Lucky for MBA applicants, Mays Business School tends to stick to the same prompts year-on-year, which means it’s never too early to get started! Most MBA programs will highly value the personal statement in your application. So don’t slack on it! Writing a unique essay that captures your individuality while responding to the prompt is a challenging task, but here at Menlo Coaching, we have a comprehensive guide to perfect it.
Mays Business School is looking for students with a well-rounded background and lots of experience that can be translated into a succinct and compelling statement. One of the essential tips for an impactful essay is asking yourself why you chose to highlight a particular experience. Did it show significant professional development? Did it show how you overcame a personal struggle? Making sure your essay connects to the prompt, especially that it shows why you are pursuing an MBA, will make your essay stand out. No matter what the essay prompt is, these tips are broadly applicable. With that being said, the two different types of essays you will see on Mays Business School’s application are career goals and behavioral.
The career goals essay is the space to emphasize your post-MBA plans. MBA programs want to accept students who have concrete, achievable career plans and a roadmap to success. MBA programs want a glowing post-grad report that proves they produce successful graduates with many job prospects (and who will donate money in the future)! Mays Business School also wants students to promote their program to friends, co-workers, and prospective applicants.
The career goals essay combines your hard statistics (ex: GMAT score) with your interpersonal skills (ex: recommendations) to formulate the case for getting an MBA. Make sure to state your achievable short-term and long-term goals explicitly. Explain why an MBA would help you achieve these goals and how Mays Business School is essential to your plan. Also, research what fields the graduates of Mays Business School enter, and emphasize your findings in the essay to show you’re genuinely interested. Their career goals prompt for last year was: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? To the best of your ability, please specify the type(s) of position and type(s) of organization you plan to target. How do your experiences to date align with this goal? How will the Mays MBA program help you transform your future and impact your world?
The behavioral essay asks you to reflect on your professional leadership skills. This could mean recalling a time when you’ve led a team to success or recovered after a failure and what you learned. Be honest with this essay, and don’t downplay the story; AdCom can tell if you’re disingenuous. Showing growth is essential to a constructive essay and shows development that you can easily apply to on-campus activities.
Say what mistakes you made and how you remedied them; if there is a situation where you used the lessons you learned from the failures, be sure to include that. Having the bravery to express your failures shows that you are willing to admit your mistakes. Here’s a recent prompt behavioral prompt from Texas A&M: Please provide a list of the top 12 things the admissions committee should know about you as we consider you for entry to the FTMBA program. At least two of the items on your list should connect to the Texas A&M Core Values.
Overall, honesty and growth are the most important parts of a successful MBA application essay. In addition, applying the lessons you learned shows improvement in your interpersonal and professional skills, making you a more attractive candidate for MBA programs. At Menlo Coaching, we are prepared to help you take the next step and perfect your essays. Visit our process page to understand how Menlo Coaching can help you!
