personal statement mba

When writing your personal statement MBA, make sure that you stimulate the interest of your readers. The only way to do that is to make your personal statement out of a topic that would surely pique their interest. This way, your readers will have an understanding of how you think based on the topic you will write about.

You could write about a student?s ultimate objectives about going to MBA School as well as its main considerations before doing so. Of course, to keep your audience reading, you should write about what the admissions panel would really want to know. Focus on writing about your expectations from completing the MBA program and tailor-fitting your experiences, goals, strengths, and skills to the principles of the MBA School you wish to go to. Also, emphasize in writing the requirements you need for each type of program and what impact each has on the students aspiring to be future business leaders of the country.

Success rate

Assessing the success rate of students when it comes to MBA applications is a basic requisite. You would not want to go to a battle without checking out your gears and capabilities. Before you decide on applying to a business school, it is best to assess yourself first.

The success rate of students in getting accepted to an MBA school of your choice depends not only on the results of examinations taken or the professional credentials shown, but also on the way you write your admission essay to convince the admissions panel to accept you. This is why you have to strategically plan your essay. Focus on one factor that you believe would gain the approval of the admissions committee.

Types of MBA programs

What are the various types of MBA programs available for students who are aspiring to be business leaders in the future? There are part-time and full-time programs. Another option is taking up online courses to complete the MBA degree. There are also various fields of specialization to consider.

Financing your education

Choosing to plunge into the business school can be a very sensible and, at the same time, expensive decision. Aside from the examination fees, you also have to pay for the school?s application fee for processing of your application. The tuition and other school fees are also additional cost to consider for your education.

But don?t worry, because there are so many programs being offered by schools to help students finance MBA schooling on their own. Even the government offers loan programs depending on a student?s financial needs. You may always ask your chosen school?s financial representatives about how to qualify and the availble loans.

Related links:

Online MBA program – About choosing an online MBA program
Top MBA schools – About the top MBA schools in the US
Admission essay – How to put together attractive essays
Ethos and mythos – Evidence types in MBA personal statement
MBA personal statements – About MBA personal statements in Marketing

Writing an Excellent Personal Statement MBA Focusing on Marketing as Your Preferred Specialty

If your goal in your MBA is a specialization in marketing, then as with most MBA schools, you need to come up with a personal statement MBA application piece.  But what should you include in your personal statement?  The concepts for a good personal statement, whatever the specialization, remain the same: know yourself, be yourself, and keep it together.

Know yourself

Of course, you don’t wake up one day and suddenly decide to build a career in marketing.  If you did, then good for you because you already have the mindset on what specialization you want to study.  But for the most of us, the choice of a career came after some consideration.  If you’re planning on an MBA, better hit it up a notch.  You have to be clear as to why you want a marketing career and why you think an MBA will help you.  You should also start formulating some short-term and long-term goals with your career and MBA in perspective.  You should reflect on the things that make you think that you would do great in marketing, and how an MBA will increase your chances of success in that field.

Be yourself

This one is more for the writing process.  Once you’ve got everything straightened out with your goals and your reasons, the next thing to do is to express those in your own words.  As most people have advised others regarding personal essays, your personality has to shine through in the writing.  Especially in marketing, you need to have a flair for words and be interesting.  Actually, this is a good venue for you to establish yourself as a marketer.  If you can’t market yourself, it would be hard to convince the admission officials that you can market others and their products.  Call this an extra challenge, but it’s better seen as a marketing opportunity.

One way you can market yourself effectively is using your skills, experience, and personality as reasons why you should be in marketing.  Mention substantial details that illustrate your skills as a marketer.  But that’s not all, you should also show some of your areas of improvement, how you dealt with it, and how you think business school is the right avenue for you to continue your growth as a marketer.

Keeping it together

As with any good marketer, you should know your market well.  And for your personal statement MBA application, your market is the school.  You should do some research on the school, provide reasons why your personality, skill set, and needs matches those that the school provides.  You can also add in some details on how you can contribute to the school’s community and become an asset for them.  You’re just relating your goals as a marketer with what the school stands for.  After all, you do see the business school as your partner for success.

So if you’re planning to be a marketer, then the pressure is up to market yourself properly.  But once you know what to say, your purpose, and your fit for the field that you’ve chosen, marketing yourself should not be that difficult.

