Carnegie Mellon / Tepper MBA Essay Tips 2025-2026

The following essay tips cover the Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business (Tepper) MBA admissions essays for the 2025-2026 admissions season. You can also review essay topic analyses for all of the other leading MBA programs as well as general Essay Tips to further aid you in developing your admissions essays.

Carnegie Mellon University Tepper MBA Essay Tips 2025-2026

Let’s take a closer look at each prompt.

Goals Video Essay

We want to hear from you, directly and authentically. Your career goals are an important part of your MBA journey, and we’re excited to learn more. In this video, you’ll share your post-MBA career goals.

Please consider the following as you prepare your response:

• Be as specific as possible. Even if you haven’t identified exact companies, share what kind of role, industry, or organization interests you—and why.
• If you have specific criteria for evaluating future opportunities, let us know. We may be able to suggest relevant options.
• Explain how your post-MBA goal connects to your long-term career vision.

Pro Tip: While this is called a video essay, we encourage a conversational approach. Think about your key points and jot them down but don’t read a script. Speak naturally and let your personality come through.

CMU Tepper has taken a standard career goals essay and requested that applicants deliver this information via video. In light of the format, be sure to review our tips on Video Essays. In regards to the content itself, follow Tepper’s directions in presenting your plans. They want to know your immediate post-MBA goal, in as specific terms as you can provide. You can then share the thinking/motivation/decision making behind your plans, as they request the related criteria. Finally, wrap up by explaining how your short-term plans are a bridge to your long-term goals. You will likely not have enough time to dig into as much detail for your long-term goals, so just try to leave the adcom with a sense of the impact you hope to have in the long term. You may be able to speak 200-250 words in the allotted two minutes, so keep that limit in mind when drafting a “script.”

Required Essay – Choose One

All applicants are required to submit one essay (maximum 500 words). You may choose the question that best allows you to share your story. Please select one of the two prompts below to answer. There is no preference for which question you choose.

Here are your two options:

Option 1
At Tepper, we value leaders who can make confident decisions when facing complexity and uncertainty. Tell us about a time when you had to take action without having all of the answers. How did you navigate the situation and what was the outcome? (500 words)

If tackling option 1, you may consider using the STAR technique to structure your story:

• Situation – Set the stage or identify the situation and the uncertain/complex problem.
• Task – Identify the task or project that you set out to perform.
• Action – Describe the actions you took to complete the project, including how you made an influential decision and communicated your solution.
• Result – Summarize the (hopefully positive) outcome.

While you will need to highlight how you solved the problem, try not to get too bogged down in the details of any data or information that may not be accessible to your reader. Instead, focus on the conclusions you were able to draw / analysis you were able to conduct based on the information you had.

Option 2
The Tepper School of Business is committed to helping students reach their full potential by supporting their professional and personal transformation. How do you hope to transform, both professionally and personally, during your time in the program? Please describe your development goals and steps you plan to achieve them. (500 words)

With this option, Tepper is essentially asking “Why MBA” and “Why Tepper.”

Consider first what skills you need from an MBA; this can inform what you need from Tepper and how this program will help you accomplish the growth you’re seeking—both personally and professionally. Also consider, what is your end goal? What strengths do you want to sharpen or what ideals do you want to achieve? What professional skills do you need to achieve your career goals or what personal skills would make you a better leader?

With respect to how the MBA would help you develop accordingly, it would make sense to briefly comment on your work experience to date in order to establish the skills you already possess; this helps to establish the gap in your skill set that a Tepper MBA would fill. Forging specific connections between the skills you hope to gain (whether in the classroom or through involvement in student clubs or other outlets) and your future plans will show the adcom that you’ve researched the program and have a sound understanding of how a Tepper MBA will help you grow professionally. The adcom also wants to know that you’ll be supportive and collaborative while on campus at Tepper and be a good addition to the student community. Applicants should aim to conclude this option by connecting their history with potential future contributions to Tepper. Most of the essay should be about connecting with Tepper—your goals and history can simply be noted for context.

Optional Essay

Is there any additional information you would like to share with the Admissions Committee as part of your application? If you feel your credentials and essays fully reflect your background, you are not required to respond. This essay offers an opportunity to provide important details not addressed elsewhere in your application. You might use this space to clarify aspects of your employment or academic history, explain your choice of recommenders, or offer context that could assist the committee in their review.

Are you a re-applicant? Use the optional essay to explain how your candidacy has strengthened since your last application.
While there is no set word limit for this essay, it would be wise to keep this under 500 words, given the length of the required essay. Optional materials also create more work for the reader, so it’s important to keep that in consideration while being concise in one’s explanations.

This optional essay should be reserved for addressing potential liabilities in one’s application. Such discussions should be direct and to the point, providing an explanation and pointing to mitigating factors without being defensive or making excuses. This essay is optional, so should not be used if there are no issues to explain.

Meanwhile, reapplicants will want to offer a straightforward account of the specific steps they’ve taken to strengthen their applications since last applying to Tepper. Candidates can cover improved quantitative records, enhanced professional qualifications, efforts to become more familiar with the Tepper MBA program, and other ways they’ve worked to become a stronger applicant this season.

Clear Admit Resources

Thanks for reading our MBA essay tips of this year’s Tepper essay topics! As you work on your Carnegie Mellon MBA essays and application, we encourage you to consider all of Clear Admit’s CMU / Tepper offerings:

• Carnegie Mellon University / Tepper School of Business Profile on the Clear Admit website: up-to-date advice and admissions information
• Clear Admit LiveWire: admissions updates submitted in real time by applicants to Tepper
• Clear Admit DecisionWire: school selections in real-time by admits to Tepper