NYU Stern 2012 - 2013 Essay Tips

Why pursue an MBA (or dual degree) at this point in your life?  What actions have you taken to determine that Stern is the best fit for your MBA experience?  What do you see yourself doing professionally upon graduation? (750 word maximum)

• When you write this essay, keep in mind that you will also be preparing the last question that is supposed to give AdCom broader perspective on who you are – as such, keep this essay limited strictly to professional situations and goals
• When you write about the “why Stern” part, allow the reader to draw natural conclusions about your fit in the community – draw out specific things that will highlight how you will contribute to the areas most important to you
• Keep the "professional career after graduation" piece brief - note the next question where you will be speaking to your career paths in great detail

Your Two Paths: Describe two different and distinct paths you could see your career taking long term. How do you see your two paths unfolding?  How do your paths tie to the mission of NYU Stern?  What factors will most determine which path you will take?

• This essay is actually liberating for most candidates - so many applicants do in fact have multiple career paths in mind that they could be successful at
• For each path that you discuss, speak to how it ties to the mission of Stern very specifically
• The two paths can be in the same industry, but it's important to highlight clearly the difference between the two if you go down this route

Duke Fuqua 2012 - 2013 Essay Tips

The Admissions Committee also wants to get to know you—beyond the professional and academic achievements listed in your resume and transcript. You can share with us important life experiences, your likes/dislikes, hobbies, achievements, fun facts, or anything that helps us understand what makes you who you are. Share with us your list of "25 Random Things" about YOU.  Please present your response in list form, numbered 1 to 25. Some points may be only a few words, while others may be longer. Your complete list should not exceed 2 pages.

• Wow - this one has a lot of people sweating, doesn't it?  It shouldn't - it honestly is the easiest essay question out there - what a great opportunity to put yourself out and show AdCom that you are more than what's on your resume..  because you are, right?  right? :-)

• So, what is good to include on the list and what isn't?   You can include your hobbies, what you like, what you do outside of work, crazy things that you have done, things about your family / friends, etc.   What you shouldn't include is too many of the same types of bullets - e.g., too many food-related bullets or too many travel related bullets etc

• Keep a good balance and try and include 25 different attributes about yourself that will flesh out your personality for the reader.  If you're not sure what to include ask your BFFs, your better halves or others for the few things that they remember you by

When asked by your family, friends, and colleagues why you want to go to Duke, what do you tell them? Share the reasons that are most meaningful to you.  Your response to this essay question should be no more than 2 pages in length. Please respond fully and concisely using 1.5 line spacing.

• Check out the Duke MBA Association’s webpage and the Fuqua Campus Group site to do your research; you should also try and visit the campus and / or speak to current students and alums about the school

• Make sure that the activities that you’re interested in are clearly tied to your background and experiences – the two shouldn’t be disjoint!

Chicago Booth 2012 - 2013 Essay Tips

1. What are your short- and long-term goals, and how will an MBA from Chicago Booth help you reach them? (500 words)

• When you write this essay, keep in mind that you will also be preparing the powerpoint that is supposed to give AdCom broader perspective on who you are - as such, keep this essay limited strictly to professional situations and goals
• When you write about the "why Booth" part, allow the reader to draw natural conclusions about your fit in the community - draw out specific things that will highlight how you will contribute to the areas most important to you

2a. What has been your biggest challenge, and what have you learned from it? (200 words maximum)

• Very limited space, so make sure you describe both the challenge and what you learned from it as succinctly as possible, focusing only on the content itself
• After you have written the essay, read it again to make sure that you haven't blamed anyone for your challenge!   This is the most frequent mistake in questions like this one

2b. Tell us about something that has fundamentally transformed the way you think. (200 words maximum)

• This is a challenging topic - especially difficult to describe in 200 words - pick a situation that helped you change your mind about something dramatically
• The situation can be personal or professional - but remember that it must clearly highlight what triggered the transformation
• The choice of words is very important - "fundamentally transformed" is pretty strong, so make sure you articulate a story which lives up to this question

3 - Presentation/Essay: The Chicago experience will take you deeper into issues, force you to challenge assumptions, and broaden your perspective. In a four-slide presentation or an essay of no more than 600 words, broaden our perspective about who you are. Understanding what we currently know about you from the application, what else would you like us to know?

• We've described some tips for this question in great detail here

HBS 2012 - 2013 Essay Tips

Harvard Business School / David Jones

There is a lot of buzz about HBS' new essay questions, both good and bad.  This year, the school requires fewer essays, so it's less work overall, but the challenge will be to pack all that you want to say in all of 800 words.
Here are our HBS alum's tips for the two essay questions for this year: 
Tell us about something you did well. (400 words)

• Very open question, which makes it challenging, but also allows you to use creativity in defining "something".  Something could be a project, an idea, an execution, a inter-personal relationship situation, etc.  It really can be anything you did well.
• The wording of the question clearly implies that the answer they're looking for is not "heroic" - so, there are no superlatives in the question - like your biggest accomplishment or your most proud moment, etc.  Keep it simple.
• Most people will use professional themes and situations for this essay, but by all means, if you have personal situations or relationships that fit the theme, use them because they can be very powerful tools for telling your story

Tell us about something you wish you had done better. (400 words)

• A lot of what we said in the first question applies here as well, but the biggest to watch out for in these questions is to avoid shying away from your mistake or situation and putting the blame for it, directly or indirectly, on someone else
• The best part about this question is it doesn't ask for a failure or mistake, it just asks for a time you could have done something better; this is wonderful because a lot of times, very accomplished people have a hard time describe a true 'failure'
• Between this and the prior question, it's ideal to describe both a professional and personal situation but this is not necessary -- pick the most powerful stories regardless of where they came from, keeping in mind that they should both expose a different aspect of your application
• A side note:  Do not, ever, try to spin a good quality into something you could have done better.  Best example of this is saying you are a perfectionist and so have a hard time "shipping" a product.  Do. Not. Do. This.

