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Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips from our exclusive admissions consulting partner, <\/i><\/b>mbaMission<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n When preparing personal statements that require significant information about career progress, many MBA applicants choose to discuss their accomplishments in chronological order. Although the simplicity of this approach makes it an attractive one, we encourage you to consider an alternative to showcase your more recent and thus potentially stronger accomplishments first in your MBA essay. By choosing this alternate approach, you may capture your reader\u2019s imagination more quickly and reduce the risk of being lost amid similar candidates.<\/span><\/p>\n Consider the examples of a software analyst who is now a project manager managing a budget and leading a team of 20 programmers, and of an investment banking analyst who is now in his\/her third year with a company and has been sent abroad to work directly with a CFO.<\/span><\/p>\n The Project Manager:<\/b><\/p>\n Chronological:<\/span><\/i> \u201cJoining ABC Technology as a software programmer, I\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Reverse:<\/span><\/i> \u201cScrutinizing my plan one last time, I waited to present my team\u2019s $3.7M proposal to our client\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Investment Banker:<\/b><\/p>\n Chronological:<\/span><\/i> \u201cAs an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank, I started\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Reverse:<\/span><\/i> \u201cArriving in Taipei, I was admittedly nervous to finally meet the CFO of XYZ Co. and lead my firm\u2019s due diligence process\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In these MBA essay examples, the candidates immediately present their standout accomplishments and thrust the reader into the excitement of their stories. Although this kind of reverse introduction is not \u201call purpose,\u201d it can be a feasible option in many circumstances. Still, in choosing this approach, the candidate must also be able to fluidly return to earlier moments in his\/her career later in the MBA essay\u2014a task that requires creativity and skill.<\/span><\/p>\n Another task that requires skill is determining when to use the active voice. Many writers use the passive voice in their MBA essay, but the best writers know it should be used only rarely, if ever.<\/span><\/p>\n The passive voice puts the verb in the \u201cwrong\u201d place in the sentence, thereby removing the \u201caction.\u201d Subjects become <\/span>acted upon<\/span><\/i> rather than <\/span>performing<\/span><\/i> actions. Sentences with the passive voice typically include verb phrases such as \u201cwas\u201d or \u201chas been\u201d (e.g., \u201cit was determined,\u201d \u201cthe project has been completed\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n Consider this example of the passive voice:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe marathon was run despite my injury.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n In this sentence, the verb (or action) is diminished because the writer says the marathon \u201cwas run.\u201d A better way of describing the same activity is to use the active voice, as illustrated in this example:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI ran the marathon despite my injury.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Here are two more examples:<\/span><\/p>\n Passive:<\/b> \u201cThe contract was awarded to us.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Active:<\/b> \u201cWe won the contract.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Passive:<\/b> \u201cIt was decided that I would be in charge of the project.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Active:<\/b> \u201cMy boss selected me to be in charge of the project.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Remember\u2014you are the center and subject of your MBA essay. The best way to tell your stories and explain your accomplishments is to make sure that you are the catalyst of the stories you tell. Using the active voice ensures that the admissions committee(s) will see you as an active person who makes things happen. ?<\/span><\/p>\n mbaMission offers even more interview advice in our free\u00a0Interview Primers<\/a>, which are available for the 17 top-ranked business schools.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips from our exclusive admissions consulting partner, mbaMission. When preparing personal statements that require significant information about career progress, many MBA applicants choose to discuss their accomplishments in chronological order. Although the simplicity of this approach makes it an attractive one, we encourage you to consider an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,52900,4,52899,52894],"tags":[53313,52914,52957],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-admissions-tips","category-business-school","category-mba-b-school","category-mbamission-partners","category-partners","tag-active-voice","tag-mba-essay","tag-mission-admission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15553"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15707,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15553\/revisions\/15707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15553"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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mbaMission<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0is the leader in MBA admissions consulting with a full-time and comprehensively trained staff of consultants<\/i><\/b>, all with profound communications and MBA experience. mbaMission has helped thousands of candidates fulfill their dream of attending prominent MBA programs around the world. Take your first step toward a more successful MBA application experience with a free 30-minute consultation with one of mbaMission\u2019s senior consultants.\u00a0<\/i>Click here to sign up today.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"