To craft the best career vision for the MBA, you must present a coherent narrative that persuasively links your personal reasons for pursuing an MBA with your past experiences as well as your short- and long-term goals.

As you explore and develop your career vision (see part 1 in this series, How to Create a Career Vision for your MBA Application), you’ll want to tease out the long-term vision and short-term goals. Understanding their differences — and how they work together — will enhance your capacity to articulate a compelling case to MBA program admissions committees.

What Are MBA Goals?

Your long-term MBA goal is generally where you plan to be in 10 years, while your short-term MBA goals are the stepping stones paving the way to get there. Short-term goals involve your near-immediate plans — perhaps starting with an internship and for the next two to three years after b-school. During this period, you should be acquiring specific expertise or skills that are essential for you to reach your long-term vision.

Your long-term vision defines your end goal, the peak of your career — answering the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s unnecessary to delve into exacting detail in your answer. Instead, your focus should be on the impact you want to have throughout your professional career. The admissions committee wants to know your values and motivations and how you plan to influence an industry or community.

However, you do want to get specific about the short-term goal. This goal is more important to the admissions committee and should reflect thorough research, down to the function, industry, and even possible companies you hope to work for. 

It’s also important to communicate your understanding of the business school recruiting process and what it will take for you to land your post-MBA job. That said, you might consider a few options to demonstrate that you have a plan B if your ideal path doesn’t work out.

It’s imperative to show a rational thread between your past experiences, the MBA, your internship and your post-MBA goals. You want to show how the skills developed from each of these experiences relate to your vision.

In sum, below are the key distinctions between the long and short-term MBA goals.

Long-Term Career Vision

Crafting a compelling long-term vision is crucial for your MBA application. Remember, your vision should reflect your values, focus on your desired impact, and clearly connect to your reasons for pursuing an MBA. While short-term goals are crucial, your long-term vision provides the guiding north star for your MBA journey. It’s about answering the fundamental question: “Where do you see yourself in 10+ years?”

One way of looking at this is, now that you are a few years into your career, to consider that classic question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  Your end goal should reflect your values: what’s important to you, what you want to change, what problems you want to solve, and how you want to spend your time.

It goes without saying that your long-term career vision should be closely tied to and a logical ultimate expression of your short-term goals. What you do during and immediately after your MBA should ladder up to the big picture you’re painting of your career vision.

Your long-term goal should be both inspirational and aspirational, aiming to reach beyond where you are and to make a significant impact. But it should also be realistic, and should recognize that there may be alternative paths to get there. Your vision can reflect a Plan A, B, and C.

Long-term Vision Examples

Here are a few examples of effective long-term vision statements to inspire you:

• “I aim to increase financial inclusion within current banks by designing, developing, and launching a financial services ecosystem for unbanked Americans.”
• “I seek an executive-level position at a renewable energy organization, such as a wind farm or solar company, to position me well to reach my ultimate objective – impacting the global carbon footprint as a CEO of a global renewable energy organization.”
• “I aspire to transform the healthcare system in Mexico by finding innovative ways to make the diagnostic process less costly so that funding can be used toward enhanced treatments and facilities.”

Short-Term Career Goals for MBA Students

With your aspirational, values-based career vision defined, your short-term career goals outline the steps you’ll take to get there. These goals focus on your internship during your MBA program and up to two to three years after graduation. 

Think of these goals as stepping stones to your ultimate goal. They should focus on building capacities, expertise and experience that you’ll need to achieve your long-term goals.  B

Be sure that your short-term goals are achievable and realistic. They should display an understanding of the MBA recruitment process and a logical pathway to get from your current role and your MBA experience to the next steps you have defined. 

As you develop these goals, be as specific as possible. We recommend putting considerable thought and research into the industry, function, potential companies, and geographic region where you will work toward your career vision. MBA application requirements differ in the space they offer to explain your goals, so develop a detailed version with these specifics and condense as needed. 

Short-term MBA Goal Examples

Here are a few examples of well-crafted short-term MBA goals to guide you:

• “I will leverage my pre-MBA experience as a financial analyst to pursue an internship in finance, either on the buy or sell side, focused on the energy market. Immediately following business school, I will seek a general management or leadership development rotational program at a global energy firm such as X, focusing on gaining exposure to business development, marketing, and operations.”
•  “To gain the experience I need to eventually reach my goal of financial inclusion for America’s unbanked, immediately following my MBA, I intend to pursue a role in business development or project management in a late-stage fintech startup such as X or Y.”
• “After having had wide-ranging exposure to several industries and companies at X consulting firm, I plan to use the intense finance curriculum at X school to help me pivot to a career in investment banking, where I will be able to gain further knowledge of the key metrics used to evaluate companies and portfolios. I intend to pursue an internship with a bulge bracket investment bank such as X, which should help me achieve my goal of working as an analyst for an investment bank post-MBA.”

 

 

Watch this video on how to articulate your short and long term goals:

 

Want More Advice?

For more career vision insights and resources on what the MBA admissions committee is looking for in your b-school application, view the Fortuna team’s related articles and video strategy sessions:

• How to Create a Career Vision for your MBA Application (blog)
• Your Post-MBA Career Goals & How to Position Them In Your MBA App (video)
• How to Position Your MBA Application When Your Post-MBA Career Goal Is Consultancy (video)
• Your Current Role & How It Connects to Your MBA Career Vision (video)
• What You Should Do Now to Prepare for Your MBA Career Vision (video)

Let’s Get You In.

Fortuna Admissions is a dream team of former MBA admissions directors and officers from top business schools. With our unparalleled collective expertise, we can coach you to develop a clear vision of your goals for business school and beyond. We work closely with you throughout the application process and provide expert guidance at every stage to maximize your chances of admission to a top school.

Our free consultations are consistently rated as the best in the industry. To learn more about Fortuna and assess your chances of admission to a top business school, request your free consultation session now.

---

Fortuna Director Heidi Hillis is a senior expert MBA admissions coach and alumna of Stanford GSB.