コロンビアビジネススクール/ロンドンビジネススクール合格のEssay公開

志望するMBAスクール合格を目指す上で重要となるエッセイ。エッセイを作成する上で大きく下記の4点を言語化する必要があると思っており、その観点でコロンビアビジネススクール（CBS）とロンドンビジネススクール（LBS）のエッセイはオーソドックスに各人のMBAエッセイを構築する上で最適だと思っています。本noteを読むことで日本人受験生が世界中から殺到するapplicantsと戦うために、効率的かつパワフルなエッセイを書き上げる一助になれればと思っています。

①キャリアゴール（いわゆるゴールエッセイ）
②Why MBA
③Why this school
④自分はどういう人か/自分にとって何が重要か

この4点について、各スクールで文字数の違いこそあれど、記載すべきポイントはある程度フレームワーク化出来ると思っており、その観点を詳細に説明している記事を私は見たことがないため、本noteで説明出来ればと思います。私自身、エッセイの英語表現はネイティブに修正してもらいましたが、ストーリー自体は全て自分で書き上げており、高い費用を払って自分のキャリア観を他人に代筆してもらう必要はあまりないと思っています。

①ゴールエッセイ
ここで記載すべき内容は、❶Long-termでのキャリアゴール（最終的にキャリアで何を達成したいか）、❷そのためにShort-termのキャリアゴールは何か（MBA卒業後3~5年後に何をしたいか）、❸そしてPost-MBAキャリアは何かの3点です。この3つが一つの直線となるように上記の順で文章を構成することで説得力があり、かつ簡潔で分かりやすいストーリーが描けます。

②Why MBA
なぜMBAが今必要なのかを、自分の今いる職場での実体験を基に書き上げていくことになります。パターンを大別すると、❶特定の職種（営業、ファイナンス等）しか経験していなかったが、マネジメントを目指す上でGeneralな経営知識を身に着けたい、❷Diversityのある環境でリーダーシップを身に着けたい、❸これまでのキャリアとは異なる職種・業界で新たなチャレンジがしたい、といった点がメインになると思います。

③Why this school
数多存在するMBAスクールの中で、なぜこの学校がいいのかを説明する必要があります。オーソドックスな形としては、❶MBAスクールが位置するロケーションと自分のキャリアの整合性を説明、❷スクールのアルムナイと共に仕事をした経験（それを通じてそのスクールで得られるcapabilityを実体験した、等）、❸著名な教授・取りたい授業で学びをどう自分のキャリアにレバレッジしていくか、の3点だと思います。

④自分はどういう人か/自分にとって何が重要か
自分の人生の岐路で意思決定を行ってきた軸が何か、を基に書き上げると分かりやすいストーリーになると思います。❶これまで人と比べてどういうユニークな経験をしてきたか、❷その経験を通じては自分は何を感じたか、❸それがどのようにMBAに結びついているか、の3点を整理することが重要です。

