Welcome back to MBA Myth Busters, the series in which we review and disprove the popular myths surrounding graduate business education.
Myth: In order to be completely honest in their application essays, candidates must detail and demonstrate their weaknesses.
This is, of course, untrue.
When writing your MBA application essays, your primary goal should be to show your best self. You should put your best foot forward, plant seeds of potential success, and showcase past accomplishments. Unless explicitly asked to dive into the details of your weaknesses, you should stick to the stories that show off your strengths.
Discussing Weakness Productively
And if you are explicitly asked about weaknesses? What then?
If faced with an essay asking for descriptions of mistakes, failures, or weak spots in your career so far, you need to ensure that your answers focus on the actions you took; briefly outline what went wrong, then dive into what you did about it.
Though unexpected, this is actually a great place to show off some core MBA skills like strategic thinking and leadership. How did you build trust after making a mistake? How did you motivate others while responding to the challenge? How are you building the skills that you lacked at the time? When detailing your answer, get specific: focus on and name the actions you took and the lessons you learned. And, as with all parts of your MBA application, connect this learning experience to your potential time in the program, explaining how it will influence your learning.
Including “weakness” in this way allows you to be honest about your experiences while still impressing admissions committees, demonstrating resilience and a willingness to learn. Admissions committees aren’t looking for a flaw-free career and education history; rather, they want to know how you will approach the inevitable challenges of your MBA and career beyond it.
