The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s School of Business and Management, a.k.a. HKUST, ranks amongst the top 20 business schools in the world. It also ranks amongst the top 5 business schools in Asia-Pacific.
In addition to the traditional full-time MBA program, HKUST also provides a highly coveted Executive MBA program in collaboration with Kellogg School of Management.
HKUST doesn’t just provide applicants with its MBA essay prompts, it shares a complete sample application form.
Unlike many top business schools that made significant changes to their MBA application essays due to the ongoing pandemic, HKUST stuck with it’s MBA essays from the MBA application for the 2019-2020 intake.
If you’re applying to HKUST’s MBA program, here is how you need to approach their MBA essays to improve your chances at getting accepted to the business school.
HKUST Business School MBA Application Essays
The HKUST MBA mission is to inspire and transform individuals to be future business leaders for Asia and the world. We embrace diversity and are looking for ambitious and open-minded candidates with a passion to contribute. It is the first day of orientation. Please introduce yourself to your classmates, highlighting what drives you in your personal and professional life. (500 words)*
As much as you would be tempted to share your professional conquests with the HKUST admissions committee and your future classmates, take a more personal approach to this essay.
With a 500 word limit, this essay prompt gives you ample space to show the admissions committee how you would add value to their MBA class. Highlight examples of the diversity you can bring to HKUST’s MBA class.
To answer this essay, you could talk about your cultural background, or professional background and how they have shaped you and your thought process.
Don’t simply stick to sharing values and skills. Elaborate on these values and skills by providing recent examples of when you showcased the same.
Tell us about your post-MBA goals and based on that, why is the HKUST MBA the ideal program for you and how do you plan to engage and enrich our community? (500 words)*
Whenever a business school essay question asks your post-MBA career goals, be as specific as you can be.
If you have read other blogs on PythaGURUS.com, you must be familiar with our equation of employability.
Here’s how it goes.
Past + HKUST MBA = Short-Term Goals
Past: It refers to the transferable skills that you have achieved during your work experience, or academic life before applying for an HKUST MBA.
HKUSTMBA: This is how an HKUST MBA can either hone your existing skills and knowledge or add more to fill the gap between your transferrable skills and the skills you need to thrive in your short-term goals.
Short-term Goals: This refers to the specific industry, job role, and organization you wish to work with post-MBA from HKUST.
Your Careers goals essay for Ross requires you to create a seamless transition from your Past to your Short-term Goals via a Ross MBA.
Being specific with your short-term goals mean that Ross should be able to provide you potential recruiters for your as you graduate from their MBA program. A really effective way to answer this question is by going through the list of the most recent top recruiters that hired at HKUST, and identifying all potential recruiters you could apply to post-MBA.
How do you plan to finance your MBA? (500 words)*
This is a very unique MBA essay prompt. Not that it is a unique question for the MBA community, but business schools aren’t known to ask MBA applicants this question as an essay prompt in their application.
Putting yourself in the school’s shoes, you would understand why it’s such an important question for them.
Now you could choose to pay for your MBA in different ways. Some popular ones are:
- Student Loans
- Merit or need-based Scholarships by the school
- Merit or need-based Scholarships by private organizations
- Company sponsorship
- Savings or personal loans
Whatever method of funding you choose to finance your MBA, the school would be looking at the papers for the same at a later stage. Use this essay to explain your choice of funding and your decision-making process.
