTANCE

Still Finding MBA Assignment Help? You’ve Come To The Right Place!

Submit form for sample PDF

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 April 4, 2024

Featuring Keta B.

Telling Your MBA Admissions Story: How to Create A Wholistic Application That Weaves a Tale

Tuesday, may 7.

4:00 PM UTC · 45 minutes

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. (It's also getting more and more important by the day, with some business schools moving away from traditional, quantitative measuring sticks, like the GMAT and the GRE.) Every other part of the application — your GPA, your test scores, your letters of recommendation — are 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 essay 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 the 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 thing's 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 essays. That should allow you ample time to draft, write, and edit. For more information on timing your entire b-school application, click here for  A Comprehensive MBA Application Timeline--With Chart .

Now, on to the critical question:

Free trial!

From 96 top coaches

Access a library of videos, templates, and examples curated by Leland’s top coaches.

Example essays.

Example Resumes

Application Prep

Video Courses

What Makes a Great MBA Essay?

At the highest level, the answer is the one that is truest to you. The whole point of these essays 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 do to 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 your essays — it's a great deal harder to write when you have no guidance or guardrails. With the MBA 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!

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 literally 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 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, 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 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

The next category of essays is the "Why an MBA" / "Why This School" set.

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?

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:

• 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 either be behavioral, asking 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:

• 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 2022)

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

1. Harvard Business School (HBS)

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? (900 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 new co-curricular program designed to ensure that every CBS student develops the skills to become an ethical and inclusive leader. Through PPIL, students attend programming focused on five essential diversity, equity, and inclusion skills: Creating an Inclusive Environment, Mitigating Bias, Communicating Across Identities, Addressing Systemic Inequity, and Managing Difficult Conversations. Tell us about a time you were challenged around one of these five skills. Describe the situation, the actions you took, and the outcome. (250 words)

Essay 3: We believe Columbia Business School is a special place. CBS proudly fosters a collaborative learning environment through curricular experiences like our clusters and learning teams , an extremely active co-curricular and student life environment, and career mentorship opportunities like our Executives-in-Residence program .Why do you feel Columbia Business School is a good fit for you academically, culturally, and professionally? Please be specific. (250 words)

5. Chicago Booth

How will the 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 your 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)

Read more at A Guide to the Booth Essays .

6. Kellogg Northwestern

Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)

Values are what guide you in your life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)

Read How to Nail Your Kellogg MBA Application Essays

7. MIT Sloan

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)

Applicants are required to upload a 1 minute (60 seconds) video as part of their application. In your video, you should introduce yourself to your future classmates, tell us about your past experiences, and touch on why MIT Sloan is the best place for you to pursue your degree.

How to Start 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 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 if it can 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 with that process, here are a few more tips and tricks:

• Take Breaks

When you hit the wall — you will hit the wall — stop. 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 essays 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. 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 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.

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

Browse hundreds of expert coaches

Leland coaches have helped thousands of people achieve their goals. A dedicated mentor can make all the difference.

Browse Related Articles

January 9, 2024

How to Nail Your Kellogg MBA Application Essays

Tips and tricks that will help you craft the best application essays possible and get admitted into Kellogg.

January 28, 2024

How to Nail Your Stanford GSB Short Answer Questions

Learn how to stand out with your Stanford GSB short answer questions.

January 4, 2024

HBS 2+2 Deferred MBA Essay Prompts & Tips (2024)

As of 2024, HBS has changed its deferred MBA essay prompts away from the traditional, "What else should we know about you?" to three smaller essays. Read more and nail your HBS 2+2 application here.

January 10, 2024

How to Ace Your HBS MBA Interview

Interviewing for the deferred program at Harvard Business School? Ace your interview with these helpful tips and tricks, including sample questions from actual interviews—only on Leland.

March 12, 2024

An Overview of the HBS 2+2 Program—and How to Kick Off Your Application

HBS 2+2 is one of the most prestigious deferred MBA programs in the country. Here's an overview, with some tips on how to start your application.

How to Get the Perfect MBA Letter of Recommendation—With Examples

The ultimate guide to the MBA recommendation letter, including examples of letters that helped applicants earn admission to top 10 MBA programs.

MBA Essay Too Long? Here's How to Fix It

The word count of most MBA application essays is very limited. This article by an expert Leland MBA coach will give you 8 tips to help you keep your essays under the limit while still maintaining a compelling story.

January 31, 2024

How to Nail the "Why Wharton" MBA Essay

Learn how to craft a compelling 'Why Wharton' MBA essay that sets you apart from the competition. Elevate your application to stand out.

May 4, 2023

Why ChatGPT Can’t Write Your Personal Statement

While ChatGPT is multifaceted, there is a compelling argument against using AI for your personal statements. Here is one expert's take on the revolutionary technology and application essays.

April 25, 2024

Top 10 Deferred MBA Programs in the US—and How to Get In (2024)

Aiming for an MBA, even while you're still in college? Perfect—learn all about deferred admission MBA programs and receive key insights into the DMBA application process.

February 27, 2023

Craft a Powerful Essay for Stanford GSB: What Matters Most & Why?

Ben L., a GSB MBA, expert coach, and pro writer, outlines his top advice for nailing the challenging and broad Stanford essay prompt, to help you get into one of the most prestigious MBA programs in the world.

A Guide to the Columbia Business School Essays (2023-2024)

Coach Melanie E. walks you through each Columbia Business School essay prompt for the 2023-2024 cycle, breaking down what adcoms are looking for and offering expert advice on how to nail your responses.

50 MBA Essays That Got Applicants Admitted To Harvard & Stanford

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on WhatsApp
• Share on Reddit

What Matters? and What More? is a collection of 50 application essays written by successful MBA candidates to Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business

I sat alone one Saturday night in a boardroom in Eastern Oregon, miles from home, my laptop lighting the room. I was painstakingly reviewing a complex spreadsheet of household energy consumption data, cell by cell. ‘Why am I doing this to myself? For remote transmission lines?’…I felt dejected. I’d felt that way before, during my summer at JP Morgan, standing alone in the printing room at 3 a.m., binding decks for a paper mill merger that wouldn’t affect my life in the least.

That’s how an analyst at an MBB firm started his MBA application essay to Stanford Graduate School of Business. His point: In a well-crafted essay, he confronts the challenge of finding meaning in his work and a place where he can make a meaningful difference. That is what really matters most to him, and his answer to Stanford’s iconic MBA application essay helped get him defy the formidable odds of acceptance and gain an admit to the school.

Getting into the prestigious MBA programs at either Stanford Graduate School of Business or Harvard Business School are among the most difficult journeys any young professional can make.

NEARLY 17,000 CANDIDATES APPLIED TO HARVARD & STANFORD LAST YEAR. 1,500 GOT IN

This collection of 50 successful HBS and GSB essays, with smart commentary, can be downloaded for $60

They are two of the most selective schools, routinely rejecting nine or more out of every ten applicants. Last year alone, 16,628 candidates applied to both schools; just 1,520 gained an acceptance, a mere 9.1% admit rate.

Business school admissions are holistic, meaning that while standardized test scores and undergraduate transcripts are a critical part of the admissions process, they aren’t the whole story. In fact, the stories that applicants tell the schools in the form of essays can be a critical component of a successful application.

So what kinds of stories are successful applicants to Harvard and Stanford telling their admission officers? For the first time ever, a newly published collection of 50 of these essays from current MBA students at these two schools has been published. In ten cases, applicants share the essays they wrote in applying to both schools so you can see whether they merely did a cut-and-paste job or approached the task anew. The 188-page book, What Matters? and What More?, gains its title from the two iconic essay prompts at Harvard and Stanford.

THOUGHTFUL CRITIQUES OF THE ESSAYS

Stanford can easily boast having the most difficult question posed to MBA applicants in any given year: In 650 words or less, candidates must tell the school what matters most to them and why. Harvard gives applicants ample room to hang themselves, providing no word limit at all, “What more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?”

One makes this unusual collection of essays powerful are the thoughtful critiques by the founders of two MBA admissions consulting firms, Jeremy Shinewald of mbaMission and Liza Weale of Gatehouse Admissions. They write overviews of each essay in the book and then tear apart portions by paragraphs to either underline a point or address a weakness. The book became available to download for $60 a pop.

As I note in a foreword to the collection, published in partnership with Poets&Quants, the essay portion of an application is where a person can give voice to who they are, what they have achieved so far, and what they imagine their future to be. Yet crafting a powerful and introspective essay can be incredibly daunting as you stare at a blank computer screen.

APPLICANTS OPEN UP WITH INTIMATE STORIES THAT SHOW VULNERABILITY

One successful applicant to Harvard Business School begins his essay by conveying a deeply personal story: The time his father was told that he had three months to live, with his only hope being a double lung transplant. had to undergo a lung transplant. His opening line: “Despite all we had been through in recent years, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I asked my mother one summer evening in Singapore, ‘What role did I play during those tough times?’”

For this candidate to Stanford Graduate School of Business, the essay provided a chance to creatively engage admission readers about what matters most to him–equality-by cleverly using zip codes as a hook.

60605, 60606, 60607.

These zip codes are just one digit apart, but the difference that digit makes in someone’s life is unfathomable. I realized this on my first day as a high school senior. Leafing through my out-of- date, stained, calculus textbook, I kept picturing the new books that my friend from a neighboring (more affluent) district had. As college acceptances came in, I saw educational inequality’s more lasting effects—my friends from affluent districts that better funded education were headed to prestigious universities, while most of my classmates were only accepted by the local junior college. I was unsettled that this divergence wasn’t the students’ doing, but rather institutionalized by the state’s education system. Since this experience, I realized that the fight for education equality will be won through equal opportunity. Overcoming inequality, to ensure that everyone has a fair shake at success, is what matters most to me.

HOW AN APPLICANT TO BOTH SCHOOLS ALTERED HIS ESSAYS

Yet another candidate, who applied to both Harvard and Stanford, writes about being at but not fully present at his friend’s wedding.

The morning after serving as my friend’s best man, I was waiting for my Uber to the airport and—as usual—scrolling through my phone,” he wrote. “I had taken seemingly hundreds of photos of the event, posting in real time to social media, but had not really looked through them. With growing unease, I noticed people and things that had not registered with me the night before and realized I had been so preoccupied with capturing the occasion on my phone that I had essentially missed the whole thing. I never learned the name of the woman beside me at the reception. I could not recall the wedding cake flavor. I never introduced myself to my friend’s grandfather from Edmonton. I was so mortified that before checking into my flight, I turned my phone off and stuffed it into my carry-on.

The Stanford version of his essay is more compact. In truth, it’s more succinctly written and more satisfying because it is to the point. By stripping away all but the most critical pieces of his narrative, the candidate focuses his essay entirely on his central point: the battle of man versus technology.

Even if you’re not applying to business school, the essays are entertaining and fun to read. Sure, precious few are New Yorker worthy. In fact, many are fairly straightforward tales, simply told. What the successful essays clearly show is that there is no cookie-cutter formula or paint-by-the-numbers approach. Some start bluntly and straightforwardly, without a compelling or even interesting opening. Some meander through different themes. Some betray real personality and passion. Others are frankly boring. If a pattern of any kind could be discerned, it is how genuine the essays read.

The greatest benefit of reading them? For obsessive applicants to two of the very best business schools, they’ll take a lot of pressure off of you because they are quite imperfect.

GET YOUR COPY OF WHAT MATTERS? AND WHAT MORE? NOW

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.

• Stay Informed. Sign Up! Login Logout Search for:

Endless MBA Options: Which Is Right For You?

How To Improve Your MBA Odds If You’re 30+

ADVICE COLUMN: How Do I Navigate The Waitlist?

Advice column: should i accept one of my current mba offers, or try again next year.

• How To Use Poets&Quants MBA Admissions Consultant Directory
• How To Select An MBA Admissions Consultant
• MBA Admission Consulting Claims: How Credible?
• Suddenly Cozy: MBA Consultants and B-Schools
• The Cost: $6,850 Result: B-School

Our Partner Sites: Poets&Quants for Execs | Poets&Quants for Undergrads | Tipping the Scales | We See Genius

We are proud to be recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the top MBA admissions consulting firms in 2023!

• Let’s Talk!

Writing a Successful Leadership Story Essay

L eadership Story essays are a prime opportunity in your MBA applications to communicate experiences that demonstrate your ability to lead others .

MBA admissions officers are very interested in your leadership achievements, both inside and outside of work. And yet, you probably won’t be directly asked, “Are you a leader?” Instead, applications will prompt you to tell stories about your leadership achievements.

Typical essay questions that have appeared on past MBA applications related to the topic of leadership include the following:

• Discuss a defining experience in your leadership development.
• Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization.
• What impact do you hope to have as a leader of consequence in the future?

To score top marks with your answer to these MBA leadership essay questions, admissions officers will expect you to present real-world evidence that you are equipped to rally other people and motivate them to work together to achieve an important shared vision or goal.

Why do admissions committees ask you to write about a leadership story? What are the characteristics of a great answer? This article answers these questions and provides you with a set of building blocks for crafting a unique and powerful Leadership Story Essay of your own.