それでは、CBSとLBSで私が実際に提出したエッセイです（特定の固有名詞だけは隠しましたが、それ以外はアプリケーションで提出したエッセイそのままです）。

①ゴールエッセイ / ②Why MBA

CBS：Through your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next 3-5 years and what, in your imagination, would be your long-term dream job? (500 Words)
My ultimate career goal is to become a CEO of a large Japanese FMCG company, such as XX, to unlock the potential of Japanese FMCG brands and increase their global competitiveness.
While in university, I was a Japan finalist in Company XX’s Global Marketing Competition, which sparked my passion for the FMCG industry. Hearing the CEO discuss how a billion-dollar global brand like YY went beyond personal care and promoted people’s self-confidence through its “ZZ” campaign showed me the worldwide impact of FMCG brands in people’s lives. The proof is in the numbers; one of its campaign videos generated over XX million views in more than XX countries and became the most viral video of 20xx.
After this experience, I became determined to become an international FMCG professional to create similar global success for Japanese brands by accelerating their international expansion, as there are few billion-dollar Japanese brands with the same worldwide penetration and recognition as brands like Y, despite their potential.
While I have gained various skills and professional experiences throughout my career at XX and YY to help me succeed in this aim, I realized the necessity of getting an MBA during a recent project at YY. I helped a Japanese FMCG company that recently changed its headquarters to Europe and planned to launch a new product under the new headquarters’ directions. However, the European side lacked Japanese market knowledge and proposed ineffective strategies based on European market cases. I supported the client’s Japan team to coordinate communication with the headquarters team and develop a Japanese market brand strategy. However, I could not facilitate the in-depth conversations between the two teams, which led to an unsuccessful Japan product launch where the company could not gain their target market share.
I realized that I must strengthen my capabilities to lead and manage multiple stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and assumptions, and that this is the ideal time to get an MBA to build foundational capabilities to better position myself as an international FMCG professional.
With this in mind, I am eager to develop my leadership, communication, and negotiation skills and deepen my understanding of the international FMCG industry at CBS. Studying various cases with future business leaders from diverse backgrounds will help me understand their ways of thinking, the essence of failures, and how to prevent failures when conducting international business. Notably, Professor Maisonrouge’s “The Marketing of Luxury Products” class will allow me to acquire those skills by working on actual global luxury goods cases with students from both CBS and the Parsons School of Design.
The experience from CBS will help me maximize my post-MBA contribution as a YY position who can manage cross-border projects for Japanese FMCG companies and achieve my short-term goal of becoming a ZZ at YY who can be a trusted advisor for CXOs of Japanese FMCG companies striving to accelerate their global expansion. Ultimately, I would like to shift from an advisor to a player as a CEO of a large Japanese FMCG company.

LBS：What are your post-MBA goals and how will your prior experience and the London Business School programme contribute towards these?
My ultimate career goal is to become a CEO of a large Japanese FMCG company, such as XX, to unlock the potential of Japanese FMCG brands and increase its global competitiveness.
While in university, I was a Japan finalist in YY’s Global Marketing Competition, which sparked my passion in the FMCG industry. Hearing the CEO discuss how a billion-dollar global brand like ZZ went beyond personal care and promoted people’s self-confidence through its “XX” campaign showed me the worldwide impact of FMCG brands in people’s lives. The proof is in the numbers; one of its campaign videos generated over YY million views in more than ZZ countries and became the most viral video of XX.
After this experience, I became determined to become an international FMCG professional to create similar global success for Japanese brands, as Japanese FMCG companies have few brands that have the same worldwide penetration and recognition as the brands like YY despite their potential.
While I have gained various skills and professional experiences at ZZ and XX to help me succeed in this aim, I realised the necessity of getting an MBA during a recent project at YY. I helped a Japanese FMCG company that recently changed its headquarters to Europe and planned to launch a new product under the new headquarters’ directions. However, the European side lacked Japanese market knowledge and proposed ineffective strategies based on European market cases. I supported the client’s Japan team to coordinate communication with the headquarters team and develop a Japanese market brand strategy, but I could not facilitate the in-depth conversations between the two teams, which led to an unsuccessful Japan product launch where the company was unable to gain their target market share.
I realised that I must strengthen my capabilities to lead and manage multiple stakeholders who have diverse cultural backgrounds and assumptions. This is the ideal time to obtain an MBA to build foundational capabilities to better position myself as an international FMCG professional.
With this in mind, as a sponsored candidate from ZZ, I am eager to develop my leadership, communication, and negotiation skills and deepen my understanding of the international FMCG industry at LBS. Studying various cases intensively with future business leaders from diverse backgrounds will help me understand their ways of thinking, the essence of failures, and how to prevent failures when conducting international business. Notably, “LondonCAP” will allow me to acquire those skills by working on actual global FMCG cases. Moreover, I am keen on joining the Walpole Luxury Management programme to experience first-hand mentorship from a luxury industry senior executive and expand my professional network.
The skills, knowledge, and network gained from LBS will help me maximise my contribution post-MBA as a XX YY who can manage cross-border projects for Japanese FMCG companies and achieve my short-term goal of becoming a ZZ at XX who can be a trusted advisor for CXOs of Japanese FMCG companies striving to accelerate their global expansion, leading to my ultimate career aims.

