You have to know what makes the program and school suitable for your plans

Do you already have an MBA school in mind? Why did you choose this school or this specific program? These are some of the questions you have to ask yourself first. What kind of career do you want to have? Can that MBA school give you the right training? You have to ask yourself these questions to know if you are going to tread on the right path.

You need to set realistic expectations

Why are you going to obtain an MBA degree? To have an easy way climbing the ladder of success? If yes is your answer to the this question, experts would say, get real! Although an MBA degree would offer better career opportunities, it does not guarantee a sweat-free success in your field. This is why setting realistic expectations is very important. It also pays to be realistic with the admission application process. Expect a very tough competition. You have to anticipate success, but you should also prepare for failure.

You need to find the right motivations

The life of an MBA student is not easy. You really have to balance your personal life and the demands of MBA school. Expect your life as an MBA student to be full of ups and downs. Because of this, it is necessary for you to find the right motivations. Your motivation will keep you going on despite the obstacles. Let this be your guide when writing about your MBA application essays and pushing through with the application process.

Related links:

Stating Preferred Specialization – ips on getting an MBA degree
MBA School Networking – What to do in MBA school
MBA Degree Programs – All about MBA degree programs and application
MBA Application Forms – All about MBA school application
http://www.bschooladmissionsformula.com/participate-in-clear-admit%E2%80%99s-free-mba-admissions-strategy-webinar-%E2%80%93-last-one-of-the-season/ – All about MBA school admission and application

What’s commendable

The MBA Channel is rife with MBA articles.  The tab/button feature is a clean way to make navigation through these articles and categories fast and easy.  Each tab has a drop-down menu that contains subcategories of the highlighted category tab. Browsing the MBA Channel does not only provide you with static information but also connects you with the rest of the business world.  News and events all over the business world provides you with a buffet of ideas that may be incorporated into your business or education.  MBA Channel even has a search engine that can pore through the site based on a particular category: articles, schools, or events.

The design is clean and professional-looking.  It also features very little ads, and whatever ads are present are related to what MBA channel is all about: business and business schools.  Not all articles, however, are given titles that are neither drearily formal nor uncreative.  The article An Embarrassing Story sounds like it could have come from a personal blog site, but it is not.  It is actually a business news article.  By the time you have clicked it, you are hooked.  You must be if you are into MBA schools and business yourself.

The downsides

Though MBA Channel is a great site to explore, the true blog part is still in need of more entries.  Given that most of the information is already featured in the rest of the site, readers may need more readable entries as those in the MBA Channel blog.

What makes F1 GMAT different from other GMAT sites or blogs?

The blog site features not only articles that prepare you for GMAT but also features articles on the MBA culture.  These articles can be found under the “Interesting Reads” section.  There are also links to tips, tutorials, and techniques.  The blog actually shares specific techniques such as fast multiplication.  The writers of the site  take the different aspects of GMAT preparation in consideration.  The MBA culture articles get future GMAT examinees a taste of their future in MBA schools and beyond.  If the culture presented is not that appetizing, there is a chance to back down.

The blog is really very resourceful.  It includes business trends that provide insights to upcoming and current students who dream of having their own enterprise one day. F1 GMAT is actually a whole dream in a package.  The dream is made more tangible by all the technical help provided.  It has a directory of outside resources, articles, tutorials, and the like. Having all of them in one page of the F1 GMAT blog saves time for a GMAT reviewer.  It is a whole library of GMAT resources.

Are there things to improve on?

While there are tons of helpful links within the F1 GMAT, getting to those links when you are an actual reviewer is more challenging.  You can always go through everything if you want to take advantage of every bit of information.  However, if you are in a rush and need just one thing, you may have a hard time looking for that topic or resource.  The entries are all over the page.  There may be a section on popular content and interesting reads, but you have no idea if they are all that the site has when it comes to articles.  Other sections point to videos and outside links, instead of articles. Better categorizing is recommended to the site with probably, a user’s manual for serious visitors.

How well you respond to the essay questions that a business school requires for admission figures greatly on your acceptance chances.  The essays are designed to let admission officials get to know the candidate better and determine whether he or she is the right fit for their program.  Aside from that, essays also test the candidate’s ability to follow instructions and provide the best output set by the essay parameters and limitations.  Thus, writing an effective essay shows how well you grasp the purpose of the essay and presents how you provide the best output with those in mind.

Plan carefully what you want to write

First, plan what you want to put down on paper.  But even before you go to this stage, you should be clear on why you wanted an MBA in the first place.  You should know the reasons why you think having an MBA will help your career and yourself as a person, and how you can contribute to your organization and community.  Once you have these all thought of, it would be easier to answer the personal MBA application essays as you already have a foundation of beliefs and goals to rely on.  If you haven’t set your head straight on the reasons for wanting an MBA, you would not be able to express yourself more clearly and have an effective essay.

Answer the questions truthfully

As mentioned earlier, the MBA application essay is a way for admission officials to gauge your personality.  If you answer the essays using run-of-the-mill answers just to be safe, you won’t get far.  The best answers are those that come from the heart.  It may sound cheesy, but it’s true nonetheless.  In a more practical sense, you should answer the questions based on your experiences, abilities, and personal goal.

