Chicago Booth MBA Essay 1# How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250-word minimum)
Profile: Mr. A
Profile (Background): An applicant who innovated with low-cost energy fuel cells wants to reinvent traditional entrepreneurship models
Essay Approach: “Why Chicago Booth MBA?”
Although Mr. A received a $10M seed fund, he quickly realized the limited exposure he had in growing the venture. He needs a strong foundation in Entrepreneurial finance, strategy, developing new products and services, and commercializing new ideas.
Essay Planning
Problem: The disruption in the coffee market forces the applicant to consider the economic security of the farming community in Bogota.
Problem (Explained): Climate change and changing customer preferences have exacerbated the challenges faced by coffee farmers in Bogota. By building a sustainable ecosystem around coffee farms, Mr. A wants to reinvent traditional coffee farming.
Feasible Goals: Finding passionate investors and entrepreneurs who want to re-imagine traditional entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Short-term Goal: Join a VC fund working on renewable energy infrastructure.
Long-Term Goal: Create an IMPACT investment fund that redefines entrepreneurship from a narrow business context to a community-first venture.
Chicago Booth’s Strength: Mr. A would like to network and find like-minded entrepreneurs and investors eager to reinvent traditional entrepreneurial ecosystems. The access to the influential VC community through the Chicago Booth’s network is an opportunity to share his innovative paradigm-shifting idea.
Opener: Starting with a line that breaks the stereotype of the applicant’s background is my way to set the expectations.
Returning a $10m fund is an unusual move, but we can’t share such developments without springing some surprises throughout the essay. Otherwise, the reader will not believe the story.
Strategy: A striking aspect of the narrative is the return of the $10m fund. Creating doubt in the reader’s mind is an effective strategy. This is counterintuitive to the selling prevalent in MBA application essays. But applicants must be careful not to allow the reader to be in a state of doubt. I had to consciously add statements to show the applicant’s milestones.
Relocating to Bogota, taking on the responsibility of half a million farmers, to attracting investments from the UK were all placed in each paragraph to build credibility.
I also had to honestly portray the cultural barriers of a socialist society, where price controls are common, operating in a global investor community where such ideals don’t exist. I have put most effort into balancing this ideological clash without letting the theme take over the entire narrative.
Sample Chicago Booth MBA Goals Essay #6: (Create a Sustainable community around Entrepreneurship) (822 Words)
Studying in Chicago Public Schools, I had an atypical mix of interests for an Indian American. The first visit to the Colombian town of Medellin was on a language exchange program that enriched my experience. Taking an active interest in the drama club and the writing of Jorge Luis Borges, I became fascinated with the South American culture, the philosophy, and the blurred line that separates magical realism, ethics, and religion. I moved to Bogota as an Economic Development officer.
As an officer responsible for developing and supporting coffee plantation projects in the Coffee Triangle district...
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that supports curiosity, inspires us to think more broadly, and take risks. At Booth, community is about collaborative thinking and learning from one another to better ourselves, our ideas, and the world around us.