Goals Essay... How specific/vague can we get?

[singhamit2204]

Hi,
I need some insight on the most common question on the Essay circuit.
Short, Medium and Long Term Goals.
My question is how specific and vague can we get in describing the short term and long term goals respectively?

Short Term: Join McKinsey at Associate Level.
Medium Term: Associate Principal in 5 years. having worked in many industries and markets as an associate, by now I would have settled on a domain to gain expertise in, most probably Management/Strategy Consulting.
Long Term: Rise through the corporate echelons of McKinsey. However at some point of time, based on my assessment of my Network, knowledge and experience gained from the years of service at McKinsey, I do see myself going out on my own.

I am probably going to sound like a walking cliché in saying this, but this is what I want so....
Anyway, I can back this up in my essays with past experience so hopefully it wont be too bad :)..

now the ST goal is very specific, and I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing?
Will it better to mention Tier 1 consulting firm, instead of floating the name like that.

Also the long term goal gets vague with the message going across "I am not sure whether I am going to open my own firm, but I just might. We'll see!" Is this indecisiveness acceptable?

Thanks!
Amit

[mbamission]

Hi Amit -

Business schools like to see specificity without rigidity. If you are very clear on what you want to do and can show a clear and logical flow, I don't think it's a problem to be pretty specific with your goals, but you may want to soften them a bit by saying "a firm like McKinsey" or "5-7 years". In terms of the longer term goals, schools do understand that no one is going to hold applicants to what they say in the essays. They still want to know that there is a reasonable progression. It's absolutely find to present back up goals or options (we have a couple of blog posts on this if you search on "goals" on our blog), and in fact for career changers the schools even prefer to see back up goals. But, both goals should be reasonable developments from your career progress up to that point.

I hope that helps.

Jessica Shklar
mbaMission

our blog: www.mbamission.com/blog