Your essay needs to address all five points. The admissions committee is asking how your past connects with your future via business school. A versatile template would be to start with your immediate goal on graduation, then give a sense of your long-term goals, and say why an MBA is relevant to these goals, and why now. Bolster this with what in the past has led you to this point. Finish with the aspects of the target school that are relevant and attractive, given your goals.

Communicating your future aspirations is tricky; on the one hand you need to think big, but on the other you must demonstrate career-path realism. Concentrate on the aspirations that set you apart from the crowd. Have a single focus and show that you will do anything (legal) to realise your dream. If you don’t back yourself 100 per cent then the admissions committee won’t either.

Precis from MBA Admissions Strategy, by A. V. Gordon (£13.99). Order copies at the discounted price of £11.50 (plus p&p): telephone McGraw Hill on 01628 502700 or order at www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk and quote Times MBA05. Offer ends December 8, 2005.