How not to fill in an application for an MBA course

US blog Baseline Scenario has unearthed a piece of content on McSweeney's, the US site run by author Dave Eggers.

Titled 'An investment banking analyst falls back on plan B,' it pertains to an application to Law School. Given people don't really do law school after banking in EMEA, imagine it's an MBA application instead.

Here we have the highlights.

Why I want to attend:

I want to make a difference in the world...[this] has nothing to do with the fact that I was recently fired from my job as an analyst at an investment bank, where I worked in the mergers and acquisitions group. Since January, I've worked on approximately one merger, zero acquisitions, have played Spider Solitaire 434 times and updated my Facebook status, on average, five times a day. All three of my roommates...have lost their jobs and are moving back home with their parents. This is a long way of saying that law is a tool to promote equality, and to help create a just society. These have always been my goals in life.

Explain you biggest mistake and what you learned from it:

My greatest mistake occurred in 2004, when a few of my college friends were trying to launch their web site and asked me to come work with them. They were living in Silicon Valley, and there were only two of them at the time, and I was looking at a six-figure bonus at my banking job and in no rush to leave that or New York. Plus, I liked the security of working for a big financial institution. I like to wear ties, and I like car service home when I work past 9:00 PM. I like going to steak dinners after we close a deal, even though we haven't closed a deal since January 2008. I like having an assistant, and I like carrying around a gym bag that's embroidered with the name of my bank. The decision to stay at my job did not feel like a mistake at the time, but it does now, since my friends' start-up has 120 million unique users, including, I think, my mother, and is this little thing called Facebook. Right now I have no car service, no assistant, no use for my ties, and no paycheck. So in hindsight, becoming the third employee at Facebook doesn't seem like a bad idea. I believe, though, that this mistake presented an opportunity to explore my passion, which is drafting the constitutions of post-conflict countries.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

In ten years I would like to be a successful entrepreneur, a managing partner at an investment bank, or a legal aid lawyer working on behalf of indigent clients. Even though I have no use for material things, I would like to have the option of retiring by the time I'm 45. I believe that law school is a tool to help me realize my goals, as well as an acceptable way to wait out the recession without having to work in retail.