MBA Personal Statement Samples to Help You Out
In 2011-2012, 25.4% of master’s degrees conferred were in business. This is the largest share of master’s degrees given in a single subject. MBA’s are the most popular Masters in the country. For you, that means a lot of competition to differentiate yourself from the hundreds of thousands of others. But a well-written personal statement can make you stand out from the crowd. Here’s how to write a winning, brilliant statement that gets you a place in your program.
Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Statement
Writing the perfect personal statement isn’t easy, but with these steps and this personal statement format, you’ll find it a little less taxing.
- Brainstorm: Put aside the fear of the blank page for a moment. Just think about what you want to say, and jot down some notes.
- Outline: Take your notes and create a structure from them. Let this be as messy, sketchy, and loose as you like – so long as you can understand it.
- Write: Now you’ve got something concrete to work with. Expand on those sketchy points, and formalize your language. Make sure you sound like yourself, though.
- Proofread: Have someone you trust to look over the paper, and read it through carefully several times yourself.
Get Rid of These, Keep Those
What’s important for your MBA personal statement? Here’s a little list to tell you what is and isn’t.
- Quotes: Ditch. They just take up space you could be using to talk about yourself.
- Concrete statistics: Keep. They show rather than telling, which is great.
- Extracurriculars: Depends – can you make it relevant? If so, keep. If not, ditch.
- Reading: Ditch – unless you know it really well, and it’s not a common book.
- Jokes: Ditch. For the most part, you don’t want to be funny.
- Your story: Keep. But ditch clichés, like “When I was little” or “Ever since I was a child”.
MBA Trends and Keywords
Want to know the latest MBA trends and what keywords you should use to get in? Here’s a quick rundown. The latest trends are:
- An action-oriented statement that highlights relevant info
- Confidence that shows you know your stuff
- Long term goals to show that you have plans for the future
As far as buzzwords are concerned, you should use action words like “created”, “challenged,” “designed,” “spearheaded,” etc. But also, add a few business buzzwords in there if, and only if, they’re relevant. Optimization, delivery, development, and leadership are great.
Personal Statement MBA Samples
Here’s a sample outline to show you just how easy an MBA statement can me.
- Paragraph one: Introduce yourself. Not literally – talk about how you came to want to study business and how it’s shaped your life.
- Paragraph two: Explain why you want to go to this school or this program. If you’re applying to multiple schools, you should tweak this for each one, but the reasons will probably be similar.
- Paragraph three: Expand on your qualifications – show that you’re truly ready for an MBA program.
- Paragraph four: Discuss your long-term goals. What will you do with your MBA when you have it?
- Paragraph five: Conclude. Sum up why you’d be great for this school.
Personal Statement Examples for MBA
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