Wharton 2012 - 2013 Essay Tips

Here are this  year's Wharton tips from our Wharton alum (who is also one of our most active essay reviewers):

How will the Wharton MBA help you achieve your professional objectives? (400 words)

• Begin this essay by stating, as succinctly as possible, what your professional objectives are - ideally, both short term and long term objectives
• I wouldn't spend too much word-space describing where you are today -- the important thing is to bridge between where you are now and your objectives, so it's okay and sufficient to mention your current position / status briefly to set it up
• In describing your objectives, try and be as specific as possible - e.g., if you want to be an entrepreneur, try and describe what area / field and how Wharton sets you up for this in as much detail as possible - this should be the meat of your essay

Select a Wharton MBA course, co-curricular opportunity or extra-curricular engagement that you are interested in. Tell us why you chose this activity and how it connects to your interests. (500 words)

• The nice thing about this question is how open-ended it is - it allows you to pick almost any curricular or extra-curricular offering at Wharton and describe how it ties to your goals
• The usual question we get here is - is it okay to mention multiple things that relate to a passion of yours?  e.g., if you're interested in consulting, can you mention the club, the GCP, etc. - it is in fact, okay to do this, as long as the ties to one primary activity are clear
• This is a good opportunity to surprise the reader too - describe an attribute of your personality or resume that you haven't covered in other areas

Imagine your work obligations for the afternoon were cancelled and you found yourself "work free" for three hours, what would you do? (500 words)

• This question is much harder than it seems on the surface - it's challenging to decide what to focus on, whether it's one or many activities, and what activity will seem like it's "right" :)
• Our advice here is to be yourself - and be 100% authentic - if you aren't, it's going to be really easy to smell out.  For example, are you really going to spend your 3 hours working on solving world hunger?  If not, then don't say you are.
• If you're struggling with this essay, try multiple topics - write it out two or three different ways, and then go with the one that works best

"Knowledge for Action draws upon the great qualities that have always been evident at Wharton: rigorous research, dynamic thinking, and thoughtful leadership." - Thomas S. Robertson, Dean, The Wharton School.  Tell us about a time when you put knowledge into action. (500 words)

• In simple terms, this question is asking about times when you translated academic learnings into action in the workplace or in your personal life
• The "knowledge" here doesn't have to be book-based or classroom-based learning - it can be something you trained yourself in, or learned on the job from observing other people
• The truth is a lot of people don't have very direct examples to use here, and this one may take some creative brainstorming about your individual experiences and learnings

Berkeley Haas 2012 - 2013 Essay Tips

If you could choose one song that expresses who you are, what is it and why? (250 word maximum)

• What can we say, don't pick "I'm sexy and I know it!" :-)
• Great question - but also tough - remember to explain why the song is important to you - not just because it was played at a certain event etc. - it should express who you are.

What is your most significant accomplishment? (250 word maximum)

• Pick only one accomplishment - can be personal or professional - describe why you think it is your most significant accomplishment
• To the extent possible, try and qualify and/or quantify the impact of what you did so that a reader can relate to it more easily -- this is especially true if you are picking a professional situation

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

What are your post-MBA short-term and long-term career goals? How have your professional experiences prepared you to achieve these goals?  How will an MBA from Haas help you achieve these goals? (750 word maximum for 5a. and 5b.)

• Standard goals question – the big challenge here is writing a 750 word essay with smooth transitions, a tight structure, and content that keeps the reader interested and engaged in your story

Kellogg 2012 - 2013 Essay Tips

Discuss moments or influences in your personal life that have defined who you are today. (500 word limit)

• For most applicants, this essay will focus almost entirely on personal experiences, starting from the time you were young until what brought you to where you are today
• You can call out the most important personal situations or triggers that transformed and shaped your experiences, including the places you lived and your family and environment
• It's very natural to focus heavily on the people in your life when writing this - but be sure to provide the whole context of how / why they shaped you, not purely the relationship they bear with you

What have been your most significant leadership experiences? What challenges did you face, and what impact did you have? This is your opportunity to explain how you Think Bravely (personally and/or professionally). (500 word limit)

• What are leadership experiences?  Situations that you’ve been in that you’ve been tested in, where a lot has been at stake, and you have led the way.  They can be personal or professional, but you should cite at least one professional experience '
• Limit to three experiences at most - remember the theme of "think bravely" - describe situations where you thought and executed outside of your comfort zone
• What are leadership areas?   The most obvious one here is the one that Kellogg touts the most – “team leadership” or “community leadership”.  But to write a truly compelling essay, think beyond — what specific leadership areas are you looking to develop, that will tie in to the first part of your essay?   Motivating and empowering large groups of people, leadership in the community, product leadership in an industry, executive communication skills, etc.

Imagine yourself at your Kellogg graduation. What career will you be preparing to enter, and how have the MBA and Kellogg helped you get there? (Please answer in terms of your program choice: One-Year, Two-Year, MMM, JD-MBA) (500 word limit)

• This is specifically asking about your immediate post-Kellogg goal, but it's okay to discuss long term goals as well
• Describe the transition between where you are now and your goal in the past tense - i.e., what strengths and knowledge did you gain at Kellogg that helped you get there?
• Describe the holistic Kellogg experience - the curriculum, the co-curricular activities and also the extra-curriculurs and your community involvement.

What one interesting or fun fact would you want your future Kellogg classmates to know about you? (25 words or less)

• Keep it fun and simple!