Cambridge Judge MBA Application Essay Tips, 2023–2024
Cambridge has released its new essay prompts.
The school’s application includes a career objectives essay and three shorter essays:
Essay 1: 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?
This is a classic MBA goals question, though there are a few nuances that require you to dig into the Cambridge Judge program to answer them fully. There are several parts to this question, and you should make sure to touch on all of them in your answer. In providing your short- and long-term career objectives, it could be helpful to give some brief context for what is driving your career goals. For example, many people could say they are interested in a consulting career. However, explaining why this path is appealing to you is where you can begin to differentiate yourself. An engineer who has become interested in business strategy will have a different story to tell than an investment manager who has become interested in consulting because he was involved in several mergers over his career and wants to learn the best practices for financial services firms.
For the second part of this question, you need to understand what is required of someone seeking your stated career goal. It could also be helpful to understand how Cambridge prepares its students to reach this goal. Your career objective should be realistic given your skill set, but also aspirational in such a way that a Cambridge MBA would be a good bridge to help you reach it. Understanding the key skills required for your goal – and how Cambridge can prepare you for it – is an important part of your own due diligence to put yourself in the best position to fulfill your career aspirations. In demonstrating your awareness of the resources that Judge offers, you can go one level deeper to provide some sense of how you could add value to the Cambridge Judge community with your unique background.
Cambridge Judge likewise goes one level deeper in inviting you to look at its career reports to understand how likely you are to attain your intended career option through the Judge network. Reach out to members of the appropriate industry clubs to learn more about the recruiting process. Demonstrate your self-awareness by showing the Judge admissions committee that you have the background to be successful in your target post-MBA career and that even now, you are taking steps to prepare yourself for this transition.
The remaining three essay questions for Cambridge Judge are shorter but provide an opportunity to share more about your growth and development, as well as some of the experiences you will bring to the Cambridge Judge community.
Essay 2: Tell us about a time when you made a professional mistake. How could it have ended differently? (up to 200 words)
This question allows you to show self-awareness and reflect on something that needs improvement. The most important part of this question is how the situation you describe could have ended differently. No one is perfect; however, what is important is that we grow from our mistakes. Perhaps in reflecting on how things could have turned out differently, think about how the skills you would gain in an MBA program would allow you to avoid a similar mistake in the future.
Essay 3: Tell us about the best team you worked with. What made the team successful? (up to 200 words)
Cambridge Judge considers collaboration and teamwork important. This question gives you the opportunity to share that you understand what makes a team successful and that effective teams work together to bring out the best in everyone. There are different components to successful teamwork. Pick one or two aspects that made your team strong, and be sure to provide specific details to support your choice.
Essay 4: Provide an example of when someone else positively impacted your life. What did you learn from this experience? (up to 200 words)
Recognizing how someone else has had a positive influence on your journey is another form of self-awareness. Show some gratitude as you answer this question, and pick one or two areas where you have learned something, being sure to provide details to support your answer.
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