Please provide details of your post-MBA career plans. The statement should not exceed 500 words and must address the following: What are your short and long-term career objectives? How will the Cambridge MBA equip you to achieve these? 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? How confident do you feel about meeting your short-term career goal? What skills/characteristics do you already have that will help you to achieve them, and what preparation are you doing now?
For this year's application, in addition to career aspiration, you will need to convince the adcom about your research about your post-MBA goals.
Think about MBA as a bridge to connect your past and future and use this approach to structure this essay.
You could take several approaches to write this MBA essay. One approach could be first talking about your past and showing what you have learned and accomplished till now, and then describing where you want to go- thereby making the reader see and feel your need for an MBA.
Another approach could be to show your grand vision of the future and then show where you are in the present moment, making a case for MBA from Judge Business School to take you to your future vision. Whatever approach you take, make sure your goals are logical, credible, and realistic.
Give enough thought and space to the 'why MBA from Judge' part of the question. Think about what you need to get there. What all in terms of knowledge, network, access, and exposure you need - then formulate a plan to make it happen! Ideally, you would have done enough online and offline research on the school before writing the essay. If not, do so now and the reasons for Cambridge MBA will flow right into your essay!
Also write in detail about the ways in which you have understood your career path after MBA. It could be through connecting with industry experts, reading success stories of others, or taking guidance from your career mentors and recuiters.
Tell us about a time when you made a professional mistake. How could it have ended differently? (200 words)
Cambridge changed the question from past years about learning from "most spectacular failure" to about a professional mistake. The main objective in this essay is to demonstrate that you have learned from your mistake and now have insights into doing it differently.
As a first step, find a mistake - which could be about your thought process, behavior or certain action. Show why it was important. Show your action, thoughts, and emotions through the incident. Give concrete and vivid details of the situation and outcome.
Next, reflect on your learning and describe the alternate scenario. Simple!
Tell us about the best team you worked with. What made the team successful? (200 words)
Teamwork is one of the most sought-after values by the world's best business schools. No surprise that Cambridge also seeks to understand your strength as a team player.
When you write about best team - it could become even more interesting and impactful if the group that you are working with is diverse in terms of functions or nationalities or simply viewpoints.
An important focus has to be on what you consider are the qualities of a good team and what made it successful. How you helped each person on the team get invested in a common goal and how you helped the team through the entire process.
Once you have clearly described the context, quality of your team, do write about the achievement you accomplished as a team.
Provide an example of when someone else positively impacted your life. What did you learn from this experience? (200 words)
Interesting and tricky question!
While the positive impact is being made by someone else, the focus must always remain on you - the candidate. So briefly describe the context and impact and move on to talk about your learning. How you grew and changed as a person. How you used that positive impact to create more goodness and positivity around you.
This Cambridge question is nuanced and requires you to deliberate carefully and articulate wisely.
Please provide information on any aspect of your candidacy that requires further explanation, or information that you would like the Admissions Committee to know. (300 words)
Attempt the optional essay only if it will improve the factual and material strength of your application.
Do not submit your optional essay as an addendum to any of your essays. Do not submit your optional essay because you feel that the quality of your earlier essays is improvable – in that case simply redouble your efforts on those essays and leave the optional essay alone.
Use the optional essay to explain shortfalls in your application that you feel are truly detrimental to your candidature. Areas of underperformance (academic or professional or GMAT) or events which stick out (gaps in your resume or a previous MBA) can be commented on if you have an explanation that is intelligent, interesting, and credible.
This optional essay can also be used for mentioning critical data points that could not be accommodated in the other essays.
If you feel that this essay will be a robust constructive addition to your candidature...Go for it!
Cambridge MBA application requires you to submit a one-page resume along with details about your employment and academics. The typical MBA resume format consists of employment, education, and extracurricular details. MBA resume tips
In your Cambridge application, you will be asked to provide two MBA letters of recommendation - from your current or previous supervisors. Like many top business schools, Cambridge asks several letter of recommendation questions. MBA LOR tips
As is the policy with most top business schools, Cambridge MBA interviews are conducted only by invitation. Students typically would receive an invite 4-6 weeks after submitting their MBA applications. MBA interview tips
