By Dan Jackson, MBA ’12
Why you have decided to pursue an MBA is one of the most common (and usually the first) question of the essay section within an MBA application. The main objective of this question seeks to understand an applicants’ reasoning behind his/her pursuit of a higher level business education, more importantly the question is aimed at getting candidates to show the MBA admissions committee that the program is the right fit at the right time.
MBA.com highlights a trend, and one primary reason that recent business graduates decided to pursue an MBA: a desire not only for a high-quality business education that will help them get to the next level within their careers, but also an opportunity to give back to the community through corporate social responsibility (CSR). Now CSR can mean a lot different things to different people, but for the purpose of this post, I refer to it as the desire to give back to the community.
MBA.com summarizes a few key points from the 2010 Global Management Education Graduate Survey, in which recent MBA graduates “indicated that emphasis on community and inclusion was of great importance [when pursuing an MBA degree].” This commitment to the community is not only true for business students, but also is what B-school programs are looking for in their candidates. MBA programs today are not looking for the next top richest business students, but instead want students who are passionate about giving back in a variety of different ways.
This reason for pursuing an MBA got me thinking about the various ways to address this first question when completing an application for MBA admission. I’ll try to provide a bit of advice based on my experience working in the University of St. Thomas MBA admissions office. Continue Reading