Emory Goizueta

September 30, 2026

January 6, 2027

March 17, 2027

Short Answers: Post-MBA Career Goals & Fun Fact

Prompt: Answer all 3 of the short answer questions below. Each response should be no more than 40 words.

What are your short-term post-MBA career goals?
How will your professional experience and the Goizueta MBA help you to achieve those goals?
What’s a fun fact about you that you would like the committee to know?

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Define your short-term post-MBA career goals. How are your professional strengths, past experience, and personal attributes aligned with these goals?

1. Short-term post-MBA career goals

What do you want to do immediately / soon after graduation? Tell them about your desired role, industry, the type of company that you want to work at, and your larger mission.
If possible within 40 words, briefly describe a motivation, the "Why" you have an interest in your goals.
Consider including a larger mission goal, an aspirational goal that goes beyond a job and into how you want to better an organization, an industry, a community, or society.
Be ambitious, but realistic.

"MBA application essays are a channel for you to communicate more about yourself beyond your resume." - Ashly Galuppo, Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions

2a. Professional experience

After you have described your career goals, provide the "How" you have the skills, abilities, and/or knowledge to achieve those goals.

What current experience, knowledge, and skills (your professional strengths) that you bring from your professional role to achieve your goals?
Don't just repeat your resume, which they have. Try to include something new.
It should be obvious, but these background / past experience should map to your future goals, in order to convince your reader that your goals are achievable.

2b. Goizuta MBA (1-2 aspects of the MBA program)

This is a short answer to "Why Goizueta?" after you have described your career goals. In other words, this essay should mesh well with your short-term Career Goals essay. Consider how Goizueta will help you build upon your current knowledge and allow you to acquire new knowledge and/or perspective.

What academic program, MBA concentration, class, or professor would expand your knowledge towards achieving your goal?
What type of hands-on learning (such as Goizueta IMPACT) or global study trips would help you?
How would the leadership activities, like the Leader's Reaction Course) prepare you?
How would the MBA community or a particular student organization be helpful to you?
Don't just say the generic response of "networking." Demonstrate that you have researched the MBA program.

3. Fun fact

Another way to think about this is, what about you would your classmates find unexpected or refreshing?
If you want to talk about a hobby or interest in this fun fact, include revealing details such as your background, your motivations, or what you have learned.
Mainly consider what might be different about you than others, which would allow you to make a different contribution than others.
Although a random fact like "I met the Queen" is certainly fun, but by itself doesn't tell us anything about YOU. Include details that tell us about your personality or interests: "I am super-clumsy, and when I went on my annual trip to loiter around Buckingham Palace, I stumbled and landed headfirst in front of the Queen's carriage." Now that is informative. And fun!

Essay: Take a Risk

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Prompt: The former CEO of The Coca-Cola Company and namesake of Goizueta Business School, Roberto C. Goizueta, had a philosophy that he lived by:

“If you take risks, you may fail. But if you do not take risks, you will surely fail. The greatest risk of all is to do nothing.”

Tell us about something meaningful you’ve been wanting to pursue but haven’t yet. What’s holding you back? (300 word maximum)

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This is a more difficult essay, because you have to reveal a promising idea or a deep interest that you have not taken steps toward. Then you have to be introspective about why you have not pursued it. In other words, this is not an essay about success or achievement but of potential success or achievement and the obstacles (internal and/or external) that stand in front of you.

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Secondly, the Roberto C. Goizueta quote is about taking a risk. This suggests that you should write about something not only meaningful to you but that it might not be easy or simple for you to pursue, and that you might be risking failure, loss, rejection, or even just discomfort, in the sense that it would take you beyond what is comfortable. At the same time, what you would achieve would be worth it to you.

You have already described your career goals in a short format, so you should not just re-state those goals. This "something meaningful" can be professional, but again, has to be meaningful beyond simple career advancement. It might reflect an aspect of your profession, or professional interests that would not be immediately seen on a resume, or a professional challenge that you would like to take on.
Should you choose a personal "something meaningful," you still have to remember that you are talking to Admissions. The personal "something" might reflect an aspect of yourself that you want to share, for example a deep interest or a life challenge. Think beyond the resume.
If you are describing something that would be a genuine risk, then you have to describe the calculations that you have thought of to mitigate the risk before you pursued: it should be a calculated risk, not a stupid or reckless risk.

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Be honest in your introspection about what is holding you back. (However, be mindful that you are telling this to Admissions, so no, not procrastination.)

Perhaps it is an external obstacle, theoretically out of your control, or perhaps it is an internal obstacle, something that you want to work on or are working on. Perhaps it is a lack of knowledge, network, or standing.
The ideal essay would include some form of action on your part.

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Finally, consider whether there is a core value that you can express behind your meaningful goal. Goizueta's are courage, integrity, accountability, rigor, diversity, team player, and community minded.

Essay: New Perspective

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Our lived experiences shaped who we are, the aspirations that we have, and the ways that we show up personally and professionally. Throughout our lives we will continue to have experiences that change, sharpen, and refine us.

Tell us about something you've come to understand differently over time. What experiences, information, or perspectives contributed to that evolution? (300 words maximum)

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This is a story about your ability to learn information, apply it, and be willing to change your thinking - in other words, show MBA potential. This does not necessarily have to be about business learning, but any type of learning.

Experiences - You may have had first-hand exposure that altered your original beliefs about something.
Information - You found new data that instead of reinforcing your beliefs ended up contradicting them or provided information about an aspect that you were not aware of.
Perspectives - You may have sought out or be open to others' opinions, even people who disagreed with your opinion.

Note how the question is framed to ask about an "evolution" of your understanding "over time." Goizueta is not seeking a story about snap judgement. You might have an "Aha!" moment, but from there you thought deeply about your original understanding.

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Finally, in this essay about learning, you should include an example of critical thinking, willingness to test an old belief, and/or investigate your own bias. The essay primarily about your process of thinking and learning.

Optional Essay

Still have more to share? This optional essay is your opportunity to share something you couldn’t find a place for on your application. This is also where you should address anything the committee may question (e.g., gaps in employment, academic challenges, choice of recommender).

You can use essay format or bullets.
Please identify topics if more than one is addressed.

(500 word maximum)

Most business schools only allow you to use the Optional Essay to explain application weaknesses, but Goizueta allows you to use the essay more broadly.

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Use to address something that might need further explanation. This space can also be used to address any extenuating circumstances that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. Use to address:

why your current direct supervisor is not writing your recommendation
gaps in work experience
low GPA or inconsistent or questionable academic performance
interruptions in academic career
difficult issues (e.g., Driving Under the Influence or other types of arrests)
areas of weakness (e.g., less than five years work experience - why you are not waiting to apply)

Use this essay to turn a potential weakness into a strength. Tell the Admissions Committee what happened and why it happened. Be honest in your self-evaluation. Most importantly, tell them what you have learned from a negative experience, and how this learning has influenced future actions.

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Video Essay

Prompt: Telling your story in the written essays is an important part of the application process, but we also want to hear you tell some of your story. The video essay lets every candidate talk to the MBA Admissions Committee and we enjoy getting to know you through the “small talk” questions.

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☞ Find practice questions to prepare for your video assessment.

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Be prepared to answer this question on video: "Of Goizueta Business School’s Core Values (Courage, Integrity, Accountability, Rigor, Diversity, Team, Community), which one resonates the most with you and why?"