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Improve Long-Term Goals MBA Application Essay – 3 Strategies

Writing about long-term career goals is an essential part of any MBA application goals essay. Having read hundreds of essays, I have seen a few common mistakes.

Here are 3 strategies to improve long-term career goals narrative:

1) Keep the Focus on One Thing

Those who are applying to the top 10 MBA programs are often highly engaged with the community. They have diverse extracurricular, volunteering, and professional experiences. The problem is when they try to mention multiple initiatives for the longterm. This leads to an essay that is not focused or connected to the short-term goals.

Focus on one industry, one technology, one beneficiary, and preferably a region that is closely associated with your identity.

2) Make it Specific!

Long-term Career Goals in your MBA application essays are not as important as your short-term goals, but the admissions team has read generic lines about the applicant’s intention to be a force of good or leverage technology and hundreds of such cliches. Even small research connecting an emerging technology with the potential to use it for the beneficiary you are trying to help in the next 10-15 years will be more believable than a generic long-term goals statement.

3) Demonstrate Knowledge

If you are a Consultant working in the Pharma industry, you have a unique perspective on vaccine development, integrating insurance, regulations like HIPPA, and security of healthcare systems. Now, if your long-term goal is in the Pharma industry, the knowledge of how you will achieve your long-term goal should be shown in the essay. Even an outline of the challenges that need to be overcome will help you stand out from a generic fact-based narrative with no action plans.

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About the Author 

Atul Jose - Founding Consultant F1GMAT

I am Atul Jose - the Founding Consultant at F1GMAT.

Over the past 15 years, I have helped MBA applicants gain admissions to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Haas, Yale, NYU Stern, Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, IE, IESE, HEC Paris, McCombs, Tepper, and schools in the top 30 global MBA ranking. 

I offer end-to-end Admissions Consulting and editing services – Career Planning, Application Essay Editing & Review, Recommendation Letter Editing, Interview Prep, assistance in finding funds and Scholarship Essay & Cover letter editing. See my Full Bio.

Contact me for support in school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative advice, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing and guiding supervisors with recommendation letter guideline documents

I am also the Author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, covering 16+ top MBA programs with 240+ Sample Essays that I have updated every year since 2013 (11+ years. Phew!!)

I am an Admissions consultant who writes and edits Essays every year. And it is not easy to write good essays. 

Contact me for any questions about MBA or Master's application. I would be happy to answer them all