Oxford Saïd MBA Essays: Question Prompts
Personal Statement (250 words)
Essay 1: Define your current role (5000 Characters)
Essay 2: Describe below your immediate plan after graduating from the MBA
Essay 3: How does your preferred sector in your preferred location recruit MBA talent and what do they look for in a candidate? Describe the research you have done so far.
Essay 4: Reflecting on your answer above, how do you meet these requirements?
Essay 5: What do you plan to do between now and starting your MBA to prepare and maximize your chances of success?
Essay 6: Should you not be successful in securing your first choice of role, what is your alternative?
Essay 7: Is there anything not covered in the application form that you would like the Admissions Committee to know about you?* Maximum 250 words
Oxford Saïd MBA: Sample Essays of Successful Candidates
Personal Statement (250 words)
I am currently at a professional crossroads where I have built up substantial consulting expertise in supply chain logistics and have simultaneously founded two profitable businesses. From this solid foundation my aim is to attain the skills and build the network I need to achieve my long term goal of sustainable and innovative entrepreneurship. I firmly believe that the Oxford MBA is the perfect next step in achieving these goals.
I have previously experienced the failure of a business I had set up because I did not have the skills and experience required to run it. This painful loss has given me a deep seated motivation to not repeat my mistakes, and therefore has imparted a drive in me to learn and upskill as much as I can. Doing an MBA from Oxford would allow me to gain the experience and expertise I need to continue in my path as a consultant while giving my businesses the time they need to mature. It would also help enable my switch to an investment manager role at a PE/VC firm in the medium-term. Furthermore, the experience of learning from the excellent faculty and the vibrant cohort at the multicultural University of Oxford is something I am genuinely looking forward to.
In short, an application-based practical curriculum, a fantastic peer learning experience, and well-connected networks in my interest arenas of VC, consulting, and entrepreneurship will set me on the path to achieving my long-term goals.
Essay 1: Define your current role (5000 Characters)
I am currently responsible for running 2 companies which I have founded in the last 12 months. As the founder and majority partner, I have overall responsibility for all business operations, and all employees report to me.
The first business is a customer-facing gourmet food delivery and catering company. It has 20 employees working at our New Delhi office and kitchen, and our current monthly revenue is ~ £13,000. I oversee sales across 3 channels – our Shopify eCommerce website, social media, and direct calls and messages. I have direct interactions with returning customers and large order value customers, such as those contacting us for events and gifting purposes. Additionally, I approve new marketing campaigns or changes to existing strategies, drive new product ideation, manage staff salaries and expenses, and track daily revenue and profit metrics. I also do quality inspections and I particularly ensure I talk to customers with negative feedback.
The second is a hospitality consulting business, which I run with my business partner and chef. There are 5 employees, and our average monthly revenue is ~ £3,300. I am directly responsible for new lead generation through emails, cold calling and my professional network. I handle all new leads and pitch our consulting services. I am the primary point of contact for existing clients and directly manage their projects on the business side, with my partner handling the culinary side. I coordinate our client’s marketing campaigns, make business plans and cash flow projections, advise them on strategy and product creation, and conduct regular site visits to meet them in person and review project work.
In my previous role as an associate consultant at (Anonymized), I was responsible for client communication and analysis work on projects with average baselines of ~$30M – $200M. On a daily basis, I managed a team of five business analysts and directed their work on different projects. I was responsible for overall work quality, meeting project deadlines, and formulating data analyses and hypotheses. I participated in internal strategy meetings and client sales pitches with senior stakeholders. I was also responsible for recruitment and analyst reviews for the 3 members of my team. I worked directly with my partner-level managers and VP level clients.
My diverse experiences have helped improve my business acumen and team management, and collaboration skills, and I look forward to leveraging these traits and contributing to the Oxford MBA cohort.
Essay 2: Describe below your immediate plan after graduating from the MBA
Post the Oxford Said MBA, I want to continue my career as a management consultant in the procurement and operations department, focusing on the supply chain & logistics sector. I am targeting a position of Engagement Manager or Senior Associate Consultant at global consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, BCG or Accenture, in the procurement & operations department.
Essay 3: How does your preferred sector in your preferred location recruit MBA talent and what do they look for in a candidate? Describe the research you have done so far.
Based on my conversations with AK (Ex-Goldman, KPMG, EY), MK (LBS’21) and senior consultant figures at my previous consulting firm including Chris Lange (ex-Accenture, Opera), I have learnt that the companies I am targeting mostly recruit directly on campus from prestigious business schools. They are looking for candidates with a prior background in management consulting and who have strong analytical, managerial and project management skills. In particular for my target role of a procurement consultant, it is required to have expertise in procurement consulting and it is good to have sector expertise in a few categories.
Essay 4: Reflecting on your answer above, how do you meet these requirements?
I believe I meet all of the requirements for my potential recruiters and will be an excellent candidate to get selected. I have 3 years of management experience with (Anonymized), where I was part of teams advising multi billion dollar companies on their procurement and cost efficiency needs. I have exposure to 15+ categories, with deep expertise in logistics & supply chain. I have developed strong analytical skills and exposure to various tools and software during my tenure. I also have significant project and team management experience, as well as client handling experience from (Anonymized) and my current consulting firm (Anonymized).
Pursuing an MBA from a top school such as Said would put me in a strong position to achieve my short term goals and make the geographical and designation switches I am aiming for.
Essay 5: What do you plan to do between now and starting your MBA to prepare and maximize your chances of success?
In the time I have before starting my MBA I am aiming to further develop my client handling and project management skills. To that end I have launched my own consulting company – Gold Leaf Hospitality Consulting, which focuses on providing business and culinary consulting to young entrepreneurs seeking to open their own food business. I handle all sales pitches, client interaction & management, project management and business consultancy aspects. Through this experience I am developing the important client facing skills I need to succeed in my future consultancy career. I believe these skills, allied with my strong analytical abilities and role-specific expertise make me an excellent candidate for my target companies.
Essay 6: Should you not be successful in securing your first choice of role, what is your alternative?
If I am unable to get through to my primary target companies (global high-brand consultancy groups) I will target smaller consultancy companies in my domain areas of logistics and supply chain, such as Maine Pointe, Transplace and Jaegger. I have good contacts and connections in these companies, which will help get me a foot in the door and provide a boost in the recruitment process. I also have a standing offer of employment from my previous company (Anonymized), and their Logistics Centre of Excellence (LCoE) where I spent 2 years and achieved 2 promotions in successive years.
Essay 7: Is there anything not covered in the application form that you would like the Admissions Committee to know about you?* Maximum 250 words
During my last year of college, my father and I started an organic dairy business with our family’s savings. It quickly became apparent that the business was struggling, and I felt compelled to abandon my placement offer at Bain to join the start-up in an attempt to safeguard my family’s fortunes. However, despite my best efforts, the business was not successful and we had to close down a year later with heavy losses and debts.
I learned a tough lesson – good intentions and hard work are not enough to compensate for a lack of experience and business nous. Indeed, this pivotal experience has shaped me profoundly and made me value business experience and know-how as critical traits. This is a driving factor behind my MBA application – I feel now is the right time to further my learning and skills, to protect my business from similar missteps in the future.
This desire to keep upskilling my professional skills was also a primary factor in my launching the two businesses I have founded in the last year. The gourmet food business gave me a second chance to deploy my learnings from my first failed attempt. The consulting business was an attempt to learn critical client management aspects of the business which I felt I was not exposed to enough at (Anonymized). I feel that this drive to improve my professional skills will be an immense asset in the Imperial MBA program and my career beyond.