MBA Admissions Tip: Crafting the MBA Essay
For many applicants, the essays (or personal statements) are the most daunting aspect of the MBA application process. But really, MBA application essays present a true opportunity to tell your story and showcase your strengths.
Below are a few key tips for presenting yourself and your experiences as advantageously as possible.
Take time to reflect.
Before diving in and beginning work on a draft of any one essay, it’s often fruitful to think carefully about all of the stories and accomplishments at one’s disposal. These can include experiences from the professional realm, formal outside activities, college clubs and even more casual hobbies and interests. A comprehensive, reflective approach should enable you to arrive at the essay topics that are most impressive and in line with your overall positioning.
Establish balance.
It is crucial that your essays work together to present a consistent and compelling picture of who you are, what you’ve done, and what you bring to the table; the adcom is looking for students who are interesting, well-rounded, and likely to make a contribution to the school both in and out of the classroom. In selecting topics for your essays from your list of possibilities, remember that it’s ideal to have a balance of stories covering your full career and to introduce your interests and involvements outside of work.
Keep it relevant.
While it’s important that you have a wide range of stories to tell and positive characteristics to convey, there are a few things that you shouldn’t mention in your essays. In terms of chronology, remember that you are applying to graduate school and that the adcom is primarily interested in your experiences since the time you began college. There are of course some exceptions to this (such as questions that ask you to recap your life story or discuss what matters most to you), but as a general rule it’s best to avoid writing at length about your high school accomplishments or your upbringing, as this can make an applicant sound immature or stuck in the past. Other topics of which you should steer clear are those that are potentially sensitive or emotionally charged, such as politics and religion.
Show, don’t tell.
Keep in mind that a given adcom reader often spends only 15 or 20 minutes on each application. As a result, it is imperative that you make an impression and give the reader a clear sense of who you are and what you’ve done. Specific anecdotes and vivid details make a much greater impact than general claims and broad summaries. Be sure to quantify your impact, fully explain your actions, and provide illustrative examples to produce a set of engaging essays.
A standard approach you might use for addressing experiences in your essays is the STAR approach. You begin by describing the situation, the players, and stakeholders involved in the situation, before moving into the task: what you needed to accomplish in your role (as well as any challenges that you anticipated). You should then address your actions, providing an account of how you moved through the project or process. Finally, you should comment on the result, the positive outcome of your efforts and the resolution of the story. In a concluding section, you should summarize the lessons you learned from the experience.
Happy writing! Stay tuned to this blog throughout the summer for additional essay-specific tips and guidelines. For specific guidance for individual schools, review our essay topic analysis series.
MBA Admissions Academy
Episode 12: Essays I: The Basics
MBA Applywire
I have about 4 years of experience at a financial derivatives advisory firm, where I'm a Vice President advising real estate and equipment-finance clients on hedging strategies. My firm is very small. which means, I am asked to take leadership roles. For example, I lead our largest client relationship, and I get to present to clients' executives and investors. Before this, I had one year in a mid size public sector consulting firm and before that, I had a year of service in the AmeriCorps, working in homelessness services.
I have a 3.58 GPA from a good but not top tier public university. At graduation I have 150 credits, which meant I was able to graduate with two bachelors degrees. They were a B.S. in Math and Economics, and a B.A. in History.
Outside of work, I volunteer roughly 120 hours a year with a hunger-relief nonprofit a and serve as a junior board member. I also organized my company's first ever annual day of service, which we've continued for 3 years. My personal interests include collecting vinyl records, and learning ancient History.
Post-MBA, I want to build on my background in real estate capital markets to move into banking on the lending side, with a particular focus on real estate. I like the real estate world, but I want to work at a bank as I think a larger institution would provide more opportunities for growth in the larger world of finance.
I am struggling to decide which schools to apply to. I keep adding programs to my list, and I already think my list is too high. My brother wants me to apply to Stanford because he's moving to the Bay Area, but I don't think I'd be competitive. My dream school is Wharton, but I think it's a long shot.
Also, in case it's relevant, I am a 28 year old White male from Pennsylvania, and a member of the LGBTQ community.
My low cgpa was as a result of working part time during my undergrad to cover my expenses and mostly for experience. Parent's business run into financial challenges made things difficult because i had to pay my fees. had CGPA of 3.0+ in 3rd and 4th year in my undergrad(60 credit hours). currently work in commercial bank in CX with 4yrs Work Exp. It will be 6yrs when I apply for the MBA ,I will be promoted to a different unit soon. pro bono consulting for young entrepreneurs. Led youth groups at church and organize capacity building events.
Plan on writing the GRE with 330 as target.
Hoping for a significant scholarship
1. I want advise on how to build my profile to make me an ideal candidate for R1 acceptance and $$$
I have worked for over 10 years in sales and business development and I am currently completing a PostGraduate Diploma in Banking and Finance and I need an a good MBA to enable me pivot into financial services.
Currently working in consulting with a major FMCG/alcobev client, mainly across analytics, supply, and business problem-solving work. Over time, I’ve realized I enjoy understanding why problems exist within organizations and how teams, systems, and decisions can work better together, which is what’s pushing me towards strategy consulting and an MBA.
A lot of my interest in business also comes from seeing how everyday products and operations work behind the scenes. Outside work, I co-founded and ran a digital literacy initiative (1yr 2mo) during COVID where we helped elderly individuals and women from underserved communities learn basic digital tools to stay connected and manage daily activities during lockdown.
I’m currently preparing for the GMAT and exploring schools such as LBS, Fuqua, Ross, Tuck, and a few reach schools depending on how the score progresses.
MBA LiveWire
Rejected after being kept on waitlist for 6 months. Annoying but am anyway committed to Dartmouth
a bit of a bummer but that's okay. got into several other great schools :)