Cambridge Judge MBA Essays & Analysis 2024 - 2025

Cambridge has released its MBA Essay Questions for the 2024 - 2025 application cycle. The essays are unchanged from last year's application cycle.

Here are the Cambridge MBA Essays for 2024 - 2025.

Cambridge Judge MBA Essay: Career Objectives

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?

A good tip for career goals essays like this one is to start with why. If you can clearly explain your motivation, the rest of the essay will flow naturally from there. For example, "I struggled to get a bank account when growing up and my ambition is to bring financial services to the unbanked".

From here simply elaborate on how you'll achieve this ambition, first with your short-term career objectives (a fintech?) and then with long-term career objectives (your own fintech company?).

In this essay, you'll also need to research your target industry and role and how they recruit. Find this information online through company websites, job forums, or LinkedIn. Reach out to recruiters at your target companies and speak to people who are already doing your dream job! That way, you'll identify the technical skills (for example, financial modelling) and characteristics (charismatic) that you'll need to reach your goals and understand how to improve them.

For the sake of your application, it's probably best to write as if you have a fairly thought-through career path even if you may deviate from it. Write about the foundation work you have already done/are currently doing to prepare for your goals. This could include networking, taking online classes, travel, internships, extracurriculars, or taking on additional responsibilities at work. Explain how you'll take this forward during your MBA and the skills you'll get from specific opportunities and resources at Cambridge Judge.

Cambridge Judge MBA Essay 1 

Tell us about a time when you made a professional mistake. How could it have ended differently? (up to 200 words)

Nobody has a perfect career. What differentiates leaders, however, is their ability to reflect on their mistakes and the challenges they face, learn from them, and apply that learning to grow in their careers. Cambridge looks for resilience, adaptability, accountability, and humility in this essay.

We recommend using a story in the SCAR (Situation-Challenge-Action-Result) format to write this essay. First, set up the context of your story by describing the situation and whom it involved. Next, explain the 'challenge' - the mistake you made. Don't try to sugarcoat it; the school wants to see that you can hold yourself accountable for your actions and honestly and objectively discuss it.

Then, write about the action you took to fix your mistake. Reflect on how this crisis could have been averted if you had taken action sooner/differently. If you weren't able to fix it, that's okay! Discuss how the situation might have ended differently or could have been avoided.

You only have 200 words to write this essay. If space allows, conclude with a brief analysis of what you learned. If you applied this learning in a future project, include it to give the AdCom a concrete example of your growth.

Cambridge Judge MBA Essay 2

Tell us about the best team you worked with. What made the team successful? (up to 200 words)

During your MBA and throughout your career, your ability to work with other people is one of the most crucial skills you will develop. In this essay, Cambridge looks for evidence of your interpersonal skills, ability to collaborate with and learn from your team members, and communication skills.

Choose a story in the SCAR (Situation-Challenge-Action-Result) format to write this essay. Your story should have a successful outcome - one that was impacted by your teamwork.

First, set up the context of your story by describing your team's involvement in a certain project or task, or how you coordinated with a group of people to achieve a certain goal. The team you write about need not be professional; you may write about a sports or extracurricular team instead. Next, explain the 'challenge' or the task you worked through together.

Focus on demonstrating collaboration and communication. It's also best to highlight any leadership role you played in this story, and how you influenced others positively. Finally, describe the successful outcome and quantify where possible.

You only have 200 words to write this essay. If space allows, conclude with a brief analysis of what you learned, and how you'll apply these teamwork skills in the future.

Cambridge Judge MBA Essay 3

Provide an example of when someone else positively impacted your life. What did you learn from this experience? (up to 200 words)

Cambridge Judge looks for leaders who can also be led. You may have been positively influenced by a manager, mentor, or someone from a community you engage with. Reflect on how this person's leadership has influenced your own, or how they played an important role in shaping your goals and motivations. We don't recommend writing about your family here.

First, describe the person and the context in which you know them. Write about how they influenced you positively; they may have given you useful guidance or constructive feedback, maybe even shown some tough love, they may have achieved something that you want to emulate, or they may have mentored you as part of a project or team. Then, explain what you learned from their leadership by highlighting the specific skills that they demonstrated.

Finally, remember that this prompt may be about someone else's leadership, but you are still the protagonist of this essay! Focus on how you applied what you learned from this person in your own career or personal life. How do you pay it forward?

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Check out our Cambridge Judge MBA Interview Guide for in-depth insights into Cambridge's interview process, what they're looking for in prospective candidates, interview questions, and tips to ace your interview. 

For the full Cambridge Judge MBA application course with example essays based on real essays by previous applicants, check out the Cambridge Judge application program on MBAconsultant.com. 

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