In the final section of this article, we analyze a Leadership Story Essay example to show you the principles in this article in action.

To begin, let’s explore what MBA programs mean by “leadership” in the first place.

What Does it Mean to Lead?

If you were applying to art school, you’d present a portfolio of your artistry. Similarly, business schools are interested in seeing a portfolio of leadership stories. Reviewing a collection of leadership accomplishments is one way the admission committee assesses a candidate’s leadership potential. If a top MBA program’s job is to produce future leaders, the admissions committee must determine if you already possess the raw ability to lead.

Many aspiring MBA students are aware that they need to demonstrate leadership and prove they have leadership potential. But how do they do that in an essay? And what is leadership anyway?

Leadership ability relates to your capacity to motivate and influence individuals, teams, and organizations. Some MBA candidates are intimidated when they have to answer a leadership essay question in their application because they worry they don’t have impressive leadership stories to tell.

Don’t fret. Admissions committees understand you are early in your career, and they don’t expect you to have founded a not-for-profit or saved a village. Instead, they can appreciate that your leadership stories are on a smaller scale, such as leading a classroom, spearheading a fundraiser, or coaching a little league baseball team. Leading in “ordinary situations” but doing it “extraordinarily well” is what impresses admissions committees.

Hopefully, by now, we’ve eased your doubts about Leadership Story Essays and helped you better understand the definition of leadership. If so, it’s time for you to start brainstorming which leadership stories you want to tell.

Qualities of a Standout Leadership Story Essay

To review: your leadership stories are the collection of past experiences, initiatives, and accomplishments indicative of your leadership abilities. MBA admissions committees want to know about your past leadership experiences to assess your potential to lead in the future.

Let’s look at the characteristics of an outstanding Leadership Story Essay.

• Your Leadership Story Essay should provide evidence that you can rally other people and motivate them to work together to achieve an important shared vision or goal . Many candidates make the mistake of telling a story about an individual accomplishment when asked for a leadership story. The whole point of a leadership story is that you couldn’t have achieved what you achieved if you were operating alone.
• Admissions committees want to see evidence that you can work collaboratively as part of a team . If your leadership style appears authoritarian or self-serving, you may be passed over for candidates with more team-oriented leadership styles.
• Stories in which everything went smoothly and as expected aren’t as powerful as stories where you faced challenges and obstacles and found creative solutions to mission-critical problems.
• When selecting among potential stories, ask yourself which leadership experience ended up being a defining experience for you – one that taught you how to lead and what it means to lead.
• It’s always better to choose a leadership story that holds meaning for you – for example, leading a fundraiser for a non-profit with a mission that is close to your heart.
• Results matter – the admissions committee wants to know how you made an impact . There is a premium placed on stories that end with a visible and, if possible, measurable impact.
• Good leaders put the needs of others and the organization ahead of personal ambitions. If you helped others excel and succeed while in the lead, then you’ll have a much more persuasive essay.

With these criteria in mind, you can begin brainstorming your leadership stories and select the one that provides the most convincing evidence of your leadership potential.

Next, we will walk through the content building blocks for crafting a unique and powerful Leadership Story Essay and share an example essay to show you how all of these principles come together in an outstanding MBA essay.

Free MBA Essay Writing Course

Please enter your email below to gain 30 days of free access to our MBA Essay Writing course. Learn about the five most frequently asked MBA application essay questions and access our brainstorming tools and sample essays.

Content Building Blocks for a Leadership Story Essay

Leadership Story Essays are narrative essays, which means they are invitations for you to tell a story. Therefore, the content building blocks we provide below will help you to craft your story.

The first principle they teach you in a creative writing course is that a good story has a beginning, middle, and end.

The beginning of your story should include a Hook and a Lead .

A Hook is what it sounds like: an opening that engages your reader and builds interest in hearing your story. The best hooks are unexpected and build anticipation. You’ll see an example of a hook in the sample essay.

The next building block is the Lead . A story lead summarizes what the story is about and gives your reader a sense of why you decided to tell this story.

You have only a few seconds to capture your reader’s attention, so you want to get to the lead of the story as quickly as possible. The “lead” of your story gets your reader on board and silences that internal voice asking, “What’s this story about? And is it going to answer the essay question asked?”.

Once the reader is hooked, you are ready to tell your story. The content building blocks for the middle, or body of the story, should follow the STAR Framework. STAR is an acronym that stands for — Situation – Task – Action – Result .

You begin by providing the Situation of the story, which orients the reader to the setting and introduces the conflict or complication.

Next, since you are writing a story about a time you took the lead, you want your reader to know what Task you and your team needed to accomplish. Think of the Task as your role in the story and your specific goals or objectives as a leader in this particular situation.

From there, it’s time to share the Action , or what you did to resolve the conflict, fulfill your role, and achieve your objectives or goals. It’s important to remember that everything leading up to the Action (Situation and Task) is exposition. A good storyteller aims to get through that set-up as quickly as possible, so action becomes the story’s focal point. Action is what admission committees are interested in — not exposition. Therefore, on balance, “action” should take up about 75% of the word count of the leadership stories you tell.

When it comes to action, the more specific you can be, the better. Generic action statements, such as “I assembled the team, got them focused, and finished the project,” aren’t sufficient. Tell the reader about the obstacles you faced as a leader and the creative, clever, and unexpected ways you overcame them.

Outlining the story’s action is a crucial moment in testing the quality of your leadership story. If there’s not enough leadership action, then the story probably won’t work, and you should think of another story to tell.

Your story ends when you share the Results , or the impact of your actions, and the final resolution of the complication. Evidence of results is almost as critical as action when you’re trying to assess the quality of your story – a positive outcome makes the story that much more powerful.

If your story doesn’t “pay off,” it may not fly. That’s not the same thing as saying that you have to have achieved what you set out to. The pay-off might be the lessons you learned or how you grew from the experience.

Applying the STAR Framework

Let’s take a look at the STAR framework created by an MBA candidate. He outlined a story about leading a marketing field study project in college.

For our example applicant, the Situation was that during his senior year in college, he assembled a team of marketing and industrial design students to co-design a pair of sneakers for Nike.

As the team’s leader, his Task was to assemble the team and get them to work cooperatively to design a pair of sneakers. He decided to focus the Action of the story on the things he did to get his teammates to bond and work together to achieve their goals.

The Result of the project was two-fold: first, the team delivered the marketing plans and sneaker design for a skateboard shoe; second, the author learned how to lead a diverse group of people.

Voila. The story’s setting, the applicant’s goal, what he did, how things turned out, and some notes about what he learned from the experience are outlined. He’s captured the elements of a promising Leadership Story Essay.

While your STAR outline is likely to include more details than our example, you can see how the STAR outline can help you tell a concise story with a beginning, middle, and end. A STAR outline also enables you to see pretty quickly if your outline has the makings of a successful leadership essay.

Below you can read an excerpt from the example essay that resulted by assembling these content building blocks. Review the sample essay carefully, and then you will be ready to get to work writing your Leadership Story Essay.

Leadership Story Essay Sample

Like most kids in my neighborhood, I owned a skateboard. Honestly, I never quite got the hang of it. Though I will never shred the pavement or fly high above a half-pipe, I did get to do something most skateboarders will never do: in college, I led a six-person team that designed a skateboard shoe for Nike.

In my senior year, I convinced my thesis adviser at the University of Oregon that instead of writing a research report describing how Nike designs and develops athletic shoes, I wanted to “Just do it!” With his blessing, I convinced the Nike Design Group to sponsor a team of three marketing students, including me, and three industrial design students to co-design a sneaker for them.

As the project leader, my role was to assemble the team and lead them in designing a pair of skateboarding sneakers. Recruiting teammates was relatively easy; marketing and design students jumped at the chance to work on a project for Nike. The real challenge, once I had my team selected, was to get the marketing students and ID students to work together — we had such different working styles and perspectives.

For our project kick-off meeting, I invited my teammates to my apartment to eat pizza and watch Dogtown and the Z Boys, a classic skateboarding movie. Watching the film inspired us and broke the ice. In our next meeting, I came up with the idea of a teach-in. We taught them about our market research process, and they taught us about their design process. After that, we sketched out a method for working together…

[The body of the story features the leader’s other challenges and achievements before turning to the conclusion]

…We flew to Beaverton to present our skateboard sneaker to the head of Design. A year later, Nike released its first skateboard shoe. Though it was different from our model, our team’s work had clearly influenced the design and marketing of a new product for the legendary sneaker company.

For me, the ultimate reward wasn’t designing the sneaker; it was designing and leading the team. We started from such different perspectives and points of view and ended up gelling as a team.

The experience taught me how beneficial those differences are when you are creating something new. This lesson has been instrumental in my success in the software product strategy role I started after college.

Final Thoughts

Business schools understand that your best leadership experiences are still ahead of you. What they want to see is a “habit” of leadership and some good examples of how you’ve led on a smaller scale. Leading in ordinary situations but doing it “extraordinarily well” is what admissions committees are looking for in your Leadership Story Essay. Done well, your Leadership Story Essay will provide evidence of potential and the promise of great things to come.

Related Articles: Essay Examples

• Career Goals Essay Example
• What Will You Contribute? Essay Example
• Why MBA? and Why Our School? Essay Example
• Leadership Story Essay Example
• Professional Experience Essay Example
• MBA Video Essays
• Consulting Terms & Conditions

© 2024 Prep School Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

MBA Essay Tips and Examples

Crafting a successful MBA application essay can be challenging. Click the icons below to read our expert advice on how to approach each business school's application essays, plus read illustrative sample essays to inspire you.

Berkeley Haas

Cambridge Judge

Chicago Booth

Columbia Business School

Cornell Johnson

Dartmouth Tuck

Emory Goizueta

Georgetown McDonough

Harvard Business School

London Business School

Michigan Ross

Northwestern Kellogg

Oxford Saïd

Stanford GSB

Texas McCombs

Toronto Rotman

UCLA Anderson

UPenn Wharton

Washington Foster

Recently viewed courses

Recently viewed.

Find Your Dream School

This site uses various technologies, as described in our Privacy Policy, for personalization, measuring website use/performance, and targeted advertising, which may include storing and sharing information about your site visit with third parties. By continuing to use this website you consent to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .

   COVID-19 Update: To help students through this crisis, The Princeton Review will continue our "Enroll with Confidence" refund policies. For full details, please click here.

20 Must-Read MBA Essay Tips

Business school admissions committees care about more than (just) your  GMAT scores and GPA —they want to know who you are and why you belong in their program . Your MBA essays are your best chance to sell the person behind the résumé. They should tie all the pieces of your business school application together and create a comprehensive picture of who you are, what you've done, and what you bring to the table.  Here's a roundup of our best MBA essay tips to keep in mind as you begin to write.

How to Write an Unforgettable B-School Essay

1. communicate that you are a proactive, can-do sort of person..

Business schools want leaders, not applicants content with following the herd.

2. Put yourself on ego-alert.

Stress what makes you unique, not what makes you number one.

3. Communicate specific reasons why you're great fit for each school.

Simply stating "I am the ideal candidate for your program" won't convince the admission committee to push you into the admit pile.

Read More: Find Your Business School

4. Bring passion to your writing.

Admissions officers want to know what excites you. And if you'll bring a similar enthusiasm to the classroom.

5. Break the mold.

Challenge perceptions with unexpected essays that say, "There's more to me than you think."

6. If you've taken an unorthodox path to business school, play it up.

Admissions officers appreciate risk-takers.

7. Talk about your gender, ethnicity, minority status or foreign background....

But only if it has affected your outlook or experiences.

8. Fill your essays with plenty of real-life examples.

Specific anecdotes and vivid details make a much greater impact than general claims and broad summaries.

9. Demonstrate a sense of humor or vulnerability.

You're a real person, and it's okay to show it!

BONUS: Don't Make These MBA Essay Mistakes

1. write about your high school glory days. .

Admissions committees don't care if you were editor of the yearbook or captain of the varsity team. They expect their candidates to have moved onto more current, professional achievements.

2. Submit essays that don't answer the questions.

An off-topic essay, or one that merely restates your résumé, will frustrate and bore the admissions committee. More importantly, it won't lead to any new insight about you.

Attend UNC's top-ranked online MBA program without putting your career on hold. See how.

3. Fill essays with industry jargon.

Construct your essays with only enough detail about your job to frame your story and make your point.

4. Reveal half-baked reasons for wanting the MBA.

Admissions officers favor applicants who have well-defined goals. However unsure you are about your future, it's critical that you demonstrate that you have a plan.

5. Exceed the recommended word limits.

This suggests you don't know how to follow directions, operate within constraints or organize your thoughts.

6. Submit an application full of typos and grammatical errors.

A sloppy application suggests a sloppy attitude.

7. Send one school an essay intended for another—or forget to change the school name when using the same essay for several applications.

Admissions committees are (understandably) insulted when they see another school's name or forms.

8. Make excuses.

If your undergraduate experience was one long party, be honest. Discuss how you've matured, both personally and professionally.

