As the name signifies, the Statement of Purpose is your personal statement about who you are, what has influenced your career path so far, your professional interests and where you plan to go from here. It need not be a bald statement of facts; several successful SoPs address these questions through anecdotes, stories or by describing their hero.
B-Schools in India have different ways in which they ask applicants to write SoPs. e.g FMS until recently used to just have one question – “What are your career goals and how can FMS help you to fulfill them?”. Other B-schools ask you to give your responses to several different topics. Out of these IIFT deserves a special mention as it probably has the most of these. Starting from – “What are your broad career objectives?“ to “How has your family structure changed and what has been its impact on you?”
We’re going to discuss the most common topics on which you may have to write and what you should keep in mind.
1. Why MBA?
Nearly all applications will feature a question that asks about your reasons for wanting to obtain an MBA at this stage of your career. Some will explicitly ask you to tie these reasons into your background and your goals. Even for schools that don’t offer this specific direction, you should plan on such a discussion of past and future, as it provides essential context for your application.
“Why MBA?” is often the first question asked and without a doubt the most important essay you will write. It includes essential information about whether you’re qualified, whether you’re prepared, and where you’re headed. The other essays fill in details about these fundamental points, but a strong answer about, for example, how you overcame a failure will not revive a candidacy that failed based on a lack of career focus.
Every answer should contain the following elements, unless the application has separate questions addressing them individually:
§ Your long- and short-term goals.
§ Your relevant past experience.
§ An assessment of your strengths and the gaps in your experience/education.
§ How an MBA program will bridge your past and future and fill in those gaps.
§ Why this particular MBA program is a good match for your needs.
Occasionally there will be overlap with other answers, and you will have to use your judgment on the extent to which you should reiterate important ideas. For example, some schools will ask about your goals in separate questions. In that case, the bulk of your discussion should fall under the goals question, but you will have to bring over key points from that answer to establish context for your reasons for obtaining an MBA.
There are no groundbreaking reasons for pursuing an MBA. This is not a place to aim for bold originality. Rather, you should focus on articulating detailed reasons that are specific to your situation. Moreover, there is plenty of room to distinguish yourself when discussing past experience and future goals; the reasons themselves, however, come from a more limited set. That said, you should not try to drop buzzwords for their own sake. Make sure you tie your specific objectives to other aspects of your application.
2. Accomplishments
Questions like these are frequently worded “Describe an incident which changed your outlook” or even “Describe a problem that you faced and how you overcame it”
The goal in answering this kind of question is to analyze rather than summarize an achievement, incident or episode. This advice is particularly true if you’re discussing an accomplishment that is listed elsewhere on the application. Your readers want to gain insight into your character–not read a factual summary of what occurred.
Here are some guiding principles to use in constructing your answer:
§ Choose something that’s meaningful to you. Some applicants feel obligated to choose the most objectively impressive accomplishments. You should write about something that has personal significance, even if you weren’t formally recognized for it. What matters is that you write passionately and insightfully about your subject. Unless otherwise specified, you should feel free to draw on academic, personal, or professional successes.
§ Focus on details about the process. Show the reader through concrete details how you achieved what you did. If you want to discuss a grade you earned in a particularly challenging class, show us how you mastered the material. For example, describe creative strategies you used; don’t rely on clichés like “I succeeded through hard work.”
§ Build tension. Describe obstacles and how you overcame them. Note initial difficulties or intermediate failures, then show how you recovered. By adding a sense of drama to your story, you not only keep the reader interested, but also make the accomplishment seem that much more significant.
§ Evaluate the significance of the accomplishment. Again, the goal here is to add insight beyond what the reader knows from the straightforward facts. For example, you can comment on how the accomplishment represents an aspect of your character, or describe how it fits within your background of successes and failures. Don’t get carried away, however, and try to draw overly grand lessons. You might discuss external consequences of your actions to convey their magnitude, but ultimately you should stay focused on your personal response.
§ Don’t boast or be overly modest. This is a hard balance to strike, but if you stay focused on the details of your story, then you shouldn’t have a problem. Use the details to convey the magnitude of your accomplishment; you should be able to do so sincerely without having to promote yourself. For example, if you can show through illustrative evidence how you influenced the course of someone’s life, you won’t have to make a presumptuous statement about, for example, “having a profound impact on the life of another.”
3. Leadership
The leadership questions usually come in two forms: the kind that ask about your “leadership style,” and the kind that ask you to discuss a “leadership situation.” You should not try to use a single essay to address both questions, because they require different emphases. The first question asks you to describe principles that define your approach to leadership. You should then back these principles up with evidence of how you’ve applied them.
The second question wants you to focus on a single experience (or in some cases two experiences). For these essays your first objective is to flesh out the details of the situation and the contributions you made. You must tell an in-depth, engaging story before you even worry about the insights and lessons you deduce. Then, when you get to that stage, your insights into leadership should be focused on the story you just told. Don’t stray too far and try to include everything you know about leadership.
