SOP for MBA

Looking for a sample SOP for MBA admission? Get ready to grab the best sample in this article. If you’re a student from an engineering background, arts, science or any other, then we get you covered. Here, we’ve given two samples which include a sample SOP for MBA with engineering background and other.

Do you know the requirements of SOP for MBA admission in top colleges? In this blog, you will get the SOP format, sample SOP and SOP guidelines for various MBA specialisations and countries. You can use the given sample statement of purpose for MBA as a reference, don’t try to copy it. Remember, plagiarising the SOP will have chances of losing the admission.

Before diving into the sample, understand the importance of SOP, why it is required and other.

What is a statement of purpose for MBA?

The MBA Statement of Purpose (SOP) is a long-form essay that is required by the universities to know your purpose and aspiration of studying abroad in the particular university and course and your command of language.

To study abroad and to get admissions in universities you’re required to submit an SOP. The MBA Statement of Purpose (SOP) will make the admission committee understand the passion to do the course and about your academic and professional plans.

10 tips to write statement of purpose for MBA 

1. Know the format - Before start writing the SOP you need to be clear about the number of words, paragraphs, pages, and the points to be included.
2. Check the guidelines of the university/college - Get to know the requirements that the university/college specifically have for MBA before drafting your SOP.
3. Give valid details - Ensure that the details you provide about your academic scores, work experience, certifications are legit.
4. Ensure the readability - Try to write your MBA SOP in an understandable and simple language. 
5. Be specific - Clearly explain the reasons behind choosing the country, university, course, career plan and international education.
6. Tell a story - Don’t just go brief. Explain your career goals,  marketing, management, leadership or any other skills you’ve gained, effort you’ve made related to the career, and the plans you’ve to achieve it as a story.
7. Avoid plagiarism - The sample SOP for MBA given here and available on the internet is to show you the ideology. Don’t copy the entire sample and get into trouble.
8. Write unique SOP for each institute - If you’re applying to one or more institutes, try to write the SOP differently with their unique features.
9. Treat resume and SOP differently - The admission committee will also look into your resume, so make sure the information presented in the SOP is not the same as resume.
10. Grasp the attention in the opening and closing line - Focus on the first two lines of the introduction paragraph which influences the admission personnel to read further. Also, the closing paragraph which makes them a decision.

How to write SOP for MBA?

You can write the SOP for MBA with five key elements: introduction, academic background, professional background, career plans and goals, and conclusion. The SOP for MBA can be in a word limit of 800-1000 words. 

• The introduction paragraph is the great place to hook your admission personnel with your interest and motive to study MBA in the particular university.
• Then you can explain about the academic and professional background, achievements, managerial and other business oriented skills, projects and research handled, and extra-curricular achievements. 
• After that, you can elaborate your short term goals which you’ll do right after MBA and long term goals with MBA skills, the reason for choosing MBA with work experience or at this year.
• Finally conclude your SOP with the points how the university and the course offered by them will help you to achieve your vision and why they need to give admission.

Format of SOP for MBA

The format of SOP for MBA is that it needs to be in a two page long essay with 5-7 paragraphs in a font size of 12, written in a black text colour with double-spacing. The word limit of SOP for MBA is 800-1000. Check out the following infographic to get a clear understanding.

SOP for MBA Specialisation Guidelines

The guidelines of the statement of purpose for MBA specialisations are as follows:

SOP for MBA in Marketing

• State the interest of choosing MBA Marketing and which concepts attract you to make the decision in your SOP.
• Mention the area of marketing such as retail marketing, digital marketing, branding, etcng, digital marketing, branding, etc that you’re going to explore in the future in the statement of purpose for MBA in Marketing.
• You can include any of the marketing related activities such as sales and the skills such as convincing, critical thinking, communication, creativity etc you’ve done.
• Follow the five key elements such as introduction, academic info, work experience, career plans and conclusion in the SOP.

SOP for MBA in Finance

• Give details about the mini-project you’ve handled regarding the finance like company budget planning, financial report analysis, etc.
• The SOP submitted to the universities need to be in a proper format. Maintain the same font throughout the document and the font size of 12.
• Your statement of purpose for MBA in Finance needs to adhere to the word limit between 800 - 1000 words.
• The interest of diving deeper into the financial concepts need to be included in the SOP .

SOP for MBA in Human Resource - HR

• The SOP can be included with the information of team handling regarding the projects or any cultural event and the lessons learnt.
• Include the skills like leadership, people management, communication, problem-solving you’ve to manage the people in your SOP with examples.
• The statement of purpose for MBA in HR can be included with your academic and professional achievements related to the human resource course.
• The career choices and plans you’ve regarding the human resource degree can be included in your SOP.

