There is a chapter in all F1GMAT’s Essay guides where I go in detail about capturing the transformation matrix. Those who write and edit narratives for stories, essays, and even featured articles about a larger-than-life personality instinctively understand this secret. For Harvard MBA applicants – most of whom are from Finance, Technology, Healthcare, and Consulting, this might be a new insight.
In some of the best Harvard MBA Essays of Career Switchers I have read and edited, there is a visible effort to capture the transformation of the protagonist. For the switch to entrepreneurship, the motivation should be greater than any personal incentives.
Editor’s Note: I must warn you that if you don’t do this subtly, the essay can quickly turn into a caricature. The introduction of the transformative experience is often where editors/writers can offer a lot of value.
While building the transformative experience that led you to switch careers, apply these 4 strategies:
1) Influences
Typically, applicants use the influence of their parents. For the Sample Harvard MBA Essay - Accounting to Healthcare Entrepreneurship (825 Words), I started with the applicant’s father, who was a diplomat. The chaos of transferring and managing diplomatic ties in war-torn countries wasn’t an experience the applicant fondly remembers. The rebellion or choice of career in accounting is quoted as a way to find an anchor at home and focus on a few industries.
2) The Career Dissatisfaction
If you switched careers (industry/function) once or twice before applying for Harvard MBA, you can strategically include the career dissatisfaction narrative (in 2-3 lines). Often, applicants use optional essays to include such narratives. Because schools are expecting gaps and weaknesses in the optional essay, the tone of the answers is defensive, with little offered on the events leading up to the moment when you choose to switch careers. In the open-ended essay, you can plot one or several key moments before introducing the triggering event. For the Healthcare Entrepreneurship Harvard Essay, I chose one event – the applicant's father’s career and the feeling of uncertainty.
3) Realization of the Misstep
Breaking the expectations of the reader is one way to create a hook in MBA essays. Applicants focus on creating a hook in the opener. For the Sample Harvard MBA Essay, I decided to introduce the hook in the middle. By openly stating that the choice of accounting was a misstep, the applicant could reflect in an honest manner that is unique for an M7 MBA Essay. Don’t criticize the function from which you transitioned as the problem, but highlight your intellectual curiosity, better fit with another function, or desire to solve a larger societal problem as motivations for switching to entrepreneurship.
4) Solution and Strategic Challenges
Close to 30% of the essay should be about the problem you are trying to solve with the venture. Often, applicants convey motivation and end with a statement or two about the problem. This leads to a scenario where the motivation for career transition is clearly captured, but the admissions team has a limited understanding of why a Harvard MBA is the ideal next step instead of fundraising, finding strategic partners, or building new technology. There is only a small intersection between traditional entrepreneurship and a typical M7 MBA candidate with entrepreneurial ambitions. You must tick all the traits to demonstrate fit.
