MBA Admissions Tip: Essay Polishing
The deadline is looming and you’re making one final pass through your application before hitting submit. This isn’t the time for drastic changes – but there might still be an opportunity for small improvements.
Read on for three big picture, “crunch time” tips!
Keep It Professional
It’s true that many schools ask “fun” questions and most urge applicants to be themselves rather than submitting “overly polished” material. But it’s important to remember that this is a graduate school application, and you should approach your essays with a degree of formality.
You do want your unique narrative voice to come through, but even professional writers know to vary their tone based on their audience. Before you submit, scan your materials for slang or overly conversational speech patterns in your writing.
Emphasize Action
Lapsing into the passive voice is a common essay-writing pitfall. This means constructing sentences about how some unseen force or agent acted upon something or someone else (e.g. “we were required to” or “the project was completed”).
Instead, make sure that you’re putting your own thoughts and actions at the fore. By making a conscious effort to write “I/he/she did x” rather than “x was done to y” you can make your comments more informative, dynamic and, often, more concise.
Avoid Repetition
It’s often a good idea to give the reader a sense of an essay’s direction through an introduction, and to sum up the key ideas through a conclusion. Ideally, though, each sentence of an essay will add some new information to the document or build the reader’s understanding of what you’ve already written. And for shorter essays (e.g. 250-300 words), you can probably dive right into the content rather than giving the reader a detailed road map at the outset of your response.
So if a sentence isn’t saying anything new, it’s probably safe to cut it. This rule can be particularly helpful with last-minute edits if your responses are running over the word limit. It also helps to ensure that you’re including as much relevant information about your candidacy as you can within the allotted length.
Good luck with those finishing touches!
MBA Admissions Academy
In addition to the MBA essay tips above, learn more from Clear Admit’s Admissions Academy below.
Episode 12: Essays I: The Basics
MBA Applywire
Undergrad in managerial economics GPA 3.6, and masters in applied economics GPA 3.7. Over 5 years in economic consulting for mid-tier firms. Recent involuntary departure from last firm. Somewhat worried about letters of rec given that circumstance. Want to pivot into corporate side like strategic finance, probably in tech or maybe energy.
Nationality: Ghanaian
Current Location: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Industry: Banking & Financial Services
Current Role: Finance
Years of Experience: 6 years
Education: BSc Accounting; MSc Business Consulting & Enterprise Risk Management
GRE: 332/340
A Ghanaian finance professional with six years of experience across the Telecommunication, Fintech, Reinsurance and Banking sectors. Currently based in Abidjan, working in finance control a within a leading bank.
Previously worked in the reinsurance industry, gaining experience across fixed asset accounting, staff debtor reconciliations, bank reconciliations, financial reporting, statutory payments, and internal controls. Was also selected by the Director of Finance to serve on a committee responsible for updating the organization's accounting manual, providing valuable exposure to accounting processes, controls, and organizational improvement.
Beyond professional experience, has demonstrated a strong commitment to community impact. Since 2020, has worked with friends through a community initiative providing food to underserved communities and street hawkers across Ghana, reaching more than 6,000 people. Has also participated in community development and school improvement projects.
Holds a bachelor's degree in Accounting and is pursuing graduate-level studies in Business Consulting and Enterprise Risk Management.
An MBA will provide me with the opportunity to build stronger capabilities in strategy, leadership, and financial management while transitioning from technical finance roles into broader leadership positions in banking and financial services. The long-term goal is to combine finance expertise, strategic thinking, and leadership to contribute to the growth and development of Africa's financial sector.
First off, I'm a huge fan of the podcast—I've listened to nearly every episode for the last two years, and it's a little surreal that I'm now submitting my profile. I'm excited to put into practice everything Alex and Graham have taught me!
I graduated over four years ago from a well-known and respected university with a degree in Biophysics and have spent my career in medical device sales, primarily in surgical robotics. I spent three years at a Fortune 500 medical device company, with a lateral/upward move halfway through, before joining a mid-sized robotics company prominent in urology (though probably less familiar to AdCom) a year and a half ago. I've since been promoted there as well. My experience includes launching new hospital programs and onboarding surgeons to new technologies, and I can secure two strong recommendations.
I want to pursue an MBA because I believe AI will revolutionize surgery, and I want to help ensure those changes benefit patients. Having worked with two different surgical robots in very different specialties, I've seen how powerful the combination of robotics and AI could become, as well as the potential for misuse. I want to work with clinicians to develop technology that genuinely improves patient care rather than eliminating the need for physicians, as several prominent technology leaders have suggested. I believe healthcare resembling what we see in Star Trek could be possible within this generation.
My goal is to use an MBA to transition into a strategic role in surgical robotics. My current role has given me on-the-ground knowledge of how operating rooms function and what matters to patients and clinicians; an MBA would allow me to apply those insights to developing new technology. Short term, I hope to join a leadership development program at a top robotics company. Long term, I aim for a strategic leadership role at a leading robotics company or cutting-edge startup—wherever the strongest technology is being developed.
Outside of work, I'm highly active in my church, including roles serving in leadership, teaching children, and as my congregation's organist. In college, I captained multiple intramural sports teams and was a team lead in a research lab. I also enjoy outdoor activities such as skiing and scuba diving (I'm a certified Rescue Diver) and have completed several triathlons.
Beyond a general review of my profile, my biggest question is the GMAT. I scored a 705, including 80th-percentile Quant, which I'm happy with, but I think I could potentially gain another 10–20 points, especially with the new superscoring feature. My problem is time: I have a demanding work travel schedule, and my wife and I are in the process of adopting a baby. Preparing for a retake would likely mean sacrificing 1–2 months that I could otherwise spend networking with current students and strengthening my applications.
I know there's some subjectivity, but is pursuing another 10–20 GMAT points worth that tradeoff, or would my time be better spent focusing on preparing my applications? Again, thanks to the ClearAdmit community for all that you do!
First-gen/low-income college student.
Earned a top-ranked M.A. in humanities discipline post-undergrad, 3.9 GPA.