③Why this school

Why do you feel that Columbia Business School is a good fit for you? (250 Words)
CBS is the best fit for two reasons. First, I want to learn where future business leaders gather to strengthen my capabilities and broaden my perspectives in an international atmosphere. Several CBS alumni colleagues at XX, such as YY and ZZ, have helped me develop immensely. Their leadership, communication skills, knowledge, intellectual curiosity, and resilience motivated me to develop my career as a management consultant in the short term. Working with them showed me fast-hand CBS’s quality of education and what I can gain from the program.
Second, NYC is an unmatched location, which will give me access to many opportunities and networks as I put a strong emphasis on “where” and “with whom” I learn during the MBA. I will leverage CBS’s location to stay on top of cutting-edge trends in FMCG brands while actively engaging in activities for the Retail and Luxury Goods Club. The club’s current trek AVP, XX, told me how I could actively engage and contribute to this club by organizing guest speakers from my professional network, like the head of the YY of ZZ or the XX of ZZ, who can share the latest trends in Asia. Also, I want to expand my network and invite CEOs from some of the latest unicorn consumer goods companies who have launched their businesses in NYC, such as Glossier, Warby Parker, and Away to understand what makes their brands successful. These experiences will help me prepare to become an international FMCG professional.

④自分はどういう人か/自分にとって何が重要か

LBS：Is there any other information you believe the Admissions Committee should know about you and your application to London Business School?
I am especially drawn to LBS because of its diversity and cosmopolitan culture. Growing up in the small Japanese city of XX, which underwent the nuclear attack during World War Two, I always had a strong interest in world history, wondered why my hometown experienced such a tragedy, and desired first-hand international experiences to get a deeper understanding of the topic. However, there were almost no opportunities when I was in XX. After entering university in Tokyo, I was astonished by the opportunities and resolved to learn English to communicate with people from other countries and get first-hand international experiences to broaden my perspectives. With this determination, I joined the exchange programme called YY Programme, which provided me with a chance to study with 20 students from ZZ University and XX University. The programme enabled me to study in YY, ZZ, and XX as a YY University representative. It was challenging to study and discuss many topics, including historical issues, with those students due to my background growing up in a homogeneous society, but the experience was eye-opening. Also, experiencing the “historical incident”—numerous sit-in protests against ZZ’s government in XX—first-hand expanded my perspectives and gave me a better understanding of global dynamism than I could have gained by studying in Japan.
Through these international experiences, I learned to see things from multiple perspectives as I realised the importance of how to approach and structure a fact, which built my core strength of problem-solving to tackle complex issues. To further enhance this capability, I consistently chose to put myself into more international environments, resulting in studying international business at the YY School of Business at ZZ during the US presidential election, working in a 10-member team with people from five nationalities at XX, and engaging primarily in cross-border projects at YY.
Today, Japan faces many societal issues. One of the most conspicuous problems is that Japanese companies are becoming less competitive globally. In 1989, Japan had 32 of the most valuable global companies in the top 50 in terms of market cap, but now only Toyota remains. Japanese people refer to this reality as the “Lost 30 Years,” and this, from my perspective, is mainly due to the lack of strong business leaders who can lead diverse stakeholders and drive innovation. I aspire to turn around this situation by leading through example as someone from a homogenous society who paved the way to becoming a global business leader. Given this, no other school than LBS will accelerate my development to become such considering its strong emphasis on diversity and leadership. With my LBS experiences, I hope to become a role model for both current and future generations by sharing my experiences and learning, particularly to high school and university students, junior consultants at ZZ, and a wider audience through my personal blog to create a stronger base for future global leaders from Japan.

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