9. Be impersonal in the personal statement.

Many applicants avoid the personal like the plague. Instead of talking about how putting themselves through school lowered their GPA, they talk about the rising cost of tuition in America. Admissions officers want to know about YOU.

Read More: How to Ace Your MBA Interview

10. Make too many generalizations.

An essay full of generalizations is a giveaway that you don't have anything to say.

11. Write in a vacuum.

Make sure that each of your essays reinforce and build on the others to present a consistent and compelling representation of who you are, what you've done, and what you bring to the table.

Practice for the GMAT

Take a GMAT practice test with us under the same conditions as the real thing. You'll get a personalized score report highlighting your strengths and areas of improvement.

START A FREE PRACTICE TEST

• Business School  

Find MBA Programs Matched to Your Interests

Explore our featured business schools to find those that are looking for students like you.

Top Online MBA Programs

On a mission to increase your salary? Our Top 50 Online MBA ranking is based on academics, career outcomes, tech platforms, and more.

Best Career Prospects

Find out which schools have the best track records for getting students jobs—and the highest starting salaries.

Top Schools for Entrepreneurship

Ready to build your own business from the ground up? Check out these 50 graduate programs.

Free MCAT Practice Test

I already know my score.

MCAT Self-Paced 14-Day Free Trial

Enrollment Advisor

1-800-2REVIEW (800-273-8439) ext. 1

1-877-LEARN-30

Mon-Fri 9AM-10PM ET

Sat-Sun 9AM-8PM ET

Student Support

1-800-2REVIEW (800-273-8439) ext. 2

Mon-Fri 9AM-9PM ET

Sat-Sun 8:30AM-5PM ET

Partnerships

• Teach or Tutor for Us

College Readiness

International

Advertising

Affiliate/Other

• Enrollment Terms & Conditions
• Accessibility
• Cigna Medical Transparency in Coverage

Register Book

Local Offices: Mon-Fri 9AM-6PM

• SAT Subject Tests

Academic Subjects

• Social Studies

Find the Right College

• College Rankings
• College Advice
• Applying to College
• Financial Aid

School & District Partnerships

• Professional Development
• Advice Articles
• Private Tutoring
• Mobile Apps
• Local Offices
• International Offices
• Work for Us
• Affiliate Program
• Partner with Us
• Advertise with Us
• International Partnerships
• Our Guarantees
• Accessibility – Canada

Privacy Policy | CA Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information | Your Opt-Out Rights | Terms of Use | Site Map

©2024 TPR Education IP Holdings, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University

TPR Education, LLC (doing business as “The Princeton Review”) is controlled by Primavera Holdings Limited, a firm owned by Chinese nationals with a principal place of business in Hong Kong, China.

Which program are you applying to?

Mba personal statement examples.

Get accepted to your top choice business school with your compelling essay.

MBA Personal Statement Sample Essays & Tips

Your academic record, GMAT scores, and GPA are important factors in the MBA application process. But, more than that, business schools ultimately care about who you are and whether you would be a good fit for their program. This is where your application essays come in. The goal here is to complete the picture that your scores and stats began sketching. Take your time when writing these essays. They will form the image the admissions committee will see before they meet you at your interview. Write, edit, and edit again. Be sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors in your essay. You want your portrait to be clean and clear. Once you are satisfied with your essay, ask a trusted friend, mentor, or admissions pro to read it. A fresh pair of eyes can often see things that you can’t.

7 tips for creating the best MBA essays

Here are some important things to remember when writing your MBA essays.

• Show who you are in a background essay Use this opportunity to reveal your values and personality, the obstacles you’ve overcome, and the seminal experiences that have shaped you into the person you are today. No two people have the same history. Use stories and examples to make your background bright and stand out to demonstrate what makes you special. Discuss how your history has brought you to this point. What is there in your background that compels you to pursue an MBA at this time?
• Show your direction in the goals essay Use this opportunity to show that you have clear direction and purpose based on experience and planning. Business school is not another opportunity to “find yourself.” Even if you have had one career path and will use your MBA to launch another career, this essay must describe the reasons behind your career-change, your new goals, and how the program will help you achieve them.
• Use your optional essay to explain negatives in your stats If your GPA was lower than you would have liked early in your undergraduate education, use your essay to show how you learned from this experience. Everyone makes mistakes. How you deal with your mistakes shows a lot to the admissions committee – determination, discipline, success, resilience, and breadth of experience are qualities that will serve you well in your MBA studies and later in life. Be sure that you explain your negatives and don’t try to justify them. Show that you understand the mistake you made, learned from it and changed as a result of processing the experience. That response shows maturity. Justifying – instead of learning or changing – is a sign of immaturity. MBA programs want mature adults. Almost all of them have made mistakes.
• Say what you mean, and mean what you say Admissions committees read thousands of essays during each admissions round. A concise, well thought-out essay will have them reading yours to the end.  You need examples and stories to support your statements and make your essay interesting and readable. Each of these needs to be to the point. These professionals are trained to spot an essay that is full of fluff and without substance.Avoid rambling and the use of keywords that you think the reader wants to see. A non-substantive essay will lead the reader to conclude that you, too, are without substance.
• Find your passion This relates to tip #4 above. You want to grab the reader right away and create an essay that will keep their attention to the very end – and leave them wanting to meet you and get to know you even better. In other words, offer you a coveted interview! Find a theme, and weave it throughout your essay. If you can identify a passion that you had from an early age and follow it through the different stages of your life, you will have an interesting, readable essay. Connect your passion to your childhood and you professional and extracurricular experiences and accomplishments. Demonstrate how your passion will influence your future career and serve the community at the school you want to attend.
• Focus on your professional experience and achievements Not everyone has a passion that they have carried with them throughout their life. However, since you are planning on attending an MBA program, you must have had professional and personal achievements. Highlight your professional skills and successes, as well as personal accomplishments. Show how these experiences and achievements have brought you to this point, and how they have influenced your long-term plans and reasons for pursuing an MBA.
• Highlight your experience in your EMBA essay An applicant to an Executive MBA program is an executive or manager currently in the workforce, usually with at least eight years of business experience. As an EMBA student you will be expected to excel in your coursework while continuing to hold down your full-time job. You must demonstrate significant leadership, impact, potential, and the legitimate need for the degree to be accepted. Highlight your current responsibilities and recent achievements, as well as your skill sets. Discuss your goals and how an EMBA will help you reach them. Include how you will positively impact the community at the program you are applying to.

Read MBA Personal Statement Examples

Now that you have the tools to write your compelling essay, check out our sample MBA application essays to see what you will be able to accomplish.

GET ALL THE SAMPLE ESSAYS IN ONE CONVENIENT PDF!

BONUS: You'll also receive a free copy of our popular guide,  5 Fatal Flaws To Avoid in Your MBA Applications Essays.

Get Expert Help With Your MBA Application

Our world-class team helps you stand out from the competition and get accepted.

APPLICATION STRATEGY /  ESSAY REVIEW / INTERVIEW PREP

TOP 10 BUSINESS SCHOOLS

HAVE AN AVERAGE ACCEPTANCE RATE OF  10.25%. 

A STRONG BUSINESS SCHOOL APPLICATION ESSAY WILL MAKE YOU STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

You want to get into a top business school, but you need to stand out from the tens of thousands of other impressive applicants. According to US News, the average top 20 b-school acceptance rate is 12.37%, but our MBA clients enjoy an 84% ACCEPTANCE RATE . How can you separate yourself from the competition successfully? By crafting an excellent application essay.

Our clients gain acceptance to... 

MIT, Kellogg, HAAS, Tuck, Columbia, NYU and many other business schools.

Get Accepted! Speak with an admissions expert today!

#HenleyMBA:

How to write a strong analysis chapter.

By: Derek Jansen | December 2017

If the Henley MBA is about any one thing, it’s about learning to analyse well. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the analysis chapter/section of most assignments is typically allocated the largest percentage of the marks. In this article, I’ll discuss how to write a strong analysis chapter that earns marks.

Dissect your introduction and analysis.

While some assignment briefs provide a rough outline of a suitable structure, this is typically just a guideline, not a directive. Therefore, it is best to follow the standard academic structure below:

*Some assignments will not have an implementation or conclusion requirement.

In particular, your introduction and your analysis should be separate sections /chapters, as they serve distinctly different purposes. The introduction sets the context and justifies the focus of the assignment, including the research questions. Be sure to read this post on the 5 essential ingredients of a strong introduction chapter).

The analysis chapter, on the other hand, should focus squarely on analysing the problem/opportunity with a view to answering the research questions you set out previously. Keep them separate and your document will be easier to read and your argument easier to understand – both of which are essential for earning marks.

Right, with that out the way, let’s move onto the actual contents of the introduction chapter.

#1 – Outline your analytical approach.

While you would have provided a high-level overview of your approach to the research in your introduction chapter, your analysis chapter should start with a slightly more detailed outline of how you approached the analysis . The objective here is to give the marker an idea of what you analysed (which variables), why (justification) and how (with which theories/models/frameworks). This shouldn’t be lengthy – just enough for the reader/marker to understand where they’re headed. For example:

“The analysis commences by assessing the impact of the macroeconomic environment on the key issue using a PESTLE analysis. Next, the microeconomic environment is analysed, with a focus on competitive analysis utilising Dibb and Simkin’s (1996) competitive positions proforma. Lastly, the firm’s internal resources are identified and valued using Barney and Hesterly’s (2006) VRIO framework. Conclusions are then drawn with respect to the research question.”

As you can see, this outline gives the reader a good idea of what was analysed, how it was analysed, why it was important, and how it was drawn together to a conclusion. Importantly, you’re not stating what the findings were – you’ll do that within the actual analysis.

#2 – Start macro, then zoom in.

With the analytical approach outlined, its time to start analysing. Typically, a good approach to your analysis chapter is to start at the macro-level and then progressively zoom into the meso and micro-level. In other words, you’ll analyse:

• Macro country-level environment – factors such as the political, economic, socio-cultural factors (i.e. PESTLE/STEEPLE dimensions).
• Meso-level environment – factors such as the industry, competitors, customers, suppliers, etc.
• Micro/internal-level environment – factors such as internal resources, competencies, people dynamics, processes and systems.

Naturally, how much you focus on each level depends on the assignment and the research questions. For example, a Managing People (MP) or Leadership & Change (L&C) assignment might focus primarily on the internal environment, while a Strategy or Strategic Marketing assignment might be more equally weighted across the levels.

Ultimately, every part of your analysis chapter should contribute towards answering your research question(s) . There are almost always links to the research question(s) at all three levels, but don’t feel the need to draw up an extensive PESTLE analysis if the focus of your assignment is primarily internal. Highlight the key links, and leave out the rest. You can always place that full PESTLE in the appendix, as long as you present the key relevant points in the body of your assignment.

#3 – Analyse, don’t describe.

This is arguably the single most important practice when it comes to writing your MBA assignments. In fact, it’s so important (and so commonly not done correctly), that I’ve written a separate article on this here . Please take the time to read it, but here’s a summary for convenience.

Description = describing the situation, factors, forces, or variables. In other words, description means discussing the “what, where, how” and so forth.

Contrast that to:

Analysis = describing the impact of the situation, factors, forces, or variables on the key issue or research question(s). In other words, drawing out the “so what?”.

Naturally, there will always be a need for some degree of descriptive writing in your analysis chapter (and assignment as a whole) – you simply cannot explain a situation without describing! That said, as a rule, try to limit your description to a minimum by describing the “what” only as a way to get to the “so what” – in other words, use description only to lead to analysis .  

Here’s an example:

#4 – Use models and frameworks purposefully.

All too often, I see numerous models and frameworks included in an assignment with no clear purpose or attempted justification. Understandably, students feel the need to include as many models and frameworks as possible to show that they’ve done their reading. This is, however, a mistake.

Quality, not quantity.

Simply put, less is more. A handful of carefully selected, clearly and logically justified and richly applied models and/or frameworks can earn a lot more marks than the quantity approach can. As with the matter of analysis levels discussed earlier, the use of models and frameworks should be dictated by the overall purpose of the assignment and the research questions.

Ultimately, you should be able to clearly answer the following question:

“What research question (or related sub-question) am I trying to answer by using this model or framework?”

If you don’t have a clear, concise answer to this question, the model or framework may not be all that well suited, and you should consider if there’s either:

• A better model, framework (or theory) to help you answer your question(s).
• A better question to be asking – you may well find that your research question(s) evolve as you undertake your analysis. This is perfectly normal and reflects your learning process.

Ironically, students often have a good understanding of how to use a model or framework but are not very clear on what its core purpose is (it’s “why/when”). This matter of why is critically important. Models and frameworks are simply tools. Markers want to see that you know both when and how to use the tool correctly. Use only the models and frameworks that have high relevance to your assignment’s purpose , and apply them deeply to develop rich answers to your questions.

Present the right way.