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Coming up with a Winning Personal Statement MBA Focusing on Financial Engineering as Your Preferred Specialty

If you want to have a good personal statement on your MBA and you want to focus on financial engineering, the process is the same.  The qualities of good personal statements don’t change, whatever the subject you’re focusing on.  It’s just that when you’re specific on financial engineering, then you would just be more detailed about the subject.  So if you’re doing a personal statement on financial engineering, here are some things you should remember.

Who you are

You should have some important details about yourself that are not yet mentioned in your other application documents.  Things like details about your personal history that made you decide to take up financial engineering as a career path.  You can mention some persons who inspired you, or some events in your life that made you see yourself as successful in that field.  Doing this would give admission officials some ideas as to the type of person that you are and see your reasons for applying for that specialization.  The point here is to add a human element in your personal statement.

Be interesting

Aside from mentioning personal details, you should also aim to be interesting to your reader.  Make them read more about you and your potential in your personal statement.  With these people having to read hundreds of these personal statements daily, you need to give them a break and make your work an enjoyable and easy read.  You can use the same personal experiences in making your personal statement for MBA more interesting and memorable.  Another way is to discuss your future plans and how you can make a difference as a financial engineer.  You can also mention some other past experience that can show your potential for success in the field.

Another thing to remember about being interesting is to keep things short and direct to the point.  You don’t need to mention every little detail.  Just stick to the important points in your story.  If you take too long, it would become a tedious read, and it would show that you did not exercise much planning and editing on your personal statement.

Language

Related to being concise is the language that you use.  Since it is a personal statement, make sure that you become more relaxed, direct, and frank in your expression.  Again, the personal statement is about you, so your personal expression is well-appreciated.  You should express your own ideas in a way that shows your understanding of financial engineering and how it relates well you as a person. Y ou should also use direct and active sentences in your statement to help you get your point across quicker and stronger.

In your personal statement MBA application, you just need to make sure that your personality shines through.  If it’s for financial engineering, you need to ensure that you can clearly show how your personality, goals, and abilities are a well-fit for that program and you have the potential to succeed in that field.  Doing so will surely increase your acceptance chances.

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Discussing in Your Personal Statement MBA Why You’ll Make a Good Financial Adviser Someday

If you plan to discuss your goal to become a financial adviser in your personal statement MBA application, then you have most of your work cut out for you.  That is because you already have a good specific topic in mind to talk about in your personal statement.  But this will only be good if you’re clear to yourself what your reasons are for pursuing a career in financial advising.  So long as you know the why’s and the how’s of your decision, writing your personal statement should not prove so difficult.  Here are some suggestions on creating your personal statement.

Use your experience

You can use the experience that you had whether in the workplace or in the university for reasons why you believe you’re a right fit for financial advising.  Especially if you have experience in dealing money and was successful in it, you can cite the things that you’ve learned, and the things that you think you still need to learn about the world of finance.  Of course, you can mention here how you have a good credit, or, if you had bad credit before, you can explain how you got yourself out of that situation.

You can also mention instances when your advice was helpful to a friend or relative.  This can also help boost your image as a good potential adviser.  Be sure to cite substantial decisions only; helping a friend select a dress, or which person to date will not rank high on anyone’s standard for a financial adviser.

Cite interests and hobbies

Aside from your professional and student experiences, you can also cite hobbies and interests that you have to promote yourself.  For example, if you like logical games or excel in chess, you can show your strategic and logical thinking.  If you do volunteer work, especially in counseling, then you can show that you’re empathetic and that you know how to listen to people’s problems and come up with solutions for them.

Keep things tight

The next thing to remember is to always keep the details that you mention related to your goal as a financial adviser and how the school that you’re applying for can help you achieve that goal.  If you did the necessary reflection on your career path and research on the school that you want to get in to, then this should already be easy.  For the specific school, you can mention some programs or faculty that you think can provide you what you need to advance as a financial adviser.  Though saying reputation is great, you should still learn the basis for that reputation and that you know what you want for your MBA education.

If you’re already planning to become a financial adviser, then be sure you have all your reasons straightened out.  If you need an MBA for it, then you should have not much difficulty in writing your personal statement MBA requirement.  Just remember the tips provided here, and you should be in good shape.

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Following Chicago Booth, Harvard Business School and Kellogg School of Management in BusinessWeek’s 2008 Best MBA Programs are Wharton School, Ross School of Business, and Stanford Business School. Check out the following information on those three schools and see what MBA school suits you best.

Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania)

Founded in 1881 by Philadelphia philanthropist Joseph Wharton, Wharton School is regarded as the first collegiate business school in the world. With Wharton putting it up to be able to contribute to the business world by providing liberal education to aspiring practitioners, Wharton School has already grown into a university with several distinguished faculty, 11 departments and more than 25 research initiatives and centers. It offers executive education, PhD, MBA, and undergraduate business programs. To apply to Wharton School, fill out the application form online through its website.

Ross School of Business (University of Michigan)

Then called “School of Business Administration” when it was established on January 10, 1924, Ross School of Business continued to expand both in territory and in scope of courses offered. It was renamed by the school’s Board of Regents in honor of Stephen M. Ross, who donated $100 million to the school in 2004. With Tappan Hall as its main sanctuary for about 25 years, Ross School of Business shall have a new building which will open in January 2009. Ross School of Business offers MBA, executive and doctorate programs. To apply to Ross School of Business, simply check out the website and download the application form. Available programs and schedules can also be found on the site.

Stanford Business School

Initiated by former US President Herbert Hoover, the Stanford Graduate School of Business was established in 1924 to provide a highly reputable school of business for the brightest students in the West Coast. Besides having three Nobel laureates in its faculty, Stanford GSB also boasts of its Center for Leadership Development and Research, Center for Global Business and the Economy, Center for Social Innovation, and Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. To apply to Stanford GSB, just fill out the online application form through its website.

Having a successful business career requires significant investment. And what better way to invest in your business future than getting quality business education? Nothing assures having quality MBA education better than the best business schools. If you’re on the look out for an MBA school that would best equip you as you put up your business career, then you’ve come to the right page. Here are profiles of the three universities in the US that topped BusinessWeek’s 2008 list.

University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Since its inception in 1898, Chicago Booth has been an exemplar of quality education. Fostering an effectual discipline-based approach to learning, it has nurtured a number of successful business practitioners including Nobel laureate, James Kilts, who developed Gillette, Kraft, Oscar Mayer and Nabisco. To apply to any Chicago Booth MBA school, just request for an application form through the school’s website. Chicago Booth offers MBA, PhD and executive programs in full-time, and evening and weekend classes.

Harvard Business School

Founded in 1908, Harvard Business School (HBS) is one of the oldest MBA schools in the country. Effectively handling a good reputation in management education through the years, it boasts of educating a number of distinguished business personalities. Among its deans are John H. McArthur, who has been the Senior Advisor of the World Bank’s president since 1996, and Jay O. Light, who was a Ford Foundation Director of Investment and Financial Policies. To apply to HBS, follow its online application program on its website.

Kellogg School of Management [NorthwesternUniversity]

Also founded in 1908, Kellogg School of Management takes its pride in its countless alumni who have set their own places in the business world. Rearing students from different cultural backgrounds, Kellogg offers undergraduate, MBA, doctoral and executive programs in full-time and part-time. To apply to the Kellogg School of Management, just check out the application requirements and download the application form from the school’s website.

In BusinessWeek’s 2008 MBA School rankings, Haas School of Business, Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Tuck School of Business took the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth places, respectively. For more information on these schools, check out the brief school profiles below. They include brief school backgrounders, programs offered, distinguished alumni and application instructions. Click on the links to view the schools’ respective websites.

Haas School of Business (University of California–Berkeley)

Haas School of Business was established from the initiative of one of University of California-Berkeley’s distinguished alumni, Arthur Rodgers. In his commencement address in 1883, Rodgers mentioned the idea of University of California College of Commerce. In less than 15 years, the Haas School of Business was born. Haas School of Business offers undergraduate, MBA, PhD, executive education, Masters in Financial Engineering, and non-degree programs in full-time and part-time. To apply to Haas School, inquire at the admissions office or fill out the application form online through the school’s website.

Johnson Graduate School of Management (Cornell University)

Since it was founded in 1946, Johnson School has produced a number of notable business practitioners. Among them are: Nancy Schlichting of Henry Ford Health System, Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods, Inc., Daniel Hesse of Sprint Nextel Corp., Kyung-Bae Suh of AmorePacific Corp., and Robert Ramin of National Aquarium. Johnson School offers undergraduate, graduate, MBA, PhD and executive programs. Apply to Johnson by completing the application form online.

Tuck School of Business (Dartmouth College)

Founded in 1900, the Tuck School of Business is the alma mater of a number of prominent business practitioners, including John Jacquemin, Mark Byrne, Quentin L. Kopp, Philip J. Moss, Anne Sullivan and Colin Kenny. Tuck School of Business offers only full-time MBA program, executive education programs and the undergraduate Tuck Business Bridge Program. Application to Tuck School of Business can be done online through the school’s official website.