After this basic difference in emphasis, the goals of both essays are essentially the same and include the following:
§ Describe your strengths honestly. You don’t have to give much attention to weaknesses or even discuss them explicitly (though if you can mention plans for improvement, that can be very effective). The point here is to show a clear awareness of your personal strengths, as opposed to pretending to be the best at everything. Taking the latter approach will suggest that you only know the clichés of leadership, but don’t have a genuine understanding of how to exercise it in real life.
§ Avoid oversimplified principles. You most likely won’t have anything entirely new to say, but you can still avoid stating the obvious. Again, the best approach is to stay specific and personal. You might, for example, combine two straightforward principles and show how you’ve combined them effectively.
§ Show growth. One way to avoid having to cite the obvious is instead to show through examples how you came to understand a particular lesson. Your readers are interested in how you’ve developed and matured. Start off by indicating your uncertainty, and then frame your newly learned principles not as conclusions to share with the reader but as an integral part of the story’s arc.
§ Illustrate your personal qualities. In addition to conveying your own strong understanding of how to lead, you should also indicate to the reader the valuable qualities you have cultivated for that task. These can include communication, collaborative, organizational, and problem-solving skills, as well as personal characteristics like inspiration, initiative, responsibility, and vision. As always, there’s no point in simply naming these qualities as ones you possess. You must show them through example.
4. Hobbies and Interests
In asking this question, admissions officers want to see another dimension to your personality. Some schools will ask you to describe one important activity, while others will simply ask how you spend your free time. Regardless of which question you’re answering, try to achieve depth. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that they just want to see well rounded people and take the approach of listing everything that interests you. While it’s important to show that you lead a balanced life, you should treat this question as you treat all the others — as a chance to make yourself stand out. That means focusing on what you’re truly passionate about, instead of trying to say what you think they want to hear.
Many people choose to write about sports. If you choose to discuss a physical activity, you’re immediately going to face the obstacle of writing about something your readers have seen many times. You will have a difficult time finding something unique to say, but as long as you focus on personal details, you can create a strong answer. On the other hand, you should resist the temptation to cite the clichéd lessons about working hard and being a team player. Moreover, if you try to force connections back to your business skills, your entire essay will seem contrived.
Approach the essay as though you were trying to get someone else excited about your hobby through your own enthusiasm. Of course, it should still be a personal account rather than a sales pitch. So if your hobby is rare book collecting, don’t try to tell the reader about how it demonstrates your organizational skills. Instead, describe your feelings when you make a serendipitous discovery or complete a set that you started many years ago.
Another tactic you can use to keep the essay grounded in personal details is to focus on a particular episode from your past involvement. If you’re writing about your love for chess, focus on a particular match that epitomizes your passion.
5. Strengths & Weaknesses
This question requires serious introspection before you sit down to write it. Don’t be in a hurry to write down strengths that you think the admissions panel wants to hear. Whatever you write must be a true reflection of who you are otherwise you’ll have a very hard time convincing them in an interview. At the same time you do have to think about how this strength will help you in the context of the specific programme you have applied for. Hence writing I am very good at spelling will have little relevance.
Write about something that genuinely makes you better at certain things than others. It could be an ability to work effectively within groups. Or an ability to articulate and communicate your ideas well, an ability to motivate people around you. Sometimes you might be asked to bring out these attributes with the help of suitable examples.
Steer clear of statements like hard working. Apart from being a very clichéd statement it is something that most of your fellow applicants are likely to share. Most people who manage to crack a paper like CAT or XAT do work hard. Unless of course you believe that it is your most defining characteristic, in that case bring it out strongly.
As far as weaknesses are concerned again be honest. However you should always mention what you are doing to overcome that weakness. Avoid the tendency to write statements that actually are strengths. E.g “I am too dedicated to my work” or “I help my friends to the point of neglecting my work”. Most interview panels will see right through them and you will have a hard time defending your answer.
How to write
§ It is probably a good idea to write several drafts. You’ll be able to refine your answers and sometimes there’s also the problem of fitting it into the space available.
§ Write clearly. The language should be easy to understand. Avoid words that you are not comfortable using. In any event the idea being conveyed is more important and the words should not confuse or mislead the reader. Keep sentences short. Longer sentences tend to have more grammatical errors. If it’s a particularly long answer you might want to break it down into paragraphs.
§ Avoid slang or informal language. The tone should be formal and professional. Even in responses where you are asked to describe yourself you shouldn’t sound arrogant.
§ After you’re done writing your final draft, review it for spelling and grammar. There are certain grammatical errors that are not detected by software. It sometimes helps to get another person to go through it. Brings a new perspective and also helps in checking for errors. By this time you have read your draft at least 7-8 times and sometimes you miss out on errors.
§ After making corrections in your final draft, fill up the form. Make sure you’re working with a pen that’s not going to give up on you half way. Ideally nobody should be able to distract you either.
§ Write neatly and legibly. It’s best not to have overwriting or cutting. Also finish your answers in the space provided.
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