Cambridge Judge Business School

August 27, 2024
October 7, 2024
January 6, 2025

Note: Cambridge Judge Business School has five application rounds that come in August, October, January, March, and May.

Careers Objectives Statement

Prompt: Please provide details of your post-MBA career plans, and address the following questions:

  1. What are your short- and long-term career objectives?
  2. How will the Cambridge MBA equip you to achieve these short- and long-term objectives?
  3. Looking at your short-term career goal, describe the research you have done to understand how this industry/role/location recruits MBA talent and what they are looking for in a candidate.
  4. How confident do you feel about meeting your short-term career goal(s)? What skills/characteristics do you already have that will help you to achieve them, and what preparation are you doing now?

(500 words maximum).

“One thing that stands out in a strong application essay is when candidates demonstrate what they are going to bring to the cohort and how they wish to contribute to the class as a whole during their year, not just what they hope to take away from the programme.” - Emily Brierly, Head of MBA Admissions and Recruitment

In the second half of the essay, you are essentially proving that you have a proactive mindset towards pursuing your career goals (probably because you have to be actively pursuing employers outside of Cambridge).

Short Essay: Professional Mistake

Prompt: Tell us about a time when you made a professional mistake. How could it have ended differently? (200 words maximum)


Use this essay to demonstrate your ability to reflect on past actions and learn from them.

Short Essay: Successful Team

Prompt: Tell us about the best team you worked with. What made the team successful? (200 words maximum)

You can describe your role in a team as a leader, but primarily focus on your role in the team as one of many people. Use this essay to show your ability to assess other people's strengths (and weaknesses, if that's part of the story) and understand how those strengths can leveraged as a team. You should also include how diversity of thought / backgrounds / experiences lent to the success of the team.

Short Essay: Person Who Positively Impacted You

Prompt: Provide an example of when someone else positively impacted your life. What did you learn from this experience? (200 words maximum)

I believe the purpose of this essay is to gauge how aware you are of other people's contributions and whether you value them appropriately. In addition, learning from other people is the core of the MBA experience.