Choosing and applying the right models and frameworks is, however, only part of the puzzle. You also need to present them the right way. Again, I’ve written a comprehensive post on this which you can find here , but here are the key points:

• Introduce and justify the model in the preceding paragraph. Make it clear why you chose to use the model (i.e. why you’re using this tool for this job).
• Populate the model with the details of your situation. Don’t simply copy/paste a blank model into your assignment.
• Number, caption and cite the figure 100% correctly. Also, make sure you refer to the figure number in the preceding paragraph.
• Discuss the key insights from the model in the paragraph that follows – what did you find? How does this help answer your research questions?

Implement these four practices every time you include a model or framework and you’ll see the difference in your marks.

#5- Summarise after each large section of analysis.

If you implement all the above guidelines, you’ll no doubt cover a lot of content in a short amount of time. You will have presented a lot of data, and (hopefully) generated many insights. For the marker, this is a lot to take in. It’s the first time they’re reading your argument – it’s the tenth time for you.

Therefore, it’s very important that you summarise your key points/insights after each section of substantive analysis . Depending on the assignment, this might mean summarising after each model or framework, or perhaps each level of analysis (i.e. macro, micro, internal). There’s no hard word-count linked rule here – summarise after any large section of analysis to help the first-time reader (your marker) understand your argument.

Your summary can take bullet point form, or you may find that a framework from the module acts as a good summary tool (for example, SWOT). Some Henley students are concerned about using bullet points as this is highlighted as problematic in one of the assignment briefs. Long story short, bullet points are acceptable for summaries, but not for presenting new information or large pieces of analysis (which makes perfect sense). If you use bullets exclusively to summarise previously presented and discussed information, you’ll be fine.

Most importantly, make sure that you provide a summary of your overall key findings at the end of your analysis chapter . If done right, this summary should lay the foundations for the next chapter (recommendations). Ideally, you want to lay a very clear, rock-solid foundation here so that the recommendation is almost expected by the time it arrives. In other words, your analysis summary should link directly and logically to your recommendations. There should be no surprises!

For example, if, in your MP assignment, your key recommendation is going to involve revising the reward strategy within a firm, then your analysis summary should make it very clear that there are various issues with the reward system as it currently stands. You could even use a reward framework as an analysis summary tool to make the link more explicit.

Wrapping up.

In this post, I’ve outlined 5 points that, if applied correctly, should greatly improve the quality (and mark earning potential) of your analysis chapters. To recap:

• Start your analysis chapter by outlining your analytical approach.
• Structure your analyses from macro to micro-level.
• Analyse, don’t describe.
• Use models and frameworks purposefully and sparingly.
• Summarise your key points/insights after each substantive section of analysis.

Have questions, suggestions or criticisms?

I’d love to hear from you. Just leave a comment below, or get in touch with us here .

You Might Also Like:

16 Comments

Thanks! great article 🙂

Pleasure, Shaun!

Brilliant article 🙂

Thanks, Vuyo.

whats your email address Derek

You can mail us on [email protected] .

Hi Derek Thanks for your insights !! Very useful indeed especially now I’m in that stage 🙂

Pleasure, Lawrence! Good luck with your MBA.

Wow, this really helped a lot. Great article!

It’s a pleasure, Atli! All the best with your studies.

This is helpful, I dont know how many times I have given up on my studies. I find this article helpful. Great work.

Thanks for the kind words. All the best with your studies.

Great article, thanks Derek.

You’re welcome Anneline. Best of luck for your Henley MBA assignments.

Thanks Derek , this article as well as your others (intro and reflection) really helped me to establish a flow in my assignment and hopefully a good “golden thread” 🙂

Thanks for the kind words, Charl.

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Print Friendly

10 Common Assignments in Online MBA Programs

Earn the master's degree most employers are seeking. At less than $19,000,  Southern New Hampshire University's  accredited online  MBA  program is an affordable solution to fit your budget.

Start your journey at SNHU. Apply today!

If you’ve just enrolled in an Online MBA program, but you haven’t had much experience with the distance learning format, you might be wondering if the assignments are any different from those of the on-campus program. While many assignments for distance learning programs are designed to fit the online format, of course, experts say these assignments can be just as (or even more) rigorous than those that take place on-campus. Students in online programs can expect to complete assignments that require them to respond in-depth to video lectures, participate in discussion boards, and work with groups on a range of business projects.  

In addition to responding to video lectures, discussion boards, and group projects, U.S. News & World Report lists the following types of assignments in online programs:

Case Studies and Real-World Scenarios

Exams and quizzes, formal research papers, virtual presentations and collaborations.

Students can reflect on experiential learning, internships, study abroad, personal experiences, and more. Students often update their blog throughout any given course, and in some cases, peers can respond. This is a great way to build relationships with other students in the program, even if you never meet face-to-face.

Students analyze presented issues and develop solutions. Sample case studies from Organizational Behavior and Economics and Finance courses at St. Bonaventure University Online include The Economic State of Samoa , Liberia’s Challenges to Economic Development , Will Sears Survive? , and A Video Recap of Liberia’s Challenged to Economic Development .

Discussion Boards

Supplement weekly coursework, and are a major part of most online classes. The professor poses a question and students respond to the instructor and each other. Responses must be thought provoking and help to expand the conversation.

Exams and quizzes are just as important in online programs as they are in on-campus programs. The difference is students taking an online exam may be monitored by a proctor via webcam (“companies such as ProctorU make this possible”) or by a computer. According to U.S. News, “automated services including ProctorTrack can keep track of what’s happening on an online student’s screen in case there are behaviors that may indicate cheating.”

The types of research and writing required to complete a formal research paper is important at the graduate level, and especially in MBA programs. While you won’t find many differences between FRPs in online and on-campus courses, online students should ensure that the program offers “remote access” to the “university’s library and its resources, which may include live chats with staff.”

Group Projects

Students around the world can work on projects virtually as a group by utilizing Google Docs, Skype, Zoom for videoconferencing, chat features in the online classroom, and any number of video chat apps. Group projects, which simulate real-life business situations or business plan development, require students to work as a team, with specific roles and responsibilities assigned to each member. Students must contribute equally to the project.

Journal assignments allow Online MBA students to communicate with their professors directly. Though topics are typically assigned, “journals often enable students to express ideas,” opinions, questions, and concerns about course material.

Video Lectures

In a recent U.S. News blog post, Associate Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness at SUNY Buffalo State, Bradley Fuster, explained that with video lectures, the professor provides a recorded lecture, article, or book chapter and requires students to answer questions. “Students generally complete the assignment at their own pace,” as long as “they meet the ultimate deadline.”

Students give live or recorded presentations to the professor and cohort. Students can present business plans, solutions to business problems, and interact with one another on projects and assignments. According to U.S. News, experts say, “virtual collaboration is a skill that's critical for conducting business in the 21st century.”

Wiki, a shortened form of the Hawaiian word for “quick,” is a website that can be edited by anyone with a computer, web browser, and an internet connection. Wikis use a quick and easy syntax to allow users to apply formatting to text and create links between pages. In online programs, students use wikis to answer research questions, edit shared documents, write task lists, and launch discussions. Wikis are particularly useful for group projects.

While these are not the only types of assignments students may encounter in an Online MBA program, they are among the most common. For more information about the types of assignments in any given Online MBA program, review the programs overview, curriculum, and catalog.

Considering an Online MBA? Use our interactive map to find information on schools and colleges offering Online MBA programs in your state and across the U.S.

Friedman, Jordan. “10 Types of Assignments in Online Degree Programs . ” U .S. News & World Report Education , U.S. News & World Report L.P., 31 Aug. 2017. Web. 23 Aug. 2018.

Friedman, Jordan. “What to Expect in a Top Online MBA Program . ” U.S. News & World Report Education , U.S. News & World Report L.P., 27 Jun. 2016. Web. 23 Aug. 2018.

Online MBA Assignment Showcase . School of Business - St. Bonaventure University Online. St. Bonaventure University, 2018. Web. 23 Aug. 2018.

What is a Wiki? WikiEducator.org, 2018.

Related Articles

• Exam Prep >
• Prepare for Business School >
• Business School & Careers >
• Explore Programs >
• Connect with Schools >
• How to Apply >
• Help Center >

Every journey needs a plan. Use our Career Guide to get where you want to be. 

• About the Exam
• Register for the Exam
• Plan for Exam Day
• Prep for the Exam
• About the Executive Assessment
• Register for the Executive Assessment
• Plan for Assessment Day
• Prepare for the Assessment
• NMAT by GMAC
• Shop GMAT Focus Official Prep
• About GMAT Focus Official Prep
• Prep Strategies
• Personalized Prep Plan
• GMAT Focus Mini Quiz
• Executive Assessment Exam Prep
• NMAT by GMAC Exam Prep

Prepare For Business School

• Business Fundamentals
• Skills Insight

Business School & Careers

• Why Business School
• Student Experience
• Business Internships
• B-School Go
• Quiz: Are You Leadership Material?
• MBA Return on Investment (ROI) Calculator
• Estimate Your Salary
• Success Stories
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Women in Business

Explore Programs

• Top Business School Programs
• Quiz: Which Post Graduate Program is Right for You?
• Quiz: Find the Best Program for Your Personality
• Business School Rankings
• Business Master's Programs
• MBA Programs
• Study Destinations
• Find Programs Near Me
• Find MBA Programs
• Find Master's Programs
• Find Executive Programs
• Find Online Programs

Connect with Schools

• About GradSelect
• Create a GradSelect Profile
• Prep Yourself for B-School
• Quiz: Can You Network Like An MBA?
• Events Calendar
• School Events
• GMAC Tours Events
• In-Person Events
• Online Events

How to Apply

• Apply to Programs
• The Value of Assessments
• Admissions Essays
• Letters of Recommendation
• Admissions Interviews
• Scholarships and Financing
• Quiz: What's Your Ideal Learning Style?

Help Center

• Register for the GMAT
• Create Account

Sample Questions

Quick links.

Before you register  for the GMAT Focus Edition, get a preview of the types of questions you’ll encounter on the exam. 

Remember: You can learn more about section and question type at Exam Content .

Sample Questions by Section

Quantitative reasoning.

Problem Solving Question Directions: Solve the problem and indicate the best of the answer choices given. Question: If a certain wheel turns at a constant rate of x revolutions per minute, how many revolutions will the wheel make in k seconds? (A) 60 kx (B)  kx (C) x ÷ k (D) x ÷(60 k ) (E) kx ÷60 Answer:  (E)

Verbal Reasoning

Reading Comprehension Question Directions: The questions in this group are based on the content of a passage. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following the passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage. Question: Schools expect textbooks to be a valuable source of information for students. My research suggests, however, that textbooks that address the place of Native Americans within the history of the United States distort history to suit a particular cultural value system. In some textbooks, for example, settlers are pictured as more humane, complex, skillful, and wise than Native Americans. In essence, textbooks stereotype and depreciate the numerous Native American cultures while reinforcing the attitude that the European conquest of the New World denotes the superiority of European cultures. Although textbooks evaluate Native American architecture, political systems, and homemaking, I contend that they do it from an ethnocentric, European perspective without recognizing that other perspectives are possible. One argument against my contention asserts that, by nature, textbooks are culturally biased and that I am simply underestimating children's ability to see through these biases. Some researchers even claim that by the time students are in high school, they know they cannot take textbooks literally. Yet substantial evidence exists to the contrary. Two researchers, for example, have conducted studies that suggest that children's attitudes about particular cultures are strongly influenced by the textbooks used in schools. Given this, an ongoing, careful review of how school textbooks depict Native Americans is certainly warranted. Which of the following would most logically be the topic of the paragraph immediately following the passage? (A) Specific ways to evaluate the biases of United States history textbooks (B) The centrality of the teacher's role in United States history courses (C) Nontraditional methods of teaching United States history (D) The contributions of European immigrants to the development of the United States (E) Ways in which parents influence children's political attitudes Answer:  (A)

Critical Reasoning Question Directions: For this question, select the best of the answer choices given. Question: Mall Owner: Our mall’s occupancy rate is so low that we are barely making a profit. We cannot raise rents because of an unacceptably high risk of losing established tenants. On the other hand, a mall that is fully occupied costs about as much to run as one in which a rental space here and a rental space there stands empty. Clearly, therefore, to increase profits we must sign up new tenants. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument? (A) The mall’s operating costs could be cut by consolidating currently rented spaces in such a way that an entire wing of the mall could be closed up. (B) The mall is located in a geographic area in which costs incurred for air-conditioning in the hot summers exceed those incurred for heating in the mild winters by a wider margin. (C) The mall’s occupancy rate, though relatively low, has been relatively stable for several years. (D) The mall lost tenants as a result of each of the two major rent increases that have occurred there. (E) None of the mall’s established tenants is likely to need additional floor space there in the foreseeable future. Answer:  (A)

Data Insights

Data Sufficiency Question Directions: This data sufficiency problem consists of a question and two statements, labeled (1) and (2), in which certain data are given. You have to decide whether the data given in the statements are sufficient for answering the question. Using the data given in the statements, plus your knowledge of mathematics and everyday facts (such as the number of days in July or the meaning of the word counterclockwise), you must indicate whether:

• Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
• Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
• BOTH statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question asked, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question asked.
• EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question asked.
• Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data specific to the problem are needed.

