How MBA Alumni Can Help You on Your MBA Essay

How MBA Alumni Can Help You on Your MBA Essay Samples

The questions "What will you do with your MBA degree?" and "Why choose MBA over the others?" are just some of the questions you may encounter when applying for MBA school. These are questions you need to be able to answer even before you reach out to the school's alumni or submit your MBA admissions essay. When you have a clear-cut answer, it's much easier for you to finish your essay and come up with a well-written piece.

Points your MBA essay should discuss

Your essay must more or less revolve around the following topics, unless the admissions panel requires the applicants to answer a given set of questions:

# Short and long-term goals
# Relevant experience accumulated
# How the MBA degree would bridge one's past and future
# Why you want to pursue an MBA degree

Getting in touch with an alumni

You may not be aware of it, but there are actually many ways for you to get help when writing your MBA admissions essay. And one of these is to get in touch with the alumni of the school you're applying to. If you know someone who has graduated from or is currently studying at your dream MBA school, you can approach him or her for tips in writing a winning admission essay. It's quite helpful to establish a network of alumni since they can also even help you when you're job hunting.

But what if you do not know a single alumnus? Here is one solution -- go to the Net and search for school forums found at many school and college websites. Some of the threads or entries in these forums are actually submitted or managed by current students or graduates. By visiting and joining these forums, you'll be able to ask an alumnus regarding the admissions process even if you don't know him or her personally. The tips you can get from reliable resource people can range from generic but useful essay-writing tips to hints on what the admissions panel of a particular MBA school is looking for.
Remember that those who have graduated from your dream school have faced what you are facing right now. And obviously, they have done the right thing with regard to their application essays. You can actually ask for MBA essay samples from alumni buddies so that you have to something to use as guides when writing your own.

Approaching an alumni for help

Even if you know that a certain individual is an alumnus of your dream school, if he or she does not know you personally, it would be a bad idea to just knock on his or her door and introduce yourself. He or she might be friendly, but then again, not all people appreciate being approached by total strangers. If you really want to reach out to a particular alumnus, you could find out who his or her friends are, and if you find a common friend, then you can approach first that common friend. Remember that when you are in the process of seeking advice from an alumni, don't sound obnoxious; keep in mind that he or she is the one doing you a favor.

What an alumni can't help you with

Yes, getting in touch with an alumni could help a lot when you're applying to an MBA school, but their assistance could only go so far. An alumni can't do anything with your low GPA. What you can do is to ask help from an alumni on how you can highlight your efforts in improving your grades in your essay. If you're able to effectively discuss your weaknesses in your essay without sounding like someone appealing for pity, you'll be able to reel in the attention of the admissions panel.