Ambition 5 10yr

1. Where do you see yourself in five years? (short term career goals)
The classic “Where do you see yourself in five years?” question is important because an MBA is a professional degree and schools want to know whether they are letting someone in who is going to be a good alumni and a good ambassador of the university’s brand. They want someone with focus whose short-term career goals are benefitted by pursuing an MBA.
Well you might be thinking, “That is fine and good...but how do I actually fill in that blank?” Many applicants have a general idea about what they would like to do right after school but their general idea is very...well...general. I know I fell into this camp when I first began planning out my applications.
My advice is to take that general idea and do some research on Google and use LinkedIn to refine your short term career goals. If you still need to confirm your goal is the right fit (and, of course to get more details so that you can write and speak intelligently on the subject), you can do informational interviews, talking to people who are doing something similar to what you want to do

4. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? (long-term career goals)
This question is otherwise known as your long-term career goals. You have to spell out for the adcom how your short-term career goals will be the building block for your long-term career goals. Also ask: Is it realistic? Is it a fairly common career path?
These are questions that the adcom will ask themselves. Remember to be specific, do some research on LinkedIn and career websites. If you start at your short-term career goals, where will you be in 7-10 years? One way to screw this up is to not be genuine or to try and impress the adcom with a big title. Another way is to have it not align your long-term career goals with your short-term career goal at all. “Your short-term goal is to be a brand manager at a consumer goods company but your long-term goal is to be VP of technology at an internet company? Interesting...”