Placement fever has started in campus. The most arduous and painful task for many of the students is filling the company forms. Because short listing of candidates for interview is dependant on the quality of the answers we give. Those who are good at globing might write great stuff, but lesser mortals like me are horrible at globing. I made a serious effort to write my first SOP in life. First I tried my hand at globing. Then I asked my friends to review the same. I got one of the most pathetic n horrible reviews of my writing. So I realised that even after an MBA I am useless at globe. My friends gave me some inputs and insights as what I should write in a SOP, based on that I made few points over which I should focus my essay. The following are the main points on which I based my essay:
- Mention the purpose of your life.
- What YOU intend to do in YOUR life
- Highlight your goals in life and what you desire from it?
- There should be a clear link with your short term goals
- Why you are applying to this company?
- Back up your claims with relevant experiences, qualifications, specific skills.
I took a deep breathe and started writing straight and frank. I didn’t let my thoughts go out of my mind; I wrote a candid expression of the points which I wanted to include in my essay. After I finished writing my essay, I sent this across to my friends for review, to my surprise none of them made even a single comment to that. I surprised myself that I really wrote my SOP. It’s hard to write up about our whole purpose of life on a small sheet of paper still I answered all the points which I wanted to include in my essay.
So here goes my SOP:
I come from a family of teachers. Since childhood, I was taught that upholding one’s values is the most important thing in one’s life. I am inspired by my grandfather, who had a passion to teach children and improve their lives, is till date a constant source of inspiration to me.
Since my childhood, I get disturbed whenever I see people who cannot afford to send their children to schools or give them medical facilities. I was determined to become a doctor and start a school and medical services centre for the underprivileged.
Unfortunately, my disability dashed my hopes of becoming a doctor. Learning at school had become a painful, arduous task. Also, my parents were worried about my health and my future. I decided that despite my disability I would reach greater heights in my life and make my parents proud. I excelled in all the schools I attended and was consistently ranked among the top students.
I did my graduation in software which helped me to grasp the basics of information technology. Later I did my masters’ in Information systems as I want to get a bigger picture as how I can inculcate this technology into solving people’s needs. Later, I realized that I need to be equipped with managerial skills to handle larger responsibilities in life. This led me to pursue a MBA, which has enhanced my skills and capabilities apart from broadening my horizon of thinking.
As a budding manager, I believe I can contribute to your organization with my deep functional knowledge in finance and Information technology. I know that you are a socially conscious business house dedicated to improving the quality of life of the communities in which you operate. This has widely impacted my decision to apply; which is in sync with my goal of serving the society to improve their living.
A brief on my career plans in long term and short term:
In short term I seek to learn the practical aspects of business functioning across different domains I also wish to gain a good understanding of different industries and sectors which would help me in delivering greater value to my organisation and attain expertise in the field of my work.
In long term I have 3 major goals:
- I should be in a major leadership position handling responsibilities across diverse businesses and recognised in the industry as an expert in the field of my work.
- To do a PhD in Business Economics from a top university and fulfil my desire to get in to academia and disseminate the knowledge I have gained from my experience.
- To start a school for under privileged children who cannot afford to go for good schools and add value in their life.
I would like to thank my friends Shiva Kumar Ramaswamy, Krishna Agarwal, V Krupashankar, Kalyani V, Neeraj Trivedi, and Abhishek Choudary for their inputs and valuable time to edit and review my SOP.