SOP for MBA in Operations

• The SOP needs to be presented in a unique way not in the structured and templated format.
• The experience of industrial visit and the process you’ve learned can be mentioned in the statement of purpose for MBA in operations.
• The decision of choosing the specialisation can be included in the SOP.
• The plan of choosing the career role in operations can be mentioned. You can choose to become a manufacturing manager, operation, production manager, inventory manager, etc.

SOP for MBA in Information Technology - IT

• The statement of purpose for MBA in Information Technology can be included with the information of which of the recent technology trends that grab your interest.
• Give a clear picture of what you’re going to do after completing your degree in your SOP.
• Mention the practical skills you’ve done related to the information technology and system in your SOP. You can mention data management, data analysis, coding, project management, and technical writing.
• Conclude with the reasons why the committee personnel want to give admission for the MBA degree.

SOP for MBA in International Business

• Communication skill is a main aspect to handle clients across the globe. Make sure you include it in your statement of purpose for MBA in international business.
• SOP will be a great key to express your curiosity of exploring the business across the world.
• The project you’ve done related to international business can be included in the SOP.
• Final proofreading needs to be carried out to spot the grammatical and spelling errors after finishing your SOP.

Statement of purpose for MBA checklist

• Verify whether the academic background and achievements are included
• Check whether you’ve included the motive of choosing MBA and the specialisation
• Check whether you’ve concluded with the reason of choosing the university to achieve your goals
• Check whether the professional experience, accomplishments, organisation skills are relevant
• Check whether you’ve added your goals and vision
• Check out the continuity and flow of paragraphs
• Examine the tone and language
• Look over the grammatical and spelling errors
• Check whether the format and guidelines of SOP followed
• Cross-verify your SOP with plagiarism checker whether it matches with any of the existing sample SOP for MBA.

Statement of purpose for MBA with work experience sample

MBA is my childhood desire. I was always keen to learn the business strategies, struggles and the solution from my father as he is a businessman. I was grateful that I was able to figure out my career at a very young age. As I have narrowed down what my career is, I can able to concentrate on my academics without deviation. That makes me secure well in my academics.

To make the first step of my career, I have decided to do the Bachelor’s in Business Administration at XYZ institute. With a strong interest in learning the business concepts, I have got 80% in my bachelor’s program. Other than academics, I wanted to know the ability of my skills. Hence, I have handled students for the project, conducted cultural events, actively participated in the presentations, seminars and group discussions, etc.

My personal skills were developed and I got to know my strengths while doing my JOB ROLE in the XYZ organisation. I have attained the organisation skills such as communication, team handling, management, planning, etc. Being in the organisation for 3 years, I have explored a lot of areas and came to know what my field needs to be. I have even handled many international clients and projects in the organisation. That made me move to the next step and do extensive research about the countries, universities that offer great quality MBA education.

After spending time for lot of researching, my preferences got matched and I have concluded the country as COUNTRY NAME and the institute as UNIVERSITY NAME. The decision of choosing MBA in the UNIVERSITY NAME will definitely be a great stepping stone for my career goals and the teaching and training methodology will help to fine-tune my skills and make me achieve the goal I've had for years.

The opportunity of pursuing MBA in the UNIVERSITY NAME will be the best-ever decision I have made for my career. I’m eagerly looking forward to study MBA in a UNIVERSITY NAME at COUNTRY NAME.

Sample SOP for MBA pdf

Sample SOP for MBA

The urge of studying MBA started while working as a JOB ROLE in the XYZ organisation. Gained the organisational and technical skills such as SKILLS in the XYZ organisation, I was keen to learn about the managerial skills and other business skills. This made me plan for MBA studies in abroad countries.

While doing my ENGINEERING COURSE in the INSTITUTE, I have participated in the events, workshops, seminar, volunteered for social work, organised the events, and been a student representative. I haven’t compromised my interest in learning each subject, the involvement of understanding each engineering concept made me gain a CGPA of 8.

After taking my first job in the XYZ organisation nearly 3 years ago, I have created a strong foundation of my core, technical skills. In these years, I have been rewarded as an ACHIEVEMENT for suggesting a strategy for the project which leads in generating immense profit. After the achievement, my responsibilities in the organisation increases. I have made to handle a team, plan for projects, budget, resource allocation, etc.

This made me think about gaining the managerial skills and discuss about pursuing an MBA with the senior person of my organisation. By considering his suggestion and checking with the specific preferences I have, I ended-up in finalising the UNIVERSITY NAME at COUNTRY NAME. By doing MBA from the UNIVERSITY NAME, I believe that I will be able to sharpen my skills which helps me to secure a higher position and enhance my professional opportunities in international business. 

The MBA degree offered by your UNIVERSITY NAME will definitely be an eye-opener in my career path. With the knowledge acquired in the MBA course, I will achieve a higher position in the leading firm and will handle the entire project. I’m keen to get the opportunity to study for an MBA in your UNIVERSITY NAME.

