Wharton

Two Short Essays: Short & Longer Term Goals

Two Prompts:

1. What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 words)
2. What are your career goals for the first three to five years after completing your MBA, and how will those build towards your long-term professional goals? (150 words)

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For the first of these very short essays, you must distill your hopes for a post-Wharton goal into only 50 words.

• Describe a definite, specific, and ambitious purpose for pursuing an MBA, beyond the simple "I will go up the career ladder" or "I want to switch careers."

• At a basic level, tell them what job role that you seek; in which industry; and possibly your target companies. In addition, succinctly describe your purpose.

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In your second, also short essay, you will describe the longer arc of your career. By asking about the 3-5 years after your MBA and then your ultimate dream goal, Wharton is clearly seeking to better understand your vision and your set purpose for yourself.

In discussing your purpose, put it into a context that describes yourself and what motivates you. Wharton calls this part "The Setup": This is who you are, what you are doing, and what you have learned that is motivating your career goals.

Example

"I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, where my destiny was to become an obedient wife and mother, yet I went on to take a fast-paced job at an international financial giant, where I'm the only woman on my 20-person team of analysts. So, perhaps it is not surprising that I have always been interested in supporting women in business."

Example

"Teaching requires learning. Most of my family members have been teachers at some point in their lives, and after college I went to Germany to follow the teaching tradition. Teaching developed my sense of responsibility to the world-at-large, and inspired me to seek a role as policy analyst in the state senate. Together, my experiences in education and public policy have ignited my interest in promoting business-government cooperation to improve the lives of others. With my Wharton MBA, I plan to enter the international consulting field with a focus on public-private partnerships."

The next sections are what Wharton calls "The Pivot Point" and "The Future."

• The Pivot Point: Very briefly, was there a point when you defined your goals, or decided to pursue your goals? You might want to include that.
• The Future: These are your short-term goals and longer term goals, the most important part of the essay.

Here are two final thoughts for The Future section.

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By making the second essay so short, Wharton is signaling that it is less interested in what you intend to do during your time at Wharton and more in what you will do afterwards.

That said, if there is a single course, program, learning center, professional club, experiential learning, or specific alumni network that you know will contribute to your learning and professional advancement, you might briefly include it to demonstrate why Wharton is the very best place to pursue your MBA. Be specific and concrete. Do not be generic.

Warning: Don't spend time describing Wharton's offerings back to the reader. Admissions already knows everything about the school. Instead, spend that limited word count describing how that offerings will benefit you, specifically.

Example

"Courses such as Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Management would provide me with exposure to managerial practices and strategy viewed through the lens of a venture-backed startup , while opportunities such as Wharton Impact Venture Associates (WIVA) would give me access  to entrepreneurs across multiple fields as part of my first startup investment experience, with specific focus on social impact."

Example

"A Wharton study revealed that venture capitalists sometimes rely too much on intuition, rather than data, when making investment decisions. The problem with this approach, the study argued, is that intuition comes from experience; when VCs’ most successful experiences have been investing in white male founders, intuitive decision-making can perpetuate the lack of diversity at VC firms and their portfolio companies. Wharton’s dedication to uncovering data to solve these problems, and its commitment to improving diversity and equality, give me confidence that it is the best school to prepare me to achieve my ambitious goals in VC."

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Basic Dos and Don'ts

• Do offer some points from your professional background to give context to your goals.
• Don't just repeat your resume, which they have.
• Do provide them with the "Why" you have an interest in your goals, and the "How" you have the skills to achieve your goals.
• Map your background / past experience to your future goals, in order to convince your reader that your goals are achievable.
• Be ambitious, but realistic.

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