The Faculty of Management Studies Delhi has recently released its application form and selection criteria for the Full-Time MBA 2022-24. FMS also gives a lot of importance to the Statement of Purpose (SoP), which forms an integral part of the selection process at FMS. It provides a means of qualitatively evaluating your clarity regarding your career goals, how an MBA will benefit you, and ultimately your suitability for an MBA at FMS. Also, it opens up questions during the Personal Interview rounds. In this article, we have 8 students from FMS who have shared their tips and advice on how you should fill out the FMS SoP.
Pragati Dhiman | Profile: Engineer With Work Experience
SOP is extremely relevant as it can make or break the interview. The FMS form SOP has a word count limit of 100 words; make sure you utilize this well. There is no set of rules which one should follow while writing an SOP but there are some basic hygiene checks which can be followed. Self-introduction and your background, in brief, should be mentioned. If you have some work experience it can be properly highlighted. Your long-term goals/vision and purpose to opt for MBA and FMS should be mentioned. Lastly, you should be able to hold a conversation about the content you write in your SOP. So being honest is of utmost importance.
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Shubhankar Raj Agarwal | Profile: Engineer with Work Experience
As we all know, an FMS SOP is a pretty short one of just 100 words, and you will have lots to talk about your experience. Let's filter it out. First, you need to decide how you want to portray yourself in front of the panel. You may be someone who has always been very inquisitive in life, or want to start your business later on, or just wants to take the next step forward in life. Keep this at the centre and frame 5-6 sentences of 15-20 words each around it. Do mention how MBA fits into your scheme of life at this point in time. And also, help the interviewer to know more about you.
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Aman Taneja | Profile: Engineer - Fresher
The panellists taking interviews will be going through your application form. They are professors who have been teaching at FMS for decades now. My understanding of what they look for in a prospective student is their enthusiasm towards the coursework and the qualities that would make one an ideal management professional going forward. So, the application form must be personalized and focused on both these aspects.
Being a non-commerce fresher, I needed to show my motivation and convince the panel that I am genuinely interested in becoming a management student. I did some research about various domains and specializations offered in MBA, which included the coursework, the learnings, and career trajectories for the same. I r that finance and marketing were my significant areas of interest, and thus mentioned them in my SOP. The critical point here is to have proper backing to show how you acted upon your interests. In my case, I had a couple of internships to demonstrate my interest in finance, and for marketing, I went through the basic terminologies and read a few books too. Hence on the day of the interview when I was asked about a few concepts of marketing, I knew the answers to those questions, which I believe would have gotten me some brownie points.
Adding some talking points related to your future goals or the coursework could also help your cause. Lastly, try to explain how FMS would assist you with achieving your aspirations going forward.
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Dhwani Aggarwal | Profile: Engineer - Fresher
An SOP is the reflection of you as a whole. Through the SOP, the interviewers want to check how clear you are with your decision to pursue MBA and how FMS will assist you in it. Hence, copying a generic answer would not make any value addition to your candidature. Here you ponder over your career choices and how an MBA will help you reach your objectives. Talk about your goals and aspirations in life. In the midst of that you can also talk about your achievements; but remember, it is not about listing your achievements, you need to weave them into a story.
For me who is an Engineer and a fresher, my SOP revolved around how I was motivated to do an MBA after pursuing Chemical Engineering and what was my rationale behind doing it as a fresher, before gaining formal work exposure. Write it coherently, and be true to yourself.
Divya Thomas | Profile Non-Engineer with Work Experience
A few guidelines that could be followed for the SOP are:
Your SOP should reflect why MBA and how MBA fits in with where you are currently at in your career journey. Your SOP can highlight your current skills and also talk about what new skills you plan to gain from your MBA and more importantly, an MBA from FMS Delhi. FMS as we know involves a lot of student-run activities and hence gives students the exposure to handle multiple things, making them budding managers from the very start.
The SOP could also include your short-term and vision/long-term goals and talk about how an MBA helps in achieving the same. Using stories to describe your actions and including numbers to highlight the results of your actions helps catch the reader’s attention. Your SOP can also include incidents/stories that highlight your personal achievements at work, co-curricular activities, and social contributions.
And finally, one needs to be honest about their professional candidature and personal motivations for pursuing an MBA from FMS. This helps in making your SOP stand out from the crowd.
Also Read: Composite Score Required To Make It To FMS Delhi - Check Past Data Here!
Anushika Srivastava | Profile Non-Engineer with Work Experience
Statement of Purpose is one of the most important milestones in securing admission at FMS Delhi. Therefore, it is important that it is written in a way that reflects your true image. In my opinion, the SOP should answer the following questions:
1. Why MBA?
2. Why FMS?
3. Long term and short-term goals
4. How will FMS play a role in shaping your career and helping you achieve your goals?
Some points to keep in mind while you write your SOP:
- Be very clear and concise: Given that the word limit is extremely restricted, the SOP should be clear and concise.
- Be Yourself: While you are writing the SOP, be original and do not pretend to be someone you are not. It is strongly advised that you spend sufficient time pondering over what your goals are and how FMS will help in achieving those.
- List down all the points and then condense the content: Though the word limit is very strict, you should not start with the word limit in mind. It is better to list down all the points, choose the best among those, and then proceed to rephrase and condense the content accordingly.
- Refrain from using complex sentences: Using good vocabulary is recommended, but it has to be taken care of that too many fancy words are not used just for the sake of it. It might end up complicating the sentence and, in the process, the message that one wants to convey through the SOP might be lost.
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Dhruvik Shah | Profile: Non-Engineer – Fresher
First of all, do not copy your SOP from external sources. Being honest and original is a prerequisite in creating an impactful SOP. This goes hand-in-hand with judiciously utilizing each of the 100 available words. Your SOPs should be drafted well before the deadline and should be revised continuously. Convey to the reader your motivation to do an MBA and what you aim to achieve through one from FMS. The final submission must also include hooks that could help steer the interview. Mention achievements or qualities which will help distinguish your candidature from others. Ensure to keep it all crisp and to the point.
Arshia Manavalan | Profile: Non-Engineer – Fresher
The main purpose of the SOP is to help the interviewer (who will be a faculty member at FMS) understand what defines you beyond your academic and professional achievements. So, tell them what events in life or interests led you to want to pursue a career in management. Mention some experience from work or college that motivated you to do so. Another tip is to include a unique talent or hobby in the SOP so that it can be further discussed in your prospective interview. Meanwhile, ensure that you are able to express yourself within the word limit of the SOP, which is 100 words. This requires you to be brief and precise. Start by writing out a long SOP and then make an abridged version of it without losing the essence of what you want to convey.
All the best!
To help future aspirants draft their Statement of Purpose in the best possible manner, we hosted a live session with the Media Cell at FMS. Watch here!
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