Sop for mba sample pdf

Things to remember while write SOP for MBA with work experience 

Here are the things you need to consider while writing the statement of purpose for MBA with work experience:

• Skills acquired in the work experience need to be relevant to the specialisation of marketing, human resource, information technology, finance, international business, operations.
• Reason to choose MBA with work experience need to be justified
• Future career plan with MBA can be concluded
• Need to stick to the elements of MBA SOP structure
• Contribution you’ve made to the company need to be given
• The ideal word limit of SOP for MBA cannot be exceeded
• Projects you’ve handled and volunteered can be related to your career path
• The format of SOP for MBA need to be followed

SOP for MBA for important countries

There are specific requirements that take place for each country and their universities when it comes to writing SOP for MBA. Check out those below:

SOP for MBA in USA

• The SOP can be written as 1 or 2 essays or cover letter or short-answer questions or essays for the given question.
• The essays can be with a minimum of 250 words to the maximum of 800 words.
• The short answer questions required are a maximum of 50 to 100 words.
• The statement of purpose for MBA in USA can be given in a paragraph and for some it can be in bullet points.
• Even though you’re required to write an SOP with two essays, you’ve to upload it as one document.

SOP for MBA in Canada

• The statement of purpose for MBA in Canada needs to be in a much professional and enthusiastic tone.
• Interviews won’t be held in the majority of Canadian institutes, so your SOP needs to be included with all the related information.
• Canadian universities, business schools have guidelines in place, ensuring you follow before writing an SOP.
• Include the details of your academic achievements, work experience, skills, projects, volunteership in your SOP.
• Focus on the introduction of your SOP to make the admission personnel read further.

SOP for MBA in UK

• The SOP can be written as story type, stating how you got the interest and made the decision to pursue MBA
• The statement of purpose for MBA in UK can also approach the reason behind choosing the specialisation of MBA.
• The SOP MBA needs to be written uniquely for each institute, as each college has their own features to address.
• Look at what special skills, certification or volunteer work, institutes expect from applicants. Include those in the SOP if you’ve attained any of those.

SOP for MBA in Germany 

• The sample SOP for MBA in Germany you get will only help you to frame the structure. Use it as a source to create your own SOP.
• In your SOP, you need to specify how an MBA degree will help with your career goals.
• The skills you’ve acquired in your work and while your studies can be included in the statement of purpose for MBA in Germany.
• Final proofreading needs to be carried out before submitting your SOP.

SOP for MBA in Australia

• The reason and the motive to study in Australia can be included in the SOP.
• Your personal details about family, or others can be avoided in the SOP.
• The statement of purpose for MBA in Australia needs to be in an essay format with 600-1000 words.
• The structure of SOP for MBA needs to be followed as Australian institutes focus more on the structure.

SOP for MBA in Ireland

• The SOP in Ireland institutes require a form of letter rather than an essay format.
• The statement of purpose for MBA in Ireland is asked to be submitted as supporting documents while application.
• Personal background is not required while writing the SOP.
• You need to include your SOP for MBA with work experience, as Irish universities expect the skills and experiences to be in a detailed way.

SOP for MBA in France

• The command of your language will have a great impact among the admission committee of France universities.
• The statement of purpose for MBA in France needs to be included with an important point which is the intention and the motive behind choosing the country.
• Include the short-term and long-term career goals in your SOP to make the personnel know about your interest.
• The sample SOP for MBA will not be copied by the students applying for the studies abroad.

SOP for MBA for important universities 

University of Toronto - Canada 

• Academic, bachelor’s program, English proficiency test and entrance exam score can be mentioned in your SOP.
• Minimum of two years of work experience is needed which can be included in your SOP.
• The statement of purpose for MBA needs to be in a two written essay format.
• The leadership qualities or any other related accomplishments can be included in your SOP.

Harvard University - USA

• An open-ended question is given for the applicants to answer in the SOP.
• The statement of purpose for MBA needs to be in a simple and clear language.
• Explain how the degree will help you to improve your professional and personal level.
• State what makes you a good candidate for the Harvard Business School MBA program.

University of Oxford - UK

• The SOP needs to be in an essay format with a maximum of 250 words for the questions asked by the University of Oxford.
• Skills such as communication, leadership, and analytical will be considered by the admission committee.
• Mention in your statement of purpose for MBA how you fit with the Oxford MBA community.
• The career plans and the international exposure need to be included in the SOP as they not only look at your experience in a particular sector.

Conclusion  

The SOP for MBA is the important document that shows your commitment towards your education, career and goals to the admission committee and also establishes your language skills, story-telling skills, and other. Use the sample SOP for MBA given here and draft your own SOP to get the admission.