Question: What is the monthly rent for a certain apartment? (1) The monthly rent per person for 4 people to share the rent for the apartment is $375. (2) The monthly rent per person for 4 people to share the rent of the apartment is $125 less than the monthly rent per person for 3 people to share the rent. (A) Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient. (B) Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient. (C) BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient. (D) EACH statement ALONE is sufficient. (E) Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient. Answer: (D) For the other four question types, click for samples of each question type to open up in an interactive pop-up window. Please note: these sample questions are built to simulate the actual test interface, and therefore, are not optimized for mobile devices.

• Multi-Source Reasoning
• Table Analysis
• Graphics Interpretation
• Two-Part Analysis

20 Great MBA Application Essay Samples (With Links)

Want to ace your MBA application? A stellar essay can be your golden ticket.

With elite business schools like Harvard and Stanford boasting acceptance rates as low as 10% and 6% respectively, every aspect of your application counts. While GPA and GMAT scores matter, your essay can be a game-changer. Recognizing its weight, we’ve gathered top-notch MBA essay samples, endorsed by admission committees from premier institutions. Dive in and let’s craft that standout application!

What is an MBA Application Essay?

An MBA application essay is a detailed write-up about your personal and professional goals and aspirations. It also explains how the MBA program will help you attain your objectives for the future. Your essay is your one shot to convince the admission committee to consider you for the initial interview.

What Admission Committee Look for in an MBA Essay?

• Academic ability
• Impressive work experience
• Career Course
• Authenticity of goals
• Competencies, leadership , dedication, challenges, and growth
• The right reason for pursuing an MBA
• Your compatibility with the culture in which the program is being offered

If you want to learn more, here is the complete guide on how admission committees process MBA applications.

20 Great MBA Applications Essays Samples

Now you have known that what makes a great MBA admission essay, the next step is to write one for yourself. Before writing, check out this list of expert-vetted MBA application essays that secured admissions to top-rated business schools in the world. Admission consultants have shared these samples and they can be helpful if you read and analyze them carefully. If you’re completely unsure about how to get started, there are also custom essay writing services that can help you structure your essay with the help of professional editors.

Sample 1: Leadership-focused MBA application essay

This sample is particularly focused on leadership traits. If your essay is about explaining your leadership quality experience, this sample is right up your alley. The best thing about the essay is that it is written in a simple, engaging, and humorous style. It defines a great experience in a very conversational style.

Sample 2: Self-focused MBA application essay 

If you are asked to write about your strengths, weaknesses, aims, and goals in your application essay, this sample will help you. The applicant who wrote this got accepted to the INSEAD business school. It doesn’t merely describe her strengths and weaknesses, but it presents a complete picture of herself as a person. It highlighted the events and incidents that shaped her personality.

Sample 3: Life-hardships-focused MBA application essay

If you want to explain your life’s hardships and the events that turned you into an ambitious person, this sample is for you. In this application essay, the candidate has defined three phases of his life and how he survived through each adversity. He beautifully explained why the MBA program is important to his future.

Sample 4: Continuous growth and learning-focused MBA application essay

This essay was submitted to Harvard Business School. The best thing about this piece is that the writer has explained her learning and professional development journey in a very sequential and engaging manner, which is truly admirable. A useful thing to remember about the MBA essays included in this list is that you can merge them into a single printable and perfectly formatted file with Sodapdf or another PDF editor. Having all of them stored in a single PDF is going to be quite helpful when it’s time to write your piece. But guess what? There are more examples to explore below, so let’s keep going…

Sample 5: Best MBA application essay for low scorers

Have a low GPA? What would you write about academics in an MBA essay to convince the admission committee? Do not overthink! MBA essay is not all about high achievements and sterling background. It is also an opportunity to atone for your past mistakes. This MBA essay was written by a student who obtained very low academic grades, yet got admitted to her desired business school. Her turning point? A powerful application essay.

Sample 6: A guitarist’s application essay for the MBA program

Suppose you are ambitious in a skill or profession that has nothing to do with the MBA program, yet you need the degree for certain reasons. How would you showcase that irrelevant skill in your MBA application essay? This sample essay will show how you how. A guitarist who got selected for the MBA program wrote this one. The applicant has intelligently defined his passion for guitar as a way of developing discipline, determination, leadership, and success. He explained how his passion affected his academics and how the guitar helped him cope with the challenges.

Sample 7: An engineer’s essay for MBA application

If you come from a technical or engineering background and have the ambition to pursue an MBA degree to boost your engineering career, this sample essay will help pave the way for you. This essay was submitted by a mechanical engineer to Harvard Business School. The writer explained how his engineering experience motivated him to pursue an MBA and how the program is important to his long-term goals.

Sample 8: Harvard Business School MBA essay

This essay was written by a candidate who got accepted to Harvard Business School. Check it out to know what the prestigious academic institution looks for in your essay.

Sample 9: Wharton Business School MBA essay

This essay has been honored as one of the best MBA essays ever received by the Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania. Check out the structure, organization, and flow, and adapt the same to your essay.

Sample 10: Columbia Business School MBA essay

The Columbia Business School’s admission committee shared this MBA essay. They explained why the applicant who wrote this was instantly accepted to the program and why they appreciated its content.

Sample 11: Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA essay

This essay was written by a candidate who got accepted to Stanford Business School for an MBA. If you are aiming to get your MBA at Stanford, this sample will give you a deep understanding of what convinces the esteemed school’s admission committee to accept applicants into their fold.

Sample 12: University of California Business School MBA essay

This sample was taken from a pool of successful MBA application essays submitted to the University of California business school. Read it carefully and analyze its structure, words, and substance before you compose your own fantastic MBA essay.

Sample 13: University of OXFORD business school MBA essay

If Oxford Business School is your target destiny for earning your MBA, then check out this outstanding application essay. The person who wrote it managed to grab the admission committee member’s attention.

Sample 14: London Business School MBA essay

This essay was written by a candidate who got accepted to the London Business School. The school’s admission consultant shared this sample as a reference to other MBA aspirants. This piece will specifically help you understand the tone, writing style, formatting, and overall flow of the MBA application essay that meets the school’s standards.

Sample 15: A goal-oriented MBA application essay

Sometimes the MBA admission portal may demand an essay specifically focused on your future goals. In such a case, you must be very sure about yourself and must convey your goals and future directions based on your experiences and planning. Check out this sample to get an idea of how a successful candidate writes about personal goals.

Sample 16: Executive MBA essay

This successful MBA application essay was submitted to the MIT Sloan Executive MBA Program. EMBA essay requires you to show strong potential, impact, leadership, and the ultimate need for the program. Read this essay if EMBA is on your horizon.

Sample 17: MBA video essay

Many business schools are turning to video-based essays for MBA applications. A video-based essay is a better option to express yourself directly to the admission committee. A successful candidate for the Kellogg School of Management submitted this sample. Listen to the video and appreciate how beautifully the applicant has explained his journey from beginning to end. Want to learn more about video MBA essays? Here is a complete guide.

Sample 18: Short-answer-based MBA application essay

Some business schools require candidates to respond to short questions to get insights into their personalities and suitability for the MBA program. More or less, most of the questions revolve around the same theme. The key to success is to grasp the intention of the admission committee behind the questions and to stick to your identity . These successful answers submitted to the Tepper School of Business will help you in formulating your answers.

Sample 19: MIT Sloan School of Management

This essay was submitted by a successful candidate for the MIT Sloan School of Management MBA program. See how this applicant smartly answered the essay questions.

Sample 20:  Michigan Ross School of Business MBA program

The Michigan Ross Business School asks a diverse range of questions from candidates to analyze their competencies from multiple perspectives. If Michigan Ross is where you intend to get your MBA, this essay submitted by a candidate who got admitted to the school’s MBA program will help keep you on track.

What Should be Included in the MBA Application Essay?

• Your background: What shaped you into what you are now? Including ethnicity, obstacles, and struggles.
• Self-reflection: Your values, characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Your goals : How do you envision your future?
• Aspirations: Why MBA is important to you and how this program will help you in shaping your future?
• Justification: If you have low academic grades, explain the reasons you did not do well and what you learned from it.
• Experience and achievements: What have you achieved so far?

These are the significant components of an MBA essay. Just adjust the sequence, play with words, and come up with a persuasive yet realistic picture of yourself.

What Makes a Great MBA Application Essay?

• Be school-specific. Explain why you are passionate about the MBA program of the school to which you’re applying.
• Avoid edition. Write simply and engagingly. Let the reader read a meaningful story about you.
• Make it 100% typo-free. Grammatical errors and typos will ruin your essay. Apply standard essay format and structure guidelines , scan your piece several times for errors, get it reviewed by an expert, and present a very professional piece to the admission committee.
• Be original. Do not copy-paste from any source. Strictly follow plagiarism guidelines.
• Write an overwhelming introduction to urge the reader to keep reading and conclude your essay with a strong declaration.
• Be authentic. Write what you are, not what the committee wants to read.
• Be concise, as many schools impose a limit on the essay word count .

Do you want more tips? Here is a complete guide to writing a compelling MBA application essay.

The application essay is a core part of the admission process in the increasingly competitive MBA program. If you do not want to miss the chance of getting selected, you need to know what will make your essay stand out . The expert-vetted list of MBA application essay samples we cited here worked for the top business schools. Learn them by heart, and who knows, it may work for you too. Put your other activities aside, read and analyze the list carefully, and start writing your MBA essay to land in your dream business school.

Get your free PDF report: Download your guide to 100+ AI marketing tools and learn how to thrive as a marketer in the digital era.

Rafal Reyzer

Hey there, welcome to my blog! I'm a full-time entrepreneur building two companies, a digital marketer, and a content creator with 10+ years of experience. I started RafalReyzer.com to provide you with great tools and strategies you can use to become a proficient digital marketer and achieve freedom through online creativity. My site is a one-stop shop for digital marketers, and content enthusiasts who want to be independent, earn more money, and create beautiful things. Explore my journey here , and don't miss out on my AI Marketing Mastery online course.

MBA Admission Essay Samples

Featured Expert: Anand Singh, MBA

Are you looking for some MBA admission essay samples? Look no further. In this blog, we share four outstanding MBA admission essay samples that will definitely inspire you to write your own. 

Most business schools will give you specific essay prompts that you will need to answer with your essay, but ultimately, you will either be writing an  MBA personal statement , an  MBA statement of purpose , or an  MBA diversity essay . These are the three most common types of admission essays, and they can all be challenging to write. Reviewing examples, giving yourself enough time to write and edit, and working with an expert such as an  MBA essay consultant  can really improve the quality of your admissions essay. To help you get started, we’ve put together a few examples with prompts from some of the top business schools.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

Article Contents 8 min read

Mba admission essays: sample #1.

Prompt from Wharton Business School : Considering your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (400 words).

Fifteen years ago, after graduating from high school, I left Tanzania and moved to the United States because I wanted to study multimedia marketing, and my research told me there was no better place to learn. I moved halfway across the world at the age of seventeen to follow my dreams of becoming an advertising expert and opening my own firm one day.

It took me some time to find my footing in the US. I often felt isolated and confused. Sometimes, it was little things. For example, I remember the first time I went into a grocery store and found that the food was measured in pounds. I grew up using the metric system, so instead of spending twenty minutes in the store as planned, I spent almost an hour because I had to calculate the weight of things.

Other times, it was bigger things that made me feel isolated. Like the second time I went to that same grocery store and asked a young woman who worked there where I could find scallions, she responded with a blank stare. After I explained what they were, she informed me that they are called spring onions and that if I was going to live in America, I should learn to speak English, or I could go back to where I came from.

I always made it a point to try and learn as much as possible about the places I visited to ensure that I didn't make anyone feel uncomfortable or end up feeling uncomfortable myself. I eventually found the International Student Association at the University of X, where other international students embraced me and introduced me to American students with whom I am still friends to this day. One of whom I fell in love with and married.

My experiences as an international student helped me understand the importance of being welcomed and having access to information. I know that 30% of Wharton business school's student body comprises international students and that every year, it welcomes more. I would like to join the efforts of the students who help make their transition to life in America easier.

Furthermore, I believe that my experiences have taught me to be more open-minded. I look forward to sharing my point of view with students from all over the world and having the chance to learn from them too.  (396 words)

Want to see more Wharton MBA essay examples ?

Prompt from Harvard Business School : Briefly tell us more about your career aspirations. (300 words)

My long-term career goal is to advise small businesses in my community and help them grow. I have been working as an associate business advisor with a local bank for almost a decade, and one of the many things that I have learned from this position is that several business owners do not have access to information that can go a long way toward improving, and sometimes even saving, their businesses. 

Having grown up in a relatively underserved community, I understand the importance of supporting local businesses and ensuring that we reinvest in our own communities. However, as a consumer, I also understand how difficult it can be to do this when there are cheaper and faster ways to access the same products or services that a local business offers. 

