The MBA goals essay is the crux of your –b-school application. Adcoms want to know where you are headed professionally, and how their program will help you reach your goals. If, therefore, you are, for whatever reason, uncertain about your goals – maybe you want a career change, but don’t know exactly where you want to go – you certainly have a major problem in your hands. How can you go about resolving it?
Here are some tips:
1. What you will want to do in the future will have to be necessarily linked with what you have done in the past, and what you are doing at the moment, both in a positive and a negative sense. That is, there will be elements of your present work experience and your past jobs that you will have liked, and others that you will have disliked. Make two separate lists, one of your likes and the other of your dislikes. They will be useful in making you choose your goals.
2. Who are some of the people doing the things that you would very much like to do yourself? It doesn’t matter what job they are doing, but are there people you wish you could emulate? The answer could be revealing. If you can meet such persons and talk to them, or at least interact with them over email, you might get a clue as to what kind of career you would be happy with.
3. Once you have taken these two steps, it is conceivable that you will have made a tentative list of possible goals you would want to pursue. Who are some of the larger employers in the relevant fields? Why not get in touch with a few of the younger employees there who are doing the kind of job you are interested in? Talking to them will give you a clearer idea of what their job is about, and maybe help you make up your mind about your own future.
4. If nothing else works, or even in addition to the above measures, you could hire a career counselor. There are career counselors who specialize in particular types of clients, and if you can get one who deals with people like you, you might find it easier to zero in on your goals with their advice rather than by going it alone.
It would be unwise to tell the adcom that you are still not sure about what your goals are, and that you hope that doing the MBA will make your path clear to you. The courses you will take up in the program, the nature of your class participation, and the kind of activities you will be involved in will depend, to a large extent, on the goals you have set for yourself, and the extent to which they motivate you. If these factors are missing in your application, you will obviously not be considered good student material.
Therefore, take your time in deciding on your goals, and apply only when you have done so.
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