Filling the seventh to ninth spots in BusinessWeek’s list of the best MBA Schools in the US as of 2008 are Columbia Business School, Fuqua School of Business, and MIT Sloan School of Management, respectively.

Below are some information on these schools, including brief backgrounders, business programs offered, instructions on how to apply and links to the schools’ corresponding websites.

Columbia Business School

Established in 1916, Columbia Business School has been among the top producers of business leaders in the United States. It prides itself with faculty members who contribute to the world of business and business education not just by educating aspiring business practitioners, but also by coining different business concepts. With about 40% of its student body representing various countries, Columbia Business School also boasts of producing not just business leaders, but also business advisers around the world.

Columbia Business School offers MBA, executive, and doctorate education programs. To apply to Columbia Business School, access the school’s online application through its official website.

Fuqua School of Business (Duke University)

Founded by James Buchanan Duke in 1924 through family’s foundation, The Duke Endowment, Duke University was initially just an expansion of Trinity College. In 1969, however, the Fuqua School of Business was founded. Other than executive, doctorate and MBA programs, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business also offers cross continent and joint degree programs. To apply to Fuqua just fill out the application form and check out the application requirements online through the school’s official website.

MIT Sloan School of Management

Starting off as an engineering administration curriculum of the MIT Department of Economics and Statistics in 1914, MIT Sloan was not actually a business school. Today, MIT Sloan School  of Management offers undergraduate, MBA, Master of Finance, PhD, and executive education programs. Applying to MIT Sloan can be done online or manually. Just call the admissions office or download the application form through the school’s website.

Once you get into your MBA degree program of choice – this, after going through a grueling period of interviews and self-examination for your personal statement MBA – you will find yourself in a sea of like-minded people. This may not be part of the goals you wrote for your personal statement MBA but you are thrust in a world where networking is one of the essentials.

Some may list expanding their network as goal in their personal statement MBA but not all consider this a big deal the start. And of course, there are major advantages in expanding your network – be it in business school, law school or just your gym. An expanded business can make a big difference in company’s survival and profits,

With networking within an MBA program, you get to form a personal and professional bond with like-minded individuals. In forming your group, you expose each other to differing ideas and opinions. At the same time, you get to practice leadership and compromise. A group setting can often teach someone about the importance of team work and a focused goals – both of which are essential in the survival of any business or endeavor. Individual insights also expose you to undertakings and trains of thought that you don’t normally get into. This expands your openness and knowledge. Your leadership is then enhanced, making you more effective within your organization.

To being networking in MBA schools, get involved with your classmates or batch mates first. It all starts with having a good circle of friends who can accompany you as you all go through the hardships of getting an MBA degree. Friends would have other friends, and this may further extend your network. You can also get involved with the different organizations available to you. Through this organization, you can establish your standing within the group and within your company.

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MBA skills, once you’re in, goes beyond the academic requirements you gave out when you applied. It is beyond your personal statement MBA, a requirement for your application essay. Even though the personal statement MBA can encapsulated why you want to pursue MBA studies, it does not necessarily lead into you having the appropriate skills to survive an MBA education. Making it through your MBA studies requires more than what you put in your personal statement MBA. Here are some considerations:

* Math skills

A lot of spreadsheets and financial documents are involved in MBA degree programs. As such, you need to have advanced mathematical skills. You need to understand complex procedures and equations. Likewise, you need to be able to apply logic in solving mathematical and accounting problems.

* Analysis skills

There are a lot of analyses involved in MBA degree programs, as well as real-life business situations. Some of these goes beyond mere mathematical or financial analyses. You need to be able to weight the strength and weaknesses of every situation, as well as your company’s advantages and disadvantages. From here, you need to make a decision that will be beneficial to your company, as well as fair to everyone else involved.

* Personal and communication skills

People skills – that is communication and personal skills – are important in any endeavors, but particularly more for those wanting an MBA degree. In an MBA class setting, you need to be able to communicate your message effectively and clearly. This is very true for programs with case studies, wherein each person can benefit by providing input regarding the case.

At the same time, personal skills can go a long way. Apart from gaining friends and study group partners, good interpersonal skills can lead to an expanded network of contact. These contacts can eventually develop into a new supplier or vendor base or clients.

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