Over the years, I have built and maintained relationships with over 100 business owners in various industries and helping them manage their finances has taught me about business financial planning. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to build practical experience through an internship with a local consulting agency.

I believe that these experiences have given me a solid foundation, but to achieve my goal of becoming a business consultant and helping small business owners, I need to learn more about business administration and management. 

I chose to apply to the Harvard Business School MBA program because it has a rigorous curriculum emphasizing real-world experience through the FIELD immersion program and partnerships with other institutions. This is the perfect program for a person like me who learns by doing. 

I am ready and eager to take this next step in my career so that I can help those around me get the most out of their businesses. I believe that this is the perfect program to help me improve on the skills required to achieve my goal.

Want to learn how to write a Harvard MBA personal statement ?

Prompt from Kellogg Business School : Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip & inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created lasting value. What challenges did you face, and what did you learn? (450 words)

As one of six operations managers in a contact center, I spend most of my days making decisions that are meant to create lasting value. I lead a team of thirty employees, and my job is to maximize efficiency by ensuring that we have enough employees to provide the service requested by our clients and that the employees have everything they need to do their jobs well.

I was promoted to this role a year ago, and one of the issues I wanted to tackle was our high turnover rate. I know that contact centers have notoriously high turnover rates, but instead of the expected 30 - 40%, we were averaging a rate of 60%. This was not only costing the company a lot of money, but it was reducing the quality of the service that we could provide for our clients.

I spent months pouring over the numbers, trying to understand why we were losing so many employees and what we could do to change it. We pay our agents above market average, give employees good health benefits and vacation time, and hold several contests and competitions to keep them motivated.

After a few months of analyzing the data and finding nothing, I decided to go straight to the source. I changed the company's exit strategy procedure. Instead of a conversation between exiting contact center agents and their former supervisors, they would simply fill out an anonymous survey online that only a few people had access to.

The comments on these surveys helped me understand that the issue actually came from our hiring practices. Most of the comments showed me that many of our new recruits were not understanding the role they were signing up for. So, they would begin working, find something completely different from what they expected and decide to leave.

This information allowed me to take the lead and make some changes that benefited the whole company. I worked with an HR consultant to create better job descriptions that all the different managers now use when hiring contact center agents. Our turnover rate is now 22%, which is lower than the national average for contact centers. 

I pride myself on my ability to look at problems objectively and approach them from different angles until I find a solution. In this case, I was able to do the same thing, and in the process, I learned the importance of asking questions and looking beyond the numbers.

I am conscious of the fact that I still have a lot to learn, and I am eager to do so because I know that the knowledge I gain from this program will help me do right by my team. (449 words)

Check out more Kellogg MBA essay examples !

Prompt from Columbia University : Tell us about your favorite book, movie, or song and why it resonates with you. (250 words)

When I first started writing this essay, I began by writing a list of all my favorite books. I had filled about two pages with titles when I realized that I don't have one favorite; I have several. I initially told myself that I should talk about a business book, or something related to finances, but as much as I enjoy such books and as much as I learn from them, they are honestly not my favorites. 

After careful consideration and a few pro-con lists, I decided to write about one of the books that I have read and enjoyed multiple times: The girl with the louding voice, by the Nigerian author Abi Dare. This book follows a young girl from a poor and remote community as she tries to raise enough funds to get an education and use what she calls her 'louding voice.' Her story is both heartbreaking and inspiring. 

This particular book resonates with me so much because it reminds me of the importance of literacy and that millions of young girls worldwide do not have access to education. A cause that I am very passionate about.

I have and continue to donate my time and money towards changing things for the better. That is why I started an initiative in our publishing house to distribute books in underserved areas and underfunded schools. I hope that the knowledge and know-how that I will gain from your MBA program will allow me to do even more to help.  (250 words)

Want to see more MBA admission essays from the best MBA programs in the US ?

• More Columbia MBA essay examples
• Chicago Booth MBA essay examples
• Haas essay examples
• Stanford MBA personal statement examples
• Kelley MBA essay examples
• Yale MBA essay examples
• Cornell MBA essay examples

Have you started preparing for your MBA interviews? This video is for you:

As you can tell from the different essays you just read, business schools can ask MBA applicants about various topics. Sometimes, the same school might even give you several different prompts and ask you to choose a few from the list.  Harvard MBA personal statement  prompts are a great example of this. It is therefore important to review as many MBA admission essay samples as possible to get inspiration and familiarize yourself with the proper structure of an admission essay.

We would be remiss if we did not remind you that while looking at MBA admission samples for inspiration is great, you should not use these essays or parts of these essays as your own. Not only is this unethical, but  universities can detect plagiarism , and it can have severe consequences.

After reviewing examples, you should start by brainstorming for your own essay. Think about the experiences and motivations that have led you to apply for an MBA program and your reasons for choosing each particular MBA program that you are applying to. You can then use this information, along with examples and anecdotes from your academic and professional background to create an MBA admission essay that will stand out.

Write down as much information as possible when you are brainstorming for your essay, this information can be very helpful when you start to prepare for MBA interviews . ","label":"Bonus tip","title":"Bonus tip"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

We recommend that you give yourself at least six to eight weeks to go through this process. If you're unsure how to craft your own essay, invest in MBA admissions consulting . The consultants can guide you through the brainstorming, writing, and editing process to help you ensure that you are submitting an essay that is not only compelling but original. Thus, improving your overall chances of getting into your chosen MBA program. 

Your admission essays are very important. They give you an opportunity to present your strengths and explain your weaknesses to the admission committee. They also give you a chance to tell them exactly what you have to offer and why you deserve a spot in their class. A well-written essay can differentiate you from other candidates and significantly improve your chances of getting into your program.

MBAs are highly sought after, so the competition to get into the programs can be fierce, especially for the top institutions such as  Ivy League schools . You will need a stellar application if you want to get in.

That will depend on the school you are applying to and the specific type of admission essay that has been requested. Unless otherwise specified by the school, your essay should be between 400 and 650 words.

Not all MBA programs ask for one, but the majority of them do. Many schools require more than one admission essay, so you should always verify the school's requirements you're interested in.

A personal statement is one of the many different types of admission essays. You may be required to write a personal statement and a different type of essay, such as a letter of intent. Or your chosen school may only require one essay. Either way, you should verify the school's admissions page for the most accurate and up-to-date information.

They don't necessarily change every year, but they are subject to change depending on the school and the admission committee. You should always check the school's website before you start writing your essays to be prepared.

If you want your MBA admission essay to stand out, you need to make sure that you are showing instead of telling. Use specific examples and short anecdotes to back up any claims that you make about yourself. You should also make sure that you are following any instructions or guidelines provided by the school. If you truly want to beat the competition and craft an outstand essay, you may want to work with an MBA essay consultant.

An MBA essay consultant is an admission expert that helps students through the MBA admissions process, specifically with admission essays. They guide students as they try to craft their personal statements or other MBA admission essays. These consultants also help students improve their research and writing skills.

Want more free tips? Subscribe to our channels for more free and useful content!

Apple Podcasts

Like our blog? Write for us ! >>

Have a question ask our admissions experts below and we'll answer your questions, get started now.

Talk to one of our admissions experts

Our site uses cookies. By using our website, you agree with our cookie policy .

FREE Training Webclass: 

How to make your mba application stand out.

And Avoid the Top 5 Mistakes That Get Most Rejected

Time Sensitive. Limited Spots Available:

We guarantee you'll get into your dream MBA program or you don't pay.

Swipe up to see a great offer!

• Bihar Board

SRM University

Hp 10th result 2024.

• CBSE 10th Result 2024
• CBSE 12th Result 2024
• TN Board Result 2024
• CG Board Result 2024
• CISCE Board Result 2024
• Karnataka Board Result 2024
• Shiv Khera Special
• Education News
• Web Stories
• Current Affairs
• नए भारत का नया उत्तर प्रदेश
• School & Boards
• College Admission
• Govt Jobs Alert & Prep
• GK & Aptitude

How to write impressive MBA Assignments: Step-by-Step guide

If you are still alien to the art of writing great mba assignments, this simple step-by-step guide will help you write one very easily. follow these mba assignment writing tips and score exceptional cgpa and impress your professors..

For most students joining top MBA Colleges in India, writing is still an art they are alien to. However, being MBA students, they have churn out several MBA assignments, project papers and research thesis as part of their course curriculum. Therefore, as an MBA students or even an MBA aspirant who is planning to join the corporate world soon, learning the art of writing a great assignments is pivotal.

Why MBA Assignments?

It is very likely that if you are a recent entrant to an MBA college, you hate your professors for assigning so many MBA assignments and project work that requires you to write pages after pages of reports, data and analysis. But, before we jump to any conclusions about your faculty members, it is important to understand why do professors love MBA assignments so much?

Source: Funny Memes

So, before you actually put pen to paper, it is important to understand the motive and reason behind assigning MBA essays and projects.

Is MBA assignment a blessing in disguise?

Yes indeed it is! As future managers, there would a ton load of responsibilities on your shoulder. And considering the globalized nature of business world, it is very likely that communication would play the key role in your personal success as well as the success or failure of your firm. Therefore, as a manager, writing is a key skill that any organization would look for in a business manager. This is the same reason that MBA entrance exams have started diversified their formats and admission process and included WAT as an essential part of the selection criteria.

So, the primary reason that MBA courses focus so much upon writing assignments in a diverse array of domains is to help you learn the basics of writing skills while navigating through the web of large chunks of data, corporate policies and analytical information.

Why deliver Good quality MBA Assignments?

Now that we have worked out WHY you need to write good MBA Assignments, it’s time to actually learn HOW! In the write up below, we would try to give you the step-by-step process following which you can create a master piece of an MBA Assignment that would not only impress your professor but also add a feather to your cap when it comes to placement season.

  A Comprehensive Guide on “How to Write Great MBA Assignments”?

It’s all about Writing: How to Begin and End

1. Work out the main theme to build on the idea

• Consumer purchasing capacity for organic eatables
• Consumer purchasing capacity for soft drinks
• Consumer purchasing capacity for processed food

Once you are clear with the theme of the project on which you are ready to work, it will be easy to list down its objectives, find your target group, and profile their demographics for the study.

This step will define the framework within which you will invest your efforts in writing and churn out the crucial points that you collected in the preliminary research stages.

2. Allocate Sub-points to express you idea

Once a teacher and student were discussing the expectation of teacher from student. This conversation might also define what your teacher expects from you!

So, this is the stage where you can portray your ‘best abilities’ . We recommend that you consider this step as a mandatory requirement to enhance the readability of your text. When you mention long sentences and paragraphs of more than 80-100 words, it spoils the readability of the text . You can follow the below mentioned tips for enhancing the readability aspect of the information in your MBA Assignment.

• Make sub-points to describe the idea that you wish to present.
• If possible include bulleted pointers, make tables, pie-charts, and bar diagrams to represent the numerical data.
• Use highlighter to highlight the important points for the reader. This will support the analytical work carried out by you.
• You can also include images to present the idea to leave a visual impact on the reader.

These points will keep the reader hooked and interested to find out more about the topic and navigate through the matter easily. Moreover, if you are able to present you data well then grades are going to be yours without a doubt .

MBA Assignments Guide: Research & Checklist before you start writing

3. Provide enough examples to prove your point

It is said that one should “lead by example not decree” and it is a well-proven fact. When you mention a theory or a law, it would not be self-illustrated unless you support it with a real-life example. MBA is a professional course which is better understood if provided with real-life examples wherever possible. Be it Max Webber’s or CK Prahalad’s every theory, all have emanated from the real-life scenarios which made the thinkers ponder over and come up with a solution to problems.

For say, if you wish to explain a concept of economics called as ‘bottom of the pyramid (BOPP)’ that is said to affect the nation from top to bottom, you can use this image to easily illustrate your point.

The image is self-explanatory, that states that wealth remains in the hands of few powerful and is not distributed equally among the bottom of the pyramid population.

This examples will exhibit the latent creativity in you to explain a difficult concept in layman terms.

4. Critical Analysis exhibits your thought-process

This cartoon is a perfect example of the critical analysis which is required in the MBA assignments.

Like the opinion of nomads differ on blocks of rocks, your opinion might also differ from your peers on the same problem. Critical analysis will exhibit your resourceful grey matter and will help the evaluator understand your thought process on a particular issue .

This is one of the areas where you can fetch maximum marks if your ideas and analysis is appreciated by the evaluator. The essence of the whole problem, objectives can be weaved in here to bring out the gap and suggest the way forward.

5. Provide an impressive intro and conclusion

There goes an Irish Proverb which says ‘ Good beginning makes Good endings ’. A good beginning compels the readers to further rummage through the pages and seek more information.

Make an impressive intro to grab the attention of your evaluator and your MBA assignment won’t go ignored. You can follow these tips to make a stronger intro:

• Do not repeat the title of the project in the beginning
• Keep sentences short and catchy. Use phrases or idioms to hit the bull’s eye.
• Keep a personal touch for the reader to make the text interactive. Use ‘you’, ‘your’ etc words.
• Be Intriguing (you can begin with example, question, scenario, quote or puzzle).

