CMU Tepper MBA Essays, Prompt by Prompt

We know this is an important component of your decision to attend business school. We take it seriously as well. 

Please describe your post-MBA career goals.

It would be helpful to consider the following information in your response:

• You have up to 2 minutes to respond to this question.
• Please be as specific as possible. If you have not yet identified specific companies, that is okay. Just tell us what interests you for your next role or company. What about the industry, company, or functional role is appealing to you?
• If you have any criteria you are using to evaluate career opportunities, please share those as well. We may have great opportunities to add to your list.
• How does this post-MBA career goal relate to your long-term career plan?

First we’ll unpack the themes and ideas of the content, then we’ll talk a little about the nuances of presenting this via video rather than written essay. Let’s dig.

Themes & Content

The key to this whole thing is ‘wow that makes so much sense.’ Lots to unpack here, so here goes:

• To have clarity around your goals, increases (by orders of magnitude) the likelihood that you will succeed at those goals… or any OTHER goals you set your mind to (the ‘any’ is key)
• To be able to express these articulately validates it, it is not easy. Those who can speak with clarity are more likely to be focused.
• To understand the precise ways in which each component of your past and future and every stage in between connect, and build on each other, further validates the question of whether you understand what’s necessary to succeed, and almost serves as a ‘guarantee’ that you are likely TO succeed. It’s a signal that you ‘get it’ and the folks who ‘get it’ eventually… get it. Business schools are trying to gamble on the sure things.

That’s the ballgame. It isn’t the case that your ideas themselves are going to impress. Adcoms are too smart for that. They recognize that ideas are not in short supply. Executors OF … any ideas… are. Doers. Follow-through-ers. Folks with the clarity and discipline to persevere when you’re past the honeymoon idea phase and shit gets real. The people who understand what the road ahead entails, and demonstrate a sobriety and tactical mindset are the ones who will impress adcoms. That’s what they’re looking for when they ask about your goals. The actual goals matter less to them than the signals of someone who has the traits of an executor.

A 2-minute video roughly translates to maybe 250 words or so in writing, so let’s use that as a frame. Here’s how an ‘essay’ version might have read (with an eventual video presentation in mind):

1. What’s your overall goal, the super end-end game? Think about it this way, don’t just give us the Title or Role, which tells us nothing. Think about the impact it will have once you achieve that position/goal. What has happened as a result of it, whose lives have been changed, what thing has been disrupted, what situation has improved, what is… the practical impact of it all. Do this very quickly to paint a picture of what motivates you … and every step you’re going to now take in order to move toward it. (50 words)
2. What are the skills required to pull that off? By framing it this way, you can now take us through the chronological road map of how you’ll navigate each step and extract something very specific which launches you to the next step that builds on it, and then the next step, and so on. So begin with where you are now and why you need an MBA before you attack the step immediately following your MBA. (50-75 words)
3. Next, take us through your vision for the very next move following CMU, ‘now’ loaded with this newfound MBA experience and improved skill set and network. (75 words)
4. Finally, talk broadly about how you arrived at your plan, and address the criteria you used to evaluate career opportunities. On what basis did you choose LT Vision X, given your passions and skills? Can you frame this in a way that your motivating force is a root-level concept, and therefore not just limited to your idea for how to achieve that? CMU wants to know that they may be able to add value to your current sense of your future. After all, this is the whole point of business school to open up possibilities. This is a key part to nail. (50-75 words)

Just a few more words on this last part. You need to find the right balance of being not too broad and also not too narrow. For example: “I’m looking at career opportunities that will afford me a leadership position, such that I can lead people to achieve!” Cool. You’ve just said absolutely nothing of any substance, it includes, all the things. On the other end, you might say “I would like to become CEO of a tech company in Cupertino, California, whose name is that of a common fruit.” Implying that anything other than the CEO of Apple is of no interest. Too specific. 

These are exaggerated almost to the point of being unhelpful, but it’s important to see the posts at both ends to understand why it’s important to find the perfect balance. Rather than say “I must be a CEO of a company in the tech space…” for example, you’re better off grappling with the end-result/impact OF that particular path. What’s the thing that results? “I want to find an opportunity that leads to the betterment of… X.” “I want to be in a position where I’m able to inspire teams to… Y.” This can lead you down a great path, that can be specific with respect to ‘impact’ and ‘outcome’ but open with respect to the ‘path’ which could be any number of things. You have a sense for what ‘the’ path is today, but what if CMU blows your mind and opens the door to newer opportunities you hadn’t even realized existed? Again, this is the point of business school. So, learn to traffic in ‘outcome’-speak, less ‘path’-speak.

