Answering the"Why MBA Now" question p2 - 工管

Greetings aspiring MBA candidates! We would like to build on our previous post

that delved into the often problematic "Why MBA Now?" interview question.



In our last post, we encouraged interviewees to establish a clear,

career-oriented reason for pursuing an MBA. These reasons should revolve around

the interviewee's future career aspirations, which allow the interviewee to

explain that an MBA is needed to achieve them. This is primarily a discussion

about the future, and that an MBA is essential for the person's future career

development. But we often find that the interviewee's answer to the "Why MBA

Now?" question is limited to this topic only: an explanation of their future

goals and that they need an MBA now to achieve them. However, this is really

just an answer to "Why MBA?" and does not address the key issue which is why

now is the right time to get this education (as opposed to one or two years

from now).



To fully explain why now is the right time to get an MBA the interviewee must

offer some context about their past experience. Thus, a brief discussion of the

past is also critical to providing a complete and compelling answer to this

question. If the interviewer does not fully comprehend the interviewee's past

experience, it is impossible for them to fully appreciate why the interviewee

needs an MBA now.


A complete "Why MBA Now?" interview answer will therefore:

a) Provide some context about the interviewee's past professional
experience. They might briefly point out their progression and the
key skills that they have developed which they can build on in the
future.
b) Detail their future career plans.
c) Explain that after evaluating the feasibility of these plans, they
have come to the realization that without an MBA it will be very
difficult to achieve them and that now is the best time to get this
education.


While a), b) and c) above seem to be simple enough on paper, explaining them in

a coherent and easy to understand way in a high pressure interview is extremely

challenging which is why a lot of advance preparation is needed.



To further elaborate our ideas about how to best execute the "Why MBA Now?"

question we would also like to offer the following sample interview response.



Sample "Why MBA Now?" response:


"My five years of project management experience in the pharmaceutical industry
have been extremely rewarding, and I've developed solid leadership, analytical
and problem solving skills while driving several important process improvement
projects. It's just been over the past 1.5 years I've become quite sure that
strategy consulting is the path I want to devote my career to. Merck's
acquisition of my company forced me to quickly learn how major pharmaceutical
companies plan and execute their global operations. When I began to see the

positive effects the new Merck system was having on my company's operations and
product sales, I became really interested in business strategy and how it could
lead to improved performance. I then started networking within the management
consulting industry which led to informational interviews with managers at BCG
and Accenture. I just became really passionate about consulting at that point,
and I knew it was what I should be doing. Needless to say, with my past
education in accounting and experience in project management there's no way to
break into consulting unless I 'retool' with an MBA. And at 28, it doesn't make
sense to wait."


In this sample answer we can see that the interviewee has provided some

useful context about their previous work experience, stated their career

objectives and why this path interests them, and then explained that now is the

right time to get an MBA education.


We hope this information is helpful for all you aspiring MBA candidates out

there! Please take plenty of time to carefully consider how you would respond

to this frequently asked question before you enter your interview. Or if you

would like to seek our expert assistance in interview preparation, feel free

to reach out to us at [email protected].




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創陞教育（Transcend Admissions Consultants）

David Johnston
Georgetown University Law Center
[email protected]
http://transcendadmissions.com/ Plan. Execute. Succeed!

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