Another important point that you must not ignore is the conclusion. This part must be fetching too. This part will define the entire hardwork put in by you. To make it worthy, summarise your arguments and main points . Wrap it up nicely by mentioning phrases such as “in conclusion” etc. Your conclusion should carry these points

• Talk about the problem that existed
• Mention the solution that you offered to solve it and
• You can also mention what more can be done in future that you have not been able to accomplish due to time or resource constraints. This will leave ‘food for thought’ for other researcher to carry forward your work. 

If you have followed all the above mentioned points, it is expected that you might feel like the student in this cartoon

We wish that you are on the brighter side of this radar. Make your assignment writing a pleasant experience.

But MBA assignment writing does not ends here. Yes we know that by now you must be basking in the glory with competed assignment in your hand. Still a lot remains to be done!

What lies beyond writing and research work?

What more can be added to your worthy assignment?

How can you make your assignment seem more purposeful to your faculty?

Find out in our upcoming article which will talk about the ‘Beyond Writing’ aspects that will make the MBA assignment more exciting to read and submit with your teacher...!

You can also  download our free PDF  to obtain easy tips on writing MBA Assignments. All you need to do is click on the link provided below and download the eBook.

Comprehensive Guide on 'How to Write MBA Assignments?'

Receive more tips and strategies to make you MBA life smooth and happy! Subscribe with us and stay updated!

Get here latest School , CBSE and Govt Jobs notification in English and Hindi for Sarkari Naukari and Sarkari Result . Download the Jagran Josh Sarkari Naukri App . Check  Board Result 2024  for Class 10 and Class 12 like  CBSE Board Result ,  UP Board Result ,  Bihar Board Result ,  MP Board Result ,  Rajasthan Board Result  and Other States Boards.

• SSC GD Result 2024
• TNDGE HSE +2 Result 2024
• dge.tn.gov.in Result 2024
• tnresults-nic-in 12th Result 2024
• 12th Result 2024 Tamil Nadu
• ICSE 10th, ISC 12th Result 2024
• CISCE Result 2024
• cisce.org Result 2024
• ICSE, ISC Results Rechecking 2024
• DigiLocker ICSE 10th, ISC 12th Result 2024
• Special Feature
• MBA Tips and Strategies

Latest Education News

Microsoft's Phi-3 mini: Understanding the AI model

How are Zara and H&M linked to deforestation in Brazil?

Nainital Forest Fires: What exactly is a Bambi bucket?

Fish using tools: Can fish use tools? These three fish found in the Laccadive Sea use tools

Delicious Desserts: Do you have a sweet tooth? If yes, you will enjoy this quiz

Canada T20 World Cup Squad 2024: Complete List of Team Players and Name

Most Sixes In IPL 2024: आईपीएल में चौकों-छक्कों की रेस में कौन सबसे आगे? देखें पूरी लिस्ट

HP Board 10th Result 2024 LIVE: How to Check HPBOSE 10 Class Results Online at hpbose.org With Roll Number

HPBOSE 10th Result 2024: कंफर्म! कल सुबह 10:30 बजे जारी होगा हिमाचल प्रदेश 10वीं का रिजल्ट, hpbose.org पर मिलेगा Direct Link

HPBOSE 10th Result 2024 LIVE: हिमाचल बोर्ड मैट्रिक के नतीजे hpbose.org पर कल सुबह 10:30 बजे, यहां मिलेगा रिजल्ट लिंक

HPBOSE 10th Result 2024: Check हिमाचल प्रदेश बोर्ड Class 10 Result Online at Jagran Josh and hpbose.org

(Official) HPBOSE 10th Result 2024 Tomorrow, Check HP Board Result Time and How to Get Your Scorecard

HP Board 10th Result 2024 Tomorrow at 10:30 AM, Check HPBOSE Result Latest Updates at hpbose.org

HPBOSE Result 2024: Check हिमाचल प्रदेश बोर्ड Result Online at Jagran Josh and hpbose.org

Picture Puzzle IQ Test: Find the vampire in the picture in 5 seconds!

2 Out Of 10 Can Find The Chick Hidden Among The Ducks In The Picture Puzzle Within 9 Seconds. Good Luck!

GSSSB Forest Guard Final Answer Key 2024 OUT: Download at gsssb.gujarat.gov.in

Is Mother's Day Twice In A Year? When Is Mother Sunday 2024 Celebration In India & Other Countries?

You have superhuman vision if you can find the candy among the gift boxes in 6 seconds!

IPL 2024 Full Schedule: आईपीएल 2024 का फुल शेड्यूल,आज किस टीम का है मैच जानें यहां    

Inspira Advantage

How To Write A Statement Of Purpose For MBA + Examples

One of the best ways to convey your MBA goals in one cohesive story is through a personal statement. This guide will cover everything you need to know about to write a statement of purpose.

Applying to business school means you’ll have to gather or write many documents, to sum up why you’re the perfect candidate. You must collect your university transcripts, take the GMAT or GRE , and ask for recommendation letters. 

Besides burning the midnight oil studying for your choice of standardized test, perhaps the most time-consuming part of your MBA application is writing admissions essays. 

You’ll likely write essays in response to prompts asking about challenges you’ve faced and how you overcame them, what your professional aspirations are, achievements you’re most proud of, and much more. Some business schools ask explicitly for a statement of purpose or have supplemental prompts that ask for the same things. 

We will walk you through what a statement of purpose is, how to write one for MBA admissions, a statement of purpose example, and tips to help you create your masterful essay. 

What is a Statement of Purpose?

A statement of purpose is a critical essay required for graduate school admissions explaining why you are applying to that program. Some people interchangeably call it a personal statement or a goal statement. 

Typically 1-2 pages in length, it outlines your relevant skills, experiences, and achievements, clarifies why you want to pursue further education, and makes the case for how you are a strong fit for both the program specifically and the field more broadly.

Most business schools will provide specific questions or guides to write your statement of purpose. For example, Stanford GSB explicitly requests an SOP covering the following material:

• “Your past work on relevant issues
• What excites you most about your chosen field of study
• Possible areas of research you might pursue
• Any research projects you have completed with faculty
• Any faculty member’s research that is of interest to you
• Any other information you would like to provide to the admissions committee.”

On the other hand, Wharton does not explicitly ask for an SOP but asks for supplemental essays requesting essentially the same information: 

“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.”

“Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community?”  

A SOP is an extremely important step in the application process as it is one of the few opportunities you’ll have to speak directly to the admissions committee.

How To Write the Statement of Purpose for MBA Admissions

Writing a stellar statement of purpose requires good writing skills and time. You’ll need to ensure you answer the prompts entirely, your narrative has a logical flow, and your essay is as impactful as possible. Keep in mind, that there’s no one right way to write an SOP as long as it answers the question and has a logical flow.

Writing a statement of purpose isn’t easy, but these steps will show you a possible method for writing your SOP. 

Identify What the Prompts Are Asking You 

This sounds straightforward, but it’s easy to get wrapped up in your narrative and miss particular elements admissions committees want to see. Referring to the Stanford GSB example above, the admissions committee asks you to touch on six points. For a truly outstanding essay, ensure your response answers the question. 

Do Your School Research 

One of the SOP’s primary purposes is to describe why you want to attend a school’s MBA program. The school research helps tie together your aspirations with what the school offers. Your research will not only make your writing more robust but also show the admissions committee you took the time to learn about the school before applying. 

Create An Outline 

An outline helps ensure you don’t exceed word limits, hit all the main points you want to discuss and structure your writing. Separate your response into three parts, and figure out what information you want to convey in the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. 

Introduction: Introduce Yourself And Give Background

When we say to introduce yourself, we don’t mean, “Hi, I’m John Doe and I want an MBA.” While pretty straightforward, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of your creativity and writing skills. You may want to begin with an anecdote about what sparked your interest in an MBA in the first place and give a little bit more background about your academic experience and what you do for work. 

Body: Talk About Qualifications, Express Interest, State Your Goals 

The body of your statement of purpose for MBA admissions is where you can write about your academic awards, accomplishments, and research. If you’ve received any other awards or other notable achievements like writing a book, spearheading an important project, or starting an initiative, you should write about it here. 

Some applicants like using the body of their statement of purpose to express their interest in the school’s MBA program, and some writers like to lean into that content toward the end of their response. The same applies to stating your goals: What do you want out of an MBA program? How will an MBA from this school help you achieve your professional goals? 

Conclusion: Wrap Up and Look Toward the Future 

The conclusion is where you should wrap up any loose ends in your writing. You should reaffirm why you want to attend an MBA program if you haven’t already. To help guide your thinking, answer the following questions : 

“What does this university/program offer you that other schools don't? Which courses and professors most interest you? What makes you a ‘good fit’ for this institution? What can you bring to this program?”

If you can confidently answer these, you have a good argument for why you chose the institution you’re applying to. 

Writing your hopes for the future and exactly how an MBA would help you achieve them is crucial in your writing. Although you can touch on this a little bit in your body paragraphs, you want to ensure you end on a memorable and impactful note.

What Do MBA Admissions Committees Look For in Statement of Purpose?

Your statement of purpose (SOP) tells the admissions committee how your background has prepared you to excel in the MBA program. It should clearly articulate short and long-term goals, and explain how pursuing this specific MBA provides the knowledge and opportunities to accomplish those career objectives.

An outstanding SOP makes a compelling and memorable case that you have the capability and motivation to excel in your MBA studies and career.

Statement of Purpose for an MBA Examples 

A well-written statement of purpose sample can help guide your writing process. Here is a striking statement of purpose sample from an applicant to Harvard Business School . 

“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.

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.

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.

Stories are an integral part of the human experience. They uplift and inspire us, permit us 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.”

Why This Example Works

This statement of purpose weaves together a compelling personal narrative with clear goals and qualifications relevant to Harvard. The applicant does an excellent job showing rather than telling why they would be a strong fit for Harvard. 

For example, instead of simply stating they have leadership experience, the applicant illustrates their leadership skills through specific anecdotes like creating a mentorship program and leading a professional development seminar. The applicant also ties their interests in entertainment and storytelling directly to concrete skills like building financial models, persuading executives, and managing teams that would translate well to an MBA environment. 

While the essay focuses mainly on the applicant's background and goals, the applicant makes sure to explain why Harvard specifically, with its case study method and emphasis on leadership, would further their growth. 

Overall, this statement of purpose makes a persuasive case through its seamless integration of the applicant’s past experiences, future aspirations, and alignment with Harvard’s offerings.

Let’s take a look at another sample statement of purpose for an MBA program.

‍ “Diversity is the key to an impactful and far-reaching career. All my life I have strived to diversify both my professional and academic endeavors, and it has developed me into a comprehensive individual whose skills permeate through many facets of business. 

The growth of my professional skills began in Armenia, where I was born and raised. Then, in 2015 I sought the opportunity to branch out and empower my career in different ways, in new and unique places. This motivation is what brought me to the United States, where I have been focusing on utilizing my professional skills in a new environment. 

It is what has also brought me to this exciting pursuit of a prestigious MBA degree. My professional endeavors include over ten years of experience in IT/Telecom, Oil/Gas, and Construction. 

The bulk of my work has been facilitating growth and improvement in a variety of managerial positions which have led me to the exploration of many other facets of business. For instance, my work as the Franchisee Sales Director for three years with Orange Armenia had me focusing on sales and our financial objectives, such as preparing annual budgets, scheduling expenditures, and a variety of financial analyses. 

This job led me to my next position with Veya Investments, where I led all the financial processes, and oversaw much of the sales and shipping processes. I have been fortunate to follow much of the financial organization at different levels across multiple companies, which has rounded out my comprehensive understanding of finances, economics, and accounting. 

A large bulk of my work, however, has been on the managerial side of the spectrum. I have done everything from recruitment to upper-level management where I have worked hard to motivate individuals and build efficient, high-quality teams of people. As a manager at Amsnet SOPFOR MBA PROGRAM SAMPLE Telecom, I developed and managed financial strategies, and helped train employees to reach the best of their ability. 

I oversaw employee performance as well, overall working to build morale and ensure ever-growing success for the company. I used these skills in a marketing capacity as well, particularly when I worked as Head of Business Development and Marketing with MLL Industries. I quickly found that a broader understanding of the synchronous aspects of business helped in my ability to market the company effectively. 

A deeper knowledge of the flow and hierarchy of the business environment was vital to my ability to put together proper and effective marketing strategies. Perhaps the most important thing I have learned in my years of experience is that all facets of business work in tandem with one another, and it is ineffective to just understand one aspect, even if your understanding is incredibly dense. Understanding how the parts of a business work and flow together is how to make effective change in a company, and it all plays into quantitative business analysis, something I have utilized in almost all of my jobs. 

Looking toward the future, I know that I can expand my knowledge even further in all aspects of business, which is why an MBA program is perfect for me. This program will allow me to utilize skills I have acquired in the past, and apply them in new and unique ways. 

