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anita_083
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"Why MBA" Essay Updated on: 21 Apr 2008, 12:59
Originally posted by anita_083 on 03 Sep 2007, 22:24.
Last edited by anita_083 on 21 Apr 2008, 12:59, edited 1 time in total.
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bsd_lover
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"Why MBA" Essay 03 Sep 2007, 22:32
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Hi Anita,

This theme of the 'social entrepreneur' is in no way 'unusual'. In fact I believe that your reasoning is excellent because it is very specific. You know exactly what you want to do. It is distinctive and it is interesting.

Good luck.

anita_083
Greetings again to fellow gmatclubbers,

I've been trying to write my "Why MBA" essay and am seriously not sure whether my post MBA aspiration is a little too "unusual". I have been doing a whole lot of thinking lately and have pretty much decided to pursue an MBA with double concentration on enterpreneurship and nonprofit. My main thought behind this is that I would need the necessary business knowledge to open up a new business venture in furniture design (my age old passion) in Indonesia, while also nurturing it to be a socially conscious corporation that allocates portion of my profits for education for women and children (my other passion).

The dilemma I have is whether or not I should list this socially responsible furniture design aspiration as my post MBA goal. With no solid experience whatsoever to backup my arts and design passion, I feel like I am writing about something that I would not be able to concretely support. Although I have done fairly extensive research on the potential to exploit the furniture market in Indonesia, I do not have the type of education / exposure on anything related to arts and design.

Any thoughts on how I should proceed with this type of aspiration? Maybe I should look at particular aspects or be prepared to answer certain questions that adcoms would have in mind?

Thank you again for all the inputs! Gmatclub rocks :)
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"Why MBA" Essay 03 Sep 2007, 22:51
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Your story is certainly not unusual. But you do need to focus on showing that you've really thought it through and are not some dreamy girl with unrealisitc plans or someone who quickly came up with these ideas to get into a good MBA program.

Showing how your experiences and values led you to this goal is going to be very important. To be honest to you, when I started reading your post, the words that came in my mind were: "Yeah right!!". By the end of it, I started believing your story. Now it's your job to turn that "Yeah right!!" to "Oh well, this is really interesting". Maybe you can highlight your extensive resesarch on the furniture market in Indonesia and share some of your learnings in the essay?

Think about it, and then think some more. And I am sure you'll have enough to tell that you have a solid plan for future and that you really need an MBA to get to that plan. Don't worry .. it's doable!
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"Why MBA" Essay 03 Sep 2007, 23:27
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When you tell your story, dont start with I want to do X and follow it by here's all the research I have done. If you do this, pepole will go "yeah right" just as mNeo did and to be honest I felt the same. When the ad-com reads u'r app, you are probably the 1000th person to talk about social entrepreneurship. For the ad-com to sit up right and take notice of you, I suggest you start with a personal story, intriguing nugget, an interesting stat or something similar that can be tied to your goal. Once you pique the interest of the ad-com, then guide the ad-com to reach the same conclusion as you did. That your post-MBA goal is where you need to be.
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"Why MBA" Essay 04 Sep 2007, 03:55
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A doubt not related to this discussion but related to the topic.

I want to do an MBA to shift my career, "probably" to finance. I am presently into Consulting for small and medium businesses and am involved in very interesting things and to a certain extent, not very conventional.

I am pretty sure that its not going to be easy for me to explain why I want to shift to finance coz I dont have anything to back it up. One may argue that "if you dont know how to explain why you like finance, are you sure you like it? " I don't have answers for that. I have read the day in a life and have spoken with quite a few in the finance field and I like what they do.

I can come up with really good reasons why I need to do an MBA which may not necessarily be what I may eventually do. Logically, it will be much more easier to come up with a compelling argument if I dont talk of career shift and talk about an extension in present career.

And hence this dilemma.

Do I speak the truth and come up with a not so compelling argument or lie but come up with an amazing argument to back my why MBA.

Please don't mis understand that I don't have direction. I am almost clear that I need to join Finance and have made helluva research on the various career paths etc. But it can't be explained "logically".