Keep it concise and stick to the word limit

Keeping your essays short and concise shows that you have consideration for your readers, good writing skills, and effective communication skills.  Doing so in your essay shows that you know what to say and how to say it.  Though some may think being long-winded look impressive, it really isn’t.  One has to remember that admission officials read hundreds of these essays every day and using long expressions won’t get them excited or interested in your essay.  So, do them a favor and keep it short.

If you really have a good message, a short simple expression that captures the whole idea is better than a long one that appears like showing off.  And do stick to the word count.  Admission officials have tons of these essays to go through, thus the word limits.  And another thing, keeping to the word count shows that you respect the instructions given in the essay.

An effective essay will benefit you a lot in your MBA application. Being effective in the essay is not that difficult to manage. It’s all a matter of knowing what to say, how to say it, saying it from the heart, and sticking to the limits.

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Regardless of the essay question, discussing your preferred specialization in your MBA essay is a good idea.  As long as you keep your discussion related to the essay question or topic, you show that you have a pretty good concept of why you’re taking an MBA, where you want to be, and how you are a right fit for the school that you’re applying to.

Writing about your goals

When you talk about your planned specialization, you can show more about your character, your particular goals, and the reasons why you chose that field.  Since these essays are meant to let admission officials get a better feel of your personality, discussing your specialization plans on the essay will give them plenty of that.  You may discuss particular events, achievements, and skills that you have to further make your case as to why you think your chosen specialization fits your abilities and talents.

But one should also remember to keep the discussion relevant to the essay question or topic.  Find ways to establish a close relation to the topic and avoid digressing.  By keeping to the topic, you also avoid making a litany of your qualifications, but instead, you can use those qualifications in a more meaningful and concrete way in helping you answer the essay question.  This also shows a lot about your writing and communication skills.  Since you’re able to relate your preferred specialization to the topic at hand, you illustrate your ability to relate and organize ideas in a way that will showcase your skills and personality without getting off track.  For good examples, you can check out sample MBA application essays to get an idea on how it’s done.

Also, you can further explain your reasons why you chose their school to apply to.  This shows that you selected their school after much thought and consideration, and that you think that their institution can help you achieve those goals.  This would send a good message as it shows that you did your homework on researching the MBA school and determining whether it would be a right fit for your career path.

And the best case that you can make for yourself when discussing your preferred specialization is that you show you’re a person of vision.  You illustrate that you have a clear concept of what you want to be in the future, and have a good idea on how to get there.  This is not just selfish promotion on your part, it can also be construed as having foresight and a plan for the future—qualities that any leader should have.  As such, you also present a case for yourself as having leadership qualities.

One may be afraid to discuss specialization plans as it seems as if it’s being cheeky or too assuming.  But that is not the case. Discussing your preferred specialization shows a lot about your character and your seriousness in pursuing your MBA. And these are things that should be present in your MBA application essay should you want to get accepted.

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One of the mistakes that MBA applicants make in their admission essays is that they include jargon in the mix, whether intentionally or unintentionally.  When done willfully, people think that jargon can make them look more professional and knowledgeable about their fields.  When done unwillingly, these people just forget themselves and write like how they would when communicating with people in their workplace.   Whatever the case, it spells out carelessness, lack of preparation, and poor communication skills on their essays.

As you know, getting to an MBA school means you want to learn managing a business in a specific field.  Basically, you’re gunning for a leadership position.  And when it’s about leadership, it’s necessary that the qualities of good communication skills and forethought are present in a leader.  If you use jargon intentionally, that shows that you can’t express yourself in other words besides jargon.  It also shows a lack of creativity and originality when you rely on jargon to get your message across.

So instead of making you look smart, using jargon just makes you look as if you’re using technical words to hide your poor communication skills and to intimidate your readers into believing you’re an expert in your field.  If you’re a real expert on a subject, then you can find ways of explaining yourself in a clearer way.  For those who use jargon unwittingly or just through daily use, it shows that one is not fully aware of the purpose of the essay.  You display inconsideration to the reader and use your language haphazardly.  Now these are hardly the qualities that you would look for in a leader, much less from an MBA applicant.

Here are some jargons that you should avoid in making your mba application essays:

•  Acronyms, especially the ones that are known only to your organization
•  Industry-specific technical terms
•  High-sounding but vague terms (for example, online enterprise development, human resources utilization)
•  Clichés. Though these belong to a different category, they can stand as jargon for the business language.  You always hear terms like “best of breed” and “value chain” in your organization.  They may sound nice, but they also sound rundown.

How to avoid jargon

Whether you’re writing for an MBA essay or your high school essay, the elements of good writing are the same.  You need to be clear yourself on what you want to express, work on the right expression, and get feedback on what you wrote.

1.  Make an outline before you write.
2.  Remember the purpose of the essay and your readers.
3.  Watch your jargon.
4.  Consult sample MBA application essays for some tips and mistakes to avoid.
5.  Read and edit your work thoroughly.
6.  Have someone non-technical read your essay and get feedback if it is an easy read.
7.  Read and edit again for jargons and cliché.

If you have good communication skills, you don’t need to use jargon to make you look smart.  You’d even look smarter if you get your message across without relying on technical terms.  By doing so, you show your confidence in your communication skills.

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