It is an opportunity for trial and error, learning what is effective and what isn’t as I work towards taking on more responsibilities as a business professional. I am excited for where this MBA could potentially take my career, and I hope you will consider my application.” 

This statement of purpose makes a strong case for the applicant's candidacy by emphasizing their professional diversity and ability to succeed across various business functions. The applicant does an excellent job using anecdotes from their international work experience to demonstrate a comprehensive skillset spanning finance, management, marketing, and more. 

They also tie each experience back to overarching business concepts like financial analysis, showing an aptitude for making connections between discrete roles. Though their career has been more tactical so far, the applicant conveys strategic thinking and big big-picture perspective when discussing how all facets of business interconnect. 

Their thoughtful reflection on past challenges and eagerness to expand their knowledge make a persuasive argument for why an MBA would be the next logical step. By blending specific examples with commentary on key takeaways, this essay paints a portrait of a consummate professional who will thrive in business school and beyond.

It’s always helpful to see a few examples before writing your statement of purpose. So, let’s take a look at a statement of purpose for an applicant to Cornell’s MBA degree program. 

“Dear Admissions Committee,

I am writing to express my sincere interest in pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. With a passion for business strategy, leadership, and innovation, I am eager to leverage the unparalleled resources and rigorous academic environment at Cornell to further develop my skills and make a meaningful impact in the business world.

My journey into the realm of business began with a strong foundation in Economics, where I cultivated analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and a keen understanding of market dynamics. Throughout my academic and professional experiences, I have consistently sought opportunities to challenge myself and expand my horizons, whether through internships, research projects, or extracurricular activities.

One defining aspect of my career has been my commitment to continuous learning and growth. I have actively sought out diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary knowledge, recognizing the importance of adaptability in today's dynamic business landscape. This mindset has not only enabled me to navigate complex challenges but has also fueled my desire to pursue advanced education in business administration.

Cornell's MBA program stands out to me for its reputation of excellence, distinguished faculty, and emphasis on practical, real-world learning experiences. I am particularly drawn to the program's immersion learning approach through the Johnson Leadership Fellows Program, which will provide me with hands-on experience and mentorship opportunities to refine my leadership skills. Additionally, the opportunity to participate in the Strategic Operations Immersion will allow me to apply classroom concepts to real business scenarios, preparing me to drive operational excellence in future roles.

Beyond the classroom, I am eager to take advantage of Cornell's extensive network of alumni and industry connections, leveraging these resources to gain valuable insights and forge meaningful partnerships. I am especially interested in joining the Sustainable Global Enterprise Immersion to explore innovative business models that prioritize environmental and social responsibility. Additionally, I look forward to contributing to the Cornell Consulting Club, where I can apply my analytical skills to solve complex business problems and collaborate with diverse teams.

In conclusion, I am confident that Cornell's MBA program will provide me with the knowledge, skills, and networks necessary to excel as a business leader in today's global economy. I am committed to fully immersing myself in the academic and professional opportunities available at Cornell, and I am excited about the prospect of contributing to the university's legacy of excellence.

Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of joining the Cornell community and embarking on this transformative journey together.” 

This statement of purpose aligns the applicant's background and goals with the specific strengths of Cornell's MBA program. The applicant demonstrates a strong foundation in economics and analytics while highlighting their commitment to lifelong learning across disciplines. 

Though their experience is still an early career, they convey intellectual curiosity and adaptability that would enable them to thrive in an advanced business program. The applicant does an excellent job articulating why Cornell is their top choice, citing specific learning opportunities in leadership, operations, and sustainability that match their interests. 

They also express genuine enthusiasm for getting involved on campus through clubs and consulting projects. By balancing academic motivations with extracurricular and professional ambitions, this essay paints the picture of a well-rounded applicant who sees Cornell as the perfect catalyst to accelerate their business education. 

The level of research and fit conveyed gives admissions confidence that this candidate would actively contribute to the vibrant campus community.

Common Mistakes

Common mistakes when writing MBA SOPs include repeating your resume without adding new information or examples. It’s also a mistake to lack confidence in showcasing your achievements and personal story. Let’s take a closer look at these common pitfalls. 

• Avoid Repetition : Your Statement of Purpose (SOP) should not regurgitate your resume. Instead of listing your accomplishments again, use the SOP as an opportunity to delve into your personal story, showcasing your unique qualities and experiences.
• Use Examples : Support your claims with concrete examples. Instead of simply stating that you possess certain qualities like hard work or innovation, provide specific instances where you demonstrated these traits. This helps to make your SOP more engaging and credible.
• Be Confident : Approach your SOP with confidence. Trust in your experiences and abilities, and convey this assurance in your writing. Avoid undermining yourself or downplaying your achievements.
• Plan and Reflect : Take the time to plan and reflect on your experiences before writing your SOP. Consider how each experience has shaped you and contributed to your goals. This reflection will help you craft a coherent and compelling narrative.
• Learn from Setbacks : Embrace setbacks as opportunities for growth. Don't shy away from discussing challenges or failures in your SOP. Instead, demonstrate how you overcame obstacles, showcasing your resilience and determination.
• Be Modest, but Proud : Find a balance between humility and confidence in your SOP. While it's important to be modest, don't hesitate to highlight your achievements and strengths. Present yourself in a positive light without coming across as arrogant.
• Avoid Clichés : Tell your story in your own words, avoiding clichés and overused phrases. Be authentic and original in your writing, focusing on what makes your experiences and aspirations unique. This will help your SOP stand out to admissions committees.

In wrapping up, remember to steer clear of these mistakes in your MBA application. A well-crafted SOP can truly make a difference in standing out among applicants.

Tips for Writing a Statement of Purpose 

Writing a statement of purpose might sound difficult, but once you have an outline, the process is quite simple. To help you write your statement of purpose, we’ve outlined 10 tips, listed below.

1. Hone in on Your Abilities and How They Spell Success

It’s one thing to consider yourself a diligent worker, but it’s another to demonstrate how your diligence has led to success. You want the admissions committee to understand you’re an excellent candidate by showcasing your strengths but do so in a way that focuses on results. 

2. Ensure You Describe the Mutual Benefit

Although you’ll undoubtedly benefit from a school’s MBA program, you want to show the admissions committee how your acceptance will benefit the school. Share how you plan to contribute to the school’s community, class discussions, and overall culture. 

3. Quantify Your Experiences

Your statement of purpose shouldn’t be a list of facts and figures, but adding some can help your credibility and showcase your potential. Think about the quantifiable measures of success you can add to your SOP, such as your hand in increasing revenue and productivity. 

4. Edit Your Statement of Purpose to Perfection

Even the best writers need some help to unlock their work's full potential and impact. You’ll likely write numerous SOP drafts before you’re confident in the final product. 

5. Show, Don't Tell

Rather than broadly stating your skills or accomplishments, use vivid examples and anecdotes to showcase them. For research, describe a specific breakthrough discovery. For leadership, tell a story where your initiative drove impact.

6. Find Your Perspective

What distinct experiences, viewpoints, backgrounds, or interests set you apart from other applicants? Be introspective about an obstacle you have overcome, a passion that drives you, or a particular lens through which you view the world. Then highlight this in your statement to show what distinctive perspective you will bring to the program.

7. Research Thoroughly

Strengthen your statement by citing specific courses, faculty experts, facilities, institutes, or other details offered at the target program that align with your academic interests and future goals. Not only does this demonstrate a genuine interest and fit with the program, but it also shows you have done your homework and understand what this specific school can offer you.

8. Be Succinct

Admissions committee members must read through hundreds of statements of purpose from applicants. While you want to include critical details about your abilities, experiences, and goals, be mindful that convoluted, excessively wordy essays can lose the reader’s interest quickly.

9. Customize for Each School 

Avoid recycling one generic statement of purpose to submit to all schools. Tailor each statement you draft to reflect the specific values, culture, and offerings of each program by citing details you uncovered through your research about that particular institution.

10. Refine Through Multiple Drafts

Treat every sentence and paragraph of your statement with great care and importance. Allow yourself ample time to write multiple drafts, letting it rest in between for a fresh look each time.

Let’s move on to some commonly asked questions.  

1. Do I Need to Rewrite My Statement of Purpose for Each School? 

Yes, you should write a unique statement of purpose tailored to each MBA program you apply to. While some background details may overlap, your SOPs should highlight different skills, goals, and fit to align with the values and offerings of each specific school.

2. How Do I Avoid Rehashing My Resume?

Use vivid stories and examples that bring your background to life rather than just listing accomplishments. An engaging personal narrative and themes related to your goals help form the backbone for compelling writing.

3. How Important Is My Statement of Purpose? 

Your SOP is critical for MBA applications, allowing you to stand out from applicants with similar test scores/GPAs. It demonstrates fit with the program and how you’ll contribute to the school’s community.

4. How Long Should My Statement of Purpose Be? 

Follow any length requirements stated by the school. If none is specified, 1,000 words or less is best. Concise, well-crafted writing keeps the reader's interest.

5. Can I Include Extenuating Circumstances in My Statement of Purpose? 

If gaps exist in your application, explain them in your SOP. However, avoid excessive focus on weaknesses. Many schools have an optional essay for addressing anything else admissions should know.

6. Does My Story Need to Be Earth-Shattering to Make a Good Essay? 

No - admissions committees look for evidence of resilience, introspection, and initiative. While dramatic essays may seem compelling, grounded stories of overcoming challenges can be equally persuasive.

Bruce DelMonico , Assistant Dean of Admissions at Yale University School of Management, said he approaches dramatic stories and stretched truths in essays with caution. He said he’s not “looking for students to have exotic experiences but for evidence of resilience, introspection and initiative.” 

7. Can I Play With the Statement of Purpose’s Format? 

Yes, organize your SOP however best presents your candidacy, as long as it flows logically. Tailor both content and structure to each school.

Conclusion 

Your statement of purpose should be well-written, impactful, and creative to give you the best chance of admission. Statements of purpose help the admissions committee get to know you and your skills better and add value to your application. 

Remember, you want to demonstrate why the program is an excellent fit for you as much as why you're a perfect fit for the program. Admissions committees want to admit applicants who display positive character traits diverse skill sets, and are willing to contribute to their school community. 

With the help of this guide, you can feel empowered knowing you have the tools to craft an outstanding statement of purpose. 

About Inspira Futures

Schedule a free consultation, you may also like.

Deferred MBA Programs: Ultimate Guide to the Top 7 B-Schools

Everything You Need To Know About The Wharton MBA Essays

Sample Assignment Help

MBA Assignment Sample

What is mba assignment sample.

As we know MBA is the abbreviated form of Master of Business Administration. It is a business degree pursued by students those who want to build a career in consultancy, finance or marketing. MBA program are of many types and are classified on the basis of its duration, course type and also students. For an instance, the working professionals can opt for Executive MBA whereas students have to enroll in Full-time MBA program. Our MBA Assignment Sample gives an insight on all the subjects and topics that are important. In our MBA, Assignment Report Sample , you would also get academic topics segregated on the basis of assessments.

Why MBA Assignment Sample is important to write a good assignment?

Since the age of early humans, we have learnt through observation. It is one such practice that still stands true. As of this day, we look for files to refer to. Even while all these experiments are conducted, we look for one standard sample to which we can compare and get the true value of data. Sample for MBA Assignment has proven to be essential for establishing the consistency and accuracy of analytical results across many places and time periods. They ensure the correctness and comparability of the results as a consistent thread, regardless of the application sector. MBA Assignment Help Sample ensures the precision and reliability of measurements required to check the quality of assignments and services provided by industry, as well as to monitor the environment, by establishing the traceability of measurement findings. The most amounts of help that a student can expect from samples are that they help them get an overview of the assignment that they have to write in the future. From MBA Assignment Sample, students can expect top-notch files that will help them in sticking to one uniform body structure, choice of words, and the proper placement of theories at the right points.

Why visit our website for MBA Assignment Sample?

MBA is no easy course, and that is the case with assignments that the curriculum demands as well. However, with MBA Assignment Report Sample, it gets easier for them to hold on to attractive curriculum vitae. As students belonging to the fraternity of management, you must be well aware of what importance experience holds. MBA Assignment Project Sample is a hard nut to crack when it comes to pushing students towards a better academic standpoint. MBA Assignment Sample is prepared by well-experienced personnel who make sure it covers every nook and corner of the syllabus, making it free from anxiety for the students.

Areas Covered

As already mentioned, some of the prime reasons to refer our MBA Assignment project sample . Let us give you a walk through on all the major areas in MBA assignment that are covered in our sample. Organizational Behavior- All the activities and group related performance are studied under this subject. basically, organizational Behavior educates management students to study the work environment on various factors such as leadership, job culture, team performance, etc. Other equally important topics mentioned in MBA Assignment Help Sample are- marketing management, market research, financial management, corporate finance, accounting management, global marketing, business economics, taxation, auditing and many more.

Looking for best MBA Assignment Help . Whatsapp us at +16469488918 or chat with our chat representative showing on lower right corner or order from here . You can also take help from our Live Assignment helper for any exam or live assignment related assistance.

You can explore our samples by clicking here