Anyone in the same boat. Am I the one who is stuck in this or is this a problem for many?

Any advises?

I guess for majority, explaining an interest in shifting to MC is much more easy than explaining a shift to Finance.
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"Why MBA" Essay Updated on: 21 Apr 2008, 13:00
Originally posted by anita_083 on 04 Sep 2007, 07:43.
Last edited by anita_083 on 21 Apr 2008, 13:00, edited 1 time in total.
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"Why MBA" Essay 04 Sep 2007, 14:26
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A personal story is definitely a good starting point.
It shows that you have had experience with something similar, albeit on a smaller scale in life and that you want to go ahead with bigger ambitions.

The end goal is no biggie as long as you can justify it with some valid reasoning.
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"Why MBA" Essay 04 Sep 2007, 21:27
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@Anita

Yest I attended the Wharton info session at Delhi. This is what he had to tell about this. Not the same words, but more or less the same meaning.

"You have to be very careful. See, If you have been doing IT all along and you come and tell me, Hey! I want to be a VC at San Fracisco post MBA, it means you have not done your home work properly. Say, If you put it across like this. I am in IT and I love technology. I know its not going to be easy to be a VC in SF. But I would like to do this, this and this at Wharton and get into IB. I have already done these to make my profile look attractive to IB. Now once I shift to IB, I would do these to become a VC".

I guess you get the drift. This is nothing insightful or great. But the admissions director told this, which means it gives an idea as to how they look career shifts. Basically do you come across as someone who has done enough research on where you want to go and how you want Wharton to help you in that. Thats the focus point. And the same will apply to any B School.

Now, here, he tells, do a lot of research. But the confusion is when you have actually done a lot of research but still feel uncomfortable on how well I can make them believe that!

We are back at the same question. :)
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"Why MBA" Essay 04 Sep 2007, 23:06
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Absolutely GOLDEN comments, for almost anyone writing a goals essay. You MUST be able to link your future goals to your past, and show conviction and effort that you have put in the past to achieve these goals.

It is easy to show if you want to progress further in the same career path, but not so easy if you are switching to something new.

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@Anita

Yest I attended the Wharton info session at Delhi. This is what he had to tell about this. Not the same words, but more or less the same meaning.

"You have to be very careful. See, If you have been doing IT all along and you come and tell me, Hey! I want to be a VC at San Fracisco post MBA, it means you have not done your home work properly. Say, If you put it across like this. I am in IT and I love technology. I know its not going to be easy to be a VC in SF. But I would like to do this, this and this at Wharton and get into IB. I have already done these to make my profile look attractive to IB. Now once I shift to IB, I would do these to become a VC".

I guess you get the drift. This is nothing insightful or great. But the admissions director told this, which means it gives an idea as to how they look career shifts. Basically do you come across as someone who has done enough research on where you want to go and how you want Wharton to help you in that. Thats the focus point. And the same will apply to any B School.

Now, here, he tells, do a lot of research. But the confusion is when you have actually done a lot of research but still feel uncomfortable on how well I can make them believe that!

We are back at the same question. :)
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ishcabibble
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"Why MBA" Essay 05 Sep 2007, 10:47
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I am also a career-changer. However, unlike most posters here, it's not from one area of business to another, but a completely different career. My undergrad prepared me to go to graduate school to get certified to teach elementary school. For the past 7 years I've been working for lobbying organizations. I want to go into marketing.

In every book and article I read and podcast I listened to, it was mentioned that career changers really have to show that they have a clear idea of what the new career entails. So, for my essay I pulled out aspects of my undergrad, jobs, and especially extra-curricular activities that related (directly and indirectly) to marketing. I also did a lot of research (including informational interviews) into specifically what types of companies I would like to work for and what types of marketing I want to do. I tried to show that between the little tastes of marketing work I've gotten and the research I've done into the industry, I know that I am very excited about it and feel that it's right for me.

I'm sure that if you write about what it is about social entrepreneurship or VC that excites you and how you came to be interested in that field and that you've done your research and know what you'll be getting into, you'll be fine. Bonus points if you can find instances in your work or other activities that relate at all to the new career.