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What are your specific post-MBA short-term and long-term goals? Why Smith? Why an MBA? Why now? [20]
There you go! I am down to roughly 850 words now. The SOP looks better now it seems :)
From being hectored by kids bigger than me at school to being a victim of domestic violence at my home where the verbal abuses never used to take long to turn into flurries of fists between my parents, I learned to take a stand not just for myself but also for my mother by often protecting her from the vicious blows of my father after he used to get drunk. Fortunately, I never let my checkered past come in the way of my career or ambitions.
After completing Production Engineering from one of the top engineering colleges in India, I decided to work with Infosys Limited, the second largest Indian IT Company. However, I quit my lucrative job to start a web based start-up in the e-commerce domain. Although I failed in my startup venture, the lessons learned are indispensable.
During my recent failed startup experience, I often faced issues regarding strategy, marketing, operations, finance etc. and strongly felt the need for a mentor and formal education in business management. Pursuing an MBA now would give me an opportunity to fulfil the above mentioned two objectives. A business school will give me a chance to learn not only from the school curriculum and professors but also from the participants of the program who had similar experiences. Moreover, since I am broke now, investing in an MBA would have a significant impact on my professional upbringing.
With the world becoming a more interconnected place, calling it one big supply chain would not be incorrect and efficiently managing the constituent supply chains is even more challenging than it looks. Given the key role supply chains play in today's world, I would like to pursue a role as a Supply Chain or an Operations Analyst for a major manufacturing organization within the next five years. From there, I will give myself another two-three years to take on a Product Management role within the company. My work for over five years as an IT SAP PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) consultant, which has instilled in me a structured approach to problem solving, coupled with my entrepreneurial experience, which has taught me to work closely with a team in an ambiguous environment in a startup mode and a shoestring budget, has inculcated in me skills that would translate to my future profession.
In the long term, I would like to see myself in a key role wherein I could lead a substantial part of the business for the organization. Therefore, I see myself in a CxO role by being a principal contributor to the organization's success, not just in the country but worldwide. I would also like to contribute back to the society by staying involved in philanthropic initiatives through personal and professional means.
I chose Olin primarily for its dual degree program of MBA/MS in Supply Chain management and its small class size. The dual degree program would provide me with the right platform to make a career switch. Next, being an introvert, I tend to thrive and succeed more in a small classroom set up such as the one that Olin offers. The small class size would give me an opportunity to closely know each other and the professors, fostering lifelong relationships, which, I strongly believe, would transcend the boundaries of the school.
An MBA would help me to achieve three major objectives, which would make the career transition seamless for me. First, acquiring the theoretical knowledge of formal business education will significantly improve my understanding of the underlying business concepts. Second, the experiential learning process will allow me to implement the theories to the real world setups through consultation projects with sponsor companies. Finally, I will be able to gain an international perspective while growing my network of friends and contemporaries whose careers will flourish alongside mine, thus, providing us with a symbiotic working relationship in the future.
Coming from India and being a part of the Sikh community that represents only 0.4% population of the world, I would be able to increase the diversity of the class. Outside classroom, being a sports enthusiast, a regular long distance runner and a volunteer who succeeded in bringing a running culture in his workplace, I would like to be a part of the sports club, which organizes sports events at Olin. Also, since my belief of giving back to the society in one or the other way encouraged me to work with the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) group of my previous organization for three years, I would like to get associated with the Net Impact club of the school in my pursuit of uplifting the society as a whole. Given my experience as a trained folk dance (bhangra) artist and a member of the teams which organized employee engagement programs in my previous organization, I would like to be a part of the organizing team for cultural events at Olin.
Keeping in mind my short and long term goals, as well as the factors for choosing Olin, I am more than convinced that the program will be able to provide me with the necessary technical training, competency development and interdisciplinary business education to gain an advantage over my competitors in the future.
