MBA Program Application: personal essay

            I am interested in entering the part time MBA program at the University of Connecticut; my intended areas of concentration are management and finance. I have worked for Shell oil as a development engineer since July 2001 and in May was transferred to Stratford Connecticut as a process engineer; most recently I have began a new assignment as Quality Manager as a result of an unforeseen opening. My long term career goal is to progress out of the technical arena and become more involved with the business in a managerial role. The knowledge and training that an MBA program will provide is essential for me to make this transition from technical to management and is therefore necessary for me to achieve my goal.
             I graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 2000 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation I worked for a year at two small companies as a lab technician and a product development engineer. In July of 2001, I was hired by Shell Oil as a development engineer in their Films division. My major function in this role revolved around the development and scale up of Oriented Polypropylene (OPP) film designs; my responsibilities included: data analysis, design of experiments, project management, troubleshooting and cost analysis. I frequently interacted with all aspects of our business including marketing, finance, procurement and manufacturing as well as with our customers and suppliers. As of May 1, 2003 I have been relocated to our manufacturing facility in Stratford CT as a process engineer in charge of one of our production orienters. I am responsible for overseeing all operations on this line which includes troubleshooting, organizing preventative maintenance, directing and interacting with line operators, and controlling and maintaining all process conditions. Due to an unforeseen opening I have just recently accepted a position as Quality Manager.