Essay Tips & Advice
Advice to help you compose business school admissions essays that communicate the highlights of your MBA candidacy and make your app stand out.
Latest Stories About Essay Tips & Advice
Admissions Tip: Essay Polishing
Over the last few weeks we’ve offered up a slew of admissions tips and strategies for R2 applicants. Now, as the vast majority of R2 deadlines are now just a matter of days – if not hours – away, we’re offering up one final R2 tip that is geared towards... Read more »
Essay Topic Analyses for Round 2 Deadlines at Your Fingertips
For those of you targeting Round 2, it’s time to get to work. With Round 2 deadlines for a whopping the majority of business schools converging in the first and second weeks of January, having a well-thought-out game plan is critical to successfully navigating the busy holiday season (and staying sane!).... Read more »
MBA Admissions Mashup: Admissions Tips, Exchanges, and Women in Business
Welcome back! Every Wednesday, we share a round-up of the latest news from MBA admissions blogs at the top business schools. And, today we’re sharing insights from women-focused conferences and networking dinners, advice from Booth and HBS for Round 2 applicants, and a look at educational opportunities abroad. First for... Read more »
MBA Admissions Mashup: Essay Advice & Internships
Welcome back! Every Wednesday, we share a round-up of the latest news from MBA admissions blogs at the top business schools. This week we see essay tips for folks applying in an upcoming round as well as a look at one MBA’s summer internship experience in Seattle. As folks are... Read more »
Vanderbilt / Owen Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
Following up on the 2016-2017 essay topics for the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, we wanted to offer our Owen MBA Essay Topic Analysis for the Class of 2019 hopefuls. Let’s take a closer look at each prompt. 2016-2017 Vanderbilt / Owen MBA Essay Topic Analysis Essay 1:... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Word Limits and Character Counts
MBA candidates naturally have a good deal of information they want – and need – to convey in their materials, and getting the important ideas down under restrictive word counts is a difficult task. While it might be tempting to run a bit beyond the guidelines to slip in that... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Video Essays
It’s no secret that the use of video in the MBA application is becoming increasingly popular among top business schools. Schools that now use these so-called video essays include Northwestern / Kellogg, INSEAD and Yale SOM. Typically you will be provided with a question, then a short amount of time... Read more »
Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Submitting an Optional Essay
We realize that the questions of whether to answer an optional essay and, if so, what to say are ones that loom large for many MBA applicants at this time of year. While we’ve been offering a great deal of school-specific essay advice over the past few weeks, we wanted... Read more »
UMD / Smith MBA Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
Following up on the UMD Smith MBA Essay Topics, we wanted to share our essay topic analysis for the 2016-2017 admissions season. Required Essay Why Smith? Why an MBA? Why now? Be sure to include your short-term and long-term career goals. (Please limit your response to 300 words.) This prompt... Read more »
Admissions Tip: 10 Basic Essay Writing Rules
Before you complete your MBA application essays, it is worth noting the context within which they will be read. The adcom will be reading many essays in a short period of time. They may not have as much time as they’d like to reflect deeply on your content and ‘connect the... Read more »
The MBA Application: Know Your Audience
As Round 1 deadlines approach, applicants are coming to understand that applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to draft multiple essays, job descriptions, lists of activities and more. With the obvious... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Essays
With several of the leading schools having already released their MBA essay questions for this admissions season, we’re sure that quite a number of early birds are eager to get a jump on the process in order to complete as many applications as possible by Round 1. As applicants find themselves... Read more »
Admissions Tip: The MBA Career Goals Question in Essays, Short-Answers, and Interviews
Though essay questions tend to vary year to year, the two things that nearly every prospective student can count on being asked are “What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals?” and “How will Business School X help you achieve these goals?” Even those schools that do not ask this... Read more »
Columbia Business School Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
With the recent announcement of the 2016-2017 Columbia Business School essay questions, this season’s Essay Topic Analysis series is officially underway. While the length of each of CBS essay prompts has been modified, the spirit of each question remains very similar to their questions over the previous few years. Covering both professional... Read more »
MBA Admissions Mashup: Diversity & Inclusion
Every Wednesday, we share a round-up of the latest news from admissions blogs at the top business schools. This week’s MBA Admissions Mashup takes a look at what business schools and MBAs are doing to promote diversity and inclusion on campus and we’ve sprinkled in several admissions tips…just in time... Read more »