You can still have a clear sense of the precise steps you’re going to take, don’t confuse that with our earlier point. The point we want to emphasize is that it should all be couched in a frame that’s focused on the outcome, more than the path itself.

Video Presentation

Ever seen a great speech at a wedding, or the like? 9 out of 10 times, the speaker was ‘off book’ and not reading from a script. A perfectly-scripted response can be great. But what you lose is the connection with the audience, which is best achieved by speaking TO them, and not studying your notes. For a 2-minute video, this is an absolute must: put the script away, and get so well acquainted with the contours of your ideas that you can mentally jump from one bullet to the next, and say what you need to say succinctly, but differently each time you do it so that it feels fresh and unrehearsed, but still taut and efficient.

In order to achieve that level, you will likely need to practice like crazy. Here’s one way to do it when you have the benefit of ‘knowing what the question is ahead of time’ as you do here:

1. Before you write anything, pull out your phone or laptop, get yourself on screen through whatever app you like that has a record function, and hit Record, and answer the prompt: “Please describe your post-MBA career goals.” Do this raw, without having written anything down. Don’t fuss about time, take as much time as you need to get your points across. You may get through it all in one minute. Or you might hit ‘stop’ and see that 10 minutes have elapsed. Doesn’t matter. Record this first draft and then rewatch it in abject horror, haha. It’s going to suck, and that’s okay. Better than okay: it’s going to be liquid gold for what comes next.
2. Now that you’ve gotten a garbage attempt out, and watched the horror show, you will have divined insights about where you were clunky, where the transitions were choppy, where your ideas don’t even sound that clear or coherent, but also, where you seemed to hit a solid note or two, and so on. Now, take your time and write out in essay form a more considered response. Make this sucker flow. Make it tight. Edit it, get it to a great place, but try not to get too stuck on precise wording. Instead you want to focus on thematic punches. What’s the meat of what you’re trying to get across, for the tightest and highest impact 250 word essay?
3. Now, without keeping this written version in front of you (this is key, put that thing away, out of sight), record yourself again. You’ll notice two things have happened. You’ll be a LOT closer to the 2-min mark (having aimed at a 250-word piece), and your flow (especially if you’ve followed our guidance) will be a thousand times more coherent and compelling.
4. Refine again, having reacted to where it’s strong, where it isn’t, etc. And write it out, get it to a great place. But this time, before you record again, condense your 250-word essay to … five (or so) bullets that are simply headlines that capture themes, to remind you of the key transitions. This would be the equivalent of using index cards (and btw, that’s a great way to do it, get some index cards, and write out one concept on each card, or all of em on one card, either way). Try recording again using only these BULLETS and see how well you can do to tell your entire story as coherently as possible. Review, and try it again, perhaps making a few adjustments to your index cards wording (maybe adding a key transition, changing the wording somewhat), and have another go. See how you do. Do it again. And again. And each time you do it, try to tell it a little differently each time so that the muscle memory builds around the concepts, not the words.
5. This may feel silly at some point. But important stuff is happening on a level you’re not even aware of. At some point, possibly five recordings (or twenty) later, you’ll feel a click. Something will have shifted and you’ll … know your story inside-out. To the point where you might not even need the cards, you can hear the transitions because they’re so intuitive. If you’ve framed it correctly, the logical underpinnings should be so sound that written transition cues aren’t necessary because they’re baked into the ‘story’ itself. When this happens, you’re in a great place and you should take a break. Give it a day or two and then come back to it, stay somewhat fresh, but do not over-rehearse. If you do, you’ll start to get married to phrases and it’ll sound canned. This is the part that will sound controversial but a story that’s 90% perfect in wording but 100% sound in logic and FEELS UNREHEARSED will outperform a story that’s 100% ‘perfect’ and 100% sound in logic but DOES FEEL REHEARSED. A little bit raw (with a sound logical foundation) beats an overly rehearsed performance any day of the week. This is a skill you’re going to develop in business school no matter what so, start training now!

Video answer question (150 words): What are your post-undergraduate career plans? What company are you joining? What will be your role?

