If you're looking for a smaller MBA program with an extremely tight knit community, Haas might be the place for you! If you're a budding entrepreneur, even more reason to apply to this school. Here are our essay tips for this year's questions:
What brings you the greatest joy? How does this make you distinctive? (250 word maximum)
- This question seems so much easier than it really is! If you write about the things that bring you great joy, how do you make them sound distinctive to you? By making a deep, meaningful connection between your passion and your life. Why is this thing meaningful to you? What does it say about you?
- Most common answer to this question - "making others' lives better / doing things for others / bringing joy to others". It's okay to say this, but PLEASE, know that a lot of people also write this and AdCom reads thousands of essays, so the "distinctive" part has to be really strong.
- It's perfectly fine to say something like dance or writing or mountain climbing or spending time with your family or another hobby brings you great joy - but please explain why it is meaningful to you, in a way that really says something about you.
What is your most significant accomplishment? (250 word maximum)
- A lot of people ask if this must be limited to one accomplishment - absolutely, yes.
- The accomplishment can be professional, personal or community - depending on what you are discussing in the other essays, the overall set should be balanced.
Describe a time when you questioned an established practice or thought within an organization. How did your actions create positive change? (250 word maximum)
- Use the words you have in this essay about 50:50 to describe both, what you did, and what impact it had - many essays we read are very one-sided and describe either one or the other
- The change should ideally already have happened when you write this essay - not something that you "hope" will change in the future
- Remember, broad cultural changes are hard to bring about - it is best to focus this essay on a specific practice or way of doing things that you were able to change
Describe a time when you were a student of your own failure. What specific insight from this experience has shaped your development? (250 word maximum)
- Please people - a failure is a failure. It's not supposed to make you look good - i.e., don't use examples where you fixed something that you broke
- Take only 2 - 3 sentences to describe the failure itself - and spend the majority of this essay explaining why it was important and what you learned from it
- You do NOT need to reiterate what you learned by saying that you were in the exact same situation later and reacted a different way
Describe a time when you led by inspiring or motivating others toward a shared goal. (250 word maximum)
- This will ideally be in a professional or community setting. If you are going to use a non-profit setting, be aware that a lot of candidates do this, and you must really get into how you brought people on-board to your vision and goal.
- Choosing examples where you influenced without authority - i.e., brought people together that didn't necessarily report to you - is also a good idea, but also know that many people use this too, so you must bring your unique voice to the essay if you use this type of situation
What are your post-MBA short-term and long-term career goals? How have your professional experiences prepared you to achieve these goals? b) How will an MBA from Haas help you achieve these goals? (1000 word maximum for 6a and 6b)
- Standard goals question - the big challenge here is writing a 1,000 word essay with smooth transitions, a tight structure, and content that keeps the reader interested and engaged in your story