150 words isn’t a lot, which is nice. A good excuse to be straightforward and to the point. But with your future-business-school cap on, you want to frame this as ‘things you’re planning to do… with business school in mind as an inevitable and important component of your overall plan.’ So let’s start there. What is your long-term goal (such as you’re aware of it today), such that an MBA is a necessary stepping stone? What is it you’re hoping to do eventually? What’s the role, function? If you achieve all of it, what will the impact of your efforts be? Okay, now that you have a sense of that, work backwards.

Why is it that in order to achieve that, you’ll need an MBA specifically? What would it have looked like without an MBA? And now, replay it, and how does an MBA turbocharge that effort? Be specific. Great. Keep working backwards. In order to get into an MBA program, what kind of experience must you first get? Why? What are your skills today, and what skills will you need to develop in order to be productive at an MBA program? In other words, you might try your hand at an MBA program ‘today.’ But an interesting alternative would be to gain from real-life experience doing … something… such that an MBA experience after that would make it 100x more productive. How does that argument go? Now you’re ready to tackle this question.

1. Give us the big picture very quickly. What’s the long-term vision? One sentence, maybe two.
2. Now explain what skills will be crucial to succeeding at that effort, and complete this thought by explaining what portion of that you have, and more important don’t have, and are hoping to develop. This should break down into two pieces: (1) The MBA, but before that (2) Your very next steps, this next job, the company you’re going to join, the role, and what you’re hoping to accomplish there, and why.
3. Tie it all together and show us step-by-step how each phase leads elegantly to the next.

Heads up on format: Tepper’s page now calls this a “video answer question,” though the same page also lists “one short answer and one essay” among the required materials. Check the application itself. If it does turn out to be on camera, the practice routine in our Goals video essay guide above works here too.

Essay question (350-500 words): The Future Business Leaders program offers you time to grow before entering business school. Describe the concrete steps you plan to take professionally, academically, and personally to maximize your readiness for the MBA experience.

New question, and a smart one. Future Business Leaders lets you push back your start for up to four academic years while you work, and the question is what you’ll DO with that runway. “Work hard and see what happens” won’t cut it. They asked for concrete steps, in three buckets: professionally, academically and personally.

Start with the job you just described in your video answer. What will that role teach you, and what will it leave out? The gaps are where your plan comes from. Professionally: the responsibilities you’ll ask for, the skills you’ll build, the point where you expect to lead people or projects. Academically: the quant, writing or technical chops you’ll keep sharp or add (a course, a certification, a language). Personally: the habits, communities and commitments outside work that will shape the classmate you become.

Concrete means specific and believable. “Take on more responsibility” is a wish. “Ask to own the quarterly forecast by my second year, so I walk into my MBA having run a real budget” is a step. Keep the MBA in view the whole time: every step should make you a more valuable classmate when you finally show up.

A rough plan for the 350-500 words:

1. Your starting point: the role you’re stepping into and why it’s the right launchpad. (50-75 words)
2. Professional steps, with a rough timeline. (100-125 words)
3. Academic steps: what you’ll learn, and how. (75-100 words)
4. Personal steps: how you plan to grow outside the office. (75-100 words)
5. The payoff: what you’ll bring to a Tepper classroom when you arrive. (50-75 words)

The Tepper School of Business is proud to be a long-standing member of The Consortium. Applicants should submit their application via The Consortium application.  

The mission of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an alliance of more than 20 graduate business schools and some of our country's top corporations, is to expand access and increase representation in business education and leadership.

The Tepper School's supplemental application includes one essay (maximum 500 words). Please choose 1 of the following 2 questions:

Option 1: At the Tepper School, we value leaders who can make confident decisions when facing complexity and uncertainty. Tell us about a time when you had to take action without having all of the answers. How did you navigate the situation and what was the outcome?

Option 2: The Tepper School of Business is committed to helping students reach their full potential by supporting their professional and personal transformation. How do you hope to transform, both professionally and personally, during your time in the program? Please describe your development goals and steps you plan to achieve them.

These are the same two questions posed to first-time MBA applicants, so check out our “How to Write the Carnegie Mellon (CMU) Tepper Essay” analysis above!

Check out analysis of the Optional Essay and Re-Applicant essay here:

Re-applicants: Tepper doesn’t ask a separate re-applicant essay. Its instruction: “Use the optional essay to explain how your candidacy has strengthened since your last application.”

• Optional Essay Analysis
• Re